Gunmetal Gray

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service Matt Hanley had promised Suzanne Brewer a “direct feed” to him, meaning she could bypass everyone in the normal chain of command, report to Hanley directly, or come to him if she ever needed anything. She knew better than to abuse this privilege, but this morning when she found that Hanley was attending a daylong meeting in D.C. and would not be in the office till midday, she drove herself straight to the location and called Hanley’s secretary to secure five minutes of face time with him.

Two of Hanley’s men met Brewer in the parking lot of the Department of State; one parked her car while the other led her inside through a side entrance. She was on her crutches; the CIA officer offered to carry her purse but she declined, although she did allow him to hold open the door for her because there was no way she could have managed it on her own.

A female aide to the D/NCS joined them, and they went past a large conference room with guards posted outside and into a small, unoccupied anteroom.

A breakfast table had been set up with coffee, pastries, and bagels with butter, cream cheese, and jellies, and Suzanne was told to make herself as comfortable as possible. It was ten a.m. She had eaten breakfast from a snack machine at her desk three hours earlier and downed enough coffee since seven a.m. to make her twitchy, so instead she just sat at the table and ignored the food.

Matt Hanley lumbered in minutes later wearing a gray sport coat and dark slacks, his tie and collar cinched around his thick ruddy neck in a manner that Suzanne Brewer felt had to be painful.

“Hey, Suzanne. Don’t get up.” He headed straight to the breakfast setup, as she’d assumed he would.

Brewer said, “Sorry to pull you out of your meeting.”

He poured himself a cup of coffee, grabbed a pastry, and took it over to her table. As he did so he said, “Not a problem. This is going to be a wasted day. I had no idea the amount of dumb shit I’d have to do in this job.” He took a bite of the apple Danish and sipped the coffee. “What’s up with our boy?”

Brewer blew out her air. “Where to start? Okay, Violator tracked senior leadership of Con Ho Hoang Da to a protected compound near the Cambodian border. He… I mean Violator, entered the compound, but shortly thereafter, some twenty-five or so Vietnamese military arrived, pinning him in position.”

Hanley’s eyebrows rose, but he did not interrupt.

“As he tried to make his escape, a group of nine paramilitaries hit the compound—”

“Chinks?”

He meant Chinese, Suzanne Brewer knew, but still she was taken aback. She hid it. “Negative. Violator thinks they might have been Russian.”

“Shi-it. Same gang he saw in HK?”

“That is his assertion, yes.”

Hanley blew out a chestful of air. “Fuckin’ Russians. We knew they might show up. Okay. Chinks and Ivans. Go ahead.”

“Uh… right. A protracted gunfight began, and in it, Violator somehow managed to make contact with the subject, Fan Jiang.”

“Contact?”

“He escaped the compound with Fan Jiang during the confrontation between this undetermined group and the Vietnamese.”

Hanley took another bite of the pastry. “Damn, he’s good.”

“Violator and Fan made it into Cambodia, where they encountered Thai criminals operating on a river. Violator feels sure this was not random; they had been sent there specifically to kidnap Fan. During this confrontation Fan was taken by the Thais, and Violator escaped.”

“And what did Gentry learn from Fan?”

“Fan told him he was aided by a Taiwanese intelligence officer at the Hong Kong border, and then found himself alone in HK.”

The director of NCS nodded slowly and thoughtfully. “We can work with that.”

“Right,” Suzanne said. “We dodged a bullet, clearly only because Fan doesn’t understand what is going on. But Violator is suspicious. He doesn’t get why Taiwan isn’t still involved, and he doesn’t get why we didn’t tell him any of this. I told him what we agreed, and I think he bought it.”

Hanley rubbed his face. “Where is Gentry now?”

“He’s on a Marine landing craft heading into Bangkok. He has no papers, no local currency.”

Hanley did not show the outrage over Violator’s failures that Brewer had expected, even hoped for.

Instead he just shrugged and said, “We can get him set up.”

“But… but why, Matt? We have assets all over Bangkok. Explain to me how any one of them isn’t in a better position than Violator to locate and take possession of Fan Jiang. He’s been seen by the Thais, and it’s possible he’s known to the Russians now. Violator was the key to getting us close to Fitzroy and the Chinese after Fan. That value has expired. Why don’t we pull him out and you can send other assets after Fan?”

Hanley leaned forward on the table. Even though there was no one in the room, he was discussing a CIA Special Access Program, so he spoke softly. “We need to keep our actions deniable in this, remember? Taking Fan without the Chinese knowing we took Fan will exponentially increase the value of the product we get from him. Gentry can help with that. The Chinese don’t know he’s with us, the Russians don’t know he’s with us, and even if the Thai gangsters compromised him somehow… well, they’re Thai gangsters. I like Court’s chances against them.”

Brewer pushed back on another front. “Matt… we knew from the beginning that bringing this asset into this program would help us keep our involvement hidden. But in light of what this agent has done in his past… I am concerned he might not be as reliable as you insinuate.”

Hanley had finished his Danish. Now he gulped his hot coffee. “In what way?”

She hesitated, then said, “What if he’s too successful? What if he uncovers the full truth about this operation?” She leaned forward herself. “There is a volatility to him. An unpredictability. What if he finds out he’s being played… and he goes rogue?”

Hanley said, “Strictly speaking… he’s not being played. He is on the operation we sent him on. His mission is Fan. Anything beyond his narrow mission parameters is not his problem. Yes, we lied to him, but only because his moral code would put the lives of good people in jeopardy. We need him; we’re doing the right thing, so he was manipulated somewhat. Not knowing what he doesn’t know doesn’t make him more safe; it makes him more… comfortable with what he’s doing.”

Brewer said, “But if he learns certain things, certain things about the full scope of this operation, then—”

Hanley spoke over her. “He will rebel.” He shrugged his huge shoulders. “But it’s your responsibility to ensure he doesn’t find out anything beyond his mission parameters.” Hanley took another gulp. “Anything more than he’s already figured out, that is.”

“Yes, sir,” she said, but her heart wasn’t in it.

Hanley detected this. “Violator is unpredictable. You look at him as if he’s a ticking time bomb, but I know he has to be the way he is in order to do the job we’ve given him. More than anyone I’ve ever seen, Court possesses the gift of aggression. And believe me, it is a gift. He’d be facedown dead long ago if he hesitated, if he wavered or thought his moves through. He’s as smart and crafty a tactician as exists in this world, but when it comes time for it, he can act and act and kill and kill, no quarter given.”

“No argument there. My concern is that his gift for aggression has been used against us in the past, and it might be directed towards us again if he learns about certain aspects of Operation Aces High.”

Hanley raised a finger. “He won’t ever hear anyone breathe a word of Aces High. Because if he did, you’re absolutely right. He’d go off reservation, he’d become a satellite adrift, and he’d plunge back to Earth like a motherfucking missile.”

Brewer cocked her head. “Help me with your metaphor. The CIA is Earth?”

Hanley shook his head. “No… you are.” He winked. “You’re the handler.” Hanley looked to his watch. “Sorry, I’ve got to get back to that bullshit in the conference room. Outfit Gentry with whatever he needs. Help him locate the Thais who are holding the target. Keep our official cover assets the hell out of his way, and let him do his thing. He’ll find us Fan Jiang. When he does, send in Ground Branch.”

“Yes, sir.”

He pointed again. He was a big man, and the gesture was intimidating. “But keep Court’s blinders on. We don’t want him to know how the fuck we fell into this whole mess in the first place.”

“Right,” Suzanne said. “Because if he knew that, he’d probably come back to D.C. and kill us all.” The comment was sarcasm. Gentry had just left the D.C. area, and he had wreaked havoc trying to find answers to why the CIA turned on him years ago.

Hanley ignored the quip and turned for the door. “Do keep me updated.”

Brewer stood herself and reached for her crutches. With unmasked discomfort she just said, “Sure thing.”