Brian Haig - The Kingmaker

The other guy returned a minute later and led us around a few corners to a small office at the back of the building. Mel, like the courageous lion of lore, let Katrina and me go in and then stopped at the doorway, like, Hey, I’m with these two, but not really with them.

Jackler, the man behind the desk, made no effort to get up. He looked to be about fifty, and in terrific shape for his age-or any other age, for that matter. He had a crew cut and a nose that had been broken with extreme prejudice, as they say in the trade, and looked incredibly like Sergeant Joe Friday, if you added fifty pounds of hard muscle, a misshapen snout, and made his personality even less scintillating. It was a great face for an inquisitor.

He didn’t invite us to sit down in the chairs in front of his desk, but stared at them, willing us to sit. So we did.

His chilling eyes examined me. “You’re Drummond, right?”

“I’m afraid so. And this is my co-counsel, Katrina Mazorski.”

He did this funny thing with his face that was akin to a nod, only without moving his head. It was a gesture every aspiring badass really should master, and I tried to do something with my face, too, only it made my earlobes itch, so I don’t think it created the impression I wanted.

“You asked for this meeting,” he said in a severely icy tone.

“Right. No doubt we’ll be interviewing the same people, and I don’t want to get anything confused.”

“I knew you were coming,” he informed me.

“I’m sure you did. A guy like you probably knows everything.”

He was looking at me quizzically. “What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

It was probably best not to answer that, so instead I asked, “Who do you report to? The Agency or the prosecutor’s office?”

“We run everything through Golden first, then he decides what goes forward. Why’s that? He a buddy of yours?”

“Oh yeah. Like this,” I said, twisting two fingers together. “Of course we ended up on different sides this time.”

This earned a big guffaw. “Yeah, and he’s really gonna kick your butt, too.”

“Well, yeah,” I chuckled. “Except the other guy should take some of the heat off my client.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“What? You’re kidding, right? Eddie hasn’t told you what we’ve got?”

“He hasn’t told me shit. With him it’s always take, take, take.”

“I know, I know,” I said, shaking my head in commiseration. “I mean, I love him like a brother, but the boy’s got a few kinks and flaws. You might find this hard to believe, but some JAG guys think he’s a real prick.”

“Do tell,” he said very impatiently. “What’s this shit about this other guy?”

I winked at him. “Why do you think we flew all this way? We get the name and we trade it to Eddie for a big sentence reduction. A few more small details to wrap up, and then, badda-bing, the big press conference.”

“Aw, you’re shittin’ me.”

Katrina suddenly bent forward with a puzzled expression. “I’m sorry, I’m a private citizen. Don’t you government people… well, don’t you share these things?”

I stared at her, because I hadn’t really expected any help. He, of course, was staring even harder. He said, “You mean, you’re not jackin’ me off?”

I said, “Look, it’s the unwritten code of the JAG Corps-never surprise each other. We’re not cannibals, right? Make one or two guys look bad, and pretty soon everybody’s making everybody look bad. Eddie keeps me clued in on the big stuff, and I return the favor.”

He was shaking his head like this really sucked. “That son of a bitch. He sends me all the way over here and never tells me about this other asshole.”

“Well, that’s shocking,” I said.

He scratched his stubby butchcut. “See if I got this straight. You and Golden already know about this accomplice?”

“Right… here in the embassy… under our very noses. We don’t know exactly who yet, but we have a few leads. But hell, don’t worry about it. In a few days, you’ll learn all about it at our press conference.”

FBI and CIA people really, really hate it when outsiders discover their moles and turncoats. Guys like Jackler get early retirement. He asked, “So there’s another friggin’ traitor here in the embassy?”

“It would seem that way,” I assured him, trying to look regretful, while Katrina tried to mimic my expression.

He pondered his desktop, his jaws bunching and unbunching, and said, “Listen, you find anything, I mean anything, you let me know right away, okay?”

“Sure.” I asked, “And you’ll return the favor, right?”

“Uh, yeah, sure, of course,” he said, “whatever we get, you get.”

Of course we would. Anyway, I replied, “Jesus, you are a good sport. And Eddie said you were a royal bastard. He said I should just tell him when I found the accomplice. But I don’t… I mean, sure, I might be Morrison’s attorney, but we’re all on the same team, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, yeah, same team,” Jackler replied. His hands were fidgeting. He apparently couldn’t wait till we got our tushes out of his office so he could rush out and strap down some of these embassy nerds on the rack.

“Well, listen,” I said, “time to get back to work. I mean, the sooner I find this accomplice, the sooner we get our deal.”

“Yeah, right,” he said, standing up and literally shooing us out.

Katrina kept mum till Torianski dropped us off back at the hotel, although the second our elevator door closed, she said, “Am I missing something here?”

“You mean that thing with Jackler?”

“Don’t give me that innocent shit. Silly of me, but I like to know what I’m getting into.”

“Quite simply, we’re sowing dissension in the enemy’s ranks.”

“And this is a smart thing to do?”

“Very smart. So far these guys have had it all their way. They’ve been working for months on this case, and they’re going to keep us in the dark as long as possible, right?”

“So it would seem.”

“But the thing with government agencies is, they’re relentlessly competitive, competing for budget dollars, for better reputations, for-hell I don’t know. But Eddie’s got this gigantic task force made up of agencies that privately distrust one another, so we sow a few seeds of discord and Eddie’s job gets a little harder.”

“If the taxpayers only knew.”

“And another thing. That ambassador-if I ever met a guy who meant every word, it’s him. So Jackler and his goons turn up the heat on his embassy people, and pretty soon they’re at each other’s throats.”

“How’s that a good idea?”

“It might not be. It’ll be fun to watch, though.”

We went to my room, where she walked to the refrigerator and pulled out two beers, tossed me one, and popped the other.

“Miller time,” she said, then examined the label. “Well, Moscva Piva time.” She sipped and studied me in her strange way. “This is why I became a lawyer. I’m having a great time.”

“You think this is fun?”

“Fun? I said I’m having a great time.”

I sipped from my can, too, and it tasted awful, like dirty water. I also thought I detected a faint trace of urine. Of course, I’d never drunk urine, so surely I was mistaken.

I said, “What’s behind this metamorphosis thing?”

“I’m an adaptable person. New city, new look.”

She sipped again, and the thought struck me that few sights are more seductive than a woman in buttoned-down business attire swilling beer from a can. Women of contrasts can be a very powerful turn-on. Of course, a naked woman chugging suds can be fairly seductive, too-assuming it’s the right kind of beer.