Sleeper's Run

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Back at the embassy, the fire alarm has been shut off and the staff is being ordered back inside. Deputy Chief Larry Williams, a short man with a red beard, a prominent balding spot and gold-rimmed spectacles, holds an emergency meeting in his office with the senior staff.

"How the fuck did this happen?" Williams says. "Why wasn't he better guarded?"

"He was," says the embassy's regional security officer, Gloria Rios, a petite woman with short dark curls and sharp features.

"Really?" Williams picks the phone up. "Then maybe you'd like to call the president and explain it to him."

"What did you expect? A shootout? There was no need to endanger the ambassador or the staff," Rios fires back. "If the crowd outside had any clue about what was happening in here, there surely would have been a riot. The ambassador's car is being tracked as we speak and a Mobile Security Deployment unit is being prepared. With any luck, we'll have the ambassador back safely within the hour."

"And what about Caine?" Williams says.

"He rolled the dice when he kidnapped the ambassador," Rios says.

"Call me sentimental, but he's not good to us dead," says Michael Singleton. "Can you imagine what the Venezuelans will do if we just happen to kill their president's assassin? They'll make all sorts of claims about the CIA covering its tracks."

"And what do you suggest we do?" Williams says. "Sit back and wait to see what happens? The streets are crawling with angry citizens getting violent. Even if Caine lets the ambassador go unharmed, what do you think the Venezuelans will do if they find Robertson roaming the streets alone?"

"Let's not forget that whatever we do, it has to be done with the utmost discretion," Rios says.

"We'll let the MSD do its job," Williams says. "We have no other choice."

The meeting is adjourned. When Singleton walks into his office, he finds Blake waiting for him. There's a picture of Singleton as a young Navy officer on the wall and one as a quarterback with his football team. They both flank his Annapolis diploma. Below them are photos of Singleton with his wife at Cape Cod, and of him hunting with the former US vice president.

"Goddammit, Nathan, what the hell is going on? This was supposed to be a clean operation, 'zero blowback,' remember?"

"I have a Special Operations Group team standing by," Blake says. "They'll straighten things out."

"And then what, hold a trial posthumously?" Singleton says, playing with his wedding band. "We need Caine alive."

"That might prove difficult," Blake says. "But given the circumstances, we can claim that he fell victim to mob justice."

"I don't care if you have to bring the pope himself to perform a miracle," Singleton says. "I want Eric Caine alive and this operation back in control or I swear to God, someone's head is going to roll, and I guarantee you it's not going to be mine. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."