“I suppose that’s true,” Smith admitted. “And then she got pregnant.”
“Leverage,” Melamid said. “Against her. Against you.”
“You’d be a terrible spy not to see that,” Smith said. “Nancy was leverage.”
“Big mess. Nothing but big mess. No winning or losing. Just suffering.”
Smith glanced at his watch. “Another five minutes.”
Melamid harrumphed. “Good. I despise the cold.”
“You’re sure your superiors believe Alex is dead?”
Melamid glanced away. “Nothing is certain.”
“That’s… most unsettling.”
“It is what it is,” Melamid said with a shrug.
Nancy pulled the black Lincoln to the curb in front of the park bench and stared at them with dead eyes.
“I don’t know which is worse,” Smith said. “Losing Alex forever…”
“Or?”
“Or losing the chance to help Nancy,” Smith said. He stood and offered Melamid his hand. “She’s capable of… so much. It should terrify you. It does me.”
Chapter Eleven
Barbara Novak sat in the Admiral’s Club lounge in the DFW Airport, staring at her phone.
We were briefed on this last year. They can track our cell phones. Even turning off the GPS locator service doesn’t help. They can triangulate our position from cell towers. That’s what the Army has been doing in Afghanistan.
She had removed the battery from her phone before she had left Washington. The last thing she needed was the black ops group knowing she had trekked out to Crawford to meet with the former president.
The gap in my cell phone coverage will stand out like a red flag.
She considered putting the battery back in and turning on the phone, but her stomach roiled.
I flew commercial. There’s a record of my ticket.
She glanced over her shoulder at the nearly empty lounge. The few inhabitants went about their business without acknowledging her.
I’m the Senate Minority Leader. Why hasn’t anyone recognized me? Surely they know who I am.
She took deep, gulping breaths before she realized that in street clothes, with a thick brown coat and sunglasses, she looked like any other middle-aged woman waiting for a flight.
They wouldn’t harm a senator.
Her aide, Walter, had once referred to JSOC as Murder, Incorporated, a sentiment shared by many on Capitol Hill.
That’s not fair. If they received the same briefings I do, they’d know just how much deliberation goes into each JSOC operation.
If that were true, why did she feel sick to her stomach? Surely turning men and women into professional killers made them less… human. Would they think twice about killing an old woman?
No, I’m safe. We have rules. They can’t just kill whoever they want.
Except, that was exactly what the black ops group supposedly did. They did what they wanted, when they wanted, and where they wanted. They reported only to the president.
I’ve been friends with the president for years. We’ve had lunches together!
The more she thought about it, though, the more she realized they were working lunches. They campaigned together, but that was party business.
I guess I… don’t know him. Our friendship is a working convenience.
The young president from Illinois was famous for his analytical, almost Vulcan logic, as Walter constantly reminded her. His temperament was slow to anger and eager to resolve problems.
What if I’m just one more problem that needed solving?
It was too late. She was a fool. If she really was under suspicion, her actions since meeting with Kellerman were setting off alarms.
If the former president really had been in charge of such a group, he might just call the current president and tell him about a problem that could be easily removed. A mistake with medication, perhaps. Enough to cause a fatal arrhythmia.
If it really was as she feared, she was too late. With that came another, uncharacteristically vulgar thought.
I’m so fucked.
“You were told not to release that video,” Huang Lei said.
Patrick O’Mara gulped. “I’m sorry, sir. It was a mistake.”
“I’m afraid you can’t afford another mistake.”
“Please don’t be angry—”
“Anger is a useless emotion,” Huang Lei said. “You were given a job, and you failed to perform as required.”
“Wait! I’ve done everything you’ve asked.”
“Until this, yes, but past performance does not excuse your current failure. Our partnership has reached its end.”
“Don’t — don’t kill me. You need me.”
He hated to admit it, but O’Mara had been useful. “You’ve brought unwanted attention to the DFA.”
“It — it wasn’t me. It was… she didn’t know what she was doing—”
Lei sighed. O’Mara’s love interest. The young girl from Chicago. “You need to control your people.”
“I will.”
“Let me be clear. Do not fail me again. Do you understand?”
O’Mara swallowed hard. “I understand.”
“The people who are no doubt looking for you are very dangerous. They will stop at nothing to find you, and they have the means to track you no matter where you may go. How will you deal with this?”
“I know who you’re talking about,” O’Mara said.
“Do you?” Lei asked.
“I’m not stupid. It’s the Americans.”
Lei nodded. “You must take refuge.”
“I’m safe here,” O’Mara said. “For now.”
“You believe so?”
“At least for a few days. If I can get to the United States…”
“Absurd,” Lei said. “Attempting such a thing will end in your capture, followed closely by your torture.”
“I can escape with your help. You have resources.”
“Why the United States?”
“I can disappear there,” O’Mara said. “It’s a big place. They won’t find me.”
Lei kept his face carefully neutral. “Perhaps such a thing can be arranged. Stay where you are. I’ll contact you with instructions.”
O’Mara smiled in relief. “You won’t be sorry.”
“Of course,” Lei said. He disconnected from the videoconference and made another call.
A man answered and said gruffly, “You have orders?”
“O’Mara is your new target. Where are you?”
“Still in Zürich.”
“I’ll send you his address.”
The man’s face betrayed no emotion. “You want it done immediately?”
“Observation only,” Huang Lei said. “You’ll know when to act.”
The man slowly nodded. “It’s… time?”
“Yes.” Huang Lei raised his finger to terminate the call. “You are an honorable man. Your work has been exemplary.”
The man’s face softened. “Thank you, sir.”
Huang Lei bowed deeply before disconnecting. He checked the time on his computer. Lee Chen would be calling in a few hours, and he used the time to open the folder on his computer and read the report, marveling again at what some people considered waste. It had taken the better part of a decade and tens of millions of dollars to find the codes on the old computers.
So many… variables. So much time and effort. But what was once lost is now mine. Just a few more days and I will finally achieve the impossible.
Melamid drank coffee and read a newspaper in front of the elegant fireplace. Nancy watched him the way a big cat would its prey. There was no warmth that Smith could see, nor even a cold hate.