Page 55 of Nightstalker

“Affirmative.”

“Where is the deputy director now?” Jax asked.

“He filed a travel chit with the director to go to the U.S. Consulate to meet with Mexican General Chavez to discuss weapons trafficking. As of yet he has yet to check in and that was five days ago,” Garrett relayed.

“No one thought to report that the deputy director of the God damn CIA is MIA?” That was the President. There was a distinct difference between Tom my uncle and Tom the President; he was now in complete control of the room. He pulled his cellphone out of his suit jacket, swiped the screen, and stabbed the buttons of his BlackBerry. After a moment he began to speak. “Get Director Warner on the line. Tell him I need him at the White House immediately, code word firefly. Password of the day: bravo, tango, echo. I repeat, firefly.” He pushed a few more buttons before he slammed the phone down on the desk.

“What else you got, Garrett?” Zane asked, giving the President a moment to compose himself.

“Not a whole lot at the moment. I need some time to dig around. I have a few programs running. Unfortunately, Mexico does not have CCTV. Therefore it is making a facial recognition trace difficult.”

“Copy that, call us back when you have something.”

A knock came at the door and a voice came over the intercom. “Warren, Charlie niner lima. Password of the day: bravo, tango, echo.”

The President pushed a button and the door lock disengaged. The Director of the CIA walked in like he didn’t have a fucking care in the world.

“Mr. President,” he greeted, not bothering to look at the rest of us. He knew that, given a chance, every one of us would slit his throat. Normally his biggest threat was Eric, but today it was me. I was going to get information out of this bastard if I had to beat it out of him.

“That was fast Warren.” The President had accusation in his tone.

Maybe it was not me the Director had to worry about after all. It sounded to me like the President was ready to go to blows with Warren.

“I was in the building; I have a brief with the DOD in thirty minutes.”

“I see. In the interest of you making your meeting on time, we’ll get down to brass tacks. You want to explain to me why your deputy director has been missing for five days and I was not made aware of it?” the President’s tone was deadly serious.

“With all due respect sir, if we could clear the room I would be happy to…”

That was it, I snapped. There was no other explanation for my behavior. The nervous breakdown I know everyone was afraid of came, and when it did I let it all hang out.

“Shut your God damn mouth with that all due respect bullshit. You respect no one. You’re a lying piece of shit and every single one of us in this room knows it. I do not give the first fuck who you think you are, what title you have in front of your name. Today you are simply Warren and I am Jasmin Parker, your worse fucking nightmare. Now where in the fuck is the deputy director of the CIA?”

“I think you forget who you are talking to, Jasmin.” Warren stood tall.

“I know exactly who I am talking to, I am talking to the man I am going to gut if he does not start talking. You see we have a little problem here, Warren. My husband has been captured and your deputy director is the one responsible. Now you wanna tell me what the fuck is so broken in your house that you did not know that your deputy director’s family has been kidnapped? And why you are so mother fucking stupid you did not report it when he went MIA?”

Warren stilled at my words. He did not know the deputy director’s family had been taken. “I don’t like your tone of voice young lady and I certainly do not take kindly to your threats. I will have you in cuffs by the end of this meeting.”

“By the end of this meeting Jasmin Parker might be the least of your worries. I will have your ass in rendition so fast, so buried in a foreign country you’ll never be found.” The President held the director’s eyes and spoke very slowly. “Now, you have precisely sixty seconds to save your life Warren. You can kiss your job goodbye. You are relieved of those duties effective immediately.”

“I will not be led around by a bunch of blowhards threating my life.”

Wrong answer. Each member of the team took a step forward while the President took a step back.

“And I will not be led around by my dick! You think what happened to the deputy director cannot happen to you. You are wrong. It can happen in a flash. Now, I know you are not stupid. You know how this all will play out. Save yourself like you always do, and tell us what you know.”

Fear flashed in the Director’s eyes as the President’s words registered. “Deputy Director Banning came to me seven days ago and filled a travel itinerary to meet with General Chavez. No red flags were raised; we had been in talks with him. When Banning did not check in I had my secretary call the Consulate. He was a no show. I immediately put a team together to find him. It was unclear if this was a hostage situation. This would not be the first time a US official has been kidnapped. We have protocol put into place for exactly this.”

“Yes we do, and part of that protocol is to notify ME!” The President roared.

Warren ignored him and continued. “My team has found nothing. A little over two months ago Banning told me his wife and children were leaving on a missionary trip with their church and would be gone for some time. Again I did not question it, it did not happen often, but it was not unusual for his family to do missionary work. That is all I know. I will call my secretary and ask her to send over the files. Operation code name: nemesis. Password to extract the file is: 92156741 echo Charlie.”

Oh shit, Warren just gave away more than he probably intended. Zane was about to go thermonuclear, “The fuck you say? Nemesis? You knew Sonreír had Banning.”

“I had my suspicions, yes.”

“Yet you decided not to share, you slimy little cocksucker. For what? So you could one up me? Prove you have bigger balls?” Warren had the decency to look contrite. “If my brother dies, this is on you. There will not be a corner far away enough for you to hide. You will live out the rest of your life knowing that I am watching you just waiting to end your miserable life.”