Alex stopped and looked at him. “So Agent Coleman – who, as you knew, was working with our agency on this investigation – revealed classified information to you?”
Preston shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Not directly, no.”
“Then how were you informed, Director?” Alex pressed.
Preston stared back at him venomously. “Agent Coleman was under surveillance during the time he was assisting your agency with our… my apologies… your investigation,” he replied flatly. “Given the strange circumstances forced upon me by the CIA, I thought it only appropriate to keep tabs on any and all conversations my agent was having.”
Alex’s eyes widened in surprise. “So you intentionally eavesdropped on a priority CIA investigation for the purpose of attempting to solve the case yourself? Is that what you’re saying?”
Preston looked at Alex and smiled. “On the contrary. I was simply staying aware of my agent’s activities in case more of my Department’s services were needed. With so much going on, I was afraid your team might leave some loose ends that required attention. As it turned out, I was right.”
“Don’t try to spin this in your favor, Jack,” Alex countered. “The only thing you accomplished in all of this was sending an unprepared agent to his death.”
Preston suddenly slammed his fist on the table in front of him. “Agent Martin’s trip to Amsterdam uncovered what everyone in this room knows to be true, Alex – that your team missed their fucking target. So don’t stand there and pretend to be absolved of your own mistakes in this matter.” He looked over and pointed at Richard Connolly seated next to him. “And for the record, his actions killed Martin, not mine.”
Connolly’s calm face suddenly contorted in anger. “You spineless son of a bitch!”
Alex ignored the volatile exchange between the two men and continued pacing the floor. Preston’s admission of placing Tom under surveillance had come as a complete shock – both in its arrogant stupidity and its deeper meaning. Was it possible that Tom had actually held true to their agreement? After swiftly destroying his dream of being in the CIA, Alex had been certain his brother-in-law’s first act of survival would be to go crawling back to Preston and offer anything – including knowledge of the investigation – in exchange for his job. And yet that apparently wasn’t the case. He suddenly recalled his heated phone call with Tom just a few days earlier. He’d tried to tell me the target was still alive, and I ignored him. He pushed the thought from his mind and raised his hand. “Enough,” he snapped loudly, ending the argument between Preston and Connolly. “We’ll get to the details of Agent Martin’s death soon enough.” Alex walked over to a briefcase lying on the table. He reached in and picked up a thick file, tossing it on the table in front of Preston. “Right now I want to know how you managed to obtain this.”
Preston stared down at the file of investigation notes Tom Coleman had handed to him in his Flagstaff office the previous morning. In his conversation with Rose McCarthy that same afternoon, the Deputy Secretary of State had made it clear that Preston would immediately report to Washington with all materials associated with the investigation leading up to the events in Dongying. He opened the file and quickly thumbed through the contents. “This material was located inside Agent Coleman’s case files in our Flagstaff office, which makes it the legal property of Department of Homeland Security.”
“The hell it does,” Alex replied angrily. He pulled the open file away from Preston and grabbed the document lying on top. “Did Tom Coleman give you this file?”
Preston crossed his arms. “I believe I’ve already answered your question.”
Alex glanced at the document in his hand. The content on the page was broken into two columns. On the left, the page contained a list of highlighted words and statements from the letters the terrorist had written. On the right, the details of the letter’s corresponding murder were summarized. Alex read the comparisons and immediately grasped what Tom had uncovered.
Messages within the letters…of course!
He slapped the document onto the table in front of Preston and Connolly.
“What else can you tell me about the messages in the letters?” he asked excitedly. Both Preston and Connolly looked at him with a blank expression.
“For god’s sake, it’s right here in the file! Don’t you read your own intel?”
Connolly picked up the document and examined it carefully. “I’ve never seen this document… or anything else in this file for that matter. So I can’t even begin to know what you’re talking about.” He turned and glared at Preston with contempt. “Apparently my colleague chose to keep this information from me.”