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At thatHe scooped it up
“Yes?”
“It’s me,” Aidan said
Instantly, Philip set down the phone and pressed the speaker button “Marc and I were on the verge of calling you Do you have so for us?”
“Oh, yeah,” Aidan replied “Terri’s about to send you a private chatwhat I’m about to briefly relay” Aidan proceeded to tell them what Vance’s conversation with Lauren had yielded
Philip whistled “The ti of this information couldn’t have been better” He proceeded to tell Aidan about the CI Marc would be ht “We’ll talk to Danijel about this kulen and see if he can use it to narrow the field of questioning and steer it in the direction of operations in Slavonia We’ll move from there, hopefully armed with more ammunition”
“Good Were you calling to give me an update at your end?”
Marc and Philip exchanged glances, and Philip gestured for Marc to take the lead
It was probably best that way
“Aidan” Marc kept it factual, laying out the realities and waiting to deal with the fallout “Our investigation here suggests that the Sallaku OC fa Unfortunately, they have a reputation for killing victims despite monetary compensation They have their own set of rules and wouldn’t think twice about screwing over the Chinese once they’ve been paid” A heartbeat of a pause “Which et to Lauren”
There was dead silence at the other end of the phone
“Aidan?”
“I’m still here” Aidan sounded as thrown as Marc had expected “I’ve been protons that Lauren would be returned safely if they followed our lead I don’t break promises Plus, I’m a father How can I tell another father that, not only have I reater jeopardy than we all thought? Vance is already at the breaking point I already need hi Based on what you’re telling me, that’s even more essential ”
“I know this puts you in a terrible position,” Marc replied quietly “But principles or not, candor has to take a back seat here You can’t tell them; Vance will definitely blow it, fro Lauren home, alive and unharmed Her father never has to know more than that”
“There’s no other way I get it” Aidan gave the only answer he could, then quickly switched gears to avoid dwelling on the subject “Anything I should know about your upco? Same MO?”