The Cup

CHAPTER 43

Clarence Hood saw it was Elizabeth calling on his private line and felt his heart jump a beat. There was something about her that made him feel awkward, an unusual experience for one of the most powerful men in Washington. It had been a long time since he'd been attracted to someone the way he was to Elizabeth. That the attraction seemed mutual was surprising to him. Clarence Hood was not a man most people wanted to get close to.

"Elizabeth. I'm glad you called."

"Good morning, Clarence. This isn't a social call. Is there a chance we can meet today? It's about one of our mutual concerns."

Hood thought about his day and who he could put off or shuffle to a different slot.

"I'll make time. It's a little before ten now. Would eleven here be convenient?"

"Perfect," Elizabeth said. "I'll see you then."

I wonder what's on her mind?

Hood pushed the button that summoned his secretary. He preferred the old term to 'personal assistant.' Personal assistant conjured up images of someone who might help you up the stairs or lead you to the bathroom, if you required such services. Since his secretary was male, no one could accuse him of sexism, although he wasn't sure that was still true. It was hard to keep up with all the social changes taking place.

The secretary entered the room. "Yes, Director."

"Adrian, cancel my appointment with General Hutchins. Give him my apologies and reschedule him. Director Harker will be here instead."

"Yes, sir."

After his secretary left the room, Hood got up and went to an antique sideboard that had once belonged to Abraham Lincoln. He drew a mug of coffee from a shining silver urn and added cream. He'd given up on sugar some time ago.

He still had five minutes before his next appointment. Back at his desk, he sipped coffee and thought about Elizabeth. If she wanted a meeting, there must be some urgency to whatever it was she wanted to talk about. Otherwise it could've waited until this evening. They were having dinner together again at a Georgetown restaurant they both liked.

There were a lot of things they both liked. She was the only person he felt he could confide in. His position as DCI required a public façade of certainty and confidence, but with Elizabeth he didn't have to maintain that fiction. She understood the burden of his work, as he understood hers. She was perfectly suited to her job. He knew he'd have a difficult time doing what she did. It was one of the reasons he admired her.

At the stroke of eleven, Elizabeth came into his office. Hood rose to greet her.

"Thanks for making time," Elizabeth said. "I thought it would be better to talk in person rather than over the phone."

"At the risk of sounding like a cliché, I can always make time for you. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"I'd love one."

He poured the coffee and handed it to her. They sat down at a table near a row of windows facing out into Virginia.

"I want to talk about ISIS and what my team has been doing."

"I know about the incident in Turkey," Hood said.

"I assumed you would. They were following leads on the Grail that took them to the monastery. An ISIS team showed up and things went badly after that."

"The Turks seem to think that your people murdered a monk and several unidentified men."

"Yes, they would say that, wouldn't they? The country is slipping into the hands of the fundamentalists. By now, they know perfectly well who those men were. Of course they're not going to admit it."

"You sound angry, Elizabeth."

"I am angry. I'm tired of my team taking the blame for the incompetence of self-serving politicians. In this case, the so-called president of Turkey."

"He's a problem," Hood said. "We have nukes over there."

"We're going to have to pull them out," Elizabeth said. "The whole region is destabilizing." She took another sip of coffee. "We could talk about this for hours but that's not why I'm here. I need your help finding out who it is in ISIS that's after my team and the Grail."

"That might be difficult."

"It has to be a top-tier leader. There aren't that many of them. Al-Baghdadi is very careful about who he trusts. Whoever it is has followed my team ever since Sweden. He must have operatives at Incirlik or he couldn't have known where they went."

"A spymaster."

"Yes."

"ISIS has been getting better at gathering intelligence," Hood said. "It feels as though someone new has taken the reins. Before it was more random, it had more of a hit and miss kind of feeling to it. Now it's beginning to take on an aura of professionalism. Someone is responsible for that."

"That was my thought also," Elizabeth said. "If we could identify him, perhaps he could be eliminated."

"My, Elizabeth, you better hadn't let some of those senators who don't like you hear you say that."

"I'll never understand why we have to dance around the issue when a key terrorist figure has been identified. Nothing stops them from murdering as many people as they can. Why are we supposed to think twice about taking them out?"

"I can't answer that one," Hood said. "It doesn't make any sense to me."

"I was hoping you could try and find out who this person is. I'm doing the same but you have more resources than I do. Once we know who he is, something can be done to disrupt his operation. It will hurt ISIS, at least for a while. Plus it will get some of the heat off my team. Nick recovered a phone in Turkey with three calls on it."

She took out a piece of paper with the numbers written on it and gave it to him.

"I'll put Lucas on it."

"Sometimes I think the relationship between Langley and the Project is quite incestuous. As though we were literally in bed together."

As soon as she said it, Elizabeth blushed.

Hood laughed. "That was fun the other night, don't you think?"

"Yes it was," Elizabeth said. She smiled at him. "We should change the subject. Have you learned anything more about that bomb ISIS is supposed to have acquired?"

Hood's expression grew serious.

"Yes, enough to make me worried. We're certain they found the enriched uranium Saddam was stockpiling. They may have plutonium as well."

"That's terrible news. But surely they don't have the technology to make a bomb that combines the two."

"Not in the sense that they could use the plutonium to make a bigger bang. But they could make a very dirty bomb. Think Chernobyl."

"Why haven't I seen this in the CRITIC briefs?"

"Because the DNI doesn't think it's credible."

"Are you serious?"

"Our Director of National Intelligence thinks I'm overreacting. He can't quite believe that a bunch of ignorant barbarians like ISIS could be sophisticated enough to build a nuclear bomb, much less deploy it. He doesn't want to distract the president with rumors."

"You have to go over his head."

"I will. Just as soon as I have definite proof."

"Let me see what Stephanie can pick up. She's been working on developing a new program for analyzing voice patterns and phrases and combined it with a translation program. ISIS is savvy when it comes to phone conversations, but someone might make a mistake."

"I like the idea," Hood said. "It fits right in with looking for our spymaster in the caliphate. But even if we find him, we might run into a problem."

"You mean we might not get the go-ahead to take him out?"

"I've never understood why the White House hasn't taken on ISIS in any meaningful way. During the last few months Rice has become more and more unfocused. I think something is physically wrong with him. Perhaps some aftermath of the assassination attempts."

"You think he's losing it?"

"I wouldn't go that far, but I see a power vacuum forming. Part of it's because of the election. He's distracted and the people around him aren't willing to make unpopular decisions. Nobody wants to rock the boat. They're all worried about their political future."

Elizabeth looked at her empty coffee cup. "After this election, you and I may be out of a job."

"The thought had occurred to me," Hood said. "It depends on who wins."

"If ISIS succeeds in building a nuclear bomb it won't matter who wins," Elizabeth said.