Page 32 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

Leaning against a stove and facing the door was Samuel Rogers, a gun held loosely at his side.

Teddy scanned the rest of the room to make sure Rogers was alone, then announced, “I’m coming in.”

After holstering his own weapon, he opened the door and stepped inside, holding out his palms to show they were empty.

“Lance sends his regards and said that he hopes you had a nice time in Malta,” he said. This had been the identification code Lance had given him.

Rogers relaxed and put his gun away. “So, you’re Lance’s specialist?”

Teddy sneered. “I’m not Lance’s anything.”

“All of us in the Agency are Lance’s something or other.”

“Good thing I don’t work for the Agency then.”

“You don’t?”

“I’m more of an outside consultant.”

“I see.” Rogers studied him anew. “All right, Mr. Consultant, what is it you want from me?”

“Did Lance not tell you why we are meeting?”

“The only thing I was told was that I have information you need. I was not told what that information is.”

“How very Lance of him.”

Rogers snorted. “Are you sure you don’t work for the Agency?”

“I’m sure,” Teddy said.

“How can I help you?”

“I understand you were part of an operation called Golden Hour.”

Rogers’s brow furrowed in surprise. “That’s not a name I’ve heard in a long time. Yes, I was. But how can that possibly be of interest now?”

“Because someone is killing the agents who were assigned to that mission.”

“Are you messing with me?”

“I assure you, I’m not.”

Teddy briefed him on what had been happening, without mentioning the names of those killed.

“Owen Pace was part of Golden Hour. He was one of the victims, wasn’t he?”

Teddy nodded. “The latest.”

“Now I know why Lance wanted us to meet. I was one of the last people to talk to Owen.”

“In person?”

“On the phone.”

“What did you talk about?”

“He was cultivating a new source. Said it was someone with knowledge of the dark money funding of terrorist operations. Owen knew I’ve dealt with a lot of that, so he wanted to know if I’d ever heard of the guy. When I said I hadn’t, he asked me if I could look into him.”

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