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“How are you, Benson?” came Robinson’s booming voice, almost vibrating the heavy desk with its resonance. “What’s this about Kaiser putting one of your guys in danger? We’re all on the same side here, last time I checked.”
The Senator wasn’t a big man, but he could move mountains with his voice, maybe move the earth with his words. Sure as hell move America to a better place, put Benson’s beloved country back on the path to where it would once again be a beacon of truth and justice to the world, a force for the Good and the Right.
After all, even a country had its own destiny.
“It’s nothing,” said Benson gruffly, glaring at Kaiser one more time before forcing himself to relax long enough to finish this phone call. “How’s the extra Darkwater security working out for you and the family?”
The Senator cleared his throat. “Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk about.” He paused, took a breath. “Delilah and I both appreciate the concern, but—”
“But nothing,” Benson said with a quickness just short of rude. He took a breath, brought his anger at Kaiser back under control, then exhaled slowly. “Look, Senator, when you win the primary and become the nominee you’ll get full Secret Service protection—maybe even earlier if the Service agrees to classify you as a major candidate under threat. But until then, I want Darkwater involved. Diego Vargas is smart, resourceful, and committed. He started off with the Mexican Navy Special Forces. This isn’t some two-bit gangbanger, Senator. This is a serious man with serious skills. Not to mention serious connections on both sides of the border.” He took another breath, sighed it out. Darkwater had just brought on several new guys, men who hadn’t found their missions yet, were still unproven compared to Ax and Bruiser and Cody and the rest all the way up to Hogan. “Is there a problem with the new guys I asked to watch your house? I can swap them out.”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Robinson said hurriedly. “They keep their distance, are very discreet, very respectful. Delilah and the kids definitely feel safer with them around. Me too. It’s just that . . . well, there are rumors about Darkwater filtering through the military community. Couple of my regular security detail are former Army. There’s some talk going around, and I don’t want it to get out of hand. You get what I’m saying, right?” He sighed into the phone and said nothing else, but the message came through loud and clear.
“Roger that,” Benson said tightly. “There are rumors that Darkwater is run by a wacko, and it’s best if the next President of the United States isn’t publicly associated with nutcases. Message received, Senator. I’ll pull Keller and Jack away from the house. Tell them to station themselves at a distance.”
“I’d rather you pulled them off completely,” said Robinson with quiet authority, his firmness making Benson bristle. “I’ve got a solid security team. Kaiser says he'll add a few CIA guys in civvies to the detail. We’ve taken your advice and put bulletproof glass on our townhouse windows. And even if the Secret Service doesn’t approve protection right now, the primaries will be done in a couple of months. Once that happens, we’re safe like sardines in a tin. Either I’ll be the nominee and will get full Secret Service protection, or I’ll have lost and Diego Vargas—if it really was him on theRivington—will no longer give a damn about me.”
Benson grunted a reluctant assent, his feathers still a bit ruffled from the clear message that Robinson considered it a liability to be associated with Darkwater, now that “rumors” were spreading through the military community. He wanted to poke the bear and ask what Robinson himself believed about Darkwater, but decided it was better to stand down. Right now perception and reputation mattered more than anything for Robinson. He was right to want to keep his distance from an off-the-books group that was gathering far more notoriety than Benson liked.
Kaiser finished up with the Senator, then tapped off the phone and glanced up at Benson. “You were borderline rude to the Senator. He’s going to be the next President. You need to tread lightly, stop taking things so damn personally.”
Benson ran his hand through his silver hair, then dragged a straight-backed wooden chair over from by the wall. He sat down hard, stared at Kaiser even harder.
“Hard not to take it personally when the Senator callsyouto pass on a message tome.” Benson folded his arms over his chest. “He has my number. I didn’t see a missed call from Marcus Robinson.”
Kaiser chuckled. “Are you jealous, John? If it makes you feel better, Robinson called about something else. Pulling the Darkwater guys off was just an aside. He was going to call you, but I told him I’d pass on the message.” Kaiser leaned back in his swivel chair, crossed one leg over the other knee, tented his fingers and shot a pointed glance at Benson. “After all, I know you’re busy running your little matchmaking games with the Darkwater Dating Agency.”
Benson’s jaw tightened at the jab. “I’m sitting down now, but don’t assume I won’t lean over that desk and hit you in the face. You sent in a wet team even though I fuckingtoldyou Ice was going in, that he’d handle it.”
Kaiser blinked twice. “Someone sent a wet team to the Mumbai safe-house?”
Benson’s jaw tightened to where he could feel the pressure behind his ears. Kaiser was more than capable of sending in a team behind Benson’s back—in fact he’d done something dangerously close to that on the Cody-and-Cate mission. But that was years ago now, and Kaiser had slowly come around to grudgingly admitting that Darkwater had developed a useful pattern of putting down some seriously bad motherfuckers—albeit in wildly unconventional missions.
Benson said nothing for a long moment. He watched Martin Kaiser’s eyes. Kaiser could beat a lie-detector nine times out of ten. But Benson’s internal lie detector was foolproof when it came to his old friend.
Forty-three seconds of silence and Benson blinked, grunted, then sighed. “If it wasn’t you, then Indy O’Donnell is already blown. Her contact already knows we’re onto her.”
Kaiser stroked his chin. “She must have told him about the meeting with Moses. He must have figured it was best to silence her ASAP.”
“Or he’s got access to O’Donnell’s secure phone and saw the messages from Moses about the safe-house.” Benson paused a beat. “Maybe without her knowing.”
Kaiser snorted. “You think O’Donnell is being set up? Grow up, John. You just can’t admit you made a mistake recruiting her.”
Benson ignored the remark. “The only evidence we have on O’Donnell are encrypted files sent from her phone. But there’s no electronic trail leading back tohowthose files got to her.”
“So what?”
“So if whoever she’s working for could cover his tracks getting classified filestoO’Donnell, surely he’d be able to also hide all traces of those files being sentfromO’Donnell’s phone to the Chinese and the Indians and the Pakistanis. The fact that we picked those up in a routine audit doesn’t fit.”
Kaiser rubbed his eyes and nodded tightly. “You’re saying our guy in the shadowswantedus to find those send-records on O’Donnell’s phone.”
Benson shrugged. “That would make sense if it’sa set up.”
Kaiser thought a moment, then shook his head. “But if he wants to set up O’Donnell, why send a wet team after her when he sees that we’re onto her? A set up means hewantsus onto her. The wet team proves it’snota setup. It proves O’Donnell isn’t working alone, that someone else wants to eliminate her. It exposes the guy. The right move would have been for him to just hang back, stay hidden, let O’Donnell take the fall. Doesn’t make sense. Sorry, John. O’Donnell is dirty. Our guy is worried she’ll give him up. He wants her dead ASAP.”
Benson stroked his chin, glanced at the ceiling, then back at Kaiser. “Then he would have warned that Indian wet-team about Ice. But he didn’t.”
Kaiser shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t know. He can’t get into my secure line. He wouldn’t know I called you.”