The Target

Chapter 18

I need to know unequivocally where you stand.”

Evan Tucker stared across the width of a conference room table at the man sitting there.

If Andrew Viola was surprised by the question, he didn’t show it. “I stand where you want me to, sir,” he replied evenly.

“Words, Viola, are easy.”

“I think I’ve done more than words, sir. I carried out your orders to the letter.”

“No confession, though.”

“We did three sessions on them, sir. One more and maybe they’re dead. Didn’t think you wanted it to go down like that. And they’re tough, you have to give them that.”

“I don’t give them anything, particularly Reel.”

“I understand you visited the Burner?”

“I did. I spoke to Robie and Reel.”

“And did it go according to your plan?”

“Exactly what plan is that?” asked Tucker suspiciously.

“I meant did you accomplish your goal, whatever that is?”

“I told them I needed their assurance that they were totally committed to this mission. I told them the waterboarding was to see if they could withstand such torture if captured.”

“Okay,” said Viola evenly.

“And I was speaking the truth, if you care to know.”

“I never assumed otherwise, sir.”

“The fact is, they are the best we have in the field right now, and this mission needs them. I don’t necessarily like it, but I have to put my personal feelings aside for the greater good.”

“I understand.”

Tucker drummed his fingers on the table. “Marks has been a disappointment.”

“She’s a first-rate agent,” said Viola. “Can’t say anything against her.”

Tucker looked keenly at Viola. “If you play your cards right, you might find yourself as DD.”

Viola looked uncomfortable with this. “With all due respect, Director, I’m not sure I’m cut out for that. I’m a tactical field guy, always have been. Politics and long-term strategies are not my strengths.”

“A man who knows his weaknesses can turn them into strengths.”

“We might want to see how this plays out, sir.”

Tucker nodded. “The mission they’re being vetted for is the most important in the last fifty years. Perhaps the most important of all time for us.”

Viola leaned back in his chair, his eyes widening slightly at this comment but his features also holding some skepticism.

Tucker must have noted this, because he said, “Not an exaggeration, Viola. Not at all.”

Viola said nothing.

“Do you think they’ll make it through?” asked Tucker.

“I wouldn’t bet against them. Like you said, they’re the best we have right now.”

“In ability, not loyalty. And I need both.”

Viola shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I never knew what the bad blood was between you and Reel, sir.”

“There’s no need for you to know,” said Tucker. “Suffice it to say that Reel did something extraordinarily heinous.”

Viola looked thoughtful. “I guess it must be pretty bad if you want her dead.”

“I never said I wanted her dead,” snapped Tucker.

“Sorry, sir. I assumed something I guess I shouldn’t have.”

Tucker sat back and steepled his hands. “I just need to know, Viola, that I have their loyalty and they are up to snuff. Do you understand?”

“The up-to-snuff part, I can control easily enough. Loyalty is more part of the brain, sir. The psychs need to get there.”

“They are. They will.”

“So what exactly do you want me to do?”

“Your job. Nothing more, nothing less. Have you spoken to Marks?”

“Only enough to get filled in on certain things.”

“I want you to watch her as carefully as you’re watching Robie and Reel.”

“What exactly am I looking for?”

“Loyalty, Viola. I demand it from everyone at this agency.”

“So you want me to spy on the DD?” Viola said incredulously.

“Just keep in mind that while she’s the DD, I’m the DCI. The last time I looked at the organizational chart, I’m above her.”

Viola shifted again in his seat. “No doubt about that.”

“Then do what I say. Regular reports. That’ll be all.”

Viola rose and turned to the door. He turned back to look at Tucker.

“Yes?” said Tucker expectantly, though something in his tone seemed to be bracing for a fight.

“I joined CIA to serve my country, Director.”

“As did I. Your point?”

“No point, sir. I just wanted to make sure you understood that.”

After Viola left, Tucker continued to sit in his seat. He stared at his hands, which were dotted with sunspots, the result of too much time sailing the Chesapeake Bay on hot summer days. That was all before he became DCI. Now there was no time for sailing. There was only time for this. It was consuming his life. No, he had no more life. He was the DCI. That was his life. That was his identity now.

But his dilemma was fairly obvious. Who could he trust?

Marks? Viola? Any of his people?

He had the most important mission of his career coming up, perhaps the most important mission the agency had had in decades. And he had told the president of the United States that he had it covered. That his team was being vetted, and if they weren’t ready to go, he had another team ready to step in.

But did he?

He knew what he wanted. He wanted Reel to pay for what she had done. And if Robie stood with her, he would get the same treatment. But the fact was he needed them to perform this mission. He had to send the best. And they were the best. By a wide margin.

He put his face in his hands. His stomach was full of cold dread. His skin was wet with sweat. He felt nauseated. He felt…dead.

Am I suicidal? Has it come to this? Am I really losing it?

The DCI needed to be at the top of his game. Right this very minute.

He rocked back and forth with his head bracketed by his hands.

And then with a spark of clarity, his reason cleared. He lifted his face from his hands.

He had his answer. In fact, it had been staring him in the face the whole time.

Andrew Viola drove to a private airport to hop on agency wings on the way back to the Burner.

But he made one stop along the way. He had a phone call that he needed to make. And he didn’t trust his secure mobile phone to make it without someone listening in.

He stopped at a twenty-four-hour convenience store and stepped out of his car.

He didn’t go inside. He went to the single pay phone that was affixed to the exterior wall. He didn’t even know if it would work.

He dropped in his change and got a dial tone.

He punched in the number and the phone rang three times before it was answered.

Blue Man said, “Hello?”

Andrew Viola said in a low voice, “You need to hear something, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

“Is this about Robie and Reel?” asked Blue Man.

“Yes, it is,” replied Viola.

Viola said his piece and then took some questions from Blue Man, whose real name was Roger Walton. He was very high up at the agency, though not as high up as Amanda Marks and Evan Tucker.

He was also a friend and ally of Will Robie’s. And of Jessica Reel’s.

When Viola finished he hung up the pay phone and got back into his car.

Ironically, the old-fashioned pay phone might be the safest form of communication there was these days. NSA tended to focus more on mobile phone traffic and texts and emails. There were so few coin phones left that no one really bothered to monitor them anymore.

He started the engine and headed off. He would be back at the Burner in a few hours.

And maybe he had just realized that the world was not simply black and white, no matter how much he wanted it to be.