Harvath’s attitude was: If you break into my house in the middle of the night with a butcher knife, I’m not going to leave my shotgun under the bed out of “fairness.” If you come at me, if you threaten my family, my home, or my country, I’m coming right back at you with everything I have. Don’t want the horns? Stay the hell away from the bull.
Looking at Lydia Ryan, he smiled and said, “We’re going to hold off on the Department of Justice for the time being. It’s just going to be us.”
CHAPTER 33
Helena had never eaten farm-fresh eggs before. Even Jeffery, who never smiled, took pleasure in watching her eat.
“This is the way people were meant to eat,” Damien said approvingly. “Fresh, local food.”
She was embarrassed with how fast she had finished her omelet. The flavors from the eggs, the fresh spinach, the farm goat cheese — they were amazing.
Damien laughed. “Would you like another?”
“I shouldn’t,” Helena replied.
“Nonsense,” he said. “Jeffery, make another please, and we’ll split it.”
The man nodded and disappeared back into the kitchen.
“I’m going to have to add an extra half hour on the treadmill this morning.”
Damien reached out and pulled her chair closer. “You are absolutely perfect. Do you know that?”
Helena smiled and ran her fingers through his hair. “If I’m perfect, it’s only because I’m honest about how long I need to be on the treadmill.”
“I’m not talking about your body. I’m talking about you.”
She had no idea what had gotten into him.
“You’re in a good mood this morning.”
“Aren’t I always?” he asked.
She smiled. “Most days, yes, but you seem especially happy today.”
He took a moment to compose his thoughts. “I look at you. I look at this farm. We have everything we could possibly need right here. The world could come to an end tomorrow and we’d be absolutely fine. In fact, we would be wonderful.”
“Do you know something I don’t?” she teased. “Is there a comet headed our way or something?”
Damien held her chin in his hand and kissed her. It was a long, slow, soft kiss. “What do you want to do today?”
“What are my choices?” she whispered, moving closer to him.
He smiled. “I meant here on the farm. I have to go out for a while. You have the horses, the ATVs, whatever you want. Just speak to Jeffery, and he’ll take care of it.”
Helena kissed him back. “I may want to ride later, I don’t know. I have to finish my trafficking presentation for the UN.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that.”
“Because the comet’s coming.”
It took Damien a moment to grasp her joke before he laughed.
“Pierre,” she said. “Do you not take my work seriously?”
“Of course I do. It’s just that it’s going to be a beautiful day. Promise me you won’t waste all of it inside.”
“I promise,” she replied. “As long as you promise that when you get back, we can swim naked.”
He gave her another long kiss before breaking it off and standing up. “Should we go into town for lunch this afternoon, or would you prefer to stay here?”
She pretended to think about it and then said, “Can we bring our own wine?”
“Of course we can. Whatever you want.”
“Wonderful. Let’s go into town then.”
“Okay. You choose the spot,” he said. “Jeffery will make our reservations.”
She smiled as she watched him walk out of the dining room. He picked up his coat in the front hall and exited the house.
There was the sound of his security team opening and closing car doors, engines starting, and then vehicles rolling away down the driveway. One down, she thought. Now all she had to do was wait for Jeffery to leave.
Damien had given him a list of errands he wanted him to run that morning. As soon as he was gone, she could get to work.
Changing into her running clothes, she walked to the outbuilding that held the gym. With its floor-to-ceiling windows, she had a perfect view of the driveway. After ten minutes of stretching, she popped her earbuds in and began running on the treadmill. Twenty minutes later, she saw Jeffery pull away in the farm’s vintage Jeep Wagoneer with its wood-paneled sides. Hitting the stop button, she grabbed a towel and headed back up to the house.
After checking each room to make sure no one else was there, she made her way to the library. Damien had only taken his coat with him, which meant his laptop had to have been left behind. Setting her phone on the desk, she opened its lower right drawer. The safe, with its digital keypad, was identical to the one in Geneva.
Punching in the code, she waited for the light to turn green and then opened it. Inside was Damien’s laptop. She quickly pulled it out and powered it up.
Thankfully, the keystroke reader differentiated between last night’s entries on that bitch Linda’s computer versus Damien’s. Looking at her phone, into which she had inserted the reader’s memory card, Helena made ready to enter the first string of letters, symbols, and numbers.
When the password screen came up, she plugged everything in and held her breath.
It felt like an eternity, but seconds later the main screen appeared, and she had access to Damien’s machine.
As in his personal life, Damien’s files were perfectly organized. Each one was labeled with a logical heading and subdivided into appropriate folders and documents.
Helena had six key words she was looking for. None of them were in any of the corresponding folder or document titles she was looking at.
Opening up the search function, she searched for the first word on her list. Nothing.
She then tried the second. Nothing.
Not allowing herself to become discouraged, she tried the third and fourth. The results were both the same. Nothing.
The fifth word also produced no results. Now, she was becoming nervous. Entering the sixth word on her list, she allowed her finger to hover over the return button for several seconds. If this didn’t work, she didn’t know what she was going to do. Finally, she pressed the button and waited for her search results.
Jackpot!
Smoothing her ponytailed hair, she began opening the documents. It was all there — all of it and more.
Picking up her phone, she switched it to camera mode and slowly scrolled through the documents, clicking picture after picture.
She had made it about halfway through when she heard a noise from outside the library. It sounded like it had come from the entry hall. Was it one of the farm staff? Had Damien come back already?
She rushed through the documents, taking picture after picture. There was the sound of heavy footsteps in the hallway. Whoever it was, it sounded like they were making their way right toward her. Helena took a deep breath and tried not to panic. She needed to photograph the rest of it.
She fired the camera repeatedly, capturing page after page.
The footsteps now sounded like they were right outside the door, but it was a long hallway and the echoes could be playing tricks on her ears. There was perspiration above her eyebrows, but she didn’t dare waste a second wiping it away. She had to finish. It needed to be done.
Her heart was pounding in her chest. Her instincts were screaming for her to get the hell out of there.
Suddenly, there was a hand on the knob. Slowly, it began to turn. When it opened, Jeffery found Helena standing at Mr. Damien’s desk, the local paper spread out across it.