“Really? I understand you have a place there,” said Reel. “I checked.”
“It’s just a summer rental,” groused Tucker.
Marks added, “It’s actually a good thing that the First Lady and her kids will be out of town. And this trip is not on the official schedule, which is even better.” She eyed Robie and Reel. “Are you part of the official protection detail?”
“Secret Service protocols won’t allow for that,” replied Reel. “But I don’t think they’re unhappy we’re going. I think the First Lady wants us to spend some time with her son, who’s going through a rocky time right now.”
Marks nodded while Tucker just shook his head in exasperation. He said, “Well, while you’re on your little holiday I want to hear from you every day. You don’t work for the Secret Service or the First Lady. You work for me. Is that understood?”
“Never doubted it for a moment, sir,” said Reel, with a slight edge to her voice. “So long as you’re the DCI,” she added.
As the meeting broke up, Tucker demanded that Reel remain behind. Robie glanced at her questioningly, but she nodded and he reluctantly left.
When the others had gone Tucker sat back down and motioned Reel to do the same.
“I’ll stand if it’s all the same to you.”
“Do you want me to order you to sit? For Christ’s sake, Reel, can’t you just do what I say without making it an issue every damn time? You undercut my authority whenever you pull shit like this.”
She gave him a stony look but sat.
“This won’t take long,” he said.
“Fine with me,” she said.
He stared at her while she looked back at him impassively.
“You hate my guts, don’t you?” he said.
“I don’t think my feelings toward you have anything to do with my job.”
“Of course they do. Without respect there’s nothing.”
“If you say so.”
“I have never been confronted with a more complex problem than you. Never.”
“Glad I could be there for you.”
“I’m being serious, so cut the jokes.”
She sat up a bit straighter but said nothing.
He held up two fingers. “My DD, James Gelder. And an analyst named Doug Jacobs.”
Reel said nothing.
“You killed them both.”
Reel folded her arms over her chest.
“They worked for this agency. Gelder was my friend. They’re dead because of you.”
Sensing where this was going, Reel started to speak, but Tucker held up his hand. “Just—just let me finish,” he said. “It’s taken me long enough to get to the point. Let me have my say and then you can respond.”
Reel sat back, evidently put out by this request.
Tucker continued. “I’ve looked into every facet of the case, everything. And my conclusion is that, even though I don’t want to believe it, Gelder, who I thought was my friend, and Doug Jacobs, who had sworn allegiance to this country, were traitors. They were planning an event that, if it had taken place, would have sent this world into an apocalypse.”
He pointed a finger at her. “You prevented that from happening. You and Robie,” he amended.
Reel’s expression had softened. She was watching her boss closely now.
“I can’t say that I agree with your method. Guilty until proven innocent. But I think I see now why you did what you did. They killed a man who meant a lot to you. There was no direct evidence against them. If you hadn’t acted, the world as we know it would be gone.” He gave a long, resigned sigh. “As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I think you did the right thing, Reel.”
Reel’s lips parted and her eyes revealed her surprise.
Tucker looked away from her and studied the table. He said, “Your actions since then were nothing short of remarkable. You and Robie fought through every imaginable obstacle and put your lives on the line again and again. You stopped the coming global disaster while everyone else, myself included, had hands over our eyes and thumbs up our asses. And as reward for that, I sent you and Robie into Syria basically to die. I still can’t believe that I did what I did, setting up two of my agents, my best agents, to get killed. There is no excuse and I’m ashamed of myself. I truly am. And yet you survived that. And you came back home and got your medals and I’ve been thinking of ways to nail you ever since those hunks of metal went around your necks, including trying to literally drown your asses at the Burner Box.”
Tucker grew silent, but Reel seemed disinclined to say anything.
He said, “I have learned what went down with you and the scum who happened to be your father. I know what he tried to do. I know what you did to stop him and save Julie Getty’s life. And I know the risk involved in going to North Korea and doing what you and Robie accomplished. It was nothing short of miraculous. Any other team would’ve been dead.”