'Knock, knock.'
Hood looked up. Liz Gordon was standing in the doorway. Her dark eyes were large and owl wise, framed on three sides by short brown hair.
They were set in a wide, open face that invited trust.
'Come in,' Hood said.
Liz entered.
'Have you ever heard of Admiral Kenneth Link, former head of covert ops for the CIA?' Hood asked.
'No,' Liz said. 'Former head? So what is he doing now?'
'Helping Senator Donald Orr launch the new USF Party.'
'That's the one Mike is going to work for, correct?'
Hood snickered. 'I'm glad to see the Op-Center grapevine hasn't been affected by cutbacks.'
'There are cheap, unlimited minutes on that network,' Liz joked.
'I saw an online news flash that Orr should be holding a press conference now,' Hood said, looking at his watch. 'The word is that Link will serve as Orr's vice presidential candidate. Darrell believes Link may be connected to the deaths of William Wilson and this other gentleman, Robert Lawless. I need a quick, rough profile.'
'Sure, but I can tell you what it will probably look like,' Liz said.
'How long did he run covert ops?'
Hood looked up his file. 'Twelve years.'
'That's a long time,' she said. 'Did he go right from that job to this one?'
'Within a few months.'
'Classic. How often do you hear about former presidents, generals, quarterbacks, and CEOs retiring and playing golf?'
'I don't know though right now that sounds like a damn fine idea,' Hood admitted.
'Precisely. People who run high-performance teams in pressure cooker situations get fried over time,' Liz told him. 'They rarely go back to that kind of operation. Chances are good that if Admiral Link got out, he did not jump back in. Would the killings have had an elective quality for him?'
'You mean, did it have to be Wilson and did it have to be now?'
Liz nodded.
'We're not sure. What about Link leaving intelligence work and missing the risk factor? Darrell seems to think that might be significant.'
'Moving from behind a curtain at the CIA to center stage in a national political campaign is a pretty big risk,' Liz said. 'Which brings us to the X factor.'
'Which is?'
'A political ticket would be subjected to scrutiny by the press and public,' Liz said. 'Orr and Link have no control over where those eyes and fingers go probing. A man used to being in charge of things might want to set up a few sidelines that he could control, just to enjoy some familiar ground.'
'Including something this bold?'
'Well that's the unknown quantity,' Liz explained. 'I'll have a look at Link's file, but I'm not optimistic. A dual murder seems a little extreme for someone who just moved from an organization where that kind of activity was at least acceptable, if not encouraged.'
Hood said he would E-mail the file to Liz. Before leaving, she asked if he was all right.
