Harrington said, “You had General Christie in your house?”
“Yes,” Paul replied.
“In Palm Springs?”
“Yes.”
“What date?”
“Exactly two weeks ago. A Sunday. Just after lunch.”
The guard opposite Paul said, “That’s the day Team Black rotated back to ’Stan.”
“And how is it they could get taken from the field over there and placed here within twenty-four hours?” Walker’s opposite number said.
“Look,” Walker said to them, and his face was pointed, under the hood, to the leader in the front passenger seat. “You know my name, so you’ve read my file. You know I’m ex-Agency. I know a set-up when I’m in one, and you guys are about to get burned. We’re your only bargaining chip here, and if you go in with the three of us and hand us over, then you’ve got nothing to negotiate with, and there’s little chance that you’re walking out of here alive.”
“This cracker’s talking bullshit, Harrington,” the driver said. “No way would the General think like that. No way.”
“Harrington,” Walker said, “if your buddy here is right, and I’m wrong, then why didn’t you know about this? Why isn’t it adding up? How is it that Team Black is here, where Jasper Brokaw is being held, and you’re only just now arriving? And why did the General use Paul here to make contact with Jasper? This whole thing stinks.”
“Yeah, how’s that?” the guy opposite Walker said. “No way they could have got stateside and jumped ahead of us on this.”
“And the fact is,” Walker continued as if that man hadn’t spoken, “if I’m right, and you do nothing about it and just hand us on over, we’re all dead, because you’re walking into a set-up. If I’m wrong, and you hand us over, then it’s just the three of us and Jasper that are screwed. Your call. But if you do something about it, be smart about it. Damn. You save the day, along with your lives and ours.”
There was a long pause, then Harrington said abruptly, “Change of plans.”
“No way—” the driver said but Harrington cut him off.
“We’re not taking a chance, because this doesn’t add up,” Harrington said to him. Then, toward the back of the van he said, “Take these two, and wait back here. One stays with them, one sets up with eyes on a scope of the drop zone. Change comms down two bands to keep Team Black in the dark. And get the drone overhead.”
Paul said, “This place is EMP-proof.”
“The drone’s still handy,” Harrington said. “Await my orders. We’ll go in with Walker and see what’s what. If it checks out, I’ll tell you to bring them in, and we’ve done nothing other than be cautious for a couple of minutes.”
The guy opposite Walker said, “And if it doesn’t check out?”
•
The door was opened for McCorkell and he entered and scanned the Situation Room.
Seated at the table was the National Security team: the heads of the FBI and Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, two of the Joint Chiefs, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Vice President. There were a few National Security Advisers and senior military personnel at the end of the table and at chairs against the walls, taking notes and collating data and responding to questions that they could either answer straightaway or defer to those outside the room for clarification. That channel was a two-way street, with orders from the room being dispatched down the chain and implemented around the nation and the world.
And on the large screen at the end of the room was a face, speaking to the room. The main screen was actually made up of three dozen smaller screens that could be tasked on different images and video feeds, but at this moment it displayed only one visual: General Christie.
“Sir,” McCorkell said to the Vice President, who looked up upon McCorkell entering. “A brief word?”
The Vice President, seated in the middle of the board table, nodded, got up and walked over to join McCorkell in the far corner, away from the large screen.
“Sorry—what is this?” General Christie said. “What’s McCorkell doing? Someone turn up the audio at your end.”
“Sir,” McCorkell said, his voice low, ignoring the General and talking to the man who trusted Jed Walker quite literally with his life. “Walker has intel from the field.”