Ambush (Michael Bennett #11)(82)

“Unless they have something big to hide.” I laid out Kane’s photographs on the table. “Kane took these before he was killed. Somehow they learned he’d snapped them, which meant he might have connected the dots between Iraq and Valor. The Alpha had to eliminate him.”

Dougie went through the pictures. “You’re assuming that what’s out there has something to do with Valor. We need a connection between Laura Almasi and Valor Industries.”

“Let me show you.” I clicked on another tab. “Laura Almasi barely exists in the virtual world. But someone digitized Cedar Hill’s old newspaper. This came up when I ran a search on the family patriarch, Sheldon Osborne.”

Dougie studied the scanned image while I swallowed down the oatmeal and mentally repeated a version of last night’s mantra. Food, sleep, fight.

Dougie’s eyes narrowed as he read.

Catherine and Sheldon Osborne of Cedar Hill, Texas, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Laura Ann, to Arvin, son of Mr. and Mrs. Almasi of Dallas. Laura is a graduate of Rice University and is employed at the Osborne family business, Valor Industries. Arvin is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Materials Science Program and is an intern at Valor Industries. An August wedding is planned.

I peered over Dougie’s shoulder at the photograph. Arvin appeared happy, his handsome face creased in a wide smile, his rakishly long hair combed back from his face.

Laura looked quieter. Almost somber. She was young, but there was a no-nonsense air about her short, simple haircut, plain blouse, and un-made-up face. Her gaze was direct and almost challenging. But it also held a faint hint of something else I couldn’t put my finger on.

As it had the first time I’d seen it, Laura’s expression made me shiver.

I pulled up her DMV photo so that the pictures were side by side. It was clearly the same no-nonsense woman with the simple haircut and shirt. Only the look in her eyes had changed, flipping into something else.

An approaching madness.

“So there it is.” Dougie curled a fist under his chin.

“The first time I saw Laura’s name,” I said, “I thought Almasi was Italian. But it means ‘diamond maker’ in Persian.” I pushed away the cup with its remnants of oatmeal. “The Almasis are Jewish Iranians. Arvin and his parents came to the US in 1979, a few months before the fall of the shah.”

“I’m not surprised. A lot of Jews didn’t do well after the ayatollah took over. Some of them were executed as accused spies. If Arvin still has family there”—this time there was no missing the gritty enthusiasm in Dougie’s voice—“then Laura—and through her, Valor—are vulnerable to blackmail.”

At Dougie’s confirmation of my thoughts, the excitement that had been building over the last thirty minutes shot a bolt of lightning from my brain to my gut. “She’s part of what happened in Habbaniyah. Her brother, James, was in Iraq when all this went down, so he must be involved as well. You said he green-lighted bringing in the EFPs.”

Dougie nodded. “And gave the order for us to go after them. It would have been a major triumph for him, capturing Quds forces and weapons inside Iraq. Then he suddenly put things on hold. When the order came to stand down, we just figured the intelligence was no good. That maybe there weren’t any weapons.”

“But Dalton knew otherwise because he’d seen the video.” My excitement grew. “I’ll bet Osborne talked to his sister. Boasted that he was about to bag some high-level Iranians. And she was forced to confess that she’d been selling arms to Iran.”

“And those arms were now in Iraq.” Dougie’s expression flatlined into an icy, contained rage. “It was Osborne who sent us into that ambush. He couldn’t run the risk that we’d realize the intelligence was good. That there really were weapons. His sister’s weapons. If your theory is right, he was the one who betrayed us and meant for us to die.”

“And he ordered the deaths of Haifa and Resenko. Anyone who knew about the video.”

Dougie crossed his arms. “Osborne dropped a stone in the water. He had to catch all the ripples.”

I touched a finger to the computer screen. “But I don’t think he was the real instigator. I think she was. She set up the arms sales. Then she told Osborne to cover it up. Osborne was taking his orders from her.”

His voice was a growl. “She does look half mad, doesn’t she?”

“And she has Cohen.” I pulled up the photo the Alpha had sent of Mike. “Look there, over his left shoulder.”

Dougie took my phone and enlarged the image.

I pointed. “You see the letters?”

“L A G E.” Dougie enlarged the picture more. “Looks like part of a name. L A G E C O N.”

“Remember those construction permits I mentioned? If we fill in the missing letters, this could be Phlage Construction, which is one of the largest corporations in Colorado. Their website lists military-grade construction as the biggest part of their business. I think Valor hired them to build whatever it is they’re building out there.”

I brought my hands together like a prayer as Dougie’s gaze met mine.

“James Osborne isn’t the Alpha,” I said. “His sister is. And somewhere beneath that dark cloud, she’s holding Cohen.”