The Russian Woman

Chapter 45

"Since when do we let assets tell us who they'll work with?" Davidson said, angry.

He was in Kramer's office. So were Jenna and Carlson.

"It's not without precedent," Kramer said, her voice mild.

"She's too important to let Thorne handle her. You know what he's like. He has no respect for the chain of command."

"What do you think, Lewis?" Kramer said.

She already knew what Carlson thought. He'd briefed her an hour earlier on Thorne's conversation with Colonel Volkova in Helsinki and told her Davidson had tried to go over his head with Thorne. He'd pointed out that Thorne had established rapport with Volkova. More important, he had established trust. You didn't throw that away because of an ego-driven pissing match. Carlson hadn't used those exact words with Kramer, but he'd made sure she got the idea.

It was no secret Carlson wanted the deputy director's job. Kramer wanted Carlson to say what he thought in front of Davidson because she enjoyed playing her subordinates off against one another.

"It's obvious OPERA trusts Thorne and doesn't trust us," Carlson said.

"I don't think it's obvious," Davidson said. "Why would she trust him? Why decide she won't talk to anyone else? Maybe Thorne is making it up, trying to make himself seem important."

"Are you saying Thorne is lying?" Jenna said.

"If the shoe fits..."

"Jesus, Scott. You know better than that."

"I didn't know we were on a first name basis, Olmstead."

"Keep it civil, Scott," Kramer said. "Jenna, why do you think OPERA would make that demand?"

"First of all, if Mike says she'll rabbit if we give her a different handler, you can take it as gospel. He's good at what he does. If he couldn't convince her to change her mind, no one else is going to do it."

"I can understand why she wouldn't trust us," Kramer said. "She's been told all her life that the CIA is her enemy. But why trust Thorne?"

Jenna couldn't tell them she'd talked to Thorne before he called Carlson.

"He must have connected with her. He's a real person, not some faceless enemy on the other side of the world. Women make these kind of decisions differently than men. She must have sensed something about him that made her decide to trust him."

"So OPERA trusts Thorne because of women's intuition?" Davidson said. "Are you kidding? This is the CIA, not a feel-good therapy group."

"I'm not going to dignify that with an answer," Jenna said.

"Lewis, how do you see it working if Thorne is her handler?" Kramer said.

"We can use his cover as a Canadian businessman and set him up in Helsinki. Rent an office, print up the materials he needs, build up a past history in Canada in case someone goes looking. We've done it all before, for less potential."

"Why not post him to Moscow?" Davidson said. "If you're convinced he's the one who should run her, he should be where he's got quick access."

"If Thorne is posted to Moscow, they'll know who he is," Jenna said. "The embassy is watched around the clock. He'd be followed every time he left the building. It would make it difficult or impossible to meet with OPERA. You should know that."

"Don't tell me what I should know, Olmstead."

"Why not, when it's clear you don't know what you're talking about?"

"Thorne is a loose cannon. We let him handle her, he'll screw it up. I can handle her from here."

Carlson kept his face expressionless, but inside he was smiling.

"What if she wants a face-to-face meeting?" Jenna said. "Are you planning to go to Moscow?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Davidson said.

"I've heard enough," Kramer said. "Scott, Thorne already has the kind of rapport with OPERA we need to get the best out of her. I'm not going to rock the boat. Jenna, you set up Thorne's legend in Canada. We're going into the sauna import business. Who knows? We might even make some money out of it."

As they left Kramer's office, Davidson turned to Lewis.

"I'm not going to forget this."

"We both know Thorne is the right choice for this. She trusts him. She wouldn't give you the time of day."

"You want to hang your career on Thorne, you go right ahead. I'm going to enjoy watching when you crash and burn. You'll regret what you said in there, both of you."

They had reached Davidson's office. He went in. The door closed softly behind him. Doors on the seventh floor were designed to close that way.

"You get the feeling he would have slammed it, if he could?" Jenna said.

Carlson laughed.