cleaned up before their meeting, when the hotel phone rang.
“Nice work on keeping things low-key,” Inspector Mike Stotter said from Calgary. “Tell me why I shouldn’t haul your ass back here on the next plane?”
“I’ll explain what happened.”
“No, I’ll explain. The Secret Service called RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa. Ottawa called Edmonton, who called my boss, who had me spend much of yesterday defending you.”
“I can explain.”
“Tell me something, Dan. Why in the hell did you tell a senior Secret Service agent on the papal security detail that he’s a suspect in the Tarver case?”
“How is it that this agent is informed that the case, my case, has been officially cleared and closed?”
“That’s not the issue here.”
“It damn well is, sir. It’s not only a breach. I was betrayed by somebody feeding him BS.”
“Likely came from Ottawa bureaucrats, making an assumption and making nice.”
“Making nice? What’re you talking about?”
“Look, right now, every U.S. security agency is strained by the pope’s visit because they have to check every single burp by every nut job who makes a poten tial threat. Add to that the fact the president is scheduled to visit Canada in one month. Throw in the fact U.S. Canada relations are chilly right now, means every body’s tightly wound.”
“So? What’s that got to do with me looking into Ray Tarver’s background?”
“Ottawa does not want any tension with U.S. security people right now. Especially with the president coming to Canada and especially over this sort of thing.”
“I’m dealing with multiple deaths and you’re talking politics.”
“What happened to this family was terrible. But they died tragically while camping. You’ve followed your hunch. There’s nothing criminal or sinister here. Noth ing concrete. It’s got the hallmark of a tragic accident.”
“What?”
The long-distance line hissed before Stotter resumed.
“Dan, you know I’m right. And I’m sorry but I’m going to cut your trip short. We’ve got other cases and I need you back here.”
“Don’t do this, Mike. Let me have the time you gave me.”
“Dan, listen, I let you go down there because I
Six Seconds 239 thought it might help you. You’re one of our best inves tigators. You’ve been through a lot. I need you at full strength and I thought you needed to do this.”
“What’re you saying, Mike? That this was a pity assignment?”
“Dan.”
“I don’t believe this. Tell me, Mike, have we found Tarver’s body yet?”
“No.”
“Did we find his laptop yet?”
“No.”
“So why is everybody but me convinced this was an accident?”
In the awkward silence Graham sensed an uneasy answer being formed.
“You’re the one who heard voices, Dan.”
“That little girl spoke to me, Mike. Before she died, she spoke to me.”
“Dan, are you sure it was the little girl you heard?”
Graham’s stomach quaked and he squeezed the phone.
“Sir, I request permission to complete my assign ment in the time you’d allotted.”
Graham knew he couldn’t justify staying in the U.S. but in some small corner of his heart, someone, or something, was screaming for him to keep investigat ing.
“You’re there at my discretion.”
“I know, sir.”
“You’ve got a few more days. That’s it. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
38
Langley, Virginia
Some ten miles south of downtown Washington, D.C., in a secured Central Intelligence Agency conference room overlooking the Potomac Valley, experts from nearly twenty intelligence branches met to discuss papal and national security.
Special Agent Blake Walker was among the contin gent from the Secret Service.
Top of the agenda was a briefing by a high-ranking CIA officer who pointed to the man whose face stared at the group from the room’s large monitor.
“This is Issa al-Issa. Last week he was captured in Kuwait.”
Murmured reaction went round the table.
“As a result, what we’ve learned gives us reason to believe a major strike is planned during the pope’s visit to the U.S., and that the operation is well advanced.”
The agency had fragments of information indicating several key, but as yet unidentified, operatives linked to Issa’s network were in the United States. Those opera tives were said to be scientists or engineers in the fields
Six Seconds 241 of chemical, biological and atomic weaponry. These cells may be operating with other support cells who may provide access to money or resources.
“So what are we talking here?” asked a Homeland Security official. “Assassination by way of a nuke or dirty bomb?”
“Those are worst-case scenarios. The venues would provide an MCI and global exposure. The strike would be a grand slam in terms of symbolic meaning of a papal assassination on U.S. soil.”
A top military advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff pressed to know how the agency could ensure the veracity of the information.
“We’ve been down this road before,” the military advisor said. “Our understanding is that Issa was captured by mercenaries hired by a private international company contracted by the agency. The contractor was paid for its information in spite of a bad ending to Issa’s question ing under severe duress.”
The CIA officer studied his pen for a moment then said, “Unfortunately during his interview Issa passed away owing to a preexisting heart condition.”
“Look,” the military advisor said, “if Issa was tor tured in any way, it taints his information. He’d have told you any bull he thought you’d want to hear.”
A supervisor with the National Security Agency interjected.
“All that aside, the threat of a strike is consistent with some of the chatter we’ve intercepted that suggests something is underway.”
“Such as?”
“A number of ships steaming to U.S. ports reportedly with hostile cargo.”
“That kind of intelligence is a matter of routine,” the military advisor said. “And from what we understand, most of those reports have already been investigated and cleared.” The military advisor put his next question to those around the table: “Has anyone been able to link the information we think we have from Issa and the chatter?”
“What about this case of four Americans killed in Canada?” the man with the National Security Agency asked. “An investigative reporter from Washington, D.C., who’d reported on national security. Anything to this case that we should be concerned with?”
Blake Walker shook his head and took the question.
“We’re working with the Canadian Security Intelli gence Service in Ottawa and the Royal Canadian Mounted
