Run Girl: Ingrid Skyberg FBI Thrillers Prequel Novella Read Online Free PDF Page B

all men and you need a woman to act as chaperone once she’s found?” Ingrid couldn’t think of another possible explanation for her involvement.
    “Not exactly.” He slipped the cigarettes back in his pocket. “The FBI has a single dedicated post here at the embassy for dealing with criminal matters. An errant granddaughter on the lam? That’s not something for counterterrorism or counterintelligence agents to get involved with. Politically, that would be… inappropriate. So…” He glanced toward Angelis for assistance. Franklin looked like a man in need of saving.
    “The agent who previously had the job here is no longer in post. I gather he left in rather a hurry,” Angelis said.
    “So you want me to do his job until the girl is located?”
    Sol Franklin smiled broadly at her. “Precisely.”
    “Wouldn’t it just be easier to bring in some trusted members of the UK security forces? MI5?” She threw Angelis a glowering look. She still didn’t understand why an operative from a private security company was so closely involved in the operation. “MI5 wouldn’t go running to the press.”
    “It’s not an official matter. We don’t want to escalate it to the level of an international incident. Getting MI5 involved would do exactly that,” Franklin said and looked at Angelis again. “Which is why we’re utilizing the services of Nick’s company.”
    Ingrid sat very still for a few moments and considered everything she’d been told. There still seemed to be a piece of the puzzle missing. “If this girl is smart, resourceful, and clearly determined to pursue her own agenda here in Europe… what’s the problem? She’ll do whatever it is she came here for then return to Paris, won’t she? Why do we have to track her down at all?”
    Sol Franklin shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “We can’t wait around for her to just turn up. We absolutely must find Rachel Whitticker before the Secretary of State completes today’s round of negotiations in Strasbourg—at midnight tonight.”
    A moment later it dawned on Ingrid what they had been keeping from her.
    Sweet Jesus .
    She stared first at Angelis then Sol Franklin. “The Secretary of State doesn’t even know her granddaughter is missing, does she?”

8
    For a moment, all Ingrid could do was stare into space as she calculated the possible ramifications of not informing the Secretary of State and then not being able to locate the girl. She stopped when her imagination conjured up so much crap hitting the fan they’d need waterproofs and waders.
    “You can’t keep this from her,” Ingrid said. “She has a right to know.”
    “The Secretary of State is in the middle of very delicate negotiations. We can’t risk her being distracted by something this… this…” Sol Franklin was having trouble finding the right word.
    “Her eighteen-year-old granddaughter has disappeared—please don’t tell me you were going to say trivial .” Ingrid wondered whether they’d be treading on such sensitive eggshells if the Secretary of State had been a man. Didn’t they think Jayne Whitticker could cope with a family crisis and still do her job? Ingrid decided to keep that observation to herself. It wouldn’t help the situation.
    “You’ve got to understand our position here. It’s one hell of a judgment call.”
    “What about the girl’s parents? Surely you have to tell them?”
    “At the moment,” Angelis interjected, “this is all about containment. We need to keep this information as secure as we can.”
    “Her parents are hardly likely to leak the news to the media,” Ingrid said, then immediately realized how wrong she was. Of course they’d go to the papers and the TV stations—anything to get their daughter back. Angelis was about to speak, but Ingrid held up her hand. “It’s OK—I know what you’re going to say. So—we tell no one. I get that. But what happens when the Secretary of State finally does find out about