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builds his case slowly, over a long period of time, and episodes like this all go into his file.” O’Brien pulled him in close and whispered, “And while I understand and agree with all of your frustrations, you are giving the man everything he wants. He’ll take this stuff up to those hacks on the Hill and the Justice Department and he’ll make you look like a raving lunatic.”
“Well, maybe I am,” Nash said with a wide-eyed, crazy look.
“Don’t say that.”
Nash yanked his arm free. O’Brien followed him through security and across the lobby to the main door. When they were outside Nash said, “I’m not kidding.”
“About what?”
“Sometimes I feel like I’m going nuts.”
“You are not.”
Right before they reached the visitors’ parking lot, Nash spun around and said, “Then answer me one question. Which side is Adams on?”
“He’s on our side.”
“Bullshit. Maybe the FBI should investigate his ass. Maybe he’s on al-Qaeda’s payroll. You ever think of that?”
“I’m done talking about him,” O’Brien said, obviously exasperated. “We’ve got more important things to worry about.” The gray-haired O’Brien pointed at Nash’s car and said, “Let’s take a ride.”
Both men climbed into the front seat of Nash’s blue Chrysler minivan. Nash started the vehicle and cranked the stereo. The station was tuned to Elliot in the Morning on DC101. The host finished abusing a guest and then cut to “Rockstar” by Nickelback.
As the car backed up, O’Brien said, “Please tell me you pulled the plug on this thing.”
“It’s in the works.” There was one loose end, but Nash saw no reason to get O’Brien worked up about something neither of them could control.
“Damage?”
“Damage?” Nash thought about it for a second. “We’re fucked. We were on the verge of a couple of breakthroughs. Now we’re flying blind just when everything is pointing to something big.” He put the van in drive and said, “This couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
They turned left out of the parking lot and began winding through the campus. Neither spoke for several moments. They were both, however, thinking the same thing. O’Brien finally asked, “Who leaked?”
“It wasn’t me or anyone who works for me.”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“I’m as sure as I need to be. If I had to put my money on it, I’d say it was someone in your office or some other clown on the seventh floor.”
O’Brien laughed. “You’re a dandy.”
“How so?”
“I think you are going out of your way to piss me off.” He reached over and turned the loud music down a bit.
“Well, I’m not really feeling a lot of love and support from your office today.”
“Well…unless you have some evidence, don’t go around blaming my people for this thing falling apart. You’ll get a reputation as one of those needy field guys who never gets enough support.”
Nash sighed in frustration. “Don’t turn this back on me. I’ve got a tight group, and I’m telling you, not a one of them would narc us out.”
“And I’m telling you to take another look at them, from top to bottom, and you need to do it immediately. If the full scope of this thing gets leaked the agency is going to disappear up its own ass.”
As they wound around the back side of the massive employee lot, Nash said, “This operation has saved lives.”
“It doesn’t matter. The FBI will tear our balls off. We’ve stepped all over their turf.”
“The FBI didn’t have the balls to put these mosques under surveillance, so we did.”
