“Both.” When I glanced in my mirror, he added, “They’re not behind us right now.”
“Do you know who?”
“No. Whoever traced our steps to find Nina covered their tracks better than we did.”
Of course they had. We didn’t realize we had to until it was too late.
And now I’ve placed Nina in even more danger.
We had more questions than answers, and getting those answers just got harder.
“But their CIA?” I asked, knowing the answer.
“Yes.”
“We need outside help,” I stated the obvious.
“Not SSI.”
“No, the connection is too obvious.” And getting more involved would put the employees and their families in danger.
“I can reach out to my guy."
"Not yet." I didn't want to more people involved yet.
"Tell me when."
I nodded, hoping we wouldn't need to call in any more help.
“We need to cover our tracks and throw them off our scent.” He laughed, reminding me that he liked this part of the job just a little too much.
I thought about what that meant. I’d have to add notes to the investigation file and dismiss the Nina connection. Buy burner phones. Rent a car and change hotel rooms.
“Can Sheppard get us burner phones?” Gibson asked.
Why didn’t I think of that?“I’ll ask.”
“The fewer bread crumbs we leave, the better.”
I glanced at Gibson. He nodded.
It was official. We were going after one of our own. A criminal in our house.
A foe who’d be as well-trained and experienced as we were.
A faceless adversary with a head start in the game.
“Shit.”
“We have targets on our backs.” He didn’t need to remind me.
“We need to know who’s behind the scope.”
“I’m working on it.”
Back in my temporary Dallas office, my left eye twitched as I typed my falsified notes. Lying on an official report went against my core beliefs, but the threat to Nina was from someone withinthe CIA, and putting an innocent in danger was out of the question.
In the back of my mind, I thought about Nina’s blanket and stuffed bear and wondered what secrets they might hold.
