Skirting Destiny (Chasing the CIA 3) by Kay Keppler

Author:Kay Keppler [Keppler, Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-11-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

You know Vlad the Assassin,” Phoebe said, trying to assimilate that news as they sat down to lunch. She felt staggered by the knowledge, although why it surprised her, she didn’t know. Nothing about Amos should surprise her anymore.

Amos helped himself to bread and passed it Kristin. “We don’t exchange Christmas cards, if that’s what you mean. We’re not friends. He was a young shooter just starting out when I was approaching retirement. But he came to my attention.”

“Is there anything you could tell us about him that would help us—I don’t know—catch him? Isolate him? Protect Yuri from him?” She dished out some of the thick lentil soup that Jamal and Sanjay had finished cooking while she and Kristin trailed Vlad to his hotel. It smelled delicious.

“Voice of reason here,” Chase said. “We’re not catching him. The FBI can catch him. Or the cops. Or the CIA. Somebody who is not us.”

Amos nodded, reaching for the butter. “I don’t know a great deal about your guy, if he is Vladimir Golubkin,” he said. “You’d do better to contact your colleagues at the CIA who handle Russia.”

“Yeah, I’m not besties with anybody in the Russia group.” Phoebe handed the soup bowl to Chase. “I could ask Nattie—she’d help me if she could, although she’s not Russia, either. I’m going back to work in a couple of weeks, but I’ll be shifting to a new unit, so I doubt anyone would be vested in helping me with this.”

Amos nodded. “You must be joining that new outlier group. You’re a good fit for it. You and your friend Natasha Wilkinson both. Well, all I can tell you is that as a young man, Vladimir Golubkin was a bright star. He was ruthless, fearless, clever, and deadly accurate.”

Phoebe was amazed again that Amos seemed to know all about her new job assignment to a group in the CIA that was so new it wasn’t even operational yet. But what he had to say about Vlad the Assassin alarmed her. “That’s bad news. From our point of view, I mean.”

“Yes. Although he had weaknesses.”

“Such as?” Jamal passed the salad to Amos.

“At the time of our evaluation, he didn’t handle failure, criticism, or rejection well. Setbacks increased his tolerance for risk, and those risks often involved more injury and bloodshed because it was those times when he made mistakes. Of course, our assessment came when he was in his twenties, just out of his army training. He might have settled down as he matured.”

Increased his tolerance for risk. That would explain why she’d gotten tased in broad daylight in front of her house.

“But I’m just speculating.” Amos helped himself to soup. “It might not even be the same Vlad.”

“Although you think it probably is,” Chase said.

Amos shrugged. “Nobody trains that many snipers for international assassinations.”

“You guys carry on while I update Yuri,” Phoebe said. “Maybe he’s even heard of this Vlad guy.” She leaned forward and started speaking quickly and softly so the others could discuss around them.

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