“We’re the only building on a direct line of sight from CIA to NSA. They swap data by microwave, and we download all their interagency transmissions. That’s how we do our financial trading. NSA keeps a close eye on domestic and foreign banks. They can also tap into the bank computer systems and internal communications.”
“What you said the other day about wet work…?”
“We’ve only run one real operation to date-the four people I mentioned yesterday. Truth be told, we were halfway curious about what would happen. In fact, nothing much happened. Maybe we covered our tracks too well. All the killings looked like heart attacks, the victims were posted, and the autopsy reports all said ‘natural causes.’ We think the opposition bought that story and kept going. The fourth one-MoHa-netted us a laptop with encryption keys, so we’re reading some of their internal mail at the moment-or were, until recently. Looks like they might have switched up their communication protocols last week.”
“Out of the blue?” Clark asked.
“Yep. We intercepted a birth announcement. Big distribution list. Within hours, everyone went quiet.”
“Switching channels,” Chavez said.
“Yep. We’re working on a lead that may get us back in.”
“Who else will be operating like us?”
“You’ll meet them in due course,” Davis promised.
“And the pay?” Ding asked.
“We can start you both at two-fifty a year. You can participate in the office investment plan with as much or as little of your salary as you wish. I told you already about the rate of return. We also pay for reasonable educational expenses for any kids. Up to one Ph.D. or professional degree. That’s the limit.”
“What if my wife wants to go back to medical school for some additional work? She’s a family practitioner now, but she’s thinking about getting trained up for OB/GYN.”
“We’ll cover it.”
“If she asks what I’m doing here, what do I say?”
“Security consulting for a major trading house. It always works,” Davis assured him. “She must know you were an Agency guy.”
“She’s his daughter.” Chavez pointed to Clark.
“So she’ll understand, won’t she? And your wife, Mr. Clark?”
“Name’s John. Yeah, Sandy knows the drill. Maybe this way she can tell people what a real job I have,” he added with a thin smile.
“So how about we meet the boss?”
“Okay with us,” Clark said for them both.
The pardons are real,” Hendley assured them a few minutes later. “When Ryan pitched me the idea of setting this place up, he said it would be necessary to protect such field personnel as we sent out, and so he signed a hundred. We’ve never had to use one, but they’re an insurance policy should they ever become necessary. Anything you’re curious about that Tom didn’t cover?”
“How are the targets selected?” Clark asked.
“You’ll be part of the process for the most part. We have to be careful how we choose the people we want to go away.”
“Do we also pick the methods?” Clark asked delicately.
“You tell them about the pens?” Hendley asked Davis.
“This is one of the tools we use.” Davis held up the gold pen. “It injects about seven milligrams of succinylcholine. That’s a sedative used in surgical procedures. In stops the breathing and voluntary muscle movement. But not the heart. You can’t move, can’t speak, and you can’t breathe. The heart keeps beating for a minute or so, but it’s starved of oxygen, and so death happens from what appears on postmortem examination to be a heart attack. It evidently feels like it, too.”
“Reversible?” Clark wondered.
“Yeah, if you get the victim on a respirator immediately. The drug wears off-metabolizes-in about five minutes. It leaves nothing in the way of traces unless the victim is posted by a really expert ME that knows what they’re looking for. Damned near perfect.”
“I’m surprised the Russians didn’t come up with something like this.”
“They surely tried,” Davis responded. “But succinylcholine didn’t make it to their hospitals, I guess. We got it from a doc friend up at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons who had a personal score to settle. His brother-a senior broker with Cantor Fitzgerald-died on Nine-Eleven.”
“Impressive,” Clark said, eyeballing the pen. “Might be a good interrogation tool, too. It would be a rare customer who’d want to go through that experience twice.”
Davis handed it over. “It’s not loaded. You twist the tip to swap out the point. It writes perfectly well.”
“Slick. Well, that answers one question. We’re free to use more conventional tools?”
“If and as the job calls for doing so,” Davis confirmed with a nod. “But we’re all about not being there, so always keep that in the back of your mind.”
“Understood.”
“And you, Mr. Chavez?” Hendley asked.
“Sir, I just try to listen and learn,” Ding told the boss.
“Is he that smart, John?” the former Senator asked.
“More so, actually. We work well together.”
“That’s what we need. Well, welcome aboard, gentlemen.”
“One thing,” Clark said. He withdrew Ding’s flash drive from his pocket and laid it on the desk. “We took that off one of the bad guys in Tripoli.”
“I see. And why is it sitting on my desk?”
“An oversight,” Clark replied. “Call it a ‘senior moment.’ I figure we can give it to the Swedes or to Langley, but I suspect we’d put it to better use here.”
“Have you looked at it?”
Chavez answered, “JPEG image files-a dozen or so. Looked like vacation shots to me, but who knows.”
Hendley considered this, then nodded. “Okay, we’ll take a look. Tom, do we have an office for them?”
“Right down with the Caruso boys.”
“Good. Have a look around, guys, then we’ll see you first thing tomorrow morning.”
Hendley stood, encouraging the others to do the same. Davis headed toward the door, followed by Chavez and Clark.
“John, can you hang back for a moment?” Hendley asked.
“Sure. Ding, I’ll catch up.”
Once they were alone, Hendley said, “You’ve been around the block a few times, John. I wanted to get your take on a couple things.”
“Shoot.”
“We’re pretty new, this whole concept, in fact, so a lot of it is trial and error. I’m beginning to think our work flow’s a little convoluted.”
Clark chuckled. “No offense, Gerry, but using words like
“You don’t pull any punches, do you?”
“Did you want me to?”
“No.”
“Too many good ideas get lost making their way up a chain. My advice: Get your principals in a room once a day and brainstorm. Might be a cliche, but it works. If you’ve got people who’re worried about whether their creative thinking will make the cut, you’re wasting talent.”
Hendley whistled softly, smiling. “Don’t take this the wrong way, John, but you sure as hell aren’t your average knuckle-dragger, are you?”
Clark shrugged but didn’t reply.
