Forced to Kill

“He never released me. He left me there to die.”

“We can only speculate on why he didn’t keep the second part of his bargain. He probably left the camp to secure his first four million and figured that was enough and shouldn’t push his luck by returning. We may never know. We do know that he kept our presence in Nicaragua secret.” She looked at Stone, then back to him. “Officially, no direct U.S. military involvement in Nicaragua’s civil war was ever authorized by the president or Congress. More than that, no intervention of any kind was authorized. If it had leaked, it would’ve been an international scandal of epic proportions. The Iran-Contra scandal wasn’t that distant and the media never got their pound of flesh. The media wanted Reagan’s head on a silver platter. Knowledge of direct U.S. military involvement in Nicaragua might have brought down the Clinton administration. Although Operation Echo was fully justified and stopped countless innocents from being kidnapped, tortured, and executed, it wouldn’t have mattered. Montez could’ve caused major PR damage to us. But he didn’t. He never revealed our boots-on-the-ground training squads or the sniper teams that were mopping up the Sandinista holdouts. When Harvey rescued you, the dynamics changed, but we paid Montez the second half of his money anyway. Hush money, so to speak.”

“You keep saying ‘we’ and ‘our.’ All of this happened on Director Kallstrom’s watch.”

“That’s true, but I was the associate deputy director at the time. Number three in the chain of command. I was neck-deep.”

He looked at his dad.

“I didn’t know any of this until a few hours ago.”

“It’s the truth. There’s no paper on any of it. And there are probably aspects of the Montez negotiation I’m not aware of. I think it’s fair to say that you’re the only reason former Director Kallstrom agreed to tell me what he did. He still has tremendous admiration for both of you.”

“It makes me sick to my stomach knowing Montez was paid eight million dollars, but I’m also grateful. I’m not sure I could’ve held out much longer. He was damned close to breaking me. Or ending it.”

“I read your debrief report. You said he disappeared suddenly before his men suspended you in the cage. He could’ve killed you before he left the camp, especially if he never intended to collect the other half of the eight million. So why didn’t he?”

“I seriously doubt seeing me crucified was worth half his fortune.”

“Agreed.”

“I’d love to… ask him that question.”

“You just might get your chance.”

“I’m counting on it.”

“We’ve continued to honor our deal with him.” Cantrell held up her hands. “Before you say anything, let me explain. We have to look at the bigger picture. The truth is, we have similar deals in place all over the world. We don’t want to undermine our credibility and we don’t know what sleeper measures Montez has in place to release the Nicaraguan info should he disappear. If those exchange students hadn’t seen Kramer’s body go into Lake Powell, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”

“But hasn’t he broken the deal by killing a U.S. citizen on our soil?” Harv asked.

“At the risk of sounding callous, no. Our deal didn’t specify anything other than his silence in exchange for the money and our promise not to pursue him.”

“Are you telling me Nicaragua still means that much?”

“In some circles, yes,” she said.

Nathan made eye contact with Harv. What else has Montez got on the CIA? “So short of spilling the beans about Nicaragua, he has carte blanche to do anything he wants? Is that what you’re telling us?”

She looked at his father and Lansing. No one said anything.

“Well, Director Cantrell, Harv and I have no such agreement and we aren’t operations officers anymore. Your deal is to leave him alone, not be bodyguards for him.”

“It’s not that simple. Montez won’t differentiate the specifics. All he’ll know is that someone’s after him. He’ll assume it’s us.”

“Why? I’m sure he’s got enemies all over the world. It could be anyone.”

“That’s true, of course, but we can’t risk it.”

“So as far as you’re concerned, Montez just walks?”

“The dynamics have changed. We now want him in custody for questioning.”

“You haven’t mentioned Nichole Dalton and her daughters. What’s he doing to them as we speak? How long will they be valuable to him? Why are they valuable to him?” Nathan looked back and forth between Cantrell and Lansing. “There could be dozens, or even hundreds of people at risk because of him. And you can’t tell us anything more about your dealings with Montez?”

“Nathan, I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

Stone took a step forward. “Nathan-”

He held up a hand. “Okay, okay, I get it. So where does this leave us?”

“Here’s what I propose,” she said. “We can’t stop you from pursuing him, so we won’t try. But we’ll neither help nor hinder you. You’re on your own. If he captures you and forces you to talk, you can honestly tell him that you’re not working for us.”

“That’s a lovely thought.”

“I’m not trying to be callous, just realistic.”

“Suppose we find him first?”

Cantrell and Lansing looked at each other again. “There are people in important positions who are skeptical about your willingness to deliver Montez alive if you find him before we do.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Yes, I know. The NSA’s director called me. General Hawthorne was ordered to back off and not get involved.” She paused and slowed her speech for emphasis. “We need Montez alive. If he’s got a sleeper system in place to release damaging info upon a prolonged absence, we need to wring it out of him.”

“How did he find out where I live?”

“If you’re thinking he’s got a mole within our government, it’s a possibility, but we don’t think so.”

“Then how?”

“We can’t say for sure.” She looked at Director Lansing.

“We think it has to do with your trip to Lake Powell,” said Lansing.

Nathan squinted. Lake Powell?

Lansing continued. “The man you visited, the houseboat owner?”

Nathan recalled his name. “Lars Stiegler.”

“He’s missing, presumed dead. Sheriff’s deputies found blood spatter evidence inside his houseboat. Whoever killed him made an attempt to clean it up, but Kane County deputies used BlueStar and found trace evidence all over the place.”

Damn. Nathan had liked the crusty war vet. And now he was dead. Because of his hunt for Montez.

“We’re pretty sure he was interrogated,” said Lansing. “Did you tell him who you were?”

“I gave him my name, Harv’s too. I didn’t think-” Nathan stopped.

“What?” Cantrell asked.

“Harv, the guy on the dock. The fisherman in overalls.”

“Oh hell,” Harv said.

“What fisherman? What are you talking about?”

“We saw a guy fishing on the dock near Stiegler’s houseboat slip. Hispanic, kinda tough looking.” Nathan pursed his lips and shook his head. “The tail numbers,” he said. “Our mystery fisherman must’ve seen the tail numbers of our helicopter and traced it back to First Security.”

“Is that where it’s registered?” Cantrell asked.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“We’ll take care of that right away,” Lansing said. He pulled a small notepad and pen from his coat pocket.