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Kaiser rubbed his chin, then shook his head. “Not anymore. The last one was destroyed almost a decade ago.” He shot a glance at Benson, then sighed in Paige’s direction. “One of our NOC operators got picked up after assassinating a North Korean official vacationing in Hong Kong. They shipped our guy back to North Korea. Tortured him until he admitted he was a non-official covert agent for the CIA. Of course, we had to disavow him, deny any connection, refuse to negotiate any sort of release. His cover was good enough that the North Koreans couldn’t confirm his U.S. citizenship—we set many of our NOC operators up that way so the State Department doesn’t get involved and the White House doesn’t get public pressure to negotiate or send in the damn cavalry and start a war.” His eyes darkened. “We had to simply shrug and let North Korea execute him. Anything else would risk more American lives. Like so many things in our world, we had to choose between two bad options.” Kaiser exhaled heavily. “Some self-righteous members of Congress got all worked up that we were doing unsanctioned assassinations usingnon-official mercenariesas they phrased it. They arranged a Congressional Hearing—a political witch-hunt to make CIA look like above-the-law thugs, which would have made the President at the time look bad. We tried to get the White House to block it, citing National Security concerns. But they had to let it play out or else it might look like the President was abusing executive privilege to protect his re-election chances. Damn political games.” Kaiser sighed. “I was scheduled to testify to Congress under oath.” He shot a knowing glance at Benson, then looked grimly at Paige. “I had no specific knowledge about that Hong Kong hit, so I could deny it without perjuring myself. But the hearing was going to be about NOC operations in general, and so CIA Legal Counsel recommended that I temporarily suspend the NOC program, delete all records, and immediately cut off any access the Director would ever have to future NOC information.”
Paige swallowed tightly, her face reddening. “So you could basically lie to Congress without perjuring yourself and the Agency.”
Kaiser stiffened, then nodded. “My standard response wasThere is no active NOC program that I am currently aware of within the Director’s purview.CIA Legal instructed me to repeat that line verbatim for any and all questions related to the NOC program—past, present, or future.” He shrugged. “After that we reworked the NOC activation system to make it compartmentalized and totally off the record. Director-level briefings only happen for major operations, and even then it’s done in such a way that I am never directly told that we’re using an NOC operative.”
“Plausible deniability is a beautiful thing.” Benson grinned, swiping at the air to kill the heaviness in the room if not in himself. “Anyway, it’s too late to call Scarlet off now. Besides, Martin knows how these things work. We have to let it play out.”
Paige frowned. “What do you mean bythese things? You’ve seen something this crazy before?”
Benson took a slow breath, turned his attention from the softly groaning Kaiser to the deeply frowning Paige. “Earlier you asked me what Darkwater was, and I said you’ll have your answer soon.” He let that coyote smile ease onto his face now. “Well, here it is, Paige. This is Darkwater. Are you in or out?”
“John, what the hell are you—” Kaiser started to say.
Benson cut him off sharply. “Let her answer, Martin. You know damn well what needs to happen next, and it can only happen with Darkwater.”
“I’m not sure what you’re asking,” Paige said hesitantly. “Darkwater . . . it’s that off-the-books team you set up after leaving the CIA, isn’t it? Ice Wagner is one of yours, isn’t he?” A frown cut a V down the front of her face again. “But I’m still not following. You saidThis is Darkwater. What does that even mean? What isthis?”
“All of it.” Benson spread his arms out wide. “All of what’s happening here is Darkwater. And you’ve been drawn into it just like I have, just like Ice and Indy have, just like Rhett and Scarlet, just like Martin and Alice.”
“Enough, John. You’re done talking.” Kaiser stepped in front of Benson, turned towards Paige, then crossed his arms over his chest and looked down at her. “Forget him. We’re going to close this out my way.” He nodded once briskly. “All right, so we can’t get to Scarlet via the NOC system. So let’s find a way to get O’Donnell and Wagner safely back to the States ASAP. I don’t want anyone else getting killed on this clusterfuck. Not O’Donnell. Not Wagner. Not Scarlet. Not Rhett. These people have all served our country, and we aren’t going to just sit back andlet it play outlike it’s some game.”
“Itisa game, Martin. It’salla game, just like life and death is a game. You damn well know it, because you’re damn well playing it.” Benson stood abruptly, strode around Kaiser, turned and squared his shoulders, his wolf-eyes blazing with challenge. “Why did you call me when this O’Donnell thing popped up on your radar? If you’re so sick of mygames, why thefuckdid you pull Darkwater into this? Why did you agree to adopt those twins after the Fox and Fay mission? Why are you even still listening to me, still allowing me to stand in your damn office when all I’ve done is been a pain in the ass since starting Darkwater? Why, Martin?”
Kaiser locked his gaze with Benson’s for a long tense moment as the questions ricocheted around the room like bullets. From the corner of his locked-in vision Benson could see Paige stiffen, cowering on her chair as the two men squared off like they’d done a thousand times in this lifetime alone.
Finally Kaiser shook his head, exhaled hard, ran his fingers through his hair.
“I don’t know why,” he said quietly to Benson. “I don’t know why I called you in. I don’t know why I agreed to adopt those kids. I don’t know why Alice agreed to come back. I don’t know a damn thing, John. Everything I thought I knew has been turned upside down over these past seven years.” He shook his head, then stared at that framed photograph looking back at him from the bookshelf. “Maybe it is time I stepped down.”
“No, it’s time you steppedup!” Benson strode past Kaiser, snatched that photo-frame off the bookshelf, held it up to Kaiser’s damn face. “Do it for them, your new kids, your new family. We’re so close, Martin. We’ve never had a President and First Lady who could unite the country like Robinson and Delilah might do—if they make it to the White House. Hell, they could unite the damnworldwith the sort of power they project—a power that comes from their love.” He backed up a step, shook his head, keeping his gaze locked on the weary-eyed CIA Director. “But they can’t use that power without men and women like us standing in the shadows behind them. Likeus, Martin. Not like Rhett Rodgers. Darkwater is getting bigger, harnessing more energy, pulling more players into its vortex. I think part of this mission is to clear a path for what we both know is Robinson and Delilah’s destiny, my and your destiny, maybe even America’s destiny. We can’t turn away from this. You have to let it play out.”
Kaiser blinked twice, his face darkening as he sucked in a breath. “What are you saying, John?”
“You know what I’m saying.” Benson’s gaze turned cold. He glanced at Paige, then back at Kaiser. “There’s going to be no evidence gathering, no suspension, no heads-up to Robinson, nopending investigation. There’s only one way this ends.”
Kaiser snorted. “I cannot and will not authorize a hit on a high-ranking CIA man. And just to be clear—youwill not authorize any such action either with Darkwater.”
“That’s not what I’m asking. All I’m asking is to let it play out.”
Kaiser sighed. “So what do you suggest we do?”
Benson grinned. “Nothing. We do nothing at all.”
Kaiser’s eyebrows twitched. He shook his head in exasperation but said nothing—no words of acceptance but none of refusal either.
He was on the edge, so Benson went in for the kill. “Right now Rhett knows we’ve got Paige in your office. He can’t be certain she’ll hold up, that she won’t flip on him. He might be confident that she’ll stay loyal, but there’ll be some doubt.” Benson’s eyes flashed. “I want that doubt to eat away at him, force him to make a move, perhaps make a mistake.”
Paige touched her hair and scrunched up her face. “Would it be better if I contact him and pretend like I’m close to breaking? Or maybe assure him that I held up, that you only asked about my relationship with Rhett, not about Indy O’Donnell? We could try to play him. I can help.”
Benson shook his head. “No offence, kid. But you’re still vulnerable when it comes to Rhett. And even if you held up to his charm, the guy can tell if someone’s lying.” He shook his head again, this time with finality. “And if Rhett feels backed into a corner, he might risk getting rid of you anyway, make it look accidental, make your body disappear, make it so that even if we know he did it nobody can prove a damn thing. Sorry. There’s no way I’m letting Rhett Rodgers anywhere near you, kid. You’re under our protection now, and that’s final.”
Paige flushed red through her rouge, then looked down at her hands and nodded, her shoulders slumping in what Benson hoped was relief and not disappointment that she wasn’t going to be allowed to see Rhett again.
Benson’s gaze lingered on her. He wondered how long it would take for Paige to heal, to recover, to rebuild her confidence, to accept that perhaps what Rhett had awakened in her wasn’t all bad, wasn’t all a waste, wasn’t all for nothing, would perhaps all be used later.
But that was later. This was now. Stay in the present moment, Benson warned himself. Yes, this amorphous thing called Darkwater was expanding like a hurricane gaining power. But what drove each mission was a burning self-contained core of that universal energy in its purest manifestation in the three-dimensional world.
The energy of man and woman.