“That won’t be a problem.”
Dima was deposited in one of O & O’s interrogation rooms, and told to wait in the chair.
A television monitor on a rolling stand was at the other end of the room. Three minutes after he sat down, it flickered on. Staring back at him was Director Helen Cho.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Dima,” she said.
“Director Cho,” he said, his mouth dry. Though he and everyone at O & O knew what she looked like, he’d never talked to her before.
“I have a few questions for you.”
“How can I help you?” he said, hoping to God this was a mistake and not what he feared it was.
She smiled. “I’m happy to hear you’re willing to cooperate. Why don’t we start with this? Tell me about your relationship with Mr. Griffin from Darvot Consulting.”
Not a mistake.
Exactly what he’d feared.
Director Cho’s news that the leak had been detained solidified the plan in Quinn’s mind. When he told her what he wanted to do and how she could be of assistance, he half expected her to order him to back off and leave the whole mess alone. He would have ignored her, of course, but it didn’t come to that. Her response instead was to make no response at all.
After the silence had gone on for more than twenty seconds, he said, “Does this mean we can count on you?”
More dead air.
“Director?
He heard her take a breath. “We may be many things, but the US government is not in the habit of sanctioning the death of law-abiding citizens, especially for personal gain. Provisionally, you can count on us.”
“Provisionally?”
“There are…others who need to be informed.”
“I don’t know if letting more people in on this is a good idea.”
“It’s the only way you’ll have my support, something you and your people will need. And trust me, the ones I need to talk to won’t say anything.”
“How long do you need?”
“Thirty minutes. An hour at the outside.”
“I’ll be waiting for your call.”
They gathered in Orlando’s room.
Present were Quinn, Nate, Liz, and the other men who’d been rescued from Duran Island — Lanier, Berkeley, and Curson. Daeng, Howard, and Misty were conferenced in via Orlando’s phone, while the Mole was listening in on Nate’s.
The medical staff had not been happy to see everyone piling into the room, but Quinn had squelched the protest after a quick, pointed conversation with Dr. Montero. Unless one of Orlando’s medical alarms went off, no one would enter.
Quinn laid out the details of his plan, then said, “Now is the time for you to tell me if you are unable or unwilling to participate.”
His gaze lingered on the three men who’d been held captive with Nate and Peter. While they had started to recover from their wounds, none of them was at full strength yet. But not one opened his mouth. Instead, they all looked determined and ready.
Quinn glanced at his sister. There was a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. “You okay?” he asked.
After a second, she nodded. “Yeah.”
“If you have a problem with any of this, speak up.”
“No, it’s just you’ve all lived in this world for a long time. I’m still getting used to it. To most people, something like this would be handled by, I don’t know, I guess the FBI.”
“And in that world, an FBI investigation would be long and complicated, and probably turn into a media fiasco that would affect everything for months or perhaps even years. Chances are, some good people would be taken down because of it. You understand that, right?”
She nodded.
“Personally,” he said, “I don’t give a damn whether there’s an investigation and scandal or not. What I do give a damn about is them.” He gestured at Lanier, Berkeley, and Curson. “And about Nate, and Orlando, and Peter. And Peter’s wife. In our business, we don’t wait years for justice that may or may not come. We deal with it ourselves.” He paused. “I understand if you have a problem with this. If I were you, I’d probably have a problem, too. So if you’d rather not help out, that’s okay.”
Liz looked at him with eyes that matched his own intensity, and her hand slipped into Nate’s. “I never said that. You know I’ll do anything you need me to do.”
He wasn’t sure how to feel about her support. He had never wanted to expose her to his life of secrets and death, but ever since they had reconnected, it seemed that was all he’d done. He was saved from saying anything else by the vibration of his phone.
“You can remove the provisional,” Helen told him. “You have our support.”
“How high does that support go?”
“High enough.”
A beat. “I guess it’s time to get things rolling.”
CHAPTER 33
Griffin was beginning to lose his patience.
The first thing he did when he’d arrived back at his office was to assign one of his local computer-geek contacts the task of figuring out the phone number Steve Howard had used to call him, so they could then establish the phone’s exact location. But after two hours, the geek was no closer to knowing the number than when he’d started. Howard was apparently using some pretty advanced security software.
The Mole was proving useless, too. The only contact Griffin had from him was a brief e-mail saying he was making progress on the woman but basically had nothing solid yet.
And if those two things weren’t enough to cause him to lose his cool, Dima wasn’t returning his calls. Dima had told Griffin he was on duty that night. Even if he was monitoring several active O & O operations, he still should’ve had time to talk to Griffin.
Griffin checked the clock—8:37 p.m. Morten’s flight was due to land in an hour and a half. He would expect Griffin to be waiting in the back of the car when he was picked up, which meant Griffin would have to leave in forty-five minutes. He would much rather wait at the office for his boss, but he knew that wasn’t acceptable.
The cell phone on his desk began to ring — the one that had been waiting for him in his car. It was now hooked up to his computer, so that call data would be instantly sent to the geek.
He snatched it up.
“Mr. Howard,” he said.
“Mr. Griffin,” said the same caller from before.
“Are you calling because you’re ready to meet now?”
“I’m calling to see if you’ve had time to think about what I shared with you.”
Griffin picked up some additional noise on the line that hadn’t been there the last time the man called. He couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like the man was in a car or some other type of vehicle.
“Why would I do that?” Griffin said. “I have no idea what any of that meant.”
“You’re not a very good liar.”
“Perhaps there are misunderstandings all around, which I think is a good reason for us to get together and talk. Don’t you?”
“If you’re unwilling to admit the truth now, then why would talking in person be any different?”
“Mr. Howard — Steve — you’re being unreasonable. It’s a simple sit-down. I’ll even let you choose the place.”
“When I call back, rethink your earlier answer.”
The man hung up.
Griffin immediately grabbed his desk phone and called the geek.
“Were you able to trace it?” he said.
“No,” the guy said. “The call was bounced all over the place.”
Fuck!
“But,” the geek said, “I may have broken through the firewall. I’ve got the first two digits of the phone number, and should be able to get the rest. Just need a little time.”
“Then do it,” Griffin said, and disconnected.