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"You appear to be a man who is possibly uniquely suited for this line of work. You also appear to have a hard time following rules, and that, young man, can be a dangerous thing."
Rapp nodded. It was becoming apparent that Spencer Tracy's little brother really was the guy who ran this entire show, which meant he needed to get him in his corner, and do it before Hurley sank him once and for all. "Sir, would I be totally off the mark if I guessed that at some point in your career you spent some time in the field?"
Stansfield grinned but did not answer the question.
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"And when you were in the field, did things always go as planned?"
Stansfield saw instantly where he was headed. "There's a big difference between adapting and disregarding orders."
Rapp nodded and was sullen for a split second. That was exactly what Hurley had screamed at him, with a few colorful words thrown in to boot. If Doc Lewis hadn't been there, Rapp was pretty certain they would have come to blows.
"To be fair," Stansfield continued, "I use great caution when I evaluate a decision that someone has made while operating in a high-stress environment."
The man's choice of words gave Rapp pause. He considered them carefully and then said, "High-stress?"
"Yes."
"I'm not sure I'd call it high-stress, sir."
Stansfield's eyes sparkled with amusement. "You snuck into a foreign country using a false identity, killed a man at close range, and then made it out of the country all on your own. You didn't find any of that stressful?"
"The getting-out part ... maybe a little, but really only getting out of Istanbul. After that the odds of getting caught were pretty low."
"Why did you decide to act on your own?"
"I didn't go to Istanbul thinking that I would handle the job on my own. It happened. It evolved. I saw the opportunity and I took it."
"What do you mean you saw the opportunity?" Stansfield was keenly interested in the young man's next words.
"I read the surveillance briefing that the Brits gave us..."
Stansfield held up his hand and stopped him. "Who told you the Brits gave us that report?"
"No one."
"Then why did you say the Brits gave it to us?"
Rapp shrugged as if to say it was obvious. "I could tell by the way it was written."
Stansfield nodded for him to continue and made a mental note to revisit the subject later.
"I read the report and there it was ... it jumped right off the page."
"There what was?"
"The opportunity. The report said that the target took his dog to the park every morning. He sat on a park bench and talked on his cell phone while he threw a ball to his little dog." Rapp turned his palms up and said, "How does it get any easier than that? No bodyguards to deal with, no drivers or armor-plated cars, no security cameras ... very few witnesses, and the few who are around are busy living their own lives."
"And it didn't occur to you to pass this information on to Stan?"
"It did, but it also seemed like it was too good to pass up."
"If you'd brought it to Stan, you wouldn't have been passing it up."
"You're not serious."
"Completely."
