Дэвид Балдаччи - Walk the Wire

He clicked off and looked at Jamison. She stared back at him incredulously.

“You just called in a favor from, what, your private PI boys’ club? I thought that only happened in the movies.”

“Bernie Hoffman used to be a homicide detective in Cincinnati. We got to know and trust each other working some joint cases. About the time I went private so did he. We helped each other back then, too. I remembered he had a really good guy in South Dakota. Bernie will put him on the case and we’ll see what pops. And it’s not a favor. I’m paying the guy.”

When she kept staring at him, he said, “What?”

“Well, you handled that so deftly over the phone. I mean, you weren’t, um...” Her voice trailed off and she looked a little embarrassed.

“I get tongue-tied in social situations, Alex. Put me in the middle of a dinner, or a party or anything like that, I’m not your guy for eloquence or even stringing a few words together. But when it comes to what I do for a living, I don’t have that problem. I thought you would have remembered that from our first few encounters back in Ohio.”

She smiled, shamefaced. “You’re right about that. Okay. So what do you think Purdy meant when he said they were all sitting on a time bomb here?”

“He could have been speaking metaphorically. Or literally.”

“The latter gives me the chills.”

“Robie got the photo by breaking into the military facility.”

A wide-eyed Jamison said, “You didn’t tell me that part. Did he actually say that?”

“He didn’t have to. But it was a close call for the guy, and he strikes me as the sort who can pretty much go where he wants. So the security there must be tough.”

“Well, it is a secret government facility,” said Jamison.

“Yeah, I just wonder what the secret is.”

“What do you mean?”

In response Decker brought up some photos on his phone. “Robie didn’t tell me about these. I guess he thought the photos would speak for themselves, and they sort of do.”

He showed Jamison shots of the men on the gurney being taken to the ambulance, and the man and two women getting off the jet.

“I wonder who they are,” said Jamison. “And I wonder what happened to the men on the gurneys? Sumter said the place was really safe. No accidents.”

“Well, maybe what happened to them was no accident,” replied Decker.

The room was dark. Any illumination appeared to be coming from a lamp in another area. A man sat in a comfortable upholstered chair. He was dressed in a suit, crisp white shirt, and a tie. His winged loafers were polished. His hair was salt and pepper. His face was creased with decades’ worth of worry, all honestly earned while serving on behalf of his country. His demeanor was calm; he was used to projecting such a façade in times of extreme peril.

This was one of those times.

His code name was Blue Man, which denoted the sky-high ring of seniority of which he was a member in America’s intelligence apparatus.

Will Robie sat opposite him.

“Amos Decker has the information?” asked Blue Man.

“He does. Plus the photos.”

“Good fortune shone on you last night, Robie.”

“It didn’t feel like it at the time. How’s Jess?”

“Busy” was all that Blue Man would say on that. “Now, I take it from your overall demeanor that you wonder why we are not performing a full frontal assault on this particular problem?”

“I do what I’m tasked to do,” said Robie evenly.

“But still.”

“Yes,” said Robie. “But still.”

Blue Man held up one of his hands. “Unfortunately, we have one of these tied behind our back, Robie. Very tightly, in fact.”

“Is that so?”

“Powerful interests are arrayed all over this situation. The problem is, while they are arrayed, they are not aligned with our interests.”

“Money?”

“And power. Now if we knew for sure, with demonstrable proof, what is going on, it would be different. Without that, I can’t even get a meeting. I can’t even get an email returned. People would rather ignore a potential problem in the hope that it will go away.”

“And when it doesn’t?”

Blue Man looked dubiously at him. “You’ve been in this game long enough to know that when it doesn’t , those who ducked their responsibilities will point fingers at others. That apparently qualifies as leadership in certain places.”

“Don’t you get tired of this shit, sir?”

“I became tired of it my first day on the job.” Blue Man leaned forward. “But if all of us who hate the status quo were to leave, then the status quo would not only remain, it would become intractable.”

“Meaning evil only wins—”

“—when good men and women do nothing. I choose to do something.”

“So what now?” asked Robie.

“Do you think he can find Ben Purdy?”

“If anyone can, I think Decker can.”

“I have a good friend at the Bureau. He speaks very highly of Decker. In fact, he told me Decker is the best pure investigator that the FBI has. He also said that Decker has some quirks.”

Robie nodded. “I read the file. The man’s entitled to some quirks after what happened to him.”

“Agreed.”

“Vector?” said Robie.

“A recently created company but already embedded throughout the DoD’s operations with a cavalry of powerful political allies whom they have bought and paid for.”

“But there’s something going on out there that doesn’t jibe with their mission.”

“For various reasons, I have been concerned with the Douglas S. George Defense Complex ever since Vector was given the contract to take over operations.”

“But with an Air Force colonel, Mark Sumter, in charge.”

Blue Man waved this off. “He’s a titular placeholder. A career soldier who, unfortunately, will follow any order he’s given without gauging the moral or legal virtue of it.”

“Which may be one of the reasons why he got the assignment.”

“I think it’s the only reason he got the assignment.”

“Radar array. Eye in the sky,” said Robie.

“Officially, yes.”

“Unofficially?”

Blue Man settled more deeply in his seat. “The walls of secrecy have always existed within the American IC,” he said, referring to the intelligence community. “But I have never seen it so compartmentalized. Secrets are being kept everywhere. DOJ, DHS, DoD, and all their related platforms. Members of both parties in Congress have made inquiries and met a stone wall in response.”

“Meaning something might be going on there other than what we think is?”

Blue Man said, “It actually might be fortunate that Irene Cramer turned up dead here.”

“Not so fortunate for her.”

“I’m only talking about the bigger, strategic picture. Her murder has engaged the official machinery of the FBI. They might be able to make some headway where we could not. You know that we have no authority to operate domestically.”

“They already tried to kill Decker.”

“Which is why you were sent out, to prevent that from happening. And you did.”

“The body was disposed of?” inquired Robie.

“Yes. He was a gun for hire with no possible route back to who hired him.”

“Any guesses?”

“We can’t guess, Robie. We don’t have time for it.”

Robie cocked his head. “And why were the FBI called in? It has to do with Cramer. Decker asked me about her. I had nothing to tell him.”

“And I have nothing to tell you on that subject. Perhaps at a later time.”

Robie took this in stride. He was used to not having the full story on any op for which he was called in. “Okay. But she must have been important to us.”