Chapter XVIII

MALCOLM POINDEXTER WASN’T CONVINCED that Ed Maddux was the mole from the Bonn station, if there even was one. Despite the CIA’s best efforts to shuttle secure messages between locations, the opportunity for prying eyes to fall upon classified documents was greater than the agency would’ve hoped. Publicly, the CIA boasted about its ability to transfer information to agents halfway around the world without anyone being able to crack their codes. But such a statement was far from the truth. Privately, the CIA adopted a method of “post and pray” when it came to delivering sensitive reports to distant destinations—send the message and pray it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

But Dex wasn’t allowed to make judgment calls when it came to working under Al Bearden. Serving under Bearden in the past at the CIA’s Cairo station, Dex learned that doing anything other than what the chief wanted was detrimental to a thriving career. Dex felt more like a foot soldier carrying out orders than a trained asset capable of making sharp decisions on the fly and following the evidence. And bringing back Ed Maddux was the only viable option, according to Bearden. The ultimatum was simple: get one piece of damning evidence on Maddux and bring him back to Bonn.

When Dex first began his trip to Podkoren, he wasn’t sure he would get any proof that could be considered “damning.” Ed Maddux seemed genuine and sincere in his dedication to the agency. His slip of Dex’s tail could be forgiven and probably lauded as an alert spy. Dex had all but written off Maddux as the leak when he’d climbed into the shower.

But Dex wanted to make sure he’d done his due diligence. With Maddux in the shower, his bag was wide open. So Dex took a peek.

When the door to the bathroom swung open, he was looking that picture of Maddux’s father taken from the Belgrade station. Dex hurriedly shoved it into his coat pocket, but not all the way. But that wasn’t all Dex had on him.

In the inside coat pocket, he hid away a key to Maddux’s apartment that Dex had been carrying since Bearden doled out the assignment. The key was be used in case the situation warranted it. So far, it hadn’t. But Dex had forgotten that the key was still nestled inside.

As Dex struggled to free himself of all the bindings that kept both his mouth closed and his limbs virtually immobile, he put all the pieces together. Imagining the situation from Maddux’s perspective, Dex saw how his colleague’s already heightened suspicion of everyone along with being tailed and having his stuff rifled through while in the shower could lead to such a violent reaction. Dex wanted to explain, but he never had the opportunity.

However, Dex had faked being unconscious and learned of Maddux’s plans with Rose to break Pritchett out. Dex viewed the plan as disastrous, destined to fail before it even got off the ground. If he didn’t stop them, two bad things were likely to happen. First, Maddux and Rose would either be killed or captured. Secondly, the security around Pritchett would increase, making a rescue mission virtually impossible. Then there was the problem of how to handle this situation with Bearden. Dex needed to return them to Bearden and let him deal with the mess. It was the only potential to earn some goodwill out of the debacle. But Dex couldn’t get ahead of himself; he still needed to apprehend the other two agents to keep matters from getting even worse.

Dex tried to scream, but the sheet stuffed in his mouth muted any such attempts. He scanned the room for anything that might help him break free of the bindings. Without enough leverage to lift the desk and slide the rope down the leg to get untied, he sought another option. Against the baseboard was a floor heater, shrouded in a metal casing. The unit had become worn and full of sharp edges on the corners.

That’ll do.

Dex locked his feet underneath the bed and strained to drag the desk from one side of the room to the other. Slowly the hulking piece of furniture budged, inching across the floor until Dex reached the heater. The entire escape was an exercise in patience, realizing that in order to succeed, he couldn’t rush anything. If he moved too vigorously while scooting the desk and himself across the room, he could wrench his back. And if he attempted to cut through the rope too quickly, he could fray the metal to the point where it would be too flimsy to slice through anything of substance.

The whole process took just under twenty minutes. Once Dex was free, he grabbed the keys to their car and went straight to the prison location, hoping that he wasn’t too late.

Dex parked about a quarter of a mile away from where Maddux and Rose had planned to launch their operation. They were hidden along the top of a ridge shrouded with heavy trees and shrubs. But Dex knew they were there.

He passed Rose’s car tucked behind some bushes off the side of the road. If he hadn’t known it was there, Dex figured he would’ve missed it. That revelation made him slow down. Sneaking around in enemy territory was bad enough, but he also faced the daunting odds of being opposed by his colleagues. Dex had no allies, so he couldn’t afford even the slightest misstep.

Easing within twenty meters of Maddux and Rose, Dex stealthily made his final approach and committed to the encounter. Maddux didn’t turn around until Dex had already jammed his gun into the small of Maddux’s back.

“Surprised to see me?” Dex asked softly in Maddux’s ear. “You need to thank me because I’m saving your life.”

“Pritchett is going to be gone for good if we don’t get him out now.”

“You all would’ve been gone for good if you went through with this plan. I heard everything while pretending to be knocked out. You’re still plenty green, Maddux. And so is Rose when it comes to activity in the field.”

“Our plan would’ve worked,” Maddux said.

“Start walking toward your car,” Dex said. “We’ll talk about it on the way back to Bonn.”