until the older man saw him and nodded, which confirmed to his guards that Robie was the one he was meeting with.
The room was empty even though it was lunchtime. Robie knew this was not a coincidence. The wait staff was not in evidence. The restaurant had in effect been shut down. Robie would have to eat lunch afterwards if he was hungry. He doubted food was part of the agenda.
Robie sat catty-corner to the man, his back also to a wall.
“Glad you could make it,” said the man.
“You have a name?”
“Blue Man will do.”
“Creds, Blue, just for confirmation.”
The man reached into his pocket and let Robie see the badge, the picture, and the position stated on the ID card but not the name.
This fellow was high up in the agency. Far higher than Robie expected.
“Okay, let’s talk. Jane Wind? You said she was one of ours. I checked her ID. She’s DCIS. Defense Criminal Investigative Service.”
“Did you also see her passport?”
“Middle East trips, Germany. But DCIS has offices in all those places.”
“That’s why it made perfect cover.”
“So was she a lawyer?”
“Yes. But she was more than that.”
“What exactly did she do for you?”
“You know you’re not read in.”
“Then why ask me here?”
“I said you weren’t read in. I’m officially reading you in now.”
“Okay.”
“But first, I need to know exactly what happened last night.”
Robie told him. He figured at this point keeping anything back was a stupid idea. However, he said nothing about Julie or the bus disintegrating. In his mind that was a separate matter entirely.
Blue Man sat back and took all this information in. He didn’t break the silence and neither did Robie. He figured Blue Man had more to tell him than Robie had left to convey.
“Agent Wind worked in the field for years. She was a good agent, as I said. After she had her children she was reassigned to the IG’s Office at DOD, but she still worked closely with DCIS in all of its investigation sectors. And of course she continued to work for us.”
“How did that get her assigned to a hit list she wasn’t supposed to be on?” asked Robie. “And how can something like this happen anyway? I know we’re clandestine, but we’re also part of an organization with checks and balances.”
“Rogue traders lose billions of dollars of institutional money all the time. And those organizations are bigger and better funded than we are. And still it happens. If one person, or more likely a small group of people, are determined enough, they can accomplish the impossible.”
“I saw her go into the building that night. She had no kids with her.”
“Apparently they were with a sitter she’s used before that lives in the building. This sitter took them to the apartment when Agent Wind returned home.”
“Okay. What did Wind stumble on that got her killed?”
Blue Man looked curious. “How do you know she stumbled onto anything?”
“She lived in a crappy apartment with two little kids. There were legal docs on her table in the living room. You can’t bring home classified stuff and leave it lying around. So her work wasn’t classified. According to her passport her last trip out of the States was two years ago. She wasn’t a field agent, at least not any longer, according to you. Her youngest child wasn’t even a year old. She probably was pulled from the field because of that. But she was back working on something, probably considered routine. She found something. That’s why she was targeted. I doubt it was directly related to her work.”
Blue Man took this in, his head nodding approvingly. “You analyze well, Robie. I’m impressed.”
“And I’m full of questions. Do you know what she had stumbled onto?”
“No. We don’t. But like you we don’t think it was tied to her official duties.”
“Why do you want me to act as the liaison with the Bureau? That’s a big risk, particularly if they find out what I’ve been doing the last dozen years.”
“Which they won’t.”
“Like you said, one person or a group, if determined enough, can accomplish the impossible.”
“Give me your theory.”
“Someone found out what she had discovered and they ratted her. We have a mole on our side, as evidenced by the actions of my handler and others, and the hit was carried out. They weren’t sure I would pull the trigger so they had a backup. He had no compunction about blowing the kid and his mother away. And you said my handler had been reassigned. That