Chapter XIX

MADDUX WANTED TO LASH OUT at Dex once they arrived back at Rose’s car but decided to keep quiet. Considering that Dex wanted to take them back to Bonn instead of killing them and burying them in a Yugoslavian forest was a sign to Maddux that maybe he had misread the situation. He also didn’t want to agitate Dex to make matters worse for Rose. She offered her assistance innocently enough, yet Maddux knew his withholding all the facts might cost him some portion of the trust he had built up with her if he was wrong about Dex. Though Maddux considered that it might not matter in the end. His offense of shackling a fellow agent might be egregious enough for dismissal.

No one said a word until they reached the border.

“Don’t worry,” Dex said, digging into his back pocket. “I packed all your belongings and paid the motel bill. I’ve got your passports right here.”

After they cleared the border, Dex started talking.

“I should give you a beating you wouldn’t soon forget for that stunt back there,” he said. “That was reckless and uncalled for, not to mention that it had the potential to get us both killed.”

Maddux sighed. “I thought that—”

“I know what you thought, that I was either the mole or that I suspected you as the mole. The truth is, Bearden told me to keep an eye on you. You shook my tail in Bonn, but I hadn’t drawn any conclusions. However, I must admit that you looked pretty damn guilty with the way you were being very evasive.”

“So, that was you who was following me around that night. Care to explain the key you had to my apartment in your pocket?”

“I forgot I still had it on me. But that’s standard operating procedure when you’re tailing someone you suspect. Your station chief has a copy of a home key for every person on the CIA payroll under his purview. Spies are notoriously suspicious of everyone, even their own.”

“You were going to enter my apartment and snoop around?”

“We’re dealing with a mole here, and your story was sketchy. You knew where Pritchett was staying in Barcelona. If anyone could’ve ratted him out, it could’ve been you.”

“Yet you don’t seem convinced that I’m the mole now.”

Dex shook his head. “You care about Pritchett too much, and it’s evident to me. However, it’s not my job to decide if you’re sharing secrets with our enemies. My job was to follow you and report back what I found. The ultimate call about what happens to you will fall on Bearden. And when he gets set on something, he doesn’t like to change his mind. For your sake, I hope Bearden agrees with the conclusion I’ve come to.”

Maddux exhaled before punching the car door. “If that’s how you felt about me, why didn’t you let us stay and rescue Pritchett? He’s going to disappear into the KGB’s system, and we’re never going to hear from him again.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. We’ve got eyes and ears everywhere. Isn’t that right, Rose?”

Rose stared out the window and remained quiet.

“Rose?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Isn’t that right?” Dex asked.

“Isn’t what right?”

“Don’t you have a program that has eyes and ears all throughout the KGB network?”

“I wouldn’t say we have their organization blanketed, but we do have quite a few people listening. However, our coverage inside Yugoslavia is spotty at best.”

Maddux turned around to look at her. “So what does that mean?”

“It means that we’re not likely to hear anything about Pritchett’s movement.”

Maddux punched the dashboard. “I knew it. We’re gonna lose him. And if anybody knows how to plug this leak and help us get back to the business of capturing these KGB assassins, it’s Pritchett.”

“Just calm down,” Dex said. “This business of espionage is as unpredictable as it is frustrating at times.”

“You’re just saying that because you know you’re responsible if Pritchett is swallowed up by the KGB. Who knows what they’ll do to him to get the information they want?”

“If the KGB is smart, they’ll keep him safe and sound so they can trade him for one of their spies that we’ve captured.”

Rose leaned forward. “But there are no guarantees. You know that as well as anyone, don’t you?”

Dex kept his gaze fixed on the road and didn’t answer.

Maddux turned to look at Rose. “What happened?”

“Well, it’s a long—” she began.

“Now’s not the time, Rose,” Dex said.

“Are you ever going to talk about it?” she asked. “At some point, you need to.”

“Some day, but not now.”

Maddux settled back into his seat and took in the scenery of the Alps as they sped back toward Bonn. He wasn’t looking forward to his impending confrontation with Bearden.

* * *

THE NEXT MORNING, Maddux glared at Bearden upon entering the conference room at the CIA offices in Bonn. Rose and Dex settled into their seats and left the one directly in front of Bearden open for Maddux. He pulled the chair out and leaned forward.

“Every minute we sit here is more time lost searching for Pritchett,” Maddux said, hammering the table with his index finger for emphasis. “Instead, we’re all sitting around here in a worthless meeting.”

Bearden interlocked his fingers behind his head and nodded subtly. “I understand you’re upset, but please hear me out. With Pritchett gone, my job first and foremost is to figure out who’s leaking information to the KGB because it’s evident that somehow precious intel is getting outside these walls. And I don’t intend to leave any stone unturned.”

“If you think it’s me, you’re looking in the wrong direction.”

Bearden grunted. “You’ve already lied to me once, so pardon me if I don’t exactly see you as a beacon of trustworthiness right now.”

“I already told you that I was looking to find out more information and find out about my father.”

“Working for the CIA is a privilege, and it sure doesn’t give you permission to go on some damned fool’s errand in search of your father, rifling through top-secret files and then lying about it.”

“Then stop the whispers and the secrets and tell me where he is and what really happened to him. It shouldn’t be that difficult to share with an agent the truth about his father.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not my call to make,” Bearden said. “If I could, I would. But that’s not the situation we’re in right now. And to be very frank, it’s not the most important issue facing this station—or even you, for that matter.”

“We also have a station chief whose life is in danger after being captured by the KGB, if he isn’t dead already. If he were here, he’d—”

Bearden pointed at Maddux. “But Pritchett isn’t here, and we need to focus on what we can do now to control the situation.”

“Like dragging me back from Podkoren when we’re on the cusp of extracting Pritchett?”

Bearden rubbed his face with both hands and sighed. “You tied up your partner and begged Rose to join you there, endangering her life. And you think that I’m crazy for suspecting you and that I should’ve just done what? Left you out in the field to complete the crazy scheme you concocted to break Pritchett out?”

Maddux stared pensively at Bearden. “Look, I know I haven’t been at the agency as long as all of you or anyone else in this room, but I sincerely think you’re looking in the wrong place for the person leaking this classified information.”

Bearden forced a smile and cocked his head to one side. “Why don’t you share with the rest of us? I suppose you have a working theory.”

Maddux nodded and scrunched his nose. “Sort of. But I need to speak with Pritchett first about it.”

“That’s not helpful. And what we need right now are ideas and theories to put a stop to these KGB assassins who uncannily seem to know where some of our most well-placed assets are located.”

There was a knock on the door, and Bearden motioned for Pritchett’s assistant to enter.

Maddux continued. “Sir, if you’ll give me a chance to figure out a way to bring Pritchett home, maybe we can solve this more quickly than you thought possible.”

“But our problem hasn’t changed. We aren’t going to be able to solve anything quickly because we don’t know where Pritchett is right now.”

Bearden’s assistant raised her hand. “Uh, sir, if you will—I think we might actually know where Mr. Pritchett is being held.”

“Go on.”

She pushed her glasses up on her nose and looked at the notepad in her hands. “We just received a message from one of our assets at a listening station in Yugoslavia. He captured information about moving a CIA agent last night. Based on where this intelligence came from, our analyst here believes it’s Mr. Pritchett.”

Everyone glanced at Bearden.

“Well, Maddux, looks like you might get to share your theory with us after all—that is if you can work together with Dex this time instead of tying him up and calling for reinforcements. Think you can handle that?”

“You won’t be disappointed, sir,” Maddux said.

“I better not be—because if you fail, I’m going to put you on a plane and send you back across the Atlantic. Do I make myself clear?”

Maddux nodded and stood. He needed to get moving if they were going to find Pritchett.