“YA priglasil yeyo na svidaniye. Ona otkazala. Eto problema — dlya neyo.”I ask her out. She give me no. That is problem—for her.
Halston crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.
“Dostatochno,” said Dmitri Petrov. “Proyavite vezhlivost' k dame.”Enough.Show manners to the lady.
Dmitri Petrov offered a smile, which turned his puffy cheeks into balloons. “My apology. You are very pretty. He turn into animal. Won’t happen again.”
“Thank you,” she said and excused herself.
At her desk, she logged in, opened email and started scrolling through the unread ones.
Not long after, the ambassador appeared in her doorway. “Minka, I’m sorry about Bob Smith.”
“He was rude.”
“How are you doing with accommodations? Not staying in the compound?”
Dammit, he remembered.
“Sir, Natasha checked. There’s a long waitlist?—”
“I can make it happen.”
Hell, no.
“I’m in the overflow building. It’s perfect for me. I’m happy there. It reminds me of home. I want to feel comfortable. You understand, yes?”
“Of course.” A pause, then, “Do you have something for me?”
“Sir?”
“Thumb drive, Minka.”
Her shoulders dropped. “Mr. Ambassador, there was no thumb drive. I searched twice.”
His cold stare sent a shiver through her. “Nothing?”
“No, sir. There was no thumb drive. Not even in the safe. I’m sorry I failed you.”
After a second, he furrowed his brow. “Mr. Petrov gave me date… but it left me.”
“January 15th. Why don’t I add it to your schedule?”
“No,” he replied.
That was the first time he’d asked her to keep an eventoffthe calendar.
“What’s happening on January 15th?” she asked.
“Something very exciting,” he replied with a smile, “and you’ll know soon enough.”
9
NEW YEAR’S EVE
GABRIEL
Friday evening, eight o’clock on New Year’s Eve, Gabriel took Hotel Dillinger’s service elevator to the loading dock out back. Dressed in black, and wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, he shouldered his long gun in its bag. After exiting the building, he made his way to the parked SUV nearby.