Foreign Agent Read Free Page A

“all clear,” the crew handed him his items and welcomed him back aboard. One cheerful staffer began to ask if he had enjoyed his time ashore, but he was halfway across the lobby before she could finish.
    Arriving at his stateroom, he paused at the door and listened. Nothing . Fishing out his key card, he let himself in.
    It was dark. He began to reach for the light, but stopped himself. The sliding glass door was open. A figure was standing on his balcony.

CHAPTER 4

    H arvath had known this was coming. He didn’t want it, but it was inevitable. Dropping the bags on the couch, he walked out onto the balcony.
    Lara Cordero was leaning against the rail with a glass of champagne in her hand. Her tight dress clung to her stunning body as a faint breeze moved her long, brown hair. She could have been a model for the cruise line. She looked gorgeous.
    “How’d it go?” she asked, gazing across the Danube.
    He hadn’t told her what he was doing, but she wasn’t stupid. He had been bombarded with calls and emails since they had arrived in Europe. He was also carrying a smartphone she had never seen before. She knew enough about him to put two and two together.
    He had promised her a vacation last fall, right before a megalomaniac at the United Nations engineered a devastating, global pandemic. While it burned itself out, he and Lara had taken refuge in Alaska. Under the circumstances, it wasn’t exactly the getaway either of them had envisioned. A cruise along the Danube was much more like it—at least for Lara. Harvath had a secondary agenda, and that’s why he had suggested it.
    Islamic terrorism had exploded in Europe. Americans had been killed. The United States had been unequivocal about what it expected its European allies to do. It was time for the gloves to come off. They were at war.
    The terrorists hid among the very people they were slaughtering. They used the freedom and openness of the West to strike at soft targetslike churches, cafés, restaurants, bars, transit centers, tourist attractions, sporting events, concerts, movie theaters, and schools.
    They were not legitimate combatants. They were savages. To expect any mercy from the nations upon whom they preyed was the height of insanity. They respected one thing and one thing only—force.
    Abubakar al-Shishani was responsible for a string of terror attacks in Paris that had killed multiple Americans. The fact that he moved about so openly in Vienna showed how little he feared any reprisal. Harvath had taken care of that, though.
    It was meant to be a message to the rest of them. If they killed Americans, America would kill them. It didn’t matter where they were, or how long it took. Harvath was happy to be the messenger.
    Moving in and out of Vienna via boat was too good an opportunity for Harvath to pass up. The cruise provided him with the perfect cover. It also provided him with a chance to have his cake and eat it too.
    He and Lara were at a crossroads. They needed the vacation, but they needed it in order to sort out what was going to happen next.
    The pandemic, though short-lived, had been brutal. It seemed everyone knew someone who had been impacted. That included Lara. Two of her superiors had succumbed. And because of it, she had been offered an amazing promotion.
    The Boston Police Department wanted to elevate her from homicide detective to commander of the entire unit.
    It was an incredible opportunity. But it meant she would have to remain in Boston.
    In the hope that she might relocate, Harvath had been reaching out to his contacts in and around D.C. They were all feeling a similar pinch. They had lost exceptional people, but wanted to promote from within. The chance Lara was being offered wasn’t going to be matched anywhere else.
    Although it killed him to admit it, it was the best decision she could make. He respected her sense of loyalty to a department that had always had her back, and to a city that she loved.
    There were other