on the road with the prisoner it would have been much simpler for them, and they would have faced half the opposition.”
Brewer said, “I’ve been wondering the same thing. Perhaps they were missing some piece of intel that forced them to hit the plane to make certain they achieved their mission objectives.”
“Like they didn’t know for sure if the prisoner was being dropped off or if other people were being picked up,” Court said.
“Maybe,” allowed Brewer. “That might make finding out who did this a little easier on our end. Anyone involved in the code-word op itself would know it was a drop-off. But anyone in Support would only know that the plane was scheduled to pick a group up in Luxembourg and make a scheduled stop in the UK before proceeding to the U.S.”
Court said, “And that would make it less likely the compromise came from the British.”
“Possibly.”
“What do you mean, possibly?” Court said. “Brewer, this is our leak, not theirs. Do I need to remind you that this isn’t the first time an Agency transport has been compromised recently?”
That was true. Just a few months earlier Gentry himself had been on a flight to Hong Kong that Chinese intelligence clearly identified as CIA. Brewer had been involved in that compromised operation, as well.
He noticed Brewer’s hesitation in admitting it, but finally she responded. “True. And your case isn’t the only one. This has happened other times.”
“That’s terrific. Here’s a thought. How about you stop putting me on Agency aircraft?”
“Fair enough. Actually, the reason I was recalling you to the U.S. was to help us in our hunt for the traitor.”
Court instantly knew what this meant. He wasn’t an investigator, and he wouldn’t be brought into the States to run a surveillance operation. No, he was an assassin. If Brewer was bringing him in, she was bringing him in to kill an Agency employee . . . in the United States.
“Has the person been identified?”
“Not yet. Hanley wanted you here and ready.”
“Roger. Well, as soon as we get this end taken care of, I’ll happily go after the asshole responsible for all this. Is the compromise limited to aircraft? That would definitely put the traitor somewhere in Transpo.”
Again, another pause. Court was getting used to Brewer’s reticence about giving him information. Finally she said, “It is not limited to aircraft, unfortunately. It seems to be slightly more broad.”
He didn’t know what the hell that meant, but he did know he wasn’t going to get anything more out of Brewer on the subject.
“I need to know who this prisoner I’m going after is.”
“He’s a Dutch banker, working in Luxembourg.”
“Since when do we perform extraordinary renditions on Dutch bankers?”
“He has information about the owner of a private account. We think that owner is the CIA employee who has been passing intelligence to bad actors.” She added, “He is the only person we’ve identified who possibly knows who the traitor is.”
“This banker has at least a half dozen armed men around him. What do you expect me to do?”
“Your best, Violator.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning we still don’t know for sure the British aren’t involved in this exposure over there. Until we do know for sure, you’re on your own.”
“Such a blast to be working with you again,” Court said, and then he disconnected the call.
Court thought, and perhaps not for the first time, that sometimes it almost seemed like Brewer wanted him to die.
* * *
• • •
I wish he would hurry up and die, Brewer thought.
She hung up the phone on her end and put her head in her hands. She wanted out of this. She couldn’t blow the lid on Poison Apple; she was too inexorably tied to it, thanks to Hanley’s maneuvering and blackmail, to survive the inevitable fallout should the media learn about the program. But if the program failed, or perhaps even if one of the assets failed spectacularly, then Hanley would have little recourse but to shut Poison Apple down.
If Violator died, Hanley would abandon Poison Apple; she was certain. Brewer would do what she could to limit support for the asset and cover her ass with good handling when she saw no other way to avoid it, but she would always have her eyes out for a time when she could make this whole problem go away with some sort of incident in the field that ended Hanley’s dangerous program.
But Violator simply refused to play by her rules. He was quite possibly the best singleton asset in the