Page 172 of The Secret of Secrets

“Madam Ambassador?” Kerble looked genuinely uncomfortable. “Please come with me.”

“Of course, Scott. I just need a moment. Ms. Daněk has tendered her resignation, and I’d like a private moment to say goodb—”

“Hands in front of you!” a deep voice commanded as the door swung open to reveal two other Marines waiting behind Kerble. They apparently felt duty bound to support their lead agent whose courtesy was getting him nowhere.

“Handcuffs won’t be necessary,” Nagel said. “I’ll come quietly, but I’d like a quick word with Ms.—”

“That’s not possible,” the first Marine barked, moving through the door. “Show me your wrists, ma’am.”

Incredulous, Nagel looked to Kerble, whose expression had turned decidedly colder in the presence of his fellow agents.

“Give him your wrists,” Kerble commanded. “And not another word with Ms. Daněk. We have orders. No further contact with anyone. We’ve sealed your office and will be searching it, along with the rest of the embassy.”

“Searching?” Nagel could feel her only leverage slipping away. “For…what?”

Kerble ignored the question and turned to Dana. “Ms. Daněk, if you have tendered your resignation, you will need to exit the embassy immediately. Do you understand?”

“I do…but—”

“Are those your personal items in that box?”

Dana nodded.

Kerble walked over to the box, peered inside, and then glanced back at Nagel, catching her eye for an instant as the other Marines focused on binding her wrists. She watched as Kerble leaned over Dana’s desk and jotted something on a sticky note. Then, in one smooth motion, he reached into his uniform’s breast pocket, extracted the diplomatic pouch Nagel had given him, affixed the sticky note to it, and slid the pouch into the box, tucking it out of sight beneath Dana’s belongings.

Did he really just do that?!

Stone-faced, Kerble marched back toward Nagel, who was now restrained with a set of standard-issue nylon flex cuffs. “Madam Ambassador,” he said, “I would suggest you follow the orders of these men without hesitation. It is for your own safety.”

Before Nagel could reply, Kerble had turned back to Dana.

“Ms. Daněk!” he said sternly, leaving no doubt who was in charge. “Time’s up—collect your box of personal items and vacate these premises immediately!”

Dana looked frightened as she grabbed her cardboard box and rushed past the handcuffed ambassador, heading straight for the exit.

Nagel is in some serious trouble.

Scott Kerble watched as his officers escorted the ambassador down the service stairwell toward the basement. Having served diplomats his entire career, Kerble had never met one he more admired or trusted than Heide Nagel. His impulsive decision to break ranks and protect her had been a reflex…a gut instinct…and he had done it at no small risk to his career.

Something is not right here…

CIA Director Gregory Judd had offered Kerble’s team no details—only a direct order; the ambassador was to be locked in the embassy’s situation room, under guard, and detained until further notice.

Wildly irregular.

Stranger still, the director had ordered an exhaustive search of the ambassador’s private office to collect any and all digital media—computers, hard drives, DVDs, USBs, etc.—which made sense in only two scenarios. Either they suspected Nagel was a spy, which was absurd, or the director was afraid she had information that would be damaging to the agency itself.

Kerble felt confident that whatever the director was hoping to confiscate had just left the building…in a cardboard box with Dana Daněk.

Keep it safe, the ambassador had told him. Mention it to no one.

Kerble had no idea what the contents of the pouch might be, but he knew Dana would never dare open it. Moreover, the CIA director would be the last person Dana would ever call about it.

Just to be certain, Kerble had added a safely anonymous sticky note to the pouch:

D— Tell no one about this. Someone will contact you.

The pouch is safe, he thought. At least for the moment.