Page 80 of Hunt Me, Daddy

Her breath caught.

She knew the Saint Petersburg chain. She knew enough of the Boston node to hear the truth in what I said. She knew I had not guessed. She knew, now, that I had been closer to the Orlov network than she had understood.

“You redirected them?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Where in Chicago?”

“West Loop Hotel. It’s a temporary trail.”

“That won’t hold.”

“No.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know.”

“I hate that answer.”

“So do I.”

For one moment, neither of us spoke.

Then she said, “What do you want me to do?”

There it was. She hadn’t surrendered and she probably never would. But it was the first small crack in the wall between her pride and the reality of the threat. I savored it for exactly half a second because that was all the emergency allowed.

“Do not leave your apartment tonight,” I said. “Do not touch the Orlov file from any system connected to your normal patterns. Do not contact your old clients. Do not call your ex-boyfriend.”

“Evan?” she said, startled.

I closed my eyes.

That had been a mistake.

“How do you know about Evan?”

“He is a risk if you use him as a variable.”

“How do you know about Evan, Ivan?”

The temperature of her voice dropped ten degrees. I had crossed too close to the hidden door.

“I know enough to tell you he is not equipped for this,” I said.

“That wasn’t my question.”

“No.”

“You’re dodging.”

“Yes.”

“Badly.”

That almost made me laugh, even now. Especially now.