AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Thanks. He was a good man. Very faithful to my mother and us kids. Just couldn’t communicate for shit. What about your dad?”
“Died when I was little.”
“Was he in the business?”
“No.” Rapp shook his head. “He was a suit. Good man, though.”
“You see, this is good.”
“What?”
“Talking.”
“Talking is overrated.”
Brooks smiled and her eyes lit up. “You’ve got some issues, and you’re not going to solve them by keeping things bottled up.”
“We all have issues.”
“You really have issues. Your wife died over a year ago, and I’ll bet you haven’t talked to a single counselor about it.”
Rapp’s face turned hard. “Watch your step. You never met my wife, and you don’t know me well enough to talk about this.”
“Fuck you.”
Rapp cocked his head to the side as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I learned it from you. No bullshit, speak the truth, and get the job done. That’s you. You don’t respect people who are incompetent, you don’t respect people who waste your time, and you really don’t respect people who are intimidated by you.”
“And?”
“I’m speaking the truth and you know it. You just don’t want to admit it. Big tough Mitch Rapp can’t go see a shrink and talk about his problems because that would be a sign of weakness and the one thing you despise more than anything in others is weakness. So your solution is to repress. To bury the pain and all you’re doing is making it worse.”
Rapp dropped his head into his right hand and mumbled, “Oh…fuck. My head hurts.” He’d had virtually the same conversation with Kennedy on Christmas Eve. “Why do you women always have to psychoanalyze me?”
“Because we all secretly want to be your mother or your lover.”
Rapp lifted his face out of his hand. “Huh.”
“I’m teasing…kind of. But let’s not get off the subject. You need to talk to someone about what happened to your wife.”
“You need to watch your step.”
Brooks defiantly shook her head. “No. What are you going to do? Hit me? Throw me out off the plane? I don’t think so. You need help. You’re just too scared to admit it.”
“I don’t need any help.” Rapp stood.
“Keep telling yourself that. You might actually believe it someday.”
18
R app opened the door at the rear of the cabin and stepped into the forward pressurized cargo area. He closed the door behind him and leaned against it. The metal floor was streaked with dirt and grease where cargo had been pushed in and dragged out. A series of three overhead lights lit the space. It was empty except for one half-moon cargo container that was secured flush against the far bulkhead. Rapp looked at the shiny, dented aluminum container with a complete lack of enthusiasm. Subconsciously, he’d been hoping to put this off. Let someone else deal with it. Someone who was properly motivated. He was sure they could find plenty of Secret Service agents who would give up their badge for five minutes alone with Gazich. Maybe even the president-elect himself would like a private audience with the Bosnian.
Rapp tried to focus on his next step, but couldn’t get his mind off what Brooks had said. He’d allowed a twenty-something rookie to get under his skin to the point where he’d actually thought of hitting her just to get her to shut up. She’d driven him out of the windowless cabin and back into the cargo hold, simply because he didn’t want to hear another word. He was not well. He knew it. He just didn’t want to hear it. Especially from someone he barely knew.
With two hours left in the flight he could think of only one excuse to get away from her. The unofficial manual on interrogation was pretty straightforward when it came to a situation whe
