clients for their weapons. Either theory made sense, and in any event neither changed the situation.
It was inconceivable that they had caught wind of Raven and knew it would be tested there.
Or was it?
Even though it appeared that Whiplash had things under control at the moment, Edmund had to be informed about the Russian. Reid took a quick run through the overnight briefing, making sure there wasn’t anything major he had to be aware of, then called up to the director’s office.
“Mr. Reid, the director is out of communication at the moment,” said his secretary. “I’ll put you through to Mr. Conklin.”
Out of communication? That was a new one on Reid.
Conklin came on the line. He was Edmund’s chief of staff, an assistant. Reid rarely if ever dealt with him.
So it begins, he thought.
“Jonathon, what can we do for you?” asked Conklin.
“I need to speak to Herman.”
“I’m afraid that’s going to be difficult to arrange for a while.”
“This is critical.”
“I’m sure. But—”
“Why would it be difficult to arrange? Is Herman all right?”
“The director is fine.”
“It has to do with Raven,” said Reid, unsure whether Conklin would even know what that was.
Apparently he did. “You should talk to Reg on that.”
Reginald Harker: Special Deputy for Covert Operations, head of the Raven project, probably the idiot behind the whole screwed-up situation in the first place.
Not the person Reid wanted to speak to.
“This is really a matter for Herman,” he said. “It’s critically important.”
“Reg is the person to speak to,” said Conklin.
“I’ll do that. But inform Herman as well.”
“I will pass a note to Mr. Edmund at my earliest opportunity.”
Reid hung up. He started to dial Edmund’s private phone, then stopped.
How paranoid should he be? The system would record the fact that he had made the call; the internal lines could also be monitored.
Should he worry about that?
What if it wasn’t a coincidence that the Russians were there? What if someone inside had tipped them off?
But who?
Reid debated with himself, but in the end decided that paranoia had its uses. He left his office, left the campus, and drove to a mall a few miles away. After making sure he wasn’t being followed, he took a lap through the building, found a drugstore and bought a prepaid phone. Then he walked through a large sporting goods store to the far entrance to a parking lot. He went outside and after once again making sure he wasn’t being followed, used the phone to call Edmund’s private phone.
He went straight to voice mail.
“We need to talk ASAP,” he said.
Reid hung up, then made a call with his encrypted satellite phone. When he got voice mail again, he hung up. After sending a text through the secure system — it took forever to hunt and peck the letters — he set the ringers on both his phone and the cell to maximum and went back inside. He pretended to be interested in the treadmills and T-shirts before leaving.
On the way back to the campus, he called Breanna, this time with an encrypted phone. She answered on the second ring.
“Have you seen the overnight update?” he asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“We can’t let the Russians get ahold of this. If a handoff is made to the Russian, they must take him out,” said Reid. “There should be no question.”
“All right. We’ll need a finding.”
“I’ll take care of that,” said Reid.
“Did you speak to the President?” Breanna asked.
“We had a brief session,” he said.
“Anything I should know?”
Reid spent a long moment thinking of what to say before answering.
“There’s nothing that came out that affects us directly,” he said finally.
“Jonathon — is there anything else I can do? Should I come back to D.C.?”
“No, I think I have it under control,” he said finally. “Stay in touch. Keep your phone handy.”
“You sound tired,” she added just before he was about to hang up.
“Well, I guess I am,” he told her before ending the call.
“You’re trying to trump this up into something,” charged Harker when Reid met him in his office. He picked up the coffee cup on his desk, brought it about halfway to his mouth, then in a sudden fit of anger smacked it onto the desktop, splattering some of the liquid. “You want to create a scandal. There’s nothing here, Reid. Nothing.”
“I’m not creating a scandal,” replied Reid. “I’m simply doing my job.”
“Which is what?”
“Getting Raven back. Keeping it from our enemies.”
“I know you’re angling for the DIA slot,” said Harker. “It’s not going to work. Everybody can see through the games you’re playing.”
Reid said nothing. Denying interest in the job — which he had absolutely no intention of taking — would only be interpreted as a lie. In fact, everything he said would be interpreted through Harker’s twisted lens. It was pointless to even talk.
“I only came to you because I’m having trouble speaking to Edmund.” Reid rose. “And I’m concerned about the Russians.”
“Herm doesn’t speak to traitors.”
Reid stared at Harker. The man’s face was beet red.
“This isn’t a question of loyalty to the Agency,” he said.
“Get out of my office,” said Harker.
“Gladly.”
Chapter 5
Melissa watched Marie Bloom survey the reception room, her hands on her hips. The clinic director turned and looked at her with a worried expression.
“Ordinarily, this room would be full,” she said. “But maybe we should count our blessings.”
“Yes,” said Melissa softly.
They had seen only a small handful of patients since opening at dawn. Now it was past noon.
Bloom sat down on the couch that faced the door. Her face was drawn. “Did you bring these troubles?”
“No,” said Melissa.
“Did the man you’re hunting for?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Do you know what’s going on?”
