Page 2 of Silent Target

Pretend I heard nothing.

Go home.

Forget I was ever here.

Then Graves says a name that stops me cold.

“Shadow Division is still alive.”

I move closer to the wall.

Inside the room, another man answers. “The Alaska operation was supposed to eliminate every surviving member.”

Director Alan Miller.

I recognize his voice from countless briefings. Calm, polished, reassuring—the voice of a man who can order something monstrous and make it sound patriotic.

“They failed,” Graves says. “Rook and his people are still moving. They have resources we underestimated. Contacts. Access to names that should have remained buried.”

A third man speaks.

Commander Jerry Rhodes.

“What about McDougal?”

My fingers tighten around my bag.

Caleb McDougal.

Sniper.

The quiet one.

His intelligence file contains fewer than twenty unredacted lines.

Former military sniper. Special operations. Multiple classified deployments. No confirmed location. No confirmed status.

Dangerous.

Graves gives a humorless laugh. “McDougal is not the problem.”

“No?” Rhodes asks.

“He’s a rifle. A weapon. He does what he’s told.”

My stomach twists.

I don’t know Caleb McDougal personally, but I’ve read enough buried reports to know Graves is wrong.

Weapons don’t question orders.

Caleb McDougal did.

That’s why six members of his team were murdered on a mountain—and why the survivors are still being hunted.

I slide one hand into my bag and press the record button on the secure device inside.

Miller lowers his voice. “The senator is becoming a problem.”