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Chapter 10
Mel was texting a reply to Dev’s message, reporting that they’d found Laila in a cave on the other side of the valley from Al Kamen, when someone pounded on the door to her office. She finished the text, then darkened her phone’s screen before she stood to unlock it.
“Who’s there?” she asked, hand on the doorknob.
“Cliff,” came the impatient voice from the other side of the door. “Why are you locked in?”
To prevent people from bursting into my office when I’m involved in something classified.
“Sorry, boss,” Mel said as she unlocked the door and opened it to Cliff. “Must have done it accidentally.”
Cliff frowned at her, his gray hair rumpled. She’d seen him stab his fingers through it too many times to be surprised at how unkempt he appeared.
“Come on in, Cliff,” she said, opening the door wide. “Have a seat.”
She slid into her chair on the other side of the desk and watched him carefully. “What’s up?”
“Where are Conway, Smith and Parker?” he asked.
“They’re on an op,” she said. “Should be back in a few days.”
“What op is that? And why wasn’t I told about it?” he demanded.
“Sorry, Cliff, but I’m not even sure right now. Evelyn is running this op.”
Scowling, he leaned over the desk toward her. “Why is Evelyn running an op from Washington? That’s my job! I’m your boss, Melbourne.”
God! Why had the director of the CIA put her in this position? Mel was already shaking her head as he spoke. “Sorry, boss, but I got direct orders from Evelyn. She’s in charge.”
Cliff reared back in his seat. “The Director went over my head?”
Mel shook her head. “Can you believe it?” She rolled her eyes, and Cliff studied her. “I have no idea why.” Why couldn’t Cliff know? Did it have something to do with the fact that Cliff had never been a field agent? He’d been a bureaucrat his whole agency career.
Mel shifted in her chair and lifted one shoulder. Evelyn had put her squarely between a rock and a hard place. “You know Evelyn,” she said. “A lot better than I do.” Cliff’s ego needed some stroking. “She doesn’t explain her orders. She simply told me what she wanted. Ordered me not to share the information with anyone besides Smith, Conway and Parker.” She shrugged. “You have a good relationship with the Director. Give her a call.”
Cliff stared at her, storm clouds in his expression. “Maybe I’ll do that. I’m your boss, Melbourne. You report to me. I need to be briefed on where all my agents are, every single minute. I need to know every single op they undertake. How am I supposed to do my job if the people reporting to me don’t tell me what’s going on?”
“Take it up with Evelyn,” she said. “Me? I’m just following orders. And if she fills you in, can you let me know? I don’t like being cut out of the loop, either.”
Cliff drummed his fingers on her desk. “This is not the way our group works, Melbourne. There’s a chain of command, and we follow it. It doesn’t jump over me and go to Evelyn. She’s sitting in a fancy office in Washington. She’s not in Kabul, dodging bombs.”
Mel resisted rolling her eyes. They weren’t dodging bombs either. “Sorry, Cliff. Those were my orders. Take it up with Evelyn,” she repeated.
He pushed away from her desk, and the chair banged into the wall behind him. “Don’t worry, Melbourne. That’s exactly what I’ll do.” He stared at her for a long moment, anger simmering in his eyes. “Let me know immediately when Smith, Parker and Conway are back.”
“Will do, boss,” Mel said as she swiveled her chair to watch him storm out of her office. He didn’t slam the door, just pulled it closed a little too hard.
She knew Cliff was territorial. Knew he liked to take credit for his agent’s accomplishments. And he liked to brag about his connection to Evelyn Ryan, the CIA director.
So she wasn’t surprised at his reaction at being cut out of the loop.
But she was irritated at the Director for putting her in this position.
Frowning, she went over the conversation again. Cliff had seemed very upset about what Mel had thought was an unusual, but not shocking request from Evelyn. The fewer people who knew about an op, the less chance of someone blowing it up.
She sighed. Cliff was consumed with appearances. Status. His entitlements. And Evelyn hadn’t just stepped on his toes. She’d stomped on them.
Mel had no idea why.
