Page 11 of So Deadly
“Good.Head to the airport.Special Agent Torres will call you with more information on the case.Feel free to rely on her as lead agent.I understand you’re not one hundred percent, and I don’t need you to be.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Faith hung up and looked at Michael.Her former partner returned an incredulous look of his own.“Well… That’s… good news, I think?”
Faith sighed.“We’ll see, I guess.”She got to her feet.“Okay, Turk.Time to go.Looks like we’re working after all.”
“I’ll drive you to the airport,” Michael offered.“I’m heading there anyway.”
“Sure.I’ll text Jessica to meet me there.”
As Michael drove Faith north to Dulles International Airport, it occurred to Faith that this was good news.The FBI hadn’t been sitting still with this.She wasn’t alone.The CIA was a large and powerful organization, but so was the FBI.
For the first time since David left, Faith felt like they had a fighting chance.
***
For the first time since joining the 93rd, Staff Sergeant Miranda Whitaker believed they had a solid chance of losing.
It wasn’t so much that Lieutenant Broward had gone AWOL and kidnapped Dr.Friedman from under her nose right before she was about to kill him.It wasn’t even that the dogs had repeatedly failed to operate as they were trained to operate.
But the panic in Colonel Chastain’s eyes?That was new.She didn’t like that.
“I told you we should have killed him to begin with!”Chastain thundered at the third party in the room.“I told you that he was a liability!”
That was pretty close to the opposite of the truth.Mirandahad suggested that they needed to eliminate Dr.Friedman.Chastain was resistant, believing that such an action would turn the attention of superstar Special Agent Faith Bold, darling of the FBI, toward them and result in massive exposure of their project.
And she was right.The FBI was now scouring the area for their missing husband, and the 93rdwas in full panic mode.The assets were on their way to the Oklahoma facility, and after this meeting, Chastain and Whitaker would be heading there too.They’d continue the project out there, far from the prying eyes of a meddling vet.
Except that Broward had kidnapped him, and unless he was planning on giftwrapping the good doctor and placing him on the CIA’s doorstep, he had brought him to Oklahoma to try to get more evidence of the 93rd’s wrongdoing.This had all gone to hell in a handbasket on the express train.
The third party in the room was, as usual, far calmer than Chastain.Josiah Pharaoh replied to Chastain in a mild voice, “If Dr.Friedman is planning to infiltrate the Oklahoma City facility, then he will be shot for trespassing as per the clearly posted warnings.No fault of our own.All we saw was a man behaving aggressively, perhaps even brandishing a weapon.Andwe, in that case, will be an oil company that we operate as a shell.”
The first sign of emotion came to his face.In this case, it was irritation.“Seriously, you guys are making a mountain out of a speck of dust.The project is larger than just this unit.Worst-case scenario, we shut down, but it’s not going to derail the end goal of Project Telegraph.”
Chastain flinched.“No!Wecan’tshut down!We’re so close!”
“I didn’t say we would,” Pharaoh replied soothingly.“Only that it’s not the end of the world if we do.”He got to his feet, probably to curtail any further attempts at conversation by the panicking Chastain.“Call me when you guys get settled in Oklahoma.For now, your assignment remains the same.Keep moving, and let us handle the espionage threat.”
He left without waiting for a response.Chastain shook visibly, face a shade of purple Miranda hadn’t seen since she neglected to polish her boots one night in Basic.
“He’s a fool,” Chastain said quietly.“He’s a fool.”
Miranda didn’t say anything.No one listened to her anyway.She was just a handler.She was onlyatthis meeting because she was the one sent to kill David, the one who had failed.
Miranda’s lips thinned.No.Not her.Asset Sierra-9 had failed.The stupid dog who refused to come when called, refused to execute its orders, and fought through Miranda’s control.
When they got to Oklahoma, Miranda was going to terminate that asset.She should have done it weeks ago.Chastain should havelether do it weeks ago.For all his brilliance, he was a coward at heart.A civilian.Civilians didn’t understand warfare.They didn’t understand that desertion was the most dangerous thing that could happen to a unit, and it had to be punished severely, or it would spread.
Miranda would do what she had to do, what Chastain couldn’t do.The 93rdTesting Brigadewouldsucceed.And that rebellious dog and that meddling vet would both get what they deserved.
CHAPTER SIX
It was just after one in the afternoon when Faith, Jessica, and Turk pulled up to a beautiful Colonial-style home in Newton, Massachusetts.The house was a brilliant, freshly painted white with blue trim and gleamed in the sunlight streaming through a moderate cover of fluffy white clouds.Though not oceanfront, the salt spray of the Atlantic carried to her nostrils, wafted by a steady cool easterly breeze.A late-model Mercedes SUV was parked in the driveway, a bright silver number that probably cost close to twenty times what Faith’s old Crown Vic was worth and at least three times what the rental Nissan she was driving cost.
“Robbery, maybe?”Faith asked.
“Doubt it,” Jessica said.“Based on what I heard, this was personal.”
