Page 229 of Whisper

“What mission logs?”

Oh God. Kris crumpled, both elbows on the countertop as he held his forehead in one hand. The mole, he must havegottento Dan. He’d stopped him before he could do anything. Jesus, was Dan even alive, still?

Whohad Dan told?Whohad he called?

Ryan, right in front of him.

And he said he’d brief George after.

Ithadto be one of them, Wallace or Ryan or George.

Wallace hated his guts, blamed him for the Hamid op and wanted him out of SAD. The guy was an asshole, was no doubt begging Ryan to fire him—

Memories snapped through his mind, shotgun blasts of time smearing behind his eyelids. Ryan, watching Zahawi die in a puddle of water and blood, frozen immobile. Ryan, always on the edge in Afghanistan. The rage he’d nurtured, the darkness that hovered around him. How he’dhatedKris, always. The way he seemed two steps from flying apart.

And, the Hamid op. He’d pinned everything on Kris, had let Kris take the entire fall, all on his own. Had he known, even then, that Dawood was alive? Had he killed Al Jabal to tie up loose ends, keep his secret safe?

How long had Ryan known Dawood was alive?

Had looked Kris in the face and lied to him?

How long had he been planning this?

What had Ryan done with Dan?

“Shannon, have you heard from Ryan at all?”

“No, he’s not at Langley. He left earlier today.”

“I gotta go.” Kris hung up on her confused questions. His trembling fingers hesitated over his phone.

He knew who he had to call. They always called each other when it came down to the wire. That was what they did, wasn’t it?

He thought he’d never call him again, not after everything, but…

History was a cruel predictor of the future.

Kris pulled up George’s cell number, pressed the call button before he could hesitate.

George picked up on the second ring. Dead air hovered over the line before he spoke. “Caldera?”

“George, did Dan call you today? Did he brief you on a cell phone number you had to track? On a possible mole within the agency?”

“Kris, slow down. What are you talking about? Did Dan dowhat?”

If Dan had briefed George, George would have knownexactlywhat he was talking about. Goddamnit, Ryan had gotten to Dan, somehow.

Trust me, Kris,Dan had said.I trust him.

“George, Dawood came to me this morning, again.”And damn it, you were right.You were right, Dawood. And I pointed a gun at your face.

“What?”

“He said there is a mole in the CIA that he is trying to uncover. Someone passing along information to al-Qaeda. That he’s still with us, and is working against the mole, trying to uncover their identity. This mole has been feeding information to al-Qaeda, in Kandahar City, for over two years. They arranged for Dawood to come to the US and be the front man for this attack. It’s the mole’s false flag attack. He’s pinning everything on Dawood, but this is coming from a mole. Someone who has been working against us for over two years. He’s why we’ve lost those officers this year. Why everything’s gone to hell in Afghanistan.”

Speechless, George sputtered on the other end of the line.

“I called it in, George. I told Dan everything. The mole could only be a few people. Ryan, you, Wallace... Dan wanted to try and turn up the heat, flush the mole out. Put pressure on him, see what he’d do. So Dan called Ryan. I watched him call Ryan and tell him to run a search on the cell phone that was texting Dawood information, that the CIA mole was using. He was going to brief you after Ryan. But he’s disappeared. Ryan did something to him. Stopped him, or worse.”