Goldin heard it the same moment she did. She knew in that instant she’d made a mistake. Goldin turned instinctively to the right, raised his arm, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Tatyana and the force of it knocked her sideways into the path of the oncoming train.

38

When Lance finally got Roth’s call, the sun was already beginning to rise. He’d been sitting at his table at Monroe’s all night, drinking coffee and getting up to speed on the files Laurel had left with him.

“I’m in the city, Levi,” he said.

“Lance,” Roth said, his voice hoarse. “Something’s happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“You still at Monroe’s?”

“Been here all night.”

“You know the pay phone outside?”

“If it’s still there.”

“It is. I’ll call you on it in one minute.”

Lance got the waitress’s attention and told her he was going outside and would be right back.

When he reached the pay phone, it was already ringing.

“It’s me.”

“Good. After our call, get rid of your phone, all your electronics. Get a burner and call me.”

“You had a system breach?”

“I don’t know what we had, but I’m flushing the lines.”

Roth was head of the most elite group in the CIA. If he’d been breached, something major was going down.

“What’s going on?”

“Laurel went to make contact with the Russian.”

“When?”

“Last night.”

“What did she get?”

Roth was agitated. Something wasn’t right.

“I got drone footage of the meet. Facial recognition has the contact as a GRU agent. One of Igor Aralov’s in the Main Directorate.”

“What’s her name?”

“Tatyana Aleksandrova.”

Lance was removing the sim card from his phone. He nearly dropped it when he heard Tatyana’s name. He remembered her as clearly as if it had been just yesterday. They’d both been in the Syrian capital at the same time. There were Russians everywhere in Damascus back then, but Tatyana was different. He’d remember her as long as he lived.

“I remember her, Levi. But it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“And what am I thinking?”

“You’re thinking I had a thing with her.”

“I could care less what you had with her.”

“Then what’s bugging you?”

“She’s dead is what’s bugging me, Lance.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“How?”

“Shot in a subway station in New York.”

“When?”

“A few hours ago.”

“Is Laurel all right?”

There was the briefest pause, and then, “She was shot too, Lance.”

Lance said nothing. He suddenly felt like the world was spinning out of control.

“Lance?” Roth said. “Lance?”

“So the Russians found out?”

“They must have.”

“How did Laurel and Tatyana get caught in the open like that?”

“Something went wrong. We found Tatyana’s handgun. It was loaded with blanks.”

“A trap?”

“And they walked right into it.”