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“I love you, too,” she wept “But I’m so afraid Please, Daddy—”

The screen went dark

16

Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe

28 February

Wednesday, 7:17 am local time

Aidan was hunched over his cotons’ suite, rapidly Googling for information on what he’d just heard, when Terri called

“Kulen is a se, spiced with paprika, and prepared priion of Croatia,” she said, answering his unspoken question “Slavonia is in the northeast corner of the country Its size is four thousand eight hundred forty-eight square miles, and it’s approxireb Population-wise, it’s just over eight hundred thousand people Osijek—which is its est city in Croatia with an approxi said that, Slavonia is predo of vast far a kidnapping victim Those are the basic specs Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll have a fully detailed dossier for the entire team”

“I’ll give Philip and Marc a heads-up,” Aidan replied “I’ the”

The Westin Zagreb

Zagreb, Croatia

28 February

Wednesday, 4:21 pm local time

Philip and Marc were seated around the coffee table in the living roo the notes they’d cos with Danijel’s CIs Marc had handled the first , and Philip the second

Danijel had provided theroups ere still operational—to varying degrees—in Croatia One group could be iiven that its leader was presently spending tianization was in disarray That left two plausible groups Marc and Philip had used that knowledge as a foundation when they questioned the CIs and haddetails