Top Hook by Gordon Kent

Author:Gordon Kent
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Part Two

Flight

21

Washington.

Alone in her office in the early morning, Emma Pasternak reviewed her e-mails and her voice mail and her paperwork, keeping her investigator’s file on George Shreed open in front of her. She knew what she was going to do, but it was too early yet. She worked on, glancing at her watch every half-hour. Finally, the watch told her that it was after nine-thirty and time to act.

She reached for the telephone.

Langley.

George Shreed picked up the telephone without looking at it. He was pretending to listen to a former congressman orate on the subject of a missile defense system while, in his own head, he was concentrating on the problem of revenging himself on Chen. Giving an apologetic cock of the head as he touched his telephone, Shreed held up a hand.

“Sir, I’m sorry—” It was his receptionist, who had the fear of being fired in his voice. “The caller said it was urgent. Priority Star—”

“Put him on.” He gave the ex-congressman a fleeting smile.

“Am I speaking to George Shreed?” It was a woman’s voice.

“Speaking.”

“Mister Shreed, this is Emma Pasternak of Barnard, Kootz, Bingham. I represent Lieutenant-Commander Rose Siciliano in an ongoing national security case.”

Shreed felt the hair at the base of his skull rise. “Yes?”

“Mister Shreed, is it true that you’re a Chinese agent who uses the code name Top Hook?”

His mouth went dry and his gut dropped. He stared at the ex-congressman, who was cleaning the fingernails of one hand with a fingernail of the other. “Is this a joke?” he managed to say.

“No joke, no kidding, no bullshit. I’m going to court today to request a subpoena to depose you under oath, hopefully tomorrow, about your role in the scapegoating of my client. Any comment?”

“I think that if you have such an absurd action in mind, the place to go is the Agency Security Office. They pass on requests for interviews. Goodbye.”

He tried to hang up, but her voice froze his hand.

“Listen, Shreed, I’ll have that subpoena by three and I’m coming after you tomorrow! Under oath! I’ll bring a court steno and you by all means have somebody there from your Security office! I’ll want two hours, because I’ve got lots of questions about a Chinese agent named Top Hook who uses the Internet to pass US secrets! Get me?”

He lowered the telephone into the cradle. He managed to smile at the former congressman. “Somebody who wants to subpoena me,” he said, as if it were a joke. His knees were trembling, but he kept his face pleasant and his hands steady. After a glance at his watch, he said, “I’m sorry to cut you short, Congressman, but the people upstairs have me down for a meeting in ten minutes.”

The ex-congressman went right back to his spiel, which really had to do with his allegiance to the defense contractor who now paid his salary. Shreed pretended to listen while his heart pounded and his mind kept snarling at him, It’s over, it’s over, it’s

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