Then she understood he was just kidding. For a moment she had thought he might be serious.
Seemingly well aware that he’d pushed her buttons, he shot her a knowing grin. He walked over and motioned to the table. “Want to set up the equipment here?”
“It’s as good a place as any.” She whirled from him quickly, wanting to hide the flush of color heating her cheeks. Grabbing her bag, she tossed it on the bed and immediately unpacked, removing her drab-colored clothes, short black wig and toiletries and efficiently stowing them away so she could get to the laptop and other equipment she had secured beneath the soft goods.
Mitch did the same. As she’d suspected, his bag held a greater assortment of clothing, so by the time she had her equipment assembled on the table, he had only just reached the section in his bag that held his computer and the supplies they had agreed to bring with them.
She held up the DVDs. “I guess I’ll get started with these until you’re ready.”
“I won’t be long. I want to put in some surveillance cameras so we can make sure the room stays secure.”
She nodded and slipped the first DVD into her laptop. It contained information on the murder of the Lazlo agent in Prague. The intelligence consisted of video from the various cameras near the Lazlo Prague offices as well as detailed reports on the investigations into his death. Also on the DVD were copies of all the open files on the cases the operative had been working at the time of his death.
Not wanting to let the reports influence her and possibly lead her to wrong first impressions about the video feeds, she left them for last. As she opened the initial MPEG file, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Mitch worked on slipping a needle-fine fiber-optic camera into a picture frame on the opposite side of the room.
He pulled the PDA from his belt and fiddled with something before he walked to another section of the room and went to work again.
Deciding he had things under control, she started playing the video—footage of the front of an ordinary-looking building, apparently the Lazlo location in Prague. Few pedestrians passed in front, and not much more motor vehicle traffic moved by the site. Either the area was not that well- frequented or it was early in the morning.
She decided morning had made the difference in the traffic conditions since it seemed slightly dark at first, but within a short period of time, the sun rose behind the building. A small alley a few doors down from the building was in shadow thanks to its western-facing opening and the larger structures around it. A good hiding place for an early-morning capture or kill.
Advancing through the video, she noted an occasional car or pedestrian, but not much activity until a well-dressed man walked north toward the Lazlo offices. He looked downward, his attention totally focused on the morning newspaper in one hand. He held a briefcase in the other.
As he passed the alley she had noted earlier, someone grabbed him.
The video lacked sound so it was impossible to tell what was happening in the shadows of the alley. Besides, the killer had probably had a silencer on his weapon.
“Find something?” Mitch asked as he finally sat at his computer, right beside her.
“The agent’s capture and, presumably, where he was killed.” She gestured to her screen and replayed the segment. “He never realized what hit him.”
Mitch detected the mix of condemnation and distress in Dani’s voice. He opted to focus on the first. “He wasn’t really a secret-agent type. More like a bean counter. His latest assignment was to investigate the financial records of a charitable foundation. Maybe he was murdered to stop him from discovering a connection between the foundation and SNAKE.”
“So he probably had no idea he had been targeted or how to handle it.”
Mitch nodded. “Once you get to the report, it will probably indicate that there was little sign of a struggle.”
Dani faced him. “And the rest of the dead operatives? Also non-secret-agent types?”
He winced and rubbed at the scar down the middle of his abdomen. “Not really. The agents killed were a mix, but I’m told they all had one thing in common—each of their cases could possibly be connected to the crime syndicate.”
Dani’s gaze tracked the motion of his hand, but then she ripped it away and back to the screen. “I’d like to make that call for myself after I get a chance to review all this material. It’s also possible there’s no connection between them and SNAKE.”
“Then what’s the reason for targeting them?”
“Do sadistic killers need a reason? Besides, I get the sense Lazlo may have made a few enemies over the years,” she said and focused her attention solely on the video.
She had shut him out. Fine by him, Mitch thought and turned to the copies of the case files on the hard drive. He first downloaded them to his computer and then shut down the portable drive, disconnected it and passed it to Dani.
“Thanks,” she murmured without taking her eyes from her screen, where she reviewed digitally enhanced sections of what video they had. Whoever had done the kills had been very good, leaving few clues for them to follow.
His examination of the case files confirmed there was little information except the killer’s unique MO on the last two kills. The first two attacks…
He once again rubbed his scar, recalling how Kruger had surprised him on one of the narrow side streets not far from their current location. He had been distracted, worried about how Kruger had managed to elude them. He had also been concerned about what might happen if the chase left the narrow, twisting side streets and exploded out onto the more crowded neighborhood avenues. Kruger would have not been above opening fire even with innocents nearby—collateral damage meant nothing to people like him. Dani was right that sadistic killers didn’t care.
Or people like Dani, he thought, shooting a glance at her and wondering whether when she was on duty as the Sparrow she had cared about those around her. About him, he thought, his mind drifting back to the day he had “died.”
An arm snaked around his neck and Mitch instinctively knew what would follow.
Reaching upward, he managed to block the swipe of the knife at his throat, but the blade bit deep, slicing across his forearm.
He ignored the pain and dipped his shoulder, used the shift in his weight to throw his attacker up and over him.
Kruger landed with a thud, but before Mitch could attack, his legs started to buckle. He wondered about it for a second, but then looked down and noticed the handle of the knife buried deep in his midsection.
Staggering back, he shifted to remove the blade, only Kruger swiftly jumped to his feet. He lunged at Mitch, grabbed the knife and drove upward with it, a vicious smile on his face.
As he struggled to stay upright, Mitch hit the wall behind him, which kept him on his feet for only a second as his legs finally gave out and he slumped to the ground.
Kruger bent toward him then, intent on finishing the job.
He tried to raise the hand that still held his gun, but his body refused to cooperate. Kruger didn’t have to worry about him. It would only be a short amount of time before he was dead. He
