'I don't know,' Link said. 'Would you care to ask her?'
'Not at present,' McCaskey said. He wanted time to research Kendra's file before talking to her.
'You may not get another chance,' Link advised him.
'Why not?'
'Because when you're finished here, I intend to see that neither you nor anyone else from Op-Center get back in,' Link told him.
'That sounds like a warning and smells like guilt.'
'Only to a group of very desperate intelligence operatives,' Link said.
'Paul Hood is already having difficulties with the CIOC. Senator Orr can see that he has a great many more.'
'Oh? Under what theory of Congressional authority?'
'Harassment of a private citizen,' Link told him. 'Look, Mr. McCaskey.
I don't want to be difficult. We're on the same team. Two businessmen have been murdered, and I would like to see their killer found and punished. But you have very odd suspicions about me and no evidence. Now you want to heap some of that vague conjecture on Kendra Peterson. I will ask her to join us in the spirit of cooperation, not because I believe the interview to have merit or cause. I would take that opportunity while the spirit is willing.'
McCaskey looked from Link to Rodgers. 'No, Admiral. If I want something from Ms. Peterson, I will be in touch.'
Link laughed. 'I haven't decided whether you're confident, proud, or obtuse, Mr. McCaskey. But you are self- righteous. If I have not made it clear, you will not be coming back.'
McCaskey rose. 'Thank you for your time, Admiral.' He looked at Rodgers. 'I'm sorry this has been difficult for you, Mike.'
Rodgers did not reply with words. His hard expression was enough to convey his anger.
McCaskey looked back at Link. The admiral had already turned his attention back to his laptop.
'One more thing, Admiral,' McCaskey said.
'All right.' He did not look up.
'How do you feel about Mr. Wilson's death?'
'Inconvenienced and torn,' Link replied without hesitation. 'A man enjoyed the senator's hospitality, returned to his hotel, and was murdered. That's a sad, lawless, unjustifiable act. But he happened to be an individual whose economic ideas would have been detrimental to our nation. You can see my dilemma.'
'Some people would call it something else. A motive.'
'If only the world were so black-and-white,' Link said, 'men like you would be ringmasters instead of sweeping up after the elephants. I'll tell you one last time, Mr. McCaskey. You are misguided and doing both yourself and your organization a disservice.'
McCaskey showed himself out of the senator's office. He wondered if Link were being sincere. Years at the CIA had given the man one hell of a poker face. And he had been extremely forthcoming about Kendra's background. That is not something a guilty man was likely to do.
McCaskey also wondered if he himself was being stubborn 'obtuse,' as Link had put it by not interviewing Kendra Peterson now. McCaskey decided he was not. He wanted to have a look at photographs from the party, at photo graphs from Kendra's file. He wanted to compare them with the indistinct pictures from the surveillance cameras. If there were no similarities, McCaskey might not have any reason to talk to her. Besides, if he had accepted, he would have been probing blind. He also would have been surrendering Op-Center's authority by acknowledging Link's control. Either Op-Center had the right to seek this information, or they did not. If Senator Orr could stop them with a phone call, McCaskey might as well give up the investigation now.
The former FBI agent put the process aside for now to consider the data. Senator Orr had three former CIA employees on his staff. Admiral Link had spent several years at the Company. He knew a few good people. This could be nothing more than that. Yet at least two of those people, Link and Kendra, had the skills, opportunity, and probably the resources to have targeted, cornered, and executed William Wilson and Robert Lawless. Link's caustic dismissal aside, his dislike of the man's fiscal policies could have moved him to murder. McCaskey knew of at least
