Critical Intelligence by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2011-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Washington, D.C.

IN THE SECURE reading room of the National Archives, Hal Brognola sat at a plain table in a nondescript chair. He read with studious intensity. A pile of manila file folders, computer printouts and reports from various agencies written out in longhand were placed on the desk in front of him.

The room was constructed like an industrial vault.

There were no windows to the outside, only a single door and no true concessions to comfort. This was a place much like a public bathroom, he thought with sardonic irony; you were expected to conduct your business and get the hell out.

In the corner a security camera in a blackout glass ball hung from the ceiling.

He finished reading, turned the page over and reached for a third file folder. He hadn’t been reading long but he’d already grown to respect Hammond Carter.

The man had a long history as a career public servant: wealthy family, Ivy League school, an ROTC program ending with a commission in Air Force intelligence. Two years as a major in the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Then an odd shift.

He’d taken a job as a research clerk in the Office of Management and Budget. Ten years spent there while rising to the rank of assistant deputy director to the Office of Federal Financial Management, just below the presidential-appointed director position.

Such a position gave his career, and thus his influence, builtin protection from politics and changing administrations in the Executive Office. From this niche Carter seemed to have acquired bureaucratic power on an unprecedented scale.

“The proof is right here,” Brognola murmured to himself.

The man known as the big Fed had been in Washington, D.C., and the Justice Department for a long, long time. He knew the players and the movers on the game board, most especially in the intelligence and law-enforcement communities.

Every agent or officer who had opened an investigation or started an inquiry about Hammond Carter had gone exactly…nowhere. When people asked questions about him, Carter squashed the investigation, then he squashed the men.

Behind Brognola the room’s door opened.

He looked up, surprised, as this kind of an interruption wasn’t protocol. He turned in his chair, regarding the newcomer over the rims of his reading glasses.

He frowned.

The man was tall. Lean enough in his expensive suit to be considered lithe. The suit was off-the-rack Brooks Brothers, but tastefully tailored. The watch nice, but not too expensive, just like the shoes.

The man’s features were sharp with a nose like a hatchet blade under a smooth brow and deep-set, intelligent eyes.

Gray colored the man’s temples, but the rest of his hair, buzzed into a quarter-inch flattop, was the shoe-leather brown of his eyes. He had a mouth that had forgotten how to smile a long time ago.

“Hammond Carter, I presume,” Brognola said, voice dry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.