Page 103 of Whisper

“Bitching out the VP was great for my career. I recommend everyone do it. Everyone. You’ll rocket your way along the career ladder. There’s no faster ride in the CIA.”

“You mean plummet, right? Straight to the basement?”

“At Mach ten.”

Dan sipped his wine, a light white, and stared at Kris. “I’m sorry—”

Kris waved him off. “Don’t. Stop.” He stared out over DC, over the bustle of the Capitol. He’d come into the city to meet Dan. “I never got a chance to thank you for taking over in Thailand. After I pulled out. I heard they stopped everything after seven weeks. Youmusthave had something to do with that. And with closing that place down.”

Dan looked away.

“I can’t even imagine what it was like after we left. With Paul and Dennis, and Ryan in charge? Jesus…”

Dan spun his wine glass. “You guys did the right thing. Leaving, when you did.”

“I’m just glad it finally ended. Zahawi didn’t reveal anything, did he? In those seven weeks?”

Dan peered at him. “Not a thing,” he said carefully. “Everything he gave, he gave to you.”

“Do you ever think about blowing the whole thing open? Calling theTimesor theJournalor thePost? Do one of those tell-alls?”

“Go to prison?” Dan snorted. “They’d lock you up and throw away the key.”

Kris shrugged. He watched the cars roll by, the blacked-out SUVs. Watched the flag flap over the Capitol. Cold sunlight fell, turning the city a banal smear of gray. “Would it be worth it, though?”

“You would be the one to make that call?” Dan stared at him, eyes narrowed. “Out of the whole government, out of the whole world, you’d be the one to decide what is and isn’t worth it? Which lives are worth saving? What costs are too high?”

Vibrating in Kris’s pocket made him jump before he could answer. He pulled out his phone. No one called him anymore, except for David. He was the CIA pariah. He didn’t usually get calls in the middle of the day. “David?”

“I’m on my way.”

“Here? Now?” There was something off in David’s voice, something wrong. “What happened? I thought you were going back to the field.”

“Not anymore. In fact, not ever again.” A car door slammed over the phone line. “I resigned. I quit. I couldn’t—” His voice broke off.

“Oh my God…” Kris’s jaw dropped. His gaze darted from the bruschetta to his wine glass, up to Dan, across to the Capitol. “What now?”

The worst of the CIA and a Special Forces soldier who’d quit. They were certainly a power couple on their way up in the world.

“I got the number of a contractor. I’m going to try to call them.”

Dan stared at Kris, frowning.

“Call me when you get closer. I’m in a meeting right now, but I’ll be home soon.”

David grunted and hung up.

Dan’s frown turned to a smile. “Your lover from Afghanistan? David Haddad? The Special Forces soldier who was glued to your side, closer than your own shadow?”

“He’s not Special Forces anymore. He just resigned.”

“It’s hard to be gay in the military.”

Kris blinked. “You?”

“Navy intelligence. Before joining the CIA.” Dan shrugged. “I wanted to get out of where I was. So. What now? He’s picked you over the military, huh?”

“I…” The air fled Kris’s lungs. “That’s not what it was.”