garage.
After Rapp and Greta had grabbed their bags from the trunk, Stansfield said, “Irene, would you please take Greta to see Gene? Tell him I said to make her comfortable. She might be staying the night.” Gene was the CIA station chief.
As they entered the small underground lobby off the parking garage, Greta stopped and asked Mitch, “When am I going to see you again?”
Rapp glanced at Stansfield and said, “We have some work to do. I’m sure I’ll see you tonight if not sooner.”
Greta got on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. “Be careful.” And then, turning to Stansfield, she said, “If anything happens to him, I am going to be very upset.”
Stansfield gave her a disinterested nod. “Mr. Rapp is quite capable of taking care of himself.”
The men watched as the ladies entered the elevator. Kennedy had Rapp’s bag. When the doors closed Stansfield said, “Follow me.”
“Where are we going?”
“Downstairs.” When they were both in the stairwell, Stansfield asked, “How long have you been seeing her?”
Rapp followed two steps behind. “Almost a year.”
“Do you love her?”
“That’s kind of personal, boss.”
Stansfield stopped in the middle of the next landing and turned to face Rapp. “There are literally billions of women on the planet, and you chose to fall in love with her.”
“I never said I was in love with her.”
“Well, she’s most certainly in love with you. That much is obvious.”
“Sir, I’d like to keep my personal life personal.”
“If only it were that easy,” Stansfield grumbled, and started down the next flight. “You have no idea the problems you have caused me.”
Rapp followed in silence, not wishing to explore his personal life any further. The stairs emptied into a small vestibule with a single elevator and a secure door. Stansfield pressed a button next to the door and turned his head toward the camera. There was an electronic buzz and Stansfield grabbed the door and opened it. A long hallway was in front of them. Stansfield went straight for the second door on the right. Three men were inside. Two of them were Dr. Lewis and Rob Ridley whom Rapp knew fairly well. The third one he’d never met before.
Stansfield asked, “How is it going?”
The man whom Rapp didn’t know looked up from his equipment and said, “Much better. Stan’s got him on the ropes. Victor’s starting to slip up a bit, but he’s sticking to his story.”
“How are the readouts?” Stansfield asked, pointing at the polygraph machine.
“He’s keeping his responses within the parameters, but my personal BS detector says he’s lying through his teeth.”
Rapp looked through the big viewing window and saw Victor and Hurley. His entire body tightened into a knot of energy. The first thought to cross his mind was how much he wanted to kill Victor. The second was that he wouldn’t mind taking Hurley out at the same time.
They were both smoking. Victor was in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. The cotton fabric was stretched tightly over his massive arms. Leaning back in the chair, he was trying to look as casual as possible.
“I know we have to play this game, Stan. I can tell you don’t like it any more than I do. We both know Rapp is a piece of shit. Let’s get this over with so we can go hunt him down and put the bastard out of his misery.”
Every eye in the observation room looked at Rapp. Mitch turned to Stansfield and said, “I think we both know who needs to be put out of his misery.”
“In due time.”
Lewis approached Rapp’s side. “I know this isn’t easy to hear, but you need to—”
“Shut up, Doc,” Rapp said, without taking his eyes off Victor. “No offense, but I don’t want to listen to any of your bullshit right now.”
Hurley stabbed out his cigarette. “You know what I think . . . I think you’re full of shit. I think you’re lying through your fucking teeth. I told you to pull the plug last night. Head back to the hotel and get some sack time, and you disregarded my order.”
“I didn’t disregard anything. We were getting ready to leave when he sent in his decoy. McGuirk and Borneman went to cover the front door and that was when Rapp jumped them.”
“And where was this decoy?”
“I don’t know. I never saw him again.”
“You’re full of shit.” Hurley leaned back and shook his head. “So full of shit.”
Victor smiled. “I know you’re just trying to do your job, but this is a waste of time. Let’s wrap this up and go kill the little shit. I know you hate him just as much as I do.”
“Just because I don’t like him doesn’t mean I want to kill him. There are a lot of people I don’t like.”
“Do a lot of those people gun down two of your operatives and compromise a safe house? Do they blow a mission in the middle of Paris and turn it into an international fucking embarrassment? Nine fucking bodies!” Victor
