Page 68 of Trust No One

Gideon shrugged. “You guys used to work for the CIA. You probably have a better idea than I do.”

Dev nodded at Mel. “I wasn’t at the embassy much – most of my time was in the field. You were more… in tune with the bureaucracy. You have any thoughts?”

She shot Dev a look, and one side of her mouth curled up. “Very diplomatic, Dev. As I recall, you ran screaming from any mention of bureaucracy or diplomacy when we were in Afghanistan. So, yeah, I’ll handle it.” She grabbed her bag and pulled out the slip of paper that Diana Redfield had given her. “Diana was right – we can’t just show up at Langley and ask to see the Director.” She shook her head. “They’d tell us to get lost.” She held up the paper that Diana had slipped her. “This will get me through to the Director, and I’m sure he’ll clear the way to see him.”

The three of them ordered pizzas and stayed in Dev’s room, discussing the information Gideon had discovered on the dark web. Mel had recognized one of the names from the CIA, and she scowled. “I never did like that guy. He was a skulker. Always trying to listen to private conversations.”

“Now you know why,” Dev said.

“Yeah.” She turned to him. “You recognize any of those names?”

He shook his head. “But I wouldn’t be likely to know any of them. I was in the field most of the time. Didn’t rub shoulders with any of the spooks.” He leaned closer. “Other than you, of course.”

Mel shivered as his warm breath caressed her neck. Then cleared her throat. “Right. Do we call the CIA director today? Or tomorrow?”

“I vote for tomorrow,” Dev said immediately. “What do you think, Gideon?”

He thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I vote for tomorrow, too. We don’t want the guy overthinking this. Setting some kind of weird trap or something.”

“Why would he do that?” Mel asked.

Gideon shrugged. “How the hell do I know? He’s a spook. They’re all a little crazy.”

Trying to hide his grin, Dev looked at Mel. “What about you, ba..ah, Mel?”

Scowling at his slip, she said, “I think today is better. After I call him, he’ll call Diana Redfield.” She drew in a deep breath. “At least that’s what I’d do. Diana will tell him that we’re on the level. That we have information he needs.”

She glanced from Gideon to Dev, let her gaze linger on Dev. “The Director will investigate us. He’ll see that we both used to work for the CIA. That Gideon was an FBI agent. Then he’ll call me back. He’ll arrange for us to get passes into Langley and he’ll clear the way for us to get to his office.”

Dev shook his head. “Hard to argue with you, Mel. You know the ways of the CIA bureaucracy.”

“All too well,” she said.

Dev looked at Gideon. “You agree with me? Mel’s way?”

“You both make a compelling case, so, yeah. Today it is.”

Dev jerked his head at her. “Give him a call.”

“Right now?” she asked, her hands beginning to sweat.

“Why not?” Dev said. “You have something better to do?”

“Guess I don’t,” Mel said, swiping her hands on her thighs. She grabbed her phone, looked at the piece of paper with the CIA Director’s phone number, took a deep breath and punched in the numbers.

The phone rang three times, then a gruff male voice said,” Who is this?”

Mel took a steadying breath. “Mr. Director, my name is Mel Melbourne. I worked for the CIA for several years, most recently in the Kabul Embassy. Along with my colleagues Devlin Smith, who was a part of the CIA’s SpecOps group, and Gideon Wolf, a former FBI agent, I need to speak with you about an urgent matter. Diana Redfield gave us this phone number.”

There was a long beat of silence on the line. Finally the Director said, “Is this a good number to reach you?”

“Yes, sir. It is.”

“I’ll talk to Diana and call you back.”

The call ended, and Mel set her phone on the table. “I guess now we wait.”

All three of them glanced at each other, but no one spoke. When Mel found herself tapping her foot on the wooden floor, she stood up abruptly. “I can’t sit here and stare at my phone,” she said as she began to pace the room, her phone clutched in her left hand.

---