Extreme Faction Read Online Free PDF Page B

Something could have sunk down into your drink.” He knew this wasn’t the case or more people would have been afflicted. Yet, just to be safe, it was a good idea to keep the two of them on their toes.
    MacCarty slowly set the drink on a table. “Well, we’ve got a shitload of meetings tomorrow anyway. We can always grab a drink at our hotel. Bill and I will be along shortly.”
    â€œI should probably accompany you. That’s what I’m here for,” Jake said.
    Swanson smirked as if to say he could handle himself.
    MacCarty slapped Jake on the shoulder. “We’ll be all right, Jake. We’ll take a cab.”
    The three of them were staying six blocks away in the Chornoye Hotel off Primorski Boulevard. Jake figured they couldn’t get into too much trouble with a short ride like that. As he drifted off across the room, he continued searching for Chavva, but she was definitely not there. In fact, neither were any of the Israeli businessmen.
    Out in the lobby, Jake made a quick phone call. When a man answered the phone, he excused himself in Ukrainian and hung up. It was his signal for the Odessa station chief to meet him immediately at a predetermined spot.
    Jake stepped out onto Primorski Boulevard and started walking east. Tall trees lined the wide promenade, yet he could still see the lights from the harbor below. With such a warm evening, many others were out walking. Young couples, groups of girls and boys, and the frequent drunken old men staggering here and there. After three blocks, he turned south on Pushkinskaya down along a narrow park. Two blocks later the Volga sedan pulled up to the curb and a door opened. Jake slipped in.
    Soon, Tully O’Neill turned left and headed toward Shevchenko Park. Neither said a word.
    Jake had never worked for Tully O’Neill, since Tully had only recently taken over in Odessa. He had heard that Tully had worked for years in Bucharest, Sofia and Kiev as an operations officer. Odessa was his first assignment as station chief, which made him a late bloomer to the old agency, having first worked as a bureaucrat in Defense and the State Department. He believed he got a break with the new Agency because he wasn’t one of the good old boys. In fact, at fifty, he would have normally been in charge of a much larger operation. The years showed in his receding hairline, long gray hair, and reddened eyes that drooped from lack of sleep and too much alcohol each night.
    Yet, Jake had heard through the grapevine that Tully was a man to be trusted. He would put everything, including his life, on the line for a friend. Jake hoped that wouldn’t be necessary.
    Tully finally pulled over on a secluded street on the north side of the vast park with a view of the large ocean cargo vessels, and he cut the engine.
    â€œWell, what’s up?” Tully asked.
    â€œYou didn’t hear?”
    Tully gave Jake a blank stare.
    â€œSomeone just killed Tvchenko.”
    Tully smashed his hands against the steering wheel. “God dammit. How?”
    â€œAt the dinner tonight,” Jake said. “A nerve agent pellet or something. I’m not positive.” He shook his head.
    Pulling a cigarette from inside his coat, Tully offered one to Jake, who refused. He lit a Marlboro and inhaled deeply. “You know this town as well as I do, Jake. What do you think?”
    Jake shrugged, and then rubbed his hand again. The puncture was stinging now.
    â€œWhat’s that?” Tully asked.
    â€œI’m not sure. I got it when I shook hands with Tvchenko just before he died.”
    â€œLet me look closer.” Tully pulled Jake’s hand toward him and turned on the dome light. In a moment he said, “Son of a bitch. It’s a message.”
    â€œWhat the hell are you talking about?”
    â€œHere, look.” Tully pulled a small Swiss army knife from his pocket and opened a tiny, pointed blade that looked extremely sharp. He