Page 61 of Get A Fix

“Which is a non-extradition country,” I said, crossing my arms. “That sucks. Does our boss have a plan to bring him back?”

“That is a CIA decision, and one that hasn’t been made yet.”

I understood. You didn’t just ask a sovereign nation if you could pop in and grab someone like drive-thru. The only thing worse was not asking and then getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

“Apparently,” Nash took up the explanation, “Rhodes is hanging out in wine country there in Moldova, in Nistreana, and Jared has eyes on him. Did you know they make some really good red wine there?”

“I did not.”

Nash shrugged.

“And is Rhodes alone?”

“Yep. No Carrie.”

“Well, he could have had someone else kidnap her and is having her held someplace for him so he doesn’t look guilty.”

Owen shook his head. “Rhodes is living with friends who are footing the bill for his stay. All his assets are frozen. He can’t hire anyone to do anything.”

“Someone else could be footing the bill.”

“No, that makes no sense. Rhodes has nothing. No money, property, investments, anything. And he’s not going to miraculously get his fortune back. He needs to build a new one, and that will take time. Why would his friends help him kidnap Carrie when he’s basically dead in the water? There’s no payday for anyone, and even if Voss doesn’t testify, they have Rhodes on so many other broken laws. The man is never returning to US soil unless he’s in cuffs or a body bag.”

“Fine, you’ve made a good case for Rhodes not taking Carrie, but that doesn’t mean my original supposition, that Voss got his wife out of the country, is not valid.”

“Anything’s possible at this point,” Nash conceded.

“Okay, so back to Voss. At the moment, he’s actually only wanted on the SEC charges, which means the Feds are looking for him and he is a fugitive.”

“To be precise,” Nash said, “he was a fugitive, and they were looking for him.”

“What do you mean was?”

“Well, he’s dead.”

“Who’s dead?”

“Voss.”

“I’m missing something.”

“No, you’re not,” Nash assured me.

“This picture,” Owen said, tapping the close-up of Voss with Ash, “the time stamp tells us it was taken last Wednesday at twelve thirty, and according to the FBI, Voss was killed three hours later when he lost control of his car on Interstate 5, heading south from San Francisco.”

“What?”

“The car flipped over several times, came to a stop upside down, and exploded. The body inside was burned beyond recognition.”

“You’re telling me that Elliot Voss, a wanted fugitive, was having lunch with world-famous actor Ashford Lennox last Wednesday, three hours before he died.”

“That’s what I’m telling you, yes,” Owen confirmed.

“And no one thinks that’s weird?”

“Our boss does,” Owen said. “This type of accident is always cause for concern in his book.”

“But highway patrol thinks sure, nothing nefarious, just an accident.”