Foreign Agent

CHAPTER 74

Senator Daniel Wells leaned forward and studied the man on the other side of his desk. “Did I stutter?” he asked.

“No,” the Director of Central Intelligence replied. “You did not.”

“Was I speaking in a foreign language?”

Bob McGee rolled his eyes. He’d had it with the arrogant, condescending senator from Iowa. “Let’s cut the crap.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“Your agency, Director McGee, launched not one, not two, but three drone strikes inside Syria. While two of those strikes, allegedly, took out the social media capabilities of ISIS and killed many high-ranking ISIS members, including a handful from the Caucasus, you also downed a Russian drone, and diverted DoD assets including one drone and two stealth helicopters from the Iraq theater into Syria. How would you characterize your agency’s actions?”

McGee looked at him. “I’d say we had a pretty damn good day.”

“Excuse me?” the Senator replied.

“You heard me. Or did I stutter? Perhaps I’m speaking a foreign language.”

Wells was instantly enraged. “That’s it. You and I are done. For over a week, I have been waiting for an in-person update from you. Now that you finally deign to come to my office, this is how you handle yourself?

“I warned you what would happen if you chose to be a smartass. You’re a shitty Director of Central Intelligence. You and your agency are now going to pay the price. You’re through. Do you understand me? It’s over. You’re over.”

McGee waited for the man to stop bloviating. Once he had, the DCI looked at him and said, “Now you listen to me, Dan.”

The remark immediately got Wells’s hackles up. He was about to shoot McGee the How dare you? Call me Senator! look when McGee froze him in place with one of his own.

“You and I are through, all right,” the CIA Director continued. “But I’m not going anywhere — you are.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

McGee pretended to look around. “I didn’t see your Chief of Staff when I came in.”

“She has taken a couple of personal days off.”

“That’s what you think. The FBI arrested her two days ago at the Hay-Adams Hotel.”

Wells couldn’t believe it. “Rebecca was arrested? For what?”

“It will all be in the Washington Post tomorrow. Lilliana Grace is doing the story. I believe you two know each other.”

At that remark, the Senator went right into defense mode. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t, Dan.”

Wells seethed at McGee’s continued use of his first name. “Not only is your chairmanship of the Intelligence Committee at an end,” McGee continued, “but so is any hope you ever had of running for the White House. In fact, I’d be surprised if you could even get elected dogcatcher after this is all over.”

“I still have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The Director of Central Intelligence leaned back in his chair. “Your Chief of Staff, Rebecca Ritter, is a spy for the Russians.”

The Senator was speechless.

“A search warrant has been issued not only for her apartment but also for your office and all of your communications together.”

Wells wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Collecting himself, he said the first thing that came to his mind. “You represent the Central Intelligence Agency. Under the Constitution, you have no authority to serve any warrant.”

McGee smiled. “You’re right, I don’t.”

But as soon as he had said the words, the intercom on the Senator’s phone chimed.

“Senator Wells?” the secretary in the outer office intoned. “The Director of the FBI is here to see you.”