Replica(25)

Rachel looked at me. “Like Calvin? Could they be using something to mask their scent?”

I nodded, already on that same line of thought. “He’s a scientist and he’s worked with Stravinsky from what we know; it’s plausible they’ve come up with a way to keep us from tracking them.”

The numbers on Rachel’s papers swirled in my head. I wanted to find that bastard Stravinsky so I could dig him out and roast him on an open fire.

“That grin, Lea. It’s disturbing.” Rachel wrinkled up her nose at me.

I laughed. “Thinking about what I’m going to do to Stravinsky when we find him.”

A wicked glimmer lit her eyes. “I assume I get to help with that part.”

“Bring the lighter fluid.”

Ivan looked from me to Rachel and back again. “You two are scary together.”

“Do as you’re told, and we’ll get along just fine,” I said, then paused and waved my hand forward. “Ready to hunt him down?”

Rachel nodded. “Let’s do this.”





CHAPTER 12





RACHEL



Great. The giant pain in the ass was coming. “Do you even have a passport?” I asked him, my hands on my hips, my voice echoing off the walls of the vacant hotel.

His eyebrows lifted in amusement. “I have several. Which country of origin do you think I should go for?”

Asshole. He annoyed the hell out of me, mostly because he seemed to take Lea slightly off her game. And ordinarily I’d tell her to chase a piece of ass, but in this situation, I needed her all there. Not distracted by an oversized asshat. “United States will do. Less suspicious that way.”

“Harvey Warhol. Louisville, Kentucky.”

It was my turn to lift my eyebrows. “You think you can pull that off? You don’t have even the slightest hint of a southern accent.”

“I’m a paper salesman who was transferred last year from Boston.”

I pushed out a breath. He seemed to have the story down. “You need to book your own tickets. We all do. We can’t travel together or we’ll draw attention. I’ll travel under an alias. At least to London. Too many people might recognize me on a flight originating from the U.S. I’ll pull out my Turkish alias and passport later.”

Ivan burst out laughing. “You expect to pass for Turkish? Are you counting on Lea’s power of persuasion to pull that off?”

“You really are an idiot, aren’t you? Turkey has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world. Have you heard of the Adyghe people? No?” I asked when his grin fell. “Russians driven south. No, they’re not typically blond, but a wig will take care of that. I’ve used that ID before without incident.”

I turned to Lea, already done with him, and explained the travel plan I’d cobbled together on the way over—London to Turkey to Iraq. “I think we should use different aliases for the flight from London to Istanbul. The problem is getting visas for you two, but I think I can arrange something. I have a border guard contact who can be persuaded to help.”

“And by persuaded, you mean bribed,” Lea said dryly.

“Exactly.”

I pulled out my phone and tried to open my email app. “I need your aliases to make it happen. And we’ve got to go somewhere with Wi-Fi. I’ll use my VPN to hide our tracks.”

“VPN?” Ivan asked.

“Virtual Private Network. It hides my location and makes it harder for the bad guys to track us.”

Appreciation filled Lea’s eyes. “Smart.”

I shrugged. “I’ve done this a time or two. But we need to throw them off. So when I book tickets, I’m booking them through to Germany.” I glanced over my shoulder. “Ivan, you need to go to Zimbabwe.”

“Why Germany?” Lea asked.

“The Nazis were famous for their medical and genetic experimentation. And with the name Stravinsky…we’ll lead them on a wild goose chase. Make them think we’re off track. Traveling separately will strengthen our deception. Then we’ll disappear in Heathrow and fly to Turkey—separately again.”

“Very smart.”

I performed a quick search on my travel app, then looked up. “It’s 1:30 a.m. How quickly can you be ready to go?”

Ivan’s eyes widened. “An hour.”

Lea nodded. “The same.”

“Then let’s take the four a.m. train from Penn Station to Philadelphia and catch the ten a.m. flight to London.”

“Why Philadelphia?” Ivan asked.

“To throw them off. They’ll be watching the airports in New York.”

Lea’s mouth curved into a predatory smile, making me once again glad we were on the same side. “I like it.”