“As far as I can tell—and this is just preliminary—accomplice wasn’t on our Dallas flight. I’ve followed the time stamps forward from Dallas–Frankfurt and backward from Frankfurt–Berlin, and the only trace I have is at a restaurant about fifteen minutes before accomplice heads to gate twenty-four. With enough time and energy, we might be able to get a hit on when and from where. But in an airport this crowded, with thousands of people arriving in any given hour, multiplied by an unknown number of identity changes, multiplied again by the way these guys are able to manipulate perception and toy with the cameras, I don’t have the resources to do it.”

“Send it all to headquarters.”

“They might already have it and have chosen not to share.”

“That’s their prerogative,” he said. “Send it anyway. They’ll know we know.”

Nick started up off the floor.

Kara said, “There’s something you need to consider.”

He let himself back down.

She relaxed her fingers and rested them against the keyboard. She said, “When we got called up, all we had on target was a flight number, which came in last minute and left us rushing to make that departure. Then we got a seat number, which gave us passport data and, from there, name, photo, whatever. And what that means is, we knew target’s seat number before we knew who was in the seat. You follow?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure I will. Keep going.”

“We start out looking for just one guy, who turns into two. Headquarters knows but doesn’t tell us. Emilia’s team happens to be on our flight, which headquarters also knows and also fails to mention, and all this raises questions about what else they know and aren’t telling. Protocol is protocol, and reasons are reasons. I’m sure it’s all legit, but we got lucky in Frankfurt, Nick. We were sitting in a trap, and he left us there. We might not be as fortunate next time.”

Nick’s expression clouded. He said, “What are you really getting at?”

“I can’t do my job unless I’m given all the data,” she said. “Maybe, you know, maybe there are things you’re aware of that you can’t mention, and if that’s the case, I respect it, but I really need to know if there’s something going on with this op that’s above my paygrade.”

He sat silent for a beat and said, “Everything I know, you know. It’s always been that way, Kara, and always will.”

She accepted his words at face value. If he, the one person she truly trusted, was lying, there was no point to anything else. “Okay,” she said.