The Prague Plot: The Cold War Meets the Jihad (Jeannine Ryan Series Book 3) by James E. Mosimann

Then we went to bed.”
    Jim raised his eyebrows.
    Mila huffed.
    “Relax, he was in the spare bedroom.”
    “All right. Did you or Vaclav go to your office that night?”
    “No, and as far as I know Vaclav never was there.”
    “How did he get the minivan?”
    “Wednesday morning, I took him to the Enterprise Rental in Kill Devil Hills. But you’re a cop, I’m sure you already checked that it was their minivan.”
    Jim nodded.
    “You’re right. I am a cop. Look at this mess around you. Someone wants something Vaclav had, and they think you have it.”
    “But he didn’t give me anything.”
    Jim surveyed the torn papers, ripped cushions and open books strewn about the floor. He kicked at the rubble.
    He thought back to his days as a detective in Raleigh. Investigations mostly dealt with the obvious. Of course!
    “Mila, the carryon. Where is it?”
    “Maybe he took it with him in the van.”
    “It was not in the abandoned minivan. Your cousin could have it, or whoever shot Vaclav, or maybe it’s in the dunes, near where I found the van?”
    Mila froze. Silent, she stared out the window.
    “Damn it, Mila, you know more than you let on. Don’t hold out on me. Tell me.”
    He took her hand.
    “You’re in danger. You need to trust someone. Try me.”
    Mila’s shoulders shook and her lips quivered. Jim put his arm around her.
    “Mila, please, let me help you. Tell me what you know.”
    Her body went slack. She rested her head on his shoulder.
    “I want to, but I’m afraid. Jim, can I trust you?”
    She did not wait for a response.
    “I’ll tell you everything. The man who was here last night, Gustav, is the one who shot Vaclav. His last name is Slavik. He was a true communist, probably still wants to be, but now does jobs for money, what you call ‘wet work.’ He’s an assassin, but because Ivana is my friend, he never would hurt me.”
    She saw his look of incredulity.
    “Look, the eighties were all mixed up. In the same family some were communists, some were not, and many that were communists were liberal and against the Soviets. Our old folks had proved that too in 1968. It was liberal communists that gave us the Prague Spring before the Soviets crushed it.”
    She slipped her head off his shoulder and looked into his eyes.
    “You have to understand that we Czechs are not barbarians. We are cultured. Mozart loved Prague. And we are Westerners, Western Slavs. Prague is west of Vienna!”
    Jim Harrigan stared. Where is she going with this?
    “Anyway, Gustav had a job to do for Karel, a bigwig with Hus-Kinetika. Because of Ivana, Gustav has turned against Karel. He wanted Vaclav’s papers to trade with Karel for Ivana’s safety, for her freedom. Gustav knew her mother and father.”
    “Mila, you are talking about a cold-blooded killer. What have you done?”
    “I believed Gustav. I gave him what I had, Vaclav’s carryon.”
    “You what!”
    “Don’t be angry. It might not be that important.”
    “What the hell do you mean by that?”
    “There was nothing in the carryon but a change of clothes. But there is something else I didn’t share with you.”
    Jim Harrigan shook his head in disbelief. What now?
    “I told you the truth when I said Vaclav didn’t give me anything. He didn’t. But it wasn’t the whole truth. When he arrived at the airport he had some newspapers under his arm. When I drove him to the Enterprise Rental, we stopped first at a UPS store. The newspapers were with him when he went in, but when he came out they were gone. He must have used them as packing. The point is he mailed something.”
    “And?”
    “I saw the address on the receipt. It was to Dr. Peter Zeleny, care of some company called ‘Ryan Associates’ in Bethesda Maryland.”
    Jim stared in stunned silence.
***
    In Maryland, at Ryan Associates in Bethesda, Jeannine Ryan looked up from her desk as Aileen arrived at the office.
    “Aileen, where is Peter’s father staying?”
    “He has a motel in Rockville,