He held his hand up at David’s advance. “No. Look. No one at State was picking up any chatter, so they wouldn’t believe me, but I knew something was happening, and it wasn’t going to on my watch. My only way in to warn him was through Molly and her friend Doubrov. I don’t have all the fancy contacts that the DOD has. Besides, if it came directly from my office, I’d get fired. Doubrov just had to trust Molly. And all the evidence pointed to him doing so. That’s all I know…”

“And no doubt, when they found out you were the one who warned them, your stock would rise in their eyes, right? Maybe they’d request to deal with you specifically, which would raise your stock at State too, right?”

“Why shouldn’t I take some credit for stopping an unsanctioned op? I mean…” He trailed off looking thoughtful. Then he shrugged as if he’d thought what the hell? “Okay, I believe that the Russians think that Doubrov passed something to Molly, not the other way around. I saw the raw footage. I mean, I told her not to slip him the note, but she did, and if you didn’t know it was Molly passing something to him, it could have looked like it was the other way around.”

David’s blood ran cold. “She didn’t pass him the note, we still have both of them.” That was the worst news ever. If they thought she’d received some intel from Doubrov, they wouldn’t stop until they had their hands on her. “You bastard. All you had to do was call her and tell her to get out. Why didn’t you?”

“It was my op. They’d have traced it back to me, and my source—” he looked at his polished shoes.

David put two and two together. “Don’t tell me, your source is an unsanctioned girlfriend? Someone you care about?”

“Fuck off. Look, I know it sounds cold, but the op was righteous. If Doubrov hadn’t been killed, we would be celebrating a victory right now. If I’d called her afterward and told her to skip town, they would have traced the call in seconds, I would have lost my job, my in at the Russian consulate in DC, and my girlfriend…she’d have lost her job if anyone found out she’d been indiscreet while she was drunk. It wasn’t her fault. And she doesn’t really know what I do. I just never expected the situation to get so out of hand so quickly.”

David grabbed his lapels just one last time and shook him. “You do not involve civilians for this exact reason. You better hope she stays safe, because I will be coming back for you if she doesn’t. Understood?”

“Understood.”

He released him. “Get the fuck out of here.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

David picked up some more supplies before going back to the hotel. He circled the building once, looking to see if there was any unusual activity. But the receptionist, clearly visible through the lobby window was still playing a point-and-shoot game on his PC. It all felt normal.

He took the elevator up to the room and used his passkey. The door light flashed green, but the door wouldn’t open. Suddenly panicked, he dropped his bags and shouldered the door open, hearing a loud crack as he did.

Molly stood just inside the balcony with her mouth open. “I think you just killed the chair.” She looked pointedly at the wooden chair that now was in two pieces.

His eyes rested on her in her sundress, braless. He was becoming an expert in her breasts and how they looked in a bra and without. He liked the latter better.

“I’m not sure it’s safe to stay another night, anyway,” he said putting his bags down. “But first, we’ll eat.” He put paper-wrapped kebabs on the dresser, where he’d had her the previous night. “No, scrap that. First this.” He brought her into his arms and held her for a second, pulling back slightly only to kiss her lips. Her constantly welcoming lips. She opened her mouth to him without hesitation, and she felt like home. Jesus. Get your mind in the game.

She pulled away. “I’ve missed you. But I’ve missed food more. No offense.” She went to the dresser, grabbed a package and sat on the bed, opening it in her lap. He glanced at the briefest flash of the tops of her smooth breasts as she sat, making the top of the sundress gape a bit. He felt like a freaking teenager.

When he turned back to the dresser to grab his food, he caught sight of his smile in the mirror. As much as this couldn’t work for them, he was definitely enjoying himself.

“What happened?” she asked.

He took a bite of the kebab, and then wiped his mouth with a thin napkin. “I met your friend. He’s in some big trouble, or he will be at least.”

She stopped wolfing her food. “What did he say?”

“Nothing much, he just gave me a little background. He’s just a desk clerk. He’s on the Russian desk now and got some vague intel that no one else would believe, so he just took matters into his own hands. The fall-out we are experiencing right now is why no one lets low-level clerks work in intelligence. They don’t know enough to see the big picture. To imagine what could go wrong and weigh the consequences of action versus nonaction.

“Bottom line is that the Russians think that Doubrov slipped you something, not the other way around. That’s why they’re after you. His op that was meant to warn Doubrov that this colleague was being targeted ended up getting him killed and started the mother of all international incidents.” He paused to let that sink in. “Basically, it’s a bad karma blowback of epic proportions. On him, mainly, but also us now. And the US.”

She was silent, eyes half closed.

She tried to remember the excitement she’d felt when Brandon had asked her to serve her country. How proud she’d been. And now two people were dead, most likely because of her clumsiness. Two people were dead.

“I should just give myself up. I should turn myself in to the Greek police. Explain. God, I have to explain to the parents of the bellboy.” Her chest felt tight, as if there wasn’t enough room for her heart to beat in it anymore.

David crouched in front of her. “You can’t do that. Brandon’s mission wasn’t exactly sanctioned, which means you’ll have no protection from the US embassy. Which also means that the Russians and the Greeks don’t have to play nice with you. Besides which, you didn’t kill either Doubrov or the hotel employee, someone else did. We just have to keep you safe until they figure out who did.”

She looked into his eyes and saw his sincerity. Nodding acquiescence, she bit her lip to stop herself from crying. He was being so heroic, but she hated that she’d got him involved.

“I’m not going to leave your side. I promise you that. I’ll get you through this. It’s not your fault.” He shook her a little in his arms as if to make sure she understood.

She had no idea what she would have done without him. What if he hadn’t been in Athens? That was a fluke in itself. What if he hadn’t covered her with his body when the shots started? What if the Russian had taken her off to his embassy in nothing but a towel? Her breath hitched, and she couldn’t help a sob that racked through her body.

David stood, moved their food, and sat next to her, pulling her close in his arms. She made a weird noise as she tried to stop the tears. She couldn’t. Nothing could. All the stress and anxiety and worry came heaving out of her. Every time she tried to stop she couldn’t. She knew her nose was running and she was probably making a mess of his shirt, which made her cry more when she remembered that he had nothing to change into.

“Come on, sweetheart. It’ll be okay. We just need to wait until they lift the roadblocks and we’ll be out of here. Whether we have to drive, fly, or walk out, it’s okay. I’m not leaving you, and soon we’ll be stateside again and this will all be a memory.”

It was the right thing to say, but it made her cry more. She didn’t want her time with him to be just a memory. She hated that she’d got him wrapped up in this, and the fact that the Russians thought that Doubrov had given something to her just filled her with cold dread. She had to keep looking for a way out. She had to keep looking for a way out for David too.