Page 26 of Filthy Lies


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She matched my earlier smirk and topped it with…silence.

My left eye flickered at the clever tactic.

Rather than engage her in a topic she’d used to snare me, I demanded, “Why am I at Langley? The Secret Service isn’t overseen by the CIA.”

“I’m merely your courier, Mr. O’Donnelly. I was told to bring you here, and bring you here I have.”

Herewas a distinctly unimpressive workspace. I’d have preferred the usual non-entity office the NSA set me up in. At least there, I got windows.

Instead, a whiteboard covered one wall where, in a regular room, there’d have been some escape from the sea of blandness. In front of the whiteboard was a desk, which she pointed to.

“I assume you wish to use your own rig?” she questioned, watching as I walked over to the desk.

I dipped my chin in agreement.

On the surface, I found an envelope with my name on it. Without awaiting further instructions from Black, I tore it open and uncovered a note.

Dear Mr. O’Donnelly,

Operation: Eagle’s Claw functions under the highest security clearances.

You are, by this point, aware that your family will pay the price if you decide to:

A: Defect;

B: Sell proprietary information belonging to the United States government to a foreign entity;

C: Manipulate any code you see here and use it for your own purpose and/or gain.

The rules of the game have not changed, Mr. O’Donnelly.

Yours faithfully,

Sheridan Reinier

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Below,there were details of the comms platform that had been developed by Langley and my task ahead. I scanned them, but my attention returned to the signature.

Reinier—I mentally sneered—as if I bowed to him anyway.

The piece of shit was a New World Sparrow, so I didn’t know where he got off pretending that he was working to ‘secure’ the president. And that shit about using or manipulating their jackass code for my own purpose when he was selling his agents as sex slaves if they didn’t behave? Where did he get off on that?

Still scoffing, I cast a look at Black. “I’d like to make it known that the rules of the game have definitely changed.”

For the first time, her brow furrowed in confusion. “Excuse me?”

I waggled the letter at her. “Your boss. Mr. Reinier. He wrote that, ‘The rules of the game have not changed.’ That’s a lie.

“This relationship was established between the NSA and me. Not the CIA.”

“You serve at the government’s pleasure, Mr. O’Donnelly.”

My top lip quirked up. “Thank God I don’t or I’d be wearing a shitty suit like yours as well.”

Though irritation flashed in her expression, I ignored her and started going through my mission details more precisely.

With the information in hand, I cracked my knuckles twice, cricked my neck on each side, and began the process of unveiling my laptop.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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