Page 52 of Locked and Loaded

“Unreasonable?” she hissed. “I’ll show you unreasonable.” She stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind her.

So maybe unreasonable hadn’t been the correct word. This time he did sigh. Dragan didn't blame her for being frustrated. It was frustrating. But he'd been in this game long enough to know what the SEALs always said was correct: slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. If they approached this at full tilt, they'd be dead before they even got close.

His phone rang. He glanced at the screen.

Armand. He clicked the button. "Hello, Armand.”

“How are things?" the gentleman responded.

"Things are things," Dragan said with a grunt.

"That bad, mon ami?"

Dragan ran a hand through his hair. "Not bad. Just complicated."

"Tell me."

"We think we know who has Lennox's sister Chloe.”

“Progress,” Armand said with excitement in his voice.

“Yes. Except that it's Konstantinos Georgiou."

There was silence. Then Armand let out a low breath. "That changes things considerably."

"Yes, it does. He's not someone I want to take on unless we absolutely have to."

Armand agreed, “He’s not someone to trifle with."

Dragan sighed. "But Lennox will not let it go."

"Would you, if someone had your sister?" Armand asked quietly.

"No," Dragan admitted. "I would not."

"This will require some thinking."

"Agreed. But until then, I still haven't advanced any on who's trying to frame the Society for this. Is Georgiou a member of the Society?"

“No,” Armand said and then paused, and Dragan heard keyboard keys clicking. "I’m checking Archer’s notes on Georgiou. They say he offered Georgiou membership, but the man laughed at him. Told him he had no need for some trifling little society."

He allowed himself a small smile. "How did Archer take that?"

"Archer took everything with respect and let it go. He followed the rules. He made the offer. The man said no. That was that. There are few memberships to be offered. Only Archer could make that offer. He understood if people said no, although it didn’t happen often."

"And your personal thoughts on him?"

"Ce n'est pas un homme. C'est une vermine. And he is dangerous."

"Agreed. But this doesn't get us any further on what's going on with the Society, and that's what you hired me to do. I feel like I'm failing you."

"You are not failing me. You were hired to find out who is trying to blame the Society for these atrocities, who is trying to pull the Society into the light. But my friend, retrieving Chloe is far more important than the Society. We will find out who is trying to frame us, but you must get this girl back if you can."

“Still, other than that file, I have no more to go on.”

“That file is the key. The list I had compiled of possible suspects no longer fits. I am working through what we have, but so far no one fits the bill. I will keep looking. I wanted to tell you I have no new information on your hit men. I am still trying to identify the fourth man as well. I will let you know if I find anything.”

“Thanks,” Dragan said and then continued. “There was a maid at the Mansour who is looking after Katya Ivanova and Nikolai Rostov. I believe she might be the eyes and ears for our mystery person.”