Silent Assassin(107)

That’s when he heard the creak of the wooden floor on the hall outside the den. He reached for the lower right drawer, where he kept a concealed handgun, and slowly pulled it open. He drew the gun as a man appeared in the doorway, but in a flash of recognition did not pull the trigger.

It was Smith.

“Polite guests use the doorbell,” said Chapman.

“I use the doorbell when it pleases me to use the doorbell,” said Smith.

“Supposing I shoot you,” he offered.

“You could try,” said Smith. “I frankly don’t think it would do much good.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Chapman. “Why are you here, Smith?”

Smith walked on light feet to the chair opposite Chapman and sat down. “I imagine you might be feeling a little . . . guilty at the moment. I thought you could use a friendly word.”

Chapman snorted wearily. “From you?”

“Yes,” said Smith unflappably. “I’d like to tell you that it’s normal to feel as you do. Like you have betrayed something. But your motives were pure and your perceptions correct.” His voice was steady and emotionless. “You did what was necessary to protect your country and your daughter. You were a necessary part in stopping a catastrophe. And for that you deserve applause.”

“Hooray for me,” he said hollowly. “Is now the time when you give me my thirty pieces of silver?”

“Don’t be dramatic,” said Smith. “You didn’t do this for the money. You did it because it was right. And if it comes to it again, you will help us again.”

“Do I get a choice?”

“You always have a choice,” said Smith, standing up. He walked to the door, then looked back at Chapman. “Welcome to the team.”





“A success, all in all,” said Bloch.

Smith looked at her pointedly.

“A success?” asked Smith.

Bloch was sitting in the passenger seat of Smith’s car, in the Government Center garage, staring at a concrete wall. It was a dreary place for a meet, but garages worked for their isolation and accessibility. She ran her eyes over cracks on the wall as she spoke.

“A qualified success,” she said. “Disaster was averted. The infectious agent was contained.”

“Novokoff was killed in the middle of a crowd, in a way that people are going to be talking about for a long, long time. There are pictures, too many to control. I’d call that by itself a disaster.”

“It was all we could do to stop him from spreading the fungus to the entire city of New York,” she said.

“And using the satellite like that tipped our hand to the Chinese. They naturally blamed the United States for what happened, which might have caused an international incident. The U.S. is going to pay for this diplomatically.”

“It was the only way.”

“So you keep saying,” said Smith sharply. “But operations seem to be getting sloppy. Loud. And it all seems to have something to do with Morgan.”

“Morgan is a valuable agent,” said Bloch. “He’s been instrumental to our operations.”

“He’s erratic and difficult to control,” said Smith.

“He’s also our best. Without him, we wouldn’t have gotten Novokoff. Or Edmund Charles, for that matter.”

“If you are speaking for Morgan, I would think that you would avoid mentioning the name of Edmund Charles,” Smith said testily.

“It’s true, though, isn’t it?” said Bloch. “He might cause a splash. But he gets results.”

Smith took a deep breath. “That he does. That he does.”

“By the way, what happened to the confiscated cocaine with the fungal spores?” Bloch asked.

“It was destroyed, of course,” said Smith. “Incinerated, along with all the records in the Montauk facility.”

“Good,” she said. “The world is better off without its existence.”

“That it is,” said Smith.

“So what now?” she asked.

“Now we move ahead with expansion,” he said. “Get the Zeta facility staffed. Two tactical teams of six and a full support staff of analysts and security experts.”

“Even after what you called a failure?” she said evenly.

“It is not my decision to make,” he said. Then he touched her on the shoulder and looked her in the eye. “But this is my personal advice: rein in your people, and get Zeta Division in order. The higher-ups will not go easy on you if you continue to act so publicly.”

“I . . . appreciate your perspective,” she said, in a tone that said she didn’t. “So, what now?”