River of No Return by David Riley Bertsch

Author:David Riley Bertsch
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner

28

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA. OCTOBER 24.

10 A.M. EASTERN STANDARD TIME.

“Then call him again!” Thomas Wright, assistant director of counter­intelligence, loomed over Divya.

“He doesn’t want to be involved, sir.”

“Unacceptable. Any word on whether the lobby is going to bring out Shar-Pei as ammo?”

“I convinced them it wouldn’t be good for their reputation to leak American secrets.”

“Good. Any new info from them?” Wright was pacing, squeezing a stress ball as though he were trying to kill it.

“Not really.”

He stopped and shook his head emphatically. “Shit, Divya, he’s an agent’s dream—a perfectly embedded liaison. Call the man!”

“Isn’t there anyone else?”

“They killed that police chief, Divya. Married, couple of kids.”

“Are you sure?”

“Eighty percent sure. One of the hourly KH-11 transmissions captured the incident.”

This filled Divya’s mind with questions. “The NRO launched a Kennan Crystal for this? How detailed is the image? Isn’t its orbit over two hundred miles?”

“I could tell you when the postman came to your house yesterday.”

“Damn.” During her preparation, she’d studied Jackson Hole Chief of Police Roger Terrell. She had come to glean that he was not only a solid law enforcement agent, but also a family man. “You said there was no chance of that.”

“Things changed. Xiao’s more desperate than we thought.”

“How hot is the situation there?”

“Wouldn’t be too bad for Trent. If he can locate the girl—give us some ideas about her whereabouts. He doesn’t need to get any more involved than that.”

“So what’s the angle?”

“Make something up. You’re good at that.”

She gave an unconvincing nod. “What about his wife?”

“Alive, we’re guessing. She’s a good bargaining chip for them. We don’t know her condition.”

Wright sensed an opening.

“Do it for her, if nothing else. Send me Trent’s information by the end of the day.” He walked out of Divya’s office.

She rubbed her eyes and took a big gulp of coffee. It was her fifth cup of the day. Her heart was pounding but her eyes were tired, her brain a drained battery.

She thought about Jake. His obvious misery in DC and with her. How clearly he’d yearned to be back home.

What was her next move? Coming clean was the best route when dealing with someone as savvy as Jake, but Wright wouldn’t allow that. He’d read enough about Trent to know he wouldn’t buy into the company line if it contradicted his own sense of justice. According to the assistant director, Jake was too smart for his own good. Which was too bad, because Divya had no doubt that Jake would cooperate if he knew what had happened to Terrell and Charlotte.

Xiao still has Charlotte, but what is my bargaining chip? She’d been at the agency long enough to know that’s what it was all about. A bit more coffee and she signed back into the system. She clicked on the file “Trent, Jake,” browsed a bit, and then opened “Internal Affairs (1),” which hadn’t even occurred to her before.

Holy shit. Her heart sank, but she knew it was her in.

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