The Project 04 - Black Harvest

hazy, the sky overcast.
    He thought about the woman, Connor. She was part of the combat team. Women were not assigned to operations like this in Russia. He didn't think they were here, either. She had done as well as the men. It surprised him. It hadn't escaped him that she and Carter were sleeping together. You could always tell. She was very attractive. In another time and place...he put that distracting thought aside.
    Korov thought Carter as good a small force leader as he had ever seen. He'd accomplished the mission with cool efficiency against unfavorable odds.
    In spite of himself, Korov found himself liking the Americans. They'd made him part of the team. The real test would come when he learned what they planned for their Director of Central Intelligence. In Russia, such a powerful man would be protected, invulnerable.
    Arkady stared out the window at streams of cars crawling along a distant highway. He had no illusions about the political labyrinths inside the Kremlin. In Russia, it would be difficult to convince the leadership to make someone like Lodge disappear. More likely the accuser would be the one to disappear. What would Harker do?
    That was another thing that confused him. A black ops intelligence unit run by a woman. He had to hand it to her, she didn't dance around what had to be done. She didn't seem concerned about possible repercussions from the attack.
    All in all, this had turned into the most intere sting assignment he'd ever had.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

    Stephanie was running late. She stepped out of the elevator in her parking garage and walked toward her car. Her shoes sounded loud in the echoing space. If Beltway traffic wasn't bad she might make it on time. Yeah, right, she thought. That's on the order of Moses parting the Red Sea.
    She reached her car, a sensible Toyota Avalon. Enough luxury and power without getting into the really high end stuff. It was a lovely blue color. She liked her car. She pushed the remote and heard the beep as the doors unlocked. She opened the door. She heard a sound like a hissing snake and felt a sudden sharp pain and looked down at a dart sticking in her leg. She felt dizzy. The keys fell from her hand.
    She woke lying on a cot. A small window well high up on the wall let in enough light to see a square room of unfinished concrete. A camera watched from the ceiling. The door was made of gray steel. A metal toilet without a seat took up one corner. The only other features were a water tap in the wall and a drain in the center of the floor.
    A shot of fear cleared the fog from her mind. She sat up, awkwardly. Her right arm jerked back. Handcuffs shackled her to the cot. The cot was bolted to the floor.
    The last thing...yes, opening the car door. Something in her leg. A tranquilizer dart.
    She was in a cell. Not thinking, she felt for her gun. The empty holster mocked her. The handcuffs rattled.
    Except for a headache and a queasy feeling in her stomach, she was unharmed. Her skirt was smudged with something, maybe from the garage floor. She had a scrape on her leg.
    They'd taken her watch. Stephanie had no idea how long she'd been unconscious. She guessed a few hours. She took a deep breath, calming herself. Suddenly she was angry. She raised her free arm and gave the camera her middle finger. Maybe that would get someone's attention.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

    Harker sighed. Ronnie had shiny new crutches and a cast on his right leg. Lamont's arm was back in a sling. Nick came in walking like he had a board strapped on his back.
    "Maybe we should just set up an ER in the hall. Has anyone seen Stephanie?"
    "No." Headshakes.
    "We'll start without her. Good work in Texas. We've stopped them, for now." She looked at the picture on her desk of the Twin Towers. She picked up the silver pen. "What shall we do about Lodge?"
    "Maybe Rice can handle it." Nick's back ached like hell. It was black and blue and red, a bad sunset from a grade B movie.
    "Nothing's changed. We've got no proof of anything."
    "We could put pressure on Dansinger," Lamont said. "If he gives Lodge up, he could get a deal from Rice."
    "For someone who was about to kill millions of people? I don't think so."
    "Dansinger might not know that."
    "We could, how do you say, 'grab' him. Dansinger, not Lodge. Or maybe Lodge himself?" Korov watched Harker.
    "Lodge is too risky. Maybe later, but not now. Rice can only protect us so far."
    "We could bug him," Ronnie said.
    "Any bug we got in place wouldn't