Oath of Loyalty (Mitch Rapp #21)(63)

“She wanted one of Nick’s root beers.”

“But she’s not going to get in the pool.”

“I made her promise,” he said, sitting next to her and tossing the towel on the stoop. “Have we come up with anything?”

Neither of them responded.

“What?”

“I’ve thought through some options,” Kennedy said, “but there’s something we should talk about first.”

“And that is?”

“About an hour ago, I got a call from Darren Hargrave.”

“Why?”

“Two reasons. First, he wants to set up a system for confirming your presence here. Second, he wanted to warn you that the Agency’s picked up chatter about Legion being hired to kill Claudia.”

Rapp kept his expression impassive, wondering silently what Kennedy would make of this. She had an understandable bias against going to war with the democracy she’d served so long. Would that affect her judgment? If so, it would be a first, but they were living in a world of firsts right now.

“It was the call I was hoping I’d never receive,” she continued. “Hargrave doesn’t know that Grisha contacted you or that you visited Ruiz. In light of that, it was in his best interest to tell you about the Legion threat.”

“Because if I’m not fighting Legion, I have time to spend on his boss. Plus, it makes him look like he’s on my side. Once again, credit where credit’s due. If it weren’t for Grisha, we might have even fallen for it. Smart play.”

“Yes,” she said, sounding a little defeated. “Smart.”

“So, am I right in saying that you no longer have any doubts about the Cooks’ involvement in all this?”

“There’s no other credible explanation,” she admitted.

“Then I think we should deal with them. Cook’s security isn’t getting any lighter as time goes on.”

“I think we need to take care of Legion first,” Kennedy said. “After that, we can discuss the Cooks.”

“Are you telling me you’ve figured out a way?”

“Maybe.”

Rapp waved her on. “I’m listening.”

“You’re not going to like it.”

“I’m guessing you’re right. But let’s hear it anyway.”

“Okay. What we need to focus on is that we have an advantage that no one else ever has.”

“What’s that?” Claudia asked.

“We know Legion’s coming.”

“No,” Rapp said, shaking his head. “I already know where you’re going with this. We’re not using Claudia as bait.”

“That’s my decision,” Claudia shot back. “Not yours.”

“It’s no one’s decision,” Kennedy said. “Exposing you isn’t going to be necessary.”

“Then what?” Rapp said.

Kennedy handed him her tablet. It contained the picture of Claudia included in the dossier sent to Grisha Azarov and Enzo Ruiz. She was quite a bit younger, sitting at what looked like a Paris café wearing sunglasses and a scarf that covered part of her chin. It had been taken in less-than-ideal conditions, leaving it slightly grainy.

“I’m still not following you,” Rapp said.

“It’s not a very good picture,” Kennedy pointed out.

“But they included my address and a detailed analysis of my daily habits,” Claudia said. “I mean, it’s always nice to have multiple high-res shots, but in this case, it’s not really necessary.”

Kennedy pulled a single piece of paper from the pocket of her jacket. On it was printed an equally distant and grainy shot of Claudia wearing the same sunglasses and scarf, but this time standing in front of a brick wall.

“That’s not me,” Claudia said.

Rapp leaned forward. Upon closer inspection, she was right. This woman was thinner, with higher cheekbones and blond strands visible around where Claudia’s hair had been photoshopped on. There was something familiar about the partially obscured face and when he realized what it was, he shoved the picture back in Kennedy’s direction.

“No way in hell.”

“Who is she?” Claudia asked.

Kennedy seemed reluctant to say the name aloud, so Rapp was forced to do it for her. “Sadie Hansen. Also, Sadie Griffith. And Hanna Larson. And Hailey Tolstoy. Have I missed any?”

“At least five,” Kennedy said.

Sadie was a young, beautiful psychopath who also suffered from manic depression, possibly a touch of Asperger’s, and a compulsion for shoplifting. On the other hand, she also had the best situational awareness Rapp had ever seen and seemed impervious to fear or panic. But more in a suicidal way than a courageous one.

Sadie was a British national recruited and quickly abandoned by MI6. The Agency picked her up a while back over Rapp’s objections, but then he’d had to eat crow when she’d proved critical to resolving a devastating attack on America’s power grid. Kennedy was fond of saying she was no worse than her other, even more infamous, recruit: an angry kid with no appreciable skills named Mitch Rapp.

“Sadie’s an inch taller and about five pounds lighter,” Kennedy said. “Right now, her hair’s longer and blond but it’s about the same texture so that’s an easy fix. So are her skin tone and eye color. Plus, she’s good at accents.”