Carlton joined him, taking the chair opposite his in front of the fire. “It shouldn’t have been so easy to get to you. You’re a creature of habit. That’s dangerous.”
Banks nodded. “I like my morning walk.”
He lived on his own in a small town house in Georgetown, and his morning walk took him past many of the dead drops he’d used during the Cold War. They were the same drops the old spy had used to train Carlton and his young CIA colleagues years ago. “Lucky for me I know your route.”
The older man was momentarily transported. “Seeing that chalk mark really took me back. At first I thought it might have been a mistake, or maybe a new bunch was using my route for training, but then I checked the drop and found your message. I figured you were either jerking my chain or this was serious.”
“I’m not jerking your chain, Tommy. This is serious. You’re the only one I could come to with this.”
“If I’m the only one you could come to, then you really
“The long knives are out. Somebody has killed all my operators, and they tried to kill me too.”
Banks’ eyes widened. “Who? How?”
Carlton relayed everything he knew. He told the old spy about the fire at his house, his inability to access his Skype account and his inability to reach any of his operators via any of the established protocols set up for just such an emergency, as well as the multiple articles he found online about several of their deaths.
When he was done, he leaned back and held the gaze of his former boss. The wheels were already turning in the old man’s mind. He could see it.
“I’m going to ask a stupid question,” said Banks. “Any chance a Muslim terrorist organization could have penetrated your group this deeply?”
Carlton shook his head. “No way. They not only don’t have the sophistication necessary to pierce our network, they don’t have the talent to take out all my men the way they did. This isn’t some terror organization.”
“What about someone inside your group?”
“A mole?”
“Or someone who wanted to make some money and didn’t care about the damages.”
Carlton thought about it for several moments. “All of my people are solid, except…” His voice trailed off.
“Except for what?”
“Nicholas.”
“Who’s Nicholas?”
“The Troll.”
Banks couldn’t believe his ears. “I’ve heard about him. He’s really on your payroll?”
“It’s worse than that,” said Carlton. “We physically have him in-house, in the center of our operations. We even built a special SCIF for him.”
“You do need to be retrained—completely. Why the hell would you bring a person like that into the heart of your operations?”
“I didn’t bring him in. Harvath did.”
Banks had met Harvath before and he liked him, but still. “What the hell does Harvath know about running an intelligence organization?”
“Harvath knows plenty,” Carlton said. “Initially, I was against bringing Nicholas in—”
“That’s his real name?” Banks interrupted. “Nicholas?”
“What difference does it make?”
“It makes a hell of a lot of difference. Did you even vet the little thief?”
“Yes, we vetted him, for all the good it did. There’s not a lot out there on him that can actually be verified.”
“So you just threw the castle gates wide open and let him in. I’m surprised at you.”
“We firewalled a lot of stuff off,” Carlton said in his defense. “We made sure he only had access to certain things.”
“You should have assumed he’d find a way to get access to everything.”
“He was primarily Harvath’s asset, but you should’ve seen the amount of stuff he did for us, for the country. If he’s a con man, he’s the best there ever was.”
“Could he have accessed your operators’ files?” Banks asked.
“According to you, we should assume he was able to access everything.”
“And would have been able to find a buyer for whatever he wanted to sell. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Once a thief, always a thief.”
Carlton shook his head. “I’m not saying I don’t agree.”
“Where is he now? Have you reached out to him since all this went down?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Then that’s our first step,” Banks replied. “The next step, though, is going to take some doing. Your guys were all Tier One operators. They weren’t killed easily. It took a pretty high level of proficiency to go after them.”
“Which is why I came to you. Whoever is behind this has access to some serious military or intelligence personnel.”
“You think this is domestic? The Agency settling up its score with you?”
“In all honesty, I don’t know what to think,” said Carlton. “Have we been an embarrassment for the CIA? Of course we have, but killing American operators just to get us out of the picture? No way. I think this is something else.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can’t help you, Reed, if you don’t give me
“That’s the problem. I’ve had on-and-off disagreements with a couple of investors, and the company board has stood up a couple of good pissing matches, but that’s corporate stuff, and I deal with it when it pops up. That’s not what this is. This is something else; something more. And frankly, I can’t think of anybody at this level who’d have a score to settle with us.”
“
“Exactly,” said Carlton. “Who benefits from having me killed, my operators killed, and my organization zeroed out? That’s what I’ve been racking my brain over and why I need your help. I have to be very careful about what doors I knock on.”
“Knock on the wrong one and you could get shot in the head.”
“True. You, though, don’t have that problem.”
Banks understood what his former protege was asking. “It doesn’t take much work to connect the two of us you know.”
“I’m aware of that, but I think there’s a way we can use it to our advantage.”
CHAPTER 25
ANNAPOLIS JUNCTION
MARYLAND
FRIDAY
Schroeder double-checked the information on his screen and then ran it again before picking up the phone and calling his boss at home.
“What?” Craig Middleton snapped as he answered on the fourth ring, having been roused from a deep sleep.
