The 13: Fall (13 page)

“Any problems?” the woman behind the desk asked.

“None,” Ms. Smith answered.

“Good. Then everything is scheduled as planned?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then.”

“Okay, then,” Ms. Smith repeated.

The woman behind the desk folded her hands under her chin and looked at her with great concern. “I need to ask you something.”

“Go on.”

“Let’s say I have a special need for an operative for a top secret assignment. Who would you ask?”

Ms. Smith looked at the woman and said, “Me, of course.” Then, “Let me ask you something. May I?”

“Go ahead.”

Ms. Smith folded her arms and said, “Why, all of a sudden, are you interested in another operative?”

“I’m not. But apparently the president is.”

“Oh, I see. And he’s asked you for a recommendation?”

“Not exactly. He went around me.”

This caught her off guard. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought you were the director of Homeland Security, Ms. Levy,” she said.

“I am!” Levy snapped, evidently not sharing her affinity for dry humor.

“Then why is the president going around asking about operatives for a secret assignment without your knowledge?”

“I intend to find that out, Ms. Smith. In the meantime, I’m asking you. Who would Jennings send him?”

She had crossed the paths of several agents over her career. Some she knew. Others she had only heard of. And then there were those who weren’t supposed to even be known about. And she only knew of one that was rumored to still be active. And he was bad news. She kind of hoped it was him.
That would make the game interesting
, she thought.

“Jon Keene,” she finally said.

“Never heard of him,” Director Levy said. “I would know about him if he were around.”

“Would you?” Smith asked. “From what I understand, there are those who don’t care for your new position, Madam Director. I believe the president and Kevin Jennings fall into that category. So let me ask you something. If I were Kevin Jennings and had an asset at my disposal that my boss didn’t know about, and I really didn’t like my new boss, you think I would tell?”

Ms. Smith watched as the woman mulled that over.

“No, I guess you wouldn’t. Then I guess it’s a good thing I have you.

Isn’t it?”

“I would say it is to your benefit,” she answered.

“Good. Then I want you to find out everything you can on Jon Keene.”

“I need to take care of a couple things first.”

“Then I guess you can take the rest of the day for yourself,” Levy said.

Ms. Smith stood to leave. “I’ll be in contact with you.”

“No, don’t. I’ll find you.”

“No, you won’t. That’s why you hired me.” She let that hang there for a second. “I’ll check back in two days.”

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Yes, home …” Levy’s eyes narrowed. “We never
have
established where that is exactly. Now have we?”

“Oh, I’m quite aware of where home is,” Smith said.

Levy gave a short laugh. “You are quite enigmatic, Alex. Alex … What did you say that was short for again?”

“I didn’t.”

“Oh, yes. I guess you never did.”

“If that will be all?” Smith asked.

“That will be all. I have a meeting with him in just a few minutes. I’ll be done for the day after that, if you need to get in touch with me.”

“You meeting him here? Or are you going there?”

“There. Supposed to be there in ten minutes. Not gonna happen.”

Smith cringed again at this whole idea of being late to meetings. No matter, it wasn’t her that was going to be late. She was right on time. Her flight left in a little over three hours. She was packed and ready to go. And she was looking forward to a couple days to herself.

“Let me ask you something, Ms. Levy,” Smith said.

“Go ahead.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“About what?”

“You know …”

“It was an inevitable conclusion to things. I’m just playing my part.”

“Okay, then.”

Levy came around and put her hand on her shoulder. “I’ll walk down with you.”

Thirty minutes later the door to the Oval Office opened, and Director Levy walked in. She had, under her arm, a manila folder that carried the weekly threat assessment. She walked over to the desk and dropped it on top, clearly agitating the president who was on the phone. He gave her a sour look and motioned for her to sit.

She did and waited another three minutes before the president finished his call. When he hung up, he looked at her as if he were disappointed.

“Ms. Levy,” he said, “I believe our meeting was for thirty minutes ago.”

“Twenty,” she corrected. “And I am sorry, Mr. President, but it couldn’t be helped.”

The president just looked at her. She was enjoying this. There was no love lost between them. They saw completely differently on just about every issue imaginable. He probably would have fired her if his predecessor hadn’t made it nearly impossible.

During the previous administration, communication had degenerated so badly between agencies, the president held a summit. All of the directors of the agencies, as well as law enforcement attended. It was decided that a single agency should head up all Intel, foreign and domestic. And while each agency would still operate in its own arena, an executive order was proposed that would give the Department of Homeland Security dominion over every law enforcement and intelligence agency in the nation. Everything but the nation’s military. In effect, creating a sort of
super
cabinet-level position. One that still had to answer to the president but with a lot of autonomy, nonetheless. The president of the United States would still be the commander in chief of the nation’s military. But every other law enforcement agency would get its marching orders from Homeland Security. And as a point of emphasis, the appointed director would function much in the same way as a Supreme Court justice: the director would serve a lifetime appointment. He or she would have to be vetted and confirmed by Congress but a lifetime appointment, nonetheless. This was to eliminate mass confusion at the turn of a term limit of an administration, as inevitably, each new director would want to change a number of things, causing more confusion and problems than when the agencies had operated autonomously.

The proposal was agreed upon and signed into law a month later. It was the lame-duck president’s swan song, so to speak. Marianne Levy was not everyone’s first choice, but she did appear to be qualified, having been a career National Intelligence Agency employee who eventually rose to the rank of director. Though she was shrewd and had made many enemies within the agency and in Washington, she was good at her job. And the fact that Levy had been sleeping with the former president for more than a decade, known only by a handful of people, had everything to do with the fact that she got the appointment, a fact of which the current president was well aware. Levy and President Grant did not like each other one bit.

“Ms. Levy, I’m sure you are a busy person. But you can rest assured, I’m busier. Please try to be on time next time.”

“Calvin. Calvin, Calvin, Calvin,” she said. “You’ve been a very secretive boy. I heard you had Kevin and Bill over here this morning. Without telling me? I’m hurt.”

“Marianne, I’m the president of the United States. I don’t have to clear my meetings with you.”

“Fair enough. But Kevin and Bill work for me now. Remember? And I don’t appreciate finding out from my staffers that my directors of the CIA and FBI had a secretive meeting with the president before the rest of the world had even had breakfast.”

“It was nothing,” the president said. “I asked them here to discuss this implementation of the new weapons training that you’ve asked them to adopt. I merely wanted their assessment on the brief you wrote.”

“Yes, I talked to them. They both said the same thing.”

“Why wouldn’t they?”

“Because, Calvin, we both know they hate me. You hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, Marianne.”

“And there’s nothing the three of you would like better than to find a reason to get rid of me, so you can put things back the way you like them.”

“You know, Marianne, you’re right. I don’t like the fact that you’re in charge of every bureau and agency in law enforcement. I don’t like the fact that you think for some reason that somehow elevates you over the office of the presidency. I don’t like the fact that if you are all of a sudden unreachable, lots of people could lose their lives, because they are waiting around for your go-ahead. You’re right. I don’t like it. And I’ve made no bones about it. I will do everything in my power to get that law in front of the Supreme Court and repealed, or whatever I can do.”

“For someone who professes to be the kind of man you are, you sure are mean and angry.”

“You can call it a righteous anger, Marianne. I asked you here as a courtesy. So
I
could tell you that I had Kevin and Bill in here. And that
I
have asked them to keep me informed, something you seem to think is optional. I don’t need to clear any of that with you. You may head up the agencies, but I still appoint the directors. And you may have complete autonomy as to how they operate, but in the end, you still answer to me.

Don’t forget it.”

It took everything she had not to reach out and slap the man in the face. She loathed him. She loathed everything he stood for. And if he thought he was going to take away what she had worked so hard for, he had another think coming. He had no idea. She was about to be more powerful than any president in history.

She grabbed her purse and turned on her heel. “I’ll show myself out.”

   CHAPTER 21   

K
eene stared at the screen of Taylor’s laptop as he read and reread the e-mail. It was short and simple.

He looked at Taylor and asked, “How did he get your e-mail? Better yet, how does he know who you and I are?”

“I—I have no idea,” she stammered. “My e-mail is secure. He shouldn’t have been able to get in, let alone know who we are.”

Boz, who had stirred awake from the commotion, was now standing over the back of the chair, also looking at the screen. “Looks like someone’s got the jump on us.”

“And how do you suppose that happened?” Keene said.

“Dunno.” Boz shrugged. “But if he’s really a prophet …”

“Can we please stop with the Prophet thing?” Keene snapped. “This guy is a terrorist. It’s our job to catch him. Can we just focus on that?”

“Jon—” Boz tried to start but was interrupted.

“Guys! Enough!” Taylor said. “I ran a back trace on the e-mail. I have the location that it was sent from. He didn’t try to hide that. It’s an Internet café downtown. I called it in, and there are agents on the ground waiting for us when we land. I told them not to make a move before we get there.”