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Kennedy hesitated briefly. “I haven’t brought the FBI in on this.”

“What?” Ross was shocked.

“Mark,” Kennedy said, “we don’t need this kind of publicity. This facility is off budget. With your political career still ahead of you, it would be wise for you to stay as far away from this thing as possible.”

“But we have four dead federal employees and thirteen dead…citizens. I assume these men are citizens.”

“Mark,” Kennedy shook her head, “the murder of my people will not become an issue. These families are briefed about this type of possibility and they will not make a stink.”

“It’s a domestic federal facility, though. It falls under the FBI’s jurisdiction.”

“If we bring the FBI in on the investigation, we’ll end up with reporters crawling all over this and you will end up sitting in front of a committee on the Hill answering some very uncomfortable questions, and all for what?”

“What about the…”

“Mark,” Kennedy said with an edge to her voice, “we have thirteen dead gangbangers who killed four federal agents and we have it on tape. The punishment for killing a federal agent is the death penalty. Citizens or not, these thirteen guys have already been punished. Bringing in the FBI will accomplish nothing more than putting this whole sorry mess on the front page of every newspaper in the country.”

“What about the fourteen guys?”

Kennedy took a step back and shrugged. Her nonverbal answer was clear. She could care less what happened to them.

Ross started to speak, but the president reached out and placed a hand on his forearm. “Mark, trust me on this. Sometimes you’re better off not asking questions. Let Irene take care of it.”

It was clear Ross was struggling with this concept. He drew in a breath through clenched teeth and said, “Fine, but we need to find Rapp and make sure he doesn’t embarrass this country.”

Kennedy expected this. “Why?”

“Because we are a nation of laws, and we can’t have a federal employee running around other countries killing people.”

Really, Kennedy thought to herself, what do you think Mitch has been doing for the last fifteen years? She shared a quick look with the president. “Mark, I want you to be real careful here. Think about how this would be done, and what type of unwanted attention it will bring us. For starters, we can’t charge him with anything.”

“How about the thirteen dead Latinos?”

“Mark,” the president said in a forceful voice, “forget about what happened last night. I don’t want to hear it brought up again.”

“Fine,” Ross said, backing off a bit, “but we have to do something.”

Kennedy saw her opening and said, “I think I have a solution.”

“Let’s hear it,” said Ross.

“For now, we only alert our station chiefs abroad. I can send out a flash message telling them if they are contacted by Mitch, or they hear anything about him, they are to pass it on to me ASAP. I can stipulate that I want him brought in for questioning.”

“What about the embassies?” Ross asked.

Kennedy thought he would suggest this. “I would prefer to keep it within the Agency.”

“Not a big enough net.” Ross shook his head.

Kennedy looked to the president to see if he’d back her up.

“For now,” Hayes said, “let’s alert only the Agency people.” The president noted that Ross didn’t like this and added, “Mark, he’s not going to reach out to anyone from State. If he comes up for help, he’ll contact one of his Agency connections.”

“But can we trust those people to turn him in?” Ross asked.

Both the president and Ross looked to the director of the CIA. The truth was that they could not trust the station chiefs, but Kennedy wasn’t about to admit that. This was all about telling Mark Ross what he wanted to hear, so Kennedy said, “I’ll start calling select station chiefs immediately, and I’ll make it very clear that they are to report any contact whatsoever, or they’ll spend the rest of their careers burrowed in the basement of Langley purging outdated files.”

This seemed to satisfy Ross, and Kennedy decided that having accomplished what she’d set out to do, now was a good time to leave. “I know you two have an important lunch scheduled, so I won’t keep you waiting. If there are any new developments I’ll let you know, otherwise, I’ll have a more detailed briefing ready for tomorrow morning.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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