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Aboard the Gulfstream, Hail remembered he owed Jarrett Pepper a phone call. He was director of the CIA and Kara’s boss. It was in Hail’s best interest to provide him an update, but he hated the idea for several reasons.
First, he didn’t like Pepper. He found it strange he couldn’t pinpoint a reason for his dislike of the man. Maybe it was the man’s arrogance. Pepper was new to the office and gave off a vibe that he was owed respect for nothing more than being appointed to the prestigious post. It didn’t matter he afforded little respect to others. Because Hail had disdain for Pepper, he talked to him only when absolutely necessary.
Second, for some reason, Pepper blamed Hail and his crew for Kara taking off. He had never outright said it was Hail’s fault, but the implication was apparent in Pepper’s tone. If he’d ever been accused, Hail would have called BS on Pepper’s flawed logic. Hail didn’t think he was any more responsible for Kara stepping off the reservation than he was for the terrorist act known as The Five that killed her parents. If that hadn’t happened Kara would have never joined the CIA. Most likely, she would have finished college, found herself a rich husband, had kids and enjoyed a wonderful life. He supposed there was the possibility Kara could have married someone commonplace, but since her parents were rich, that scenario was unlikely.
Third, he didn’t want to tell Pepper they had lost Kornev, which, in the eyes of the CIA, would be classified as an epic failure. Hail felt bad enough for losing the Russian scumbag and didn’t need Pepper rubbing salt in his fresh wound.
However, there was a big ole bullet ready to implode, and it was time for him to bite it. Hail understood there was one compelling reason to touch base with the CIA. In the past, Pepper had run missions behind Hail’s back. One of those missions had almost cost Hail everything he loved— the Hail Nucleus and its crew. Hail couldn’t run the risk of the CIA running a parallel operation. Thus, with the necessity of calling Jarett a foregone conclusion, Hail made himself some liquid courage — a potent drink. Before placing the call, he gave the alcohol a good fifteen minutes to do its job. Once he felt mellower he retrieved his cell phone from its charging station and made the call. While he was waiting for Pepper to answer it occurred to him that with the time zones, there was a ten-hour difference. The probability of Jarret Pepper being very tired and possibly grumpy was high.
It took more than six rings for Pepper to answer his cell phone.
Sure enough, Pepper sounded like he was still asleep.
“This is Pepper,” he grumbled.
Hail thought Pepper’s voice sounded like his lips had been stuck together with bedtime goo.
“This is Hail. I need to update you on the Kara thing.”
“Yes, have you found her?” Pepper said, sounding much less groggy.
“No, but we lost Kornev,” Hail said, trying to hide the distress in his voice.
“Lost him?” Pepper questioned.
“Yes, he entered the police station in Peshawar and must have exited from another door.”
Pepper immediately asked, “What are you doing now?”
Hail wanted to tell him it was none of his damn business, but instead he replied, “We are back aboard my plane at the airport trying to regroup.”
“What does that mean?” Pepper asked.
“It means what it means. At this point we have nothing to go on. I was hoping that you might have heard something from Kara.”
Pepper said, “We’re researching if Kornev has any property in Peshawar. Only recently has that backward-ass city started keeping electronic records, so ferreting out intelligence via that database is problematic at best. We are combing through Kornev’s finances, but almost everything he owns points to a shell company which belongs to a shell company that belongs to some foreign conglomerate, but that’s not surprising. Kornev has had the better part of a decade to set up his infrastructure. We sure the hell aren’t going to crack it in a couple of days.”
Hail was quiet for a moment, noting that, in so many words, Pepper had told him the CIA had zilch to offer. No information whatsoever that could help him find Kara.
Hail felt like stating, “Big help you are,” but he kept silent recognizing he had fared no better than Pepper.
Hail stretched his neck to one side and then the other. He told Pepper, “We’ll let you know if we hear anything. We’re going to sit tight for the next twenty-four hours. If we don’t get any leads or hear from you, we will leave.”
While Pepper mulled over the situation, a dead silence ensued. Hail thought Pepper might have fallen asleep. They ended the call abruptly since neither man could think of anything to add–leaving the entire situation unresolved.