THE Humvee roared up three minutes later and a large Marine in green-and-brown camouflage fatigues leapt from the passenger side and advanced with a sure step. He stood six-two and had short-cropped blond hair, a weathered and penetrating look, and bulging thighs.
I met him halfway and we shook hands.
He said, “Brodie, I presume.”
“For better or for worse.”
He grinned. “We’re here to make it better.”
“Good to know.”
“As soon as we load our gear, we can get airborne.”
His men were already hauling equipment lockers, gear belts, and rifles from the Humvee. One of them shouted over about the lack of crew and pilots.
KC shook his head. “Same guys probably sent them across base to get them out of the way. I’d better chase them down.”
“Good deal,” I said. “Got to make one quick call.”
“Anyone I know?”
“You do, whether you voted for him or not.”
The secure phone rang three times before someone picked up. I identified myself and was told there’d been orders to patch me through immediately. Three rings later, the Homeland secretary picked up.
“Hello again, Jim. This is Carl. Joe will be right here.”
“Okay. Do you mind a question from my end?
Over by the open hangar, KC was on his radio, trying to track down the errant pilots and prep crew. His men stacked their supplies and weapons by the locked aircraft.
“Go right ahead.”
“You must have others working on this.”
“We do.”
“Including Swelley?”
“Including but not limited to him, by any means.”
“And no one else has found any trace of Anna Tanaka or her kidnappers?”
“Currently, only you’ve found the trailhead. You dug out the proverbial needle in the espionage haystack.”
I sensed an incipient excuse for a congressional committee in the making.
“I got lucky,” I said.
Carl’s chuckle was bitter. “Send some of that luck our way, would you?”
“Are you in on the day-to-day?”
“No, of course not. Why?”
“Nothing.”
I couldn’t throw Swelley’s latest at him without knowing more, and wanted to avoid slinging mud with the president nearby if I could.
Joe Slater came on, saying, “I assume everything’s gone smoothly since we last talked.”
“We’re moving forward,” I said.
The president was no fool. He hesitated for a second before resuming. “Okay, but you yell if you need my help. One reason I’m insisting on bringing you aboard is because you’ve demonstrated an impressive ability on two fronts. Not only did you identify the kidnappers but you also defused the scene at Tattersill’s.”
“Thank you. But, really, I only want to get Anna Tanaka back alive.”
“The Tattersill incident could have blown up in any number of ways. Inflexible Lex would not have been unhappy to see this White House take some flack. You heard me mention Homeland had two men undercover at the funeral and we still lost Ms. Tanaka?”
“Yes. I saw them.”
“Wait. Did they identify themselves to you?”
“No.”
“So how . . . ?”
“They weren’t passing as smoothly as they believed.”
The president was startled. “You hear that, Carl?”
KC called one of his men over, gave some orders, and the Marine jumped into the Humvee and roared off.
“I did and I’m not liking it.”
“Neither am I,” Slater said. “Brodie, you’ve done great work, and I mean that sincerely.”
“Just doing my job,” I said, finding something on my side to dislike. An abundance of compliments usually came with baggage.
The president plowed on. “You understand the gravity of the current situation?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then we need the landing site on the South Korean coastline and their destination inside the DMZ.”
There it was. The president didn’t need the locations. Probably hadn’t even thought about them. This was the Homeland secretary pushing, or maybe someone at the Department of Defense.
“Let me stop you right there, Mr. President. While I understand the desire, I am not supplying anyone with any new information just yet. I’ve come too far and it means too much.”
“Joe,” the secretary said, “let me take this. Jim, this is national security we’re talking about, and it’s vital we have that information. You agreed to join the team.”
“No,” I said. “I agreed to allow a team to accompany me to Seoul. There’s a difference.”
Carl snorted. “I’m not going to argue semantics with you.”
The Humvee roared up with the pilots and ground staff.
“It’s not semantics and you know it. I won’t let my work be sabotaged anymore.”
“If you’re talking about Tattersill’s little temper tantrum—”
The secretary had shown his hand. Time to lay down mine.
“No, Carl, I’m talking about a steady stream of run-ins and attempted sabotage by Homeland agents. First, in the National Mall they warned me off the case and talking to the White House. Next, your people pushed Tattersill’s buttons, not me. And finally, just minutes ago, the recon team sent to accompany me was attacked by Homeland men here on the base.”
So much for saving the secretary’s face. I’d just made a powerful enemy.
After a long silence in the Oval, the president said, “Is all of this true, Jim? You’re not exaggerating?”
“Yes to the first, no to the second.”
“Carl?”
“Brodie must be mistaken. Or it is a case of a mistaken interpretation of an order.”
KC flashed me the okay sign. His men hopped aboard and the plane’s engine started up.
“Any way you look at it, they couldn’t all be mistakes,” I said. “I don’t have time for this nonsense right now. Anna doesn’t have time. And, again, she is all I care about. There were four witnesses to tonight’s so-called mistake and I’ll be happy to produce them after Anna is back safely. But right now I have a plane to catch and a woman to find. I won’t allow the information I have to be compromised. So if there’s nothing further, I’d like to be on my way.”
“Actually, there is,” the secretary said. “At the president’s request, I need to brief you.”
No apology. No conciliatory comment.
“And I want to hear it, but I need to get airborne, so it’ll have to wait,” I said, and disconnected.
KC crouched in the open doorway of the plane ten yards off. “You ready?” he yelled over the roar of the engine.
Tattersill had hung up on the first lady, and I’d hung up on the secretary of homeland security—in the presence of the president.
Must be something in the air.
I said, “Let’s get going before I shoot somebody.”
“Roger that.”