'The usual confusion,' Hood said.
'Only this time, it's happening in Washington, not overseas.'
'Is it something really bad?'
'I don't know yet,' Hood said.
'There seems to be a loose cannon somewhere in the NSA.' Hood didn't want to say anything about the president possibly having mental lapses of some kind. It wasn't that he. didn't trust Ann, but Megan Lawrence had told him something in confidence. For now, he wanted to keep the number of people with whom he shared that as small as possible.
'What's going on in your department?'
'The usual efficiency and expert coordination,' she said with a disarming smile.
'You mean nothing's going on.'
'Exactly,' Ann said. She waited a moment, then asked, 'Do you expect to be here long?'
'A couple of hours,' he said.
'There's no reason to go back to the hotel. I'd just sit there and watch some bad sitcom.'
'Can I interest you in dinner?' she asked.
'It may be a long night,' Hood said.
'I don't have any plans, either,' she said.
'My son is staying with his dad this week. There's nothing for me to go home to but a spoiled cat and those same sitcoms.' Hood's heart began thumping a little faster than usual. He very much wanted to say yes to Ann. But he was still a married man, and going out with a divorced female coworker could cause trouble, legally as well as ethically. And Op-Center did not need this distraction. The intelligence team was brilliant at uncovering information. Hood having dinner with Farris would be common knowledge by morning. Besides, if dinner with Ann was in the back of his mind, he would not be focusing on a crisis in the executive branch.
'Ann, I wish I could,' he said sincerely.
'But I don't know when I'll be finished here. Some other time?'
'Sure,' she said with a small, sad smile. She touched the back of his hand.
'Have a good meeting.'
'Thanks,' Hood said. Ann left, and Hood continued on his way. Hood felt terrible now. He had not done what he really wanted to do, which was have dinner with Ann. And he had hurt her feelings. He stopped. He wanted to go after her and tell her he would have the dinner. But once he started down that road, there was no turning back. Hood continued toward his office. Hood buzzed Rodgers and Herbert when he arrived. Rodgers said he would be right over. Herbert was on the computer and said he would be with them in a few minutes. Rodgers was alert and professional when he arrived. The general had always wanted to run Op-Center. If he harbored any resentment about having it handed to him and then abruptly pulled away, it did not show. Above all, Rodgers was a good man and a team player. General Rodgers had spent most of the day overseeing the activities of Op-Center while Paul Hood was involved with the president and the UN initiative. As Hood briefed his deputy director about Herbert's talk with Fenwick, Herbert wheeled in. The intelligence chief was flushed and perspiring slightly. He had hurried to get here.
'How's your relationship with Sergei Orlov at the Russian Op-Center?' Herbert asked breathlessly. The question surprised Hood.
'I haven't spoken to him in about six months. Why?'
'I just received a message that was forwarded from the U.S. embassy in Baku,' Herbert said.
'One of the Cia's people over there, Tom Moore, is now convinced that Baku has had a visit from the Harpooner. Moore doesn't know why the bastard's there--'
'It could have something to do with what you were just telling me about,' Rodgers said to Hood.
'Bob's conversation with Fenwick--'
'About Iran fearing terrorist attacks from Azerbaijan,' Hood said. Rodgers nodded.
'I agree that that's a possibility,' Herbert said.
'Paul, if it is the Harpooner, Moore wants to catch him going into or keep him from getting out of the former USSR. He's hoping that the Russian Op-Center can help.'
'How?' Hood asked.
'Orlov and I shared our files years ago. There was nothing on the Harpooner.'
'Orlov's facility was new then,' Herbert said.
'He or his people may have found something in the old KGB files since then. Something they might not have told us about.'
'It's possible,' Hood agreed. Op-Center was understaffed, and the situation at their Russian counterpart was even worse. Keeping up a regular flow of information was difficult.
'In addition to intel on the Harpooner,' Herbert said, 'Moore was hoping that Orlov's people might be able to watch the northern and northwestern sections of Russia. He was thinking that the Harpooner might try to leave the region through Scandinavia.' Hood looked at his watch.
'It's about three in the morning over there,' he said.
'Can you reach him at home?' Herbert asked.
