Page 75 of Elusive Promise

"What about extended family? Do you have any?"

"Harry has a sister and a brother-in-law and a couple of kids who are older than me. They live in various parts of Connecticut. They are all married with children. But we see them on some holidays. On my mom's side, my grandfather went back to India a long time ago, and I don't even know him. I think my mother speaks to him occasionally, but probably no more than once a year, if that. There's still bitterness between them, because she felt like he abandoned us, which he did."

"I can see why she'd feel that way—why you'd feel that way, too."

"Their estrangement made it more difficult for me to relate to that side of my family. My grandfather has some siblings in India, and they also have children, but I've never met any of them. As for my biological dad's family, I haven't seen him or them since I was three years old. I'm connected by blood to a lot of people I've never met. It's strange. But I've learned over the years that family is really the people in your life you can count on—at least for me." She took another sip of beer. "Now, it's your turn, Jared. What's your story? How did you come to be in the CIA? Was it because of 9/11?"

"Yes. Before that, I wanted to be a basketball player or a sports writer or maybe work in film."

"Okay—those are all different choices."

"The sky was the limit, until I realized it wasn't. After 9/11, everything in my life changed. Things I thought were important were meaningless. Every problem I'd ever had seemed incredibly trivial. I knew I had to do something that would honor my mother's death and make her proud. I wanted to stop the terrorists before they got to US soil. The CIA, with its global perspective, seemed the best place to do that."

"Do you still think so?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "There are a lot more politics than I ever expected and so many gray areas. The best way for the agency to get intel is to work with people who are doing terrible things and try to turn them. I sometimes have a problem with who we're protecting and at what cost."

"Like the asset in Brothers of the Earth."

He nodded. "Exactly. I don't know who that person is, because it's above my pay grade. But I do know that they're still alive, still working with the terrorists, while April is dead. I understand it on a purely logical, strategic level, but…"

"But your heart hurts," she said simply, meeting his gaze.

"Yeah, it does. I can't stop wondering if the asset knew that April was being targeted, and if they stayed quiet, if they let her die."

"And no one will tell you that?"

"I don't have a need to know."

"That's a popular phrase at the agency."

"Too popular and used to conceal more than it should."

"Didn't anyone else go to bat for you, Jared? There must be other people at the CIA who would want to see April get justice."

"As I said, I made a few mistakes after April died, and that shut down my pipeline of information. Besides slugging a deputy director, my boss is afraid I'm too personally invested. She thinks that will lead to mistakes. She assures me that everything that needs to be done is being done."

"But you don't believe her."

"No. I think they'll sacrifice justice for April to get more intel from the asset."

"Maybe that's not a horrible thing," she said slowly.

He frowned. "Really? You don't think that's a horrible thing?"

"I'm just wondering if the justice can come later—if preventing future attacks isn't the more important goal. And I think you've wondered the same thing."

He shrugged, not wanting to admit that. "Here's what I think—we can get justice and take down the group at the same time. We can go on offense, instead of continuing to play catch-up, to work some asset, who clearly couldn't prevent what happened at the Café Douceur or chose not to."

"Do you think there's a sympathizer in the CIA who is protecting this asset for another reason?"

"I can't rule it out."

"Well, I hope you can achieve your goals, Jared, but let's face it, it's a big ask. This terrorist group is spread across a couple of continents. Tearing down the entire organization is going to take a lot of manpower."

"Right now, I just want to take down Isaac and Sara, and I'm betting Isaac is in the city, too. I also think they're connected to Jasmine and the diamond. It's all part of a big play for a tremendous windfall. And you know what they're going to do with all that cash—wreak havoc on the world."

"You're starting to kill the glow of my taco happiness," she murmured.

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