“I’ll start with that,” Goose said. “I’ll add to it that the circumstances surrounding his discovery by my squad and me were suspicious.” “What would not be suspicious tonight, Sergeant?”
Goose nodded as if in agreement. “Exactly my point, sir. I’m glad you understand my situation.”
“No!” Cody exploded. “I’m not here about your situation.”
“Why are you here?” Goose asked. “And if that man is your agent, what was he doing out on that street by himself?”
Cody drew himself up. “I don’t answer to you, Sergeant.”
“No, sir.” Goose emphasized the imaginary rank, knowing his refusal to comply with the man’s authority would rankle him further. “I was just thinking that if I knew why one of your agents was out there by himself, obviously the victim of some kind of violence—”
“There’s violence taking place all over this city,” Cody objected. “— the victim of personal violence,” Goose stated. “Maybe that would be enough for my report.”
“You’re interfering with a CIA operation, mister.”
“I don’t see it that way. Holding this city, that’s a military operation—” Goose paused—“sir.” He counted on the polite and calm yet firm manner he maintained to get under the man’s skin.
“I’m here to take care of my operation.”
“And I’m here to take care of mine.”
“My operation—”
“Doesn’t take precedence over the 75th Rangers’ peacekeeping efforts at this moment,” Goose interrupted.
“Captain Remington wouldn’t have you stand in my way like this, Sergeant.”
Goose frowned. “I don’t know that, sir.”
“I did you guys a favor by hooking your captain up with Nicolae Carpathia to get you satellite access when you needed it.”
That was something Goose hadn’t known. Remington had never revealed his sources or how he had managed to pull the feat off. Until Carpathia had provided the satellite access, Goose hadn’t been aware that Remington had known the new Romanian president drawing all the media attention with his trip to the United Nations in New York. Remington liked rubbing elbows with the upwardly mobile, people who could do things for his career. But Goose didn’t know when Remington would have gotten the chance to meet Carpathia.
“We appreciate the favor,” Goose said. “Those satellites made a difference. Saved a lot of lives. Probably would help now if we had access to them again.”
“You guys owe me,” Cody said. “Big-time. If I hadn’t intervened, you might have all gotten killed.” He blew out his breath in obvious disgust. “You guys sure don’t have much of a spirit of cooperation, do you?”
Goose refused to be baited. “When the situation eases up, we’ll contact the captain and get his opinion. Until then, we do things my way. The way I think Captain Remington would want them done.”
“Then let’s contact Remington.”
“The captain’s busy, and this situation—for the moment—is contained. I’ll wait for him to contact me.”
“This is insane. You’re standing in a city filled with strangers, and you pick one man out of that city—my agent—to take into custody?”
“Fewer and fewer strangers all the time,” Goose pointed out. “We’ll get them down to a manageable level.”
The privates guarding the door looked at each other and silently cracked up just behind the three CIA agents keeping Cody under surveillance. The Rangers stopped laughing and straightened their faces when they saw Goose had noticed them.
Cody stepped away, put his hands on his hips, and paced three long steps away like a baseball coach who couldn’t believe the call an umpire had made. Then he paced back. He put his face closer to Goose’s, drawing himself up to take advantage of the handful of inches of difference between them.
“What would you do if I just took that man, Sergeant?”
“Won’t happen.” Goose kept his voice crisp and clean. He gave no indication of the tension or curiosity he felt, and he didn’t back away from the physical intimidation game the CIA agent was trying by invading his personal space.
Goose considered his options. Icarus was supposed to meet him here at the hospital. The possibility existed that Cody and his team had already apprehended the rogue agent. If they hadn’t, though, Goose intended to make enough of a scene that Icarus would stay away. Goose had no reason to trust Icarus, but his instincts about the younger man had been good, and his gut told him now that Cody didn’t have the young agent’s best interests at heart. As a career sergeant, Goose had learned to pay attention to his instincts.
Cody eyed Goose speculatively. “What are you saying, Sergeant? Would you shoot me if I stepped into that room and tried to take that man?”
“No, sir,” Goose said. “Not without first warning you that was going to happen if you chose that course of action.” He paused, leaned forward to invade Cody’s personal space, and stared deeply into Cody’s eyes. His voice was calm and polite when he spoke. “Just so you know, sir? This is that warning.”
Sunshine Hills Cemetery
Outside Marbury, Alabama
Local Time 2229 Hours
The creature that stood a few feet away at the edge of Terrence Harte’s partially open grave looked like a man, but Delroy knew that image was a lie. He’d seen something of what the thing really looked like at the Pentagon. He tightened his grip on the shovel and held it before him.
Lightning flashed and stripped away some of the human characteristics the foul thing chose to wear. The pale skin turned translucent and revealed the spiderwebbing of reptilian scales beneath. The corners of the eyes and the mouth drew back, elongating until they showed snakelike characteristics. The image blurred constantly, going from human to monster between heartbeats.
For the first time, Delroy realized that he stood almost three feet deep in the hole. He was in a barely defensible position; the creature that faced him had the advantage of the high ground.
“You’re going to believe in a rock that some lazy gravedigger could have thrown into that hole just because he dug it up and didn’t want to
