High Alert

CHAPTER 13

Elizabeth Harker was contemplating a bowl of limp green Jell-O when Nick entered her room. She looked pale, drawn, older. She'd lost weight, and she hadn't weighed much to begin with. It gave her elfin face and milk white skin an otherworldly quality. Her eyes were a deep, emerald green, adding to the elfin look. Bruising from the accident had faded, but there were still blotches of blue and yellow on her face.

"Nick. Wonderful. Can you get this stuff out of my sight?"

She lifted the tray toward him. Nick took it and set it on a bedside table.

"You don't like hospital food?"

"I used to worry about infection if I came into a hospital. Now I know that the primary cause of hospital death is probably the kitchen."

Nick laughed. "You sound as though you're feeling better, Director."

"I am. The rehab isn't much fun but I'm getting stronger. My memory has come back, everything except the crash itself. With a little luck, I should be back on the job soon."

"I can't say I'll be sorry to see you back, but you've got to be careful and not rush it."

"Tell me what's happening. Stephanie treats me as if she's afraid I'm going to break. She's trying not to upset me, but I need to know what's going on."

"You know about the California?"

"Yes."

"One of our weapons sent her to the bottom. A highly classified underwater drone. No one is supposed to have plans for it except us."

"Black Dolphin?" Elizabeth said.

"Yes."

"I didn't know that. Any leads on who gave it to the Koreans?"

"Not yet. It's the FBI's responsibility to find the traitor, but Langley's put a lot of resources on it. Hood is keeping me up to speed. It has to be someone high up in the food chain."

"If Clarence is on it, we'll get results," Elizabeth said. "He's been trying to keep things from me too. I'll see what he has to say next time he comes in."

"I didn't realize you weren't getting briefed, but don't take it out on him. I should have made sure you were kept informed."

"You've been busy, haven't you? How do you like being director, Nick?"

"To tell you the truth, it's a challenge I could do without. I'll be glad when you're able to come back to work."

"I don't have to be back at HQ to give you a hand."

"What do you mean?"

"My memory is fine. I'm feeling better every day. I'd be out of here today if they'd let me, but they want to keep me for a while longer. That doesn't mean I can't work with you over the phone or here in the room."

"You think you can run things from in here?"

"Not run things, you and Stephanie are doing that. But I could take some of the load off, if you'll let me. Steph will be mad at me, but she'll get over it."

"What did you have in mind?"

"I can't help you with the paperwork. You can't bring that kind of classified material in here, but I can consult with you about any actions you need to take. Bring me an encrypted phone."

"We don't have a specific mission at the moment," Nick said.

"You know that's not going to last long," Elizabeth said.

"Steph has developed an AI program for one of her computers. It's pretty amazing from what I've seen so far. She wants me to consider the computer as one of the team."

"She told me she was working on something new but she didn't say much about it. Part of the team? What does that mean?"

"Well, it interacts with you, talks to you. It even makes jokes. The important thing is that it analyzes situations and then can add its own interpretation."

"You mean independently?"

"Yes. It wants to sit in and participate on our discussions as a team."

"You're kidding," Elizabeth said.

"No, I'm not. I'm having trouble getting used to the idea."

"Has it provided any useful information?"

"Yes, along with speculation."

Nick told her how Freddie had identified the man who'd murdered the Chinese ambassador as a North Korean government agent. He explained how Freddie had linked the assassination and the sinking of the submarine, then speculated that a third-party was implicating North Korea and manipulating events for an unknown purpose.

"Do you think there's anything to it?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know, there could be. Freddie emphasized that the murder of the ambassador by a member of Yun's security service was illogical. That makes sense, unless there's some faction in the North Korean government that's trying to depose Yun by angering the Chinese. We haven't picked up any indication of that."

"So if some unknown third-party is manipulating events, they're attempting to create a breach between Beijing and Pyongyang?"

"That would be one possibility," Nick said. "The question is why?"

"Does Beijing know that the assassin was from North Korea?"

"Not to my knowledge. I haven't told anyone except Hood. No one suspected it until Freddie put in his two cents. Everything Langley and the Bureau have indicates the killer was a South Korean national, a lone wolf. If the Chinese have a mole somewhere in the agencies, that's what they'll be told."

Nick's phone buzzed.

"It's Stephanie." He activated the speaker. "Hello, Steph."

"Nick, where are you? Something has happened."

"I'm in Director Harker's room at Walter Reed. You're on speaker."

"When you get back there's something I want to discuss with you."

Harker interrupted. "Stephanie, tell us what's going on."

"Elizabeth…"

"Steph, you're not my mother. I'm not going to collapse because of some bad news out there in the world. What's happening?"

"You're right, I have been a little overprotective. What's happening is that someone killed the head of the Ukrainian Secret Service a couple of hours ago."

"Sirko?"

"I see you have your memory back. Yes, Bhodan Sirko, Kiev's man behind the throne and chief hatchet man."

"What happened, Steph?" Nick asked.

"Sirko was attending a conference in Kiev, one of those propaganda environmental events where everybody gets together to say how much they want to help each other clean things up while they gobble down the vodka and caviar."

"You don't sound like a fan."

"Those conferences are a waste of time," Steph said. "They repeat the same old tired arguments about why the climate is changing and what needs to be done about it, before they get around to blaming the U.S. and saying we ought to quit making things bad for everyone else."

"What happened to Sirco?" Elizabeth asked.

"The assassin posed as a waitress and poisoned the appetizers. She was spotted by two of Sirco's men but she shot them both and escaped through the kitchen. They found her gun. It's Russian, a model that's only issued to special forces and the security services. Kiev is accusing Moscow of the murder."

"They're probably right," Elizabeth said. "Sirco has been rooting out Russian agents, forcing them out of the country or killing them."

"A woman assassin is a little unusual," Nick said. "I wonder…"

"You're thinking of Selena's sister aren't you?" Elizabeth said. "It doesn't have to be her."

"No, but you have to admit it fits her profile. It would take a lot of balls to pull that off in public. Once we have the CCTV tapes from the conference, we can confirm it or not for ourselves."

"I'm not sure I agree with your choice of words but you're right, it does fit her profile."

"I wonder why Orlov moved on Sirco now?" Stephanie said. Her voice sounded tinny on the speaker of the phone.

"Whatever the reason, good riddance," Elizabeth said. "Sirco was a bad actor."

"But he was our actor," Nick said. "That so-called government wouldn't exist without our backing."

"All part of the strategy to contain the big, bad bear. One day we might actually get along with the Russians. Just not anytime soon."

"Not as long as Orlov is in power," Nick said. "I wouldn't trust him no matter what he said."

Elizabeth sighed. "Trust is overrated when it comes to international politics. Assuming it was Orlov and not someone from the Ukrainian opposition, it means relations between Ukraine and Moscow are about to get a lot worse, if that's possible. It ratchets up tensions in the area. Not a good thing, they're bad enough already."

"What do you think Kiev will do?"

"I'm not at all sure. They can't just ignore it."

"Elizabeth," Stephanie said. "Has Nick told you about Freddie?"

"Your computer? Yes. That's quite an accomplishment, Steph."

"I'm going to feed this information about Sirco's assassination to him and see what he says. It's extraordinary how he puts things together. He actually thinks, but it's different from the way we look at things."

Nick said, "Steph, about making Freddie part of the team, let's see what happens if we let him join in on our discussions. But we need to prep the others first. We'll meet this afternoon." Nick looked at Elizabeth. "Director Harker is going to sit in on a secure line."

Harker nodded.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, Elizabeth," Stephanie said. "You're still recovering. You should rest."

"Steph, the last thing I need right now is more rest. I'm bored out of my skull here. It's not going to kill me to put in a word or two during a conversation."

"Elizabeth…"

"Besides," Elizabeth said, "I want to meet Freddie."