Tom Clancy Support and Defend by Mark Greaney

Author:Mark Greaney [Greaney, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Thriller
ISBN: 9780399173349
Amazon: 039917334X
Barnesnoble: 039917334X
Goodreads: 21863539
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Published: 2014-07-22T05:00:00+00:00

24

AFTER AN HOUR of Ross’s browsing through several malls and chain stores in a very natural-looking dry-cleaning run, Banfield saw no more sign of any surveillance on his whistleblower. Still, it was clear to Banfield that the FBI was, at least, attempting to monitor Ross’s movements.

At three-thirty in the afternoon he called Ethan and told him to go to an underground parking garage in Columbia Heights. Here, Ethan climbed into Banfield’s car, and together the two men drove through rush-hour traffic to the Ritz-Carlton on 22nd Street, where they parked in the underground lot below the hotel.

While Ethan waited in the car, Banfield went alone up to Gianna Bertoli’s two-room suite, checked the area and the route up a back stairwell, and then returned to shepherd Ethan up with him.

The three turned the volume on the television high and they ran the water in the bathtub and the shower and then sat close together on chairs in the living room of the suite. Bertoli had no real suspicion she was under surveillance, but as the director of the International Transparency Project, she’d learned to take a number of necessary steps to ensure her privacy.

Only when they were all seated with wine from the minibar in their hands did Banfield inform Ross he was, without a doubt, under surveillance by the FBI.

Ross’s eyes glazed over.

Bertoli asked, “You’re certain, Harlan?”

“Yes. I identified at least three men following him through Union Station. We slipped away from them after that, and he was clean by the time I picked him up. But the tail was real.”

“Shit,” mumbled Ethan.

Banfield turned to Ethan and brightened a little. “That’s the bad news. The good news is I checked with another of my whistleblowers, and this person has access to U.S. federal employee files. I had her look into NSC employee records, and there are no new flags or security holds on badges or computer access of any staff member. That makes me think the surveillance on you is very preliminary. They are suspicious, and they’ll keep digging, but for now they don’t have enough to go on to do anything more than put a tail on you.”

As far as Ethan was concerned, Banfield was just sugarcoating it. Ethan felt his entire life slipping away from him. His family would not understand. While his parents would be sympathetic with the ideological reasons behind his actions, they were ex–government hacks, and they would think him a traitor like the rest of the world.

He leaned back in the chair and stared into space.

Bertoli knelt on the floor next to the young NSC staffer, hugging him in sympathy, as if the two had known each other for years.

Ethan spoke into the softness of her curly hair. “What am I going to do?”

She put her arm on his shoulder and held it firmly. “For now, you need to act naturally.”

“Albright is going to talk to Eve, and he is going to lean on her. She’ll tell them she told me about specific system vulnerabilities, and then they will arrest me.

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