Search and Destroy by JT Sawyer (top non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📗

it had been for a long time. Any chance you can track this guy down?”

She bit her lower lip. “Look, I can’t imagine how devastated you are right now, and I’m not saying I won’t help, but are you sure about this, Cal? Maybe the FBI should handle this.”

“They ran into the same issues I did and couldn’t locate the catering van either. He’s my only lead.”

She took a step forward, putting her hand on his forearm. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks, Lynn. And maybe we should go old-school for communicating on this, if you don’t mind.”

“Dead drops and Craigslist, just like in the old days. I can do that. It would be a welcome break from the digital world and would help me brush up on my tradecraft which, I’m embarrassed to admit, is laced with cobwebs.”

Cal nodded. And, most importantly, it will eliminate any fallout back to you.

After visiting with a few of the other analysts in the tac-ops center, he had to pry himself away. The thought of another person offering their condolences was becoming overwhelming, and he needed to get outside. He arrived at the elevator at the same time as Vogel’s protégé, Jessica Quinn.

They stepped in together, both of them heading to the first floor. “So, how’s Lynn treatin’ you these days?”

“She’s awesome. If I can become one-tenth the analyst she is then I’ll be happy.”

He smirked. “But that’s not what I asked, Jessica… She can be quite the taskmaster from what I know. Don’t let her crack the whip on you all day long.” She had a sweetness and idealism about her that hadn’t been eroded by the agency, and he wondered how long she would last now that she was in what had to be the highest-pressure job within the intel community.

The young woman crossed her arms, staring at the ascending numbers above the door. “It’s OK. I work well with a gun to my head, so to speak.” She held a hand up to her mouth, her tan complexion hiding her blushing cheeks. “God, sorry…that’s probably the last thing someone like yourself wants to hear, since you’ve got guns pointed at you on a regular basis when you’re on a mission.”

“Used to be. Not so much anymore.”

She bit her lower lip. “I’m so sorry. I heard about what happened…to your wife and Mr. Burke and the others.”

He nodded. Please don’t say, ‘If there’s anything you need…’

“I remember when my father died when I was little, before we came to this country. I wasn’t sure if the sun would rise the next day or the one after that, but my mother told me that I had an angel who would always watch over me, and I’d never be alone.”

“That’s nice. I like that.”

The doors opened, and they stepped out. “I hope that there is some peace in the days ahead, sir.”

He watched her walk off, craving the sentiment but knowing that there was going to be a lot more blood spilt before his burning thirst for vengeance was satiated.

20

After he left Langley, his mind was swirling with questions and few answers. Cal headed out of the city, wandering on his Harley along secondary highways dotted with small towns, eventually making his way to the coast north of Virginia Beach on Highway 60.

He needed the solace of open spaces, not a confined office or the stifling walls of his house. While he had fleetingly found comfort in returning to the home he and Cassie had shared, it had now become a mausoleum of memories, and he was dreading returning to the depressingly empty abode.

Pulling into a roadside picnic area along the beach, he parked his motorcycle and walked along the shoreline.

The threads of his thinking kept coming back to what Burke had discovered in Caracas. He knew it didn’t take an intelligence analyst to figure out that the horrific events of the past few days had to be connected with the upcoming election in Venezuela.

Burke stumbled onto something that was too strategic or revealing about coming events. But who knew about Perseus’ capabilities to even detect such things?

He ran through a mental list, beginning with the senior staff at Burke Enterprises. All of them were now six feet under, along with Reggie, who would have been invaluable to question.

Though he was probably just bribed to pass off the security codes to the mercs who made the hit.

Cal reflected on past meetings at the Pentagon that Burke had attended with the various clandestine agency heads who had signed off on or been involved in some capacity with Perseus from the beginning.

The same names kept emerging:

Tim Rourke with the NSA

National Intelligence Director Jason Begley

Neil Patterson

Colonel Ryan Foley

Lynn Vogel

He immediately dismissed the latter three names before mulling over the positions and government work histories of the former two.

Then there was also the South American case officer Patterson mentioned—Milo Gardner. So, three guys with a long history of working in clandestine services and with plenty of international ties.

Begley signed off on Perseus, so what would he have to gain by killing everyone at Burke’s? And if he was running some off-the-books op in Venezuela then he’d know how to dodge any prodding by Burke’s program.

Gardner, on the other hand, has his feet in deep down there with the politicos, military and other assets on the ground. Maybe he’s on someone’s payroll in Caracas. An experienced agency guy in bed with the current president to sway the election would be a powerful ally.

Then there’s Rourke. He seems like a career intel guy who’s had the same stapler on his desk for twenty years. Likes his job and the routine and three weeks of vacation a year.

And this guy Montoya…how’s he connected?

Again, Gardner and Rourke were the names that kept emerging.

If Cal was working on a mission, he’d have the unlimited resources of the agency at his disposal—from drones to human assets to surveillance and eavesdropping—to help narrow down his target, but he was as adrift