Consent To Kill

29

He didn't know how she'd found out, but she had, and she was as mad as he'd ever seen her. For the second time in a week Rapp felt like he'd been called to the principal's office. He stood on one side of his boss's desk, and she stood on the other. She wanted explanations, and he, for the moment, wasn't willing to give any. She was getting louder with each unanswered question, and he was getting more belligerent with each query. They were stuck at an impasse.

"I want to know how you found out," stated Rapp in a no-nonsense tone for at least the third time.

"How I found out is none of your concern."

"Tell me how you got your information, and I'll be happy to answer your questions." He widened his stance and held his ground.

"Listen," she pointed her finger at him. Her face was flushed with anger. "Contrary to what you think, you actually have a boss. I am that boss, and you have stepped over the line this time."

"Well, if you had gotten the IRS off of Coleman's back, like you said you were going to, I wouldn't have had to go to Ross's office and intercede."

Kennedy's fists balled up in anger. "And if you didn't have the patience of a hamster, you would have waited one more day and I would have taken care of it."

None of this made sense to Rapp. Kennedy had always been the most unflappable, professional person he'd ever dealt with, and now twice within the span of a week she was acting completely out of character. "Is everything all right?" Rapp regarded her for a moment. "Everything okay with Tommy…is your ex bugging you?"

Kennedy buried her face in both hands and shook her head. When she looked up she said, "You just don't get it, do you? You walk around in your own little Mitch Rapp world. All you care about is what you want. You have no regard whatsoever for those around you." She tapped her own forehead with her forefinger. "No clue of the chaos you leave in your wake. Chaos that I have to deal with. And you have no idea how bad it looks to have you go over my head like this."

"Oh…well, I'm sorry to have been such a burden. I hope no one around here got any paper cuts while I was out getting shot and stabbed." Rapp turned his head to the side and pointed at the thin scar that ran down the left side of his face.

"Don't," she yelled at him. "Don't play the martyr with me. I have always respected your sacrifice. That is not what this is about. It's about you being so bullheaded, and sure of yourself, that you just go and do whatever the hell you want whenever you want."

"I've managed to do just fine on my own."

"Yes, you have. But let me warn you, Mitchell, your luck is running out. You're starting to piss people off. The fervor that we need to wage this war on terror is already waning. It won't be long, another two to eight years, and the liberals on the Hill will be back in charge, and mark my words, they are going to launch a witch hunt like we haven't seen since the Church hearings. They are going to tear this place apart. That's what National Intelligence is all about. That was the deal they struck. They're going to use it to run roughshod over the Agency. To make sure cowboys like you are properly supervised and kept on a short leash."

"Well, then you'll be surprised to know that it was Senator Hartsburg who advised me to go pay Director Ross a little visit."

Kennedy regarded him warily.

"That's right," Rapp continued, "so while you're sitting here dithering about what's happening on the Hill, I've got one of the most liberal senators in this whole town telling me the best way to handle Ross is to go light him up face to face."

"You talked to Senator Hartsburg about this?"

"Yep."

"I don't believe you."

"Call him."

Kennedy glanced at her phone, hesitated a second, and then asked, "Why in the world would you go to Hartsburg on something like this?"

"The man's seen the light. He's on our side. Ross was the junior senator from New Jersey. Hartsburg pushed him on the president, so I figured now that he and I are such close friends, I'd ask him to give Ross a nice yank on his leash and get him to back off Coleman."

"And?"

"He told me I should go pay him a visit and make him pee down his pants leg."

Kennedy frowned. "You're not serious."

"Damn straight. Those were his exact words. He told me to do exactly what I did. Said Ross was well aware of the fact that the president was in my corner, and he'd back off the second I confronted him with it."

"And how did Ross react?"

She was fishing for information. Which meant that whoever told her that he'd met with Ross did not give her the specifics of the meeting. Up until this point Rapp had been pretty sure it had been Ross himself who had called Kennedy. Rapp assumed he reamed Kennedy a good one. And if that was the case, Rapp was raring to go pay Ross a second visit. "He didn't tell you himself?"

Kennedy shook her head.

"Who told you?"

"I'd prefer not to say."

This was the problem with two career spies. Neither wanted to give an inch.

"If you want me to tell you how the meeting went, you're going to have to tell me who told you." Rapp crossed his arms and waited. He was prepared at this point to walk out of her office rather than give her any more information.

Kennedy thought about it long and hard and then finally said, "Jonathan Gordon called me this morning."

"Gordon?" Rapp said in a slightly surprised tone. He'd guessed wrong on him. "What did he tell you?"

"Only that he was sorry that the whole thing had to happen. When I asked him 'what thing' he realized I had no idea what you had been up to. I think that was actually the reason why he called. He wanted to figure out if I had sent you over or if you were acting on your own."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him I had no idea that you'd had a meeting with them. He said he really wouldn't have called it a meeting. I asked him to elaborate, and he said it would be better if I got the story from you."

"Nothing else?" asked Rapp. "No mention of the Coleman thing?"

"Only that he'd told Director Ross he thought it was a bad idea to go poking around in the private business of private citizens."

Rapp was pleased. Maybe this Gordon would be a good influence on Ross.

"So tell me the story."

"Well," Rapp paused a moment to remember exactly how it had unfolded. "When I walked in it was Ross and Gordon and two other people. I started off real polite, and then things turned ugly pretty quick."

Kennedy closed her eyes and asked, "What happened?"

"I looked down on the conference table and saw a surveillance photo of Coleman's warehouse and I lost it. I realized they were talking about Coleman. I told the two people I didn't know to leave, and then I reamed Ross pretty good."

Kennedy still hadn't opened her eyes. "And how did he take that?"

"Not well."

"He got angry?"

"Yeah."

"Which means you got even more angry."

"Pretty much." Rapp cocked his head and chewed on his lower lip.

"Please tell me you didn't hit him or threaten him with bodily harm?"

"Ummm…I didn't really hit him. I kind of cuffed him across the head with Coleman's surveillance file. It was either his surveillance file or his tax returns…I don't remember which."

"Oh, Mitchell." She opened her eyes. "What in the hell are we going to do with you? The man is the director of National Intelligence. He is my boss. Doesn't any of this mean anything to you?"

"To be honest, Irene, no. It's all a distraction. His job is a distraction. His new agency is just another couple hundred suits doing exactly what is already being done by at least three other agencies. Scott Coleman is a good man who has put his ass on the line more times than you or I could count, and I'm not going to stand by while Ross fucks with him, just so he can send us a message that there's a new sheriff in town."

"I'm not going to disagree with you, but there were better ways to handle it."

"How?" asked Rapp indignantly. "How could it have been handled any better? The problem is solved, Ross has been sent a message, and Coleman and I can get back to targeting extremists."

"And if Ross didn't get the message? What if all you've done is make him angry?"

"I could care less if the guy likes me or not."

"You're too reckless, Mitchell." Kennedy shook her head. "Jonathan Ross is a man you might want on your side someday."

"I don't need men like Ross on my side. I just need them to get out of my way."