Page 114 of To Die For

“Because the mole in your office fed all that info to them. We thought it was Dawn Schuman, but turned out she was just being used as a red herring.”

“That was also an assumption, not a fact.”

“But Dawn Schuman disappeared. Thatisa fact. She’s probably dead.”

“Actually, thefactis, Dawn Schuman was found very much alive in a drunk tank in Pennsylvania, right before I was wheels up here.”

“A drunk tank?”

“I told you she had financial and marital problems. Apparently they became too much for her and she just lost it. Went on a bender. Drugs, drinks, more drugs, more drinks, until the police outside Harrisburg picked her up passed out behind a bar and called us after finding her credentials.”

“Okay, she wasn’t a red herring. But we still don’t know who the mole is.”

“I don’t think wehada mole, Devine.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The mission we were doing in Switzerland was ajointop. We worked closely with another agency. The CIA, specifically.”

“That’s right. I had a point of contact there. He helped me a lot.”

“Yeah. He did. I also think, probably under orders, that he almost helped you into an early grave.”

The two men stared at each other across the width of brown commercial carpet.

“Why would a sister agency throw me under the bus for pulling off a successful mission in whichtheywere involved and desired the outcome that occurred?”

“We’re not in the Army anymore, Devine. Straightforward, logical thinking will get you nowhere fast. I learned that soon after taking this job. And you’re going to have to learn it, too, if you want to survive.”

“Then you’re going to need to spell it out because I’m not making the connections.”

“The worlds of espionage and geopolitics are enormously complicated. 3D chess–complicated, like the girl on the train said. Translation for lunch-pail guys like you and me? It’s screwed up beyond belief, where everyone stabs everyone else in the back and allegiances change so fast, allies can become enemies and vice versa in a single day.”

“So our allies, our sister agencies, you mean?”

“One minute they like us, the next minute parts of us are expendable if another, better opportunity comes along.”

“Are you telling me that components of our government will intentionally sacrifice one of their own to get an advantage elsewhere?”

“I will tell you what I believe happened after you wrapped up your mission in Geneva.”

“I’m listening,” said Devine, who felt his muscles knotting.

“The target was a foreign state-sponsored organization that had as one of its stated goals the hacking and destruction of some of this country’s most sensitive databases. The effect would have been calamitous, across multiple fronts. You stopped that, almost singlehandedly, with your being able to winnow your way into the confidence of two critical members of that organization, and get out to us vital information that allowed us to head off what they wereplanning. Then you were able to exit the situation with well-aimed bullets and a mindset to survive that is probably your chief asset.”

“Okay, what else?” said Devine tightly.

“And then, it seems that an enemy suddenly became a friend with something of value to provide this nation. Only a ‘saving face’ olive branch was needed before the deal could be consummated.”

“AndIwas the olive branch?” said Devine.

“Yes, apparently you were.”

“And how did they know my recent itinerary?”

“We have been hacked, Devine. Hacked by our own side.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

---