Page 160 of Silent Target

“Not from this console.”

“Can you identify its destination?”

“Trying.”

The older man in the railcar turns slightly.

For one moment, light touches his face.

I’ve seen him before.

At Langley.

At my father’s funeral.

My hands go cold.

“No.”

Caleb’s voice comes through the radio.

“Evie?”

I step closer to the screen.

The man was older then, but I remember the hand he placed on my shoulder and the sympathy in his voice.

He told me my father had been one of the finest men he ever knew.

“Evie, talk to me.”

I force the words out.

“I know the Chairman.”

35

CALEB

Evie’s words reach me through the gunfire.

I know the Chairman.

An armored guard moves through the smoke.

I duck beneath his rifle and drive my shoulder into his chest.

We strike one of the circular pillars.

His elbow catches my jaw.

Pain erupts through my face.

I answer with two punches against his ribs.

The armor absorbs both.

His hand reaches for the knife on his vest.