Page 16 of The Ghost Assassin

I don’t. “Why you?” I ask instead. “Why are you in charge of an FBI investigation and leave the attack on our nation bullshit out.”

“The President trusts me.”

“That only matters to me if your agenda—and his—align with mine.” I don’t give him time to feed me more bullshit. “Procedure says I should be removed from the case.”

“Do you want to be removed from the case?

“No.” That’s all I say. I have no desire to offer anything more.

“What’s your first impression of the kill?”

“Assassination,” I say. “But you know that.”

“Do you have any idea why and by whom?”

“Could be a hit list. Maybe you’re on it.”

“I might be, but you worked for him. It could be you as well, which is why I didn’t want you to walk here, in the open and exposed, but as Murphy reported, you’re stubborn.”

“Seems to me I’m as suspicious as you are of an insider. A black SUV is not where I will die.”

“Yes, well that would suck. I’d like to say I wouldn’t feel the same, but I concede that I would. This is an excellent place to circle back to the question of why you’re on the case. You have an exceptional track record of being targeted and killing your enemy.”

Interesting, I think. “Do you want me to kill the killer?”

“The killer isn’t the singular problem. The person who hired the killer is equally, if not more problematic. Your recent case proves how well you work on a timer.”

He means the case I literally closed tonight. A killer, whose murders were on a timeline that was rapid fire. Every moment lost equaled another brutal, gore-filled killing.

“Back to my question,” he says. “Do you have any idea who did this and why?”

“It could be a case, a personal matter, or any number of things. Such as, the fact that Murphy didn’t exist until five years ago.” I watch him for a reaction, expecting feigned ignorance, but that’s not what I get.

His eyebrow lifts. “You know.”

“I know.”

“It’s not as nefarious as it might seem. He was CIA and managed to get on the wrong side of some Russians, which is not hard to do. He was converted to FBI and fast-tracked up the ranks. You don’t have the clearance needed to view the file, but I’m working on it. In light of this information, I’m certain you understand why I’m involved. He could have been discovered and taken out.”

If he’s telling the truth about Murphy, he offers a logical assumption and an easy answer. Too easy, I think. This is where I could question him about my mother’s connection to Murphy, and it’s oh, so tempting, but in doing so, I could easily place myself on a suspect list and complicate mine and Kane’s life. That would be stupid. I don’t do stupid. “Seems like the CIA would be in charge to me.”

“For all we know, someone within the agency blew his cover.”

“Who do you think had him killed?” I ask, turning his prior question on him.

“I was hoping you’d tell me.”

“I was in college when my mother was in a movie about the Kennedy assassination, and I dove into investigating the case with near obsession. The CIA did it. They almost always did it, unless the FBI beat them to the punch. But no one ever says Homeland Security did it. That probably means they did it.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t get stuck on that idea, since you’re officially reporting to me now.”

I laugh. “I’m not reporting to Homeland Security. Catching killers is my superpower.”

“Terrorists are killers.”

“Your kind of killers,” I say. “Not mine.”

“The Society is a terrorist operation, Lilah.”

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