Captain Burke. Surely that had to be a good sign. A flicker of hope ignited in Tracy. Maybe Nestler was one of the good guys.
“Yes, sir,” Adam replied. “Initially, I thought it was Colonel Hackett, but Captain Keener and I, through events such as our escape from the Lucky Pines Motor Lodge, have come to realize we have a meter running interference. You, sir. What we don’t understand is, why?”
“Hackett was on your heels,““Nestler said. “A warning was necessary.”
Tracy wanted answers. “Why was a warning necessary? What exactly is your role in all of this? And why did you hand-pick me to defend Adam?”
“I chose you because I knew you wouldn’t stop short of the truth, No matter what, you’d keep pushing. realize my methods have been unorthodox, Captain, but the circumstances warranted it.” Nestler slumped in his chair. “As you now know, I’m fostering Project Duplicity. I told Colonel Hackett that obtaining congressional n funding would be impossible without conclusive proof that retrosarin was effective. We needed a documented analysis of its potential.”
Adam balanced his forearms on his outspread knees. “And Hackett agreed to obtain it.”
Laurel’s god nodded. “Hackett said he could get it from Paul Keener, whom I believe you’re familiar with, Captain Keener.”
“He’s my ex-brother-in-law, sir. But please don’t hold it against me.”
” No, Captain. Family isn’t something you choose. Good or bad, you inherit it.”
Tracy set her purse down on the floor. “Keener Chemical is the solesource selection on Duplicity, then?”
“Fortunately, yes, it is.”
:“Fortunately?” Tracy didn’t follow.
“You’ll understand momentarily, Captain.” Nestler grimaced. “Hackett has tentacles everywhere-even I know that. I thought he intended to make normal requests and Keener would produce analytical data proving Duplicity’s potential. I never expected Hackett would kill to get the proof-especially our own men.” Nestler’s voice turned bitter. His outrage laced it, as did his regret. “Maybe I should have realized it. Hackett’s never been subtle about his ambitions. But I didn’t realize it any more than I realized he would turn traitor. Now, I have to live with that.”
From Nestler’s tone and the way he stared at his hands, Tracy knew he was seeing Adam’s men’s blood on them, and that would burden the general for the rest of his life. “But Hackett did kill, didn’t he, sir?”
Again, he nodded,’ bowing his head. “With Gus O’Dell’s help. From all I’ve determined, they planned and executed the readiness exercise, substituting a retrosarin canister for a dummy.”
Adam’s voice went soft. “When did you find out what they’d done?”
“After your team had been killed and you’d been arrested. And after O’Dell had told investigators you’d threatened two of Alpha team and killed them, sacrificing the other two men.”
“I didn’t kill them.”
“Or threaten them,” the general said. “I know.”
“So opposing their actions,” Tracy cut in, ‘you then recruited Lieutenant Carver and Janet Cray to assist in bringing the truth to light. You bugged Colonel Hackett’s office.”
“Yes, I did, And I recruited Sergeant Phelps to feed you needed information,” Nestler added. “Carver and Cray have been quietly working the case. The truth must be exposed and the guilty punished, but publicity of this incident could kill Project Duplicity. Timing is critical.”
“You had to prevent the project from dying.” Tracy’s revulsion sounded in her voice.
“Yes, damn it, I did. I still do.” Nestler went on the defensive. “It’s a matter of national security.”
“A matter of national security.” Tracy grunted. “Amazing how many things are pulled in under that umbrella when it comes time to expose corrupt senior officers.”
Anger contorted Nestler’s face. “Before you condemn me, think, Captain.”
“Like you thought before condemning Captain Burke?”
“That couldn’t be helped. He’d already been condemned. Don’t you see?
Don’t either of you see? The truth is so damn simple. Paul Keener has the technology. He’s a greedy, money-hungry son of a bitch without, ethics or morals or honor. If we don’t develop retrosarin-and an antidote to it-he’ll sell it without Hackett and O’Dell, and then we’ll have to try to defend against it without having the technology. That’s the bottom line. The only way we can win is to develop the damn project.”
Grave, Adam rubbed at his jaw. “So to do that you sacrificed my men and me.”
“No” Captain. I didn’t. Hackett and O’Dell did.” A frown creased the skin between Nestler’s brows. “But to get the project passed and funded by Congress, if I have to sacrifice you, I will. I’ll have no choice.”
Tracy swiveled her gaze to Adam. His expression hadn’t changed; still rock-hard and uncompromising. But she sensed his feelings. He’d known from the beginning he’d been slated for sacrifice, and his men had been slated to die.
“You’re right, sir,” Adam said, startling-her. “You wouldn’t have a choice. One life for many. That’s how you would have to take it from here.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Nestler said that, and from all indications, he was sincere. “But I’m hopeful it won’t come to that. Janet Cray and I have been working on a sequence of events and evidence to take to the OSI.” He turned his gaze to Tracy. “That was a cleaver move, to have Dr. Kane notify nonmilitary officials along with the ones regulations require.”
“Did he do it?”
“No, he didn’t.” Nestler admitted that deceptive maneuver easily. “I pulled him into the need-to-know loop on this and nixed his disclosure.”
Adam found his voice. “So what do we do now?”
“First, we sequester Lieutenant Carver, and then we plan.”
“For what?” Tracy asked, seeing the general lift the phone and issue the order on Carver.
It wasn’t the general but Adam who answered her. “We sequester Carver because he broke the code of silence and talked to us. If he did it once, pushed, he’ll do it again and talk to Hackett and O’Dell. Then we plan an operation. A sting that will nail Hackett, O’Dell, Moxley, and Paul Keener’s traitorous asses to the wall.”
“A sting operation?” The starch fizzled out of her. More covert work?
“But I’m not-”
“I know.” Adam cut her off. “You’re a lawyer.”
“A damn good one,” Nestler added. “Which is why I requested you be assigned to Captain Burke’s case-in spite of Hackett’s recommendation, not because of it.”
Tracy didn’t know whether to be pleased or outraged. “Why did he recommend me?”
Adam interceded. “Carver mentioned Hackett had something personal on Paul Keener regarding Tracy.”
“Nothing concrete on that,” the general said. “It’s supposition based solely on Hackett’s usual mode of operation. But I suspect that leaverage with Keener is why Hackett recommended you, Tracy.”
“What do I have to do?” Adam asked.
“I think it’ll be Captain Keener’s expertise we need first,” Nestler said.
Adam protested. “Sir, I think she’s been endangered enough.”
Under the desk ledge, Tracy gave Adam’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “He’s settled the doubt. It’s okay.”
She turned her gaze to the general. “What exactly do you want me to do?”
-For the next two hours, the three of them discussed options and played out scenarios, exploring possibilities and developing a solid plan of attack.
The intercom buzzed.
General Nestler glared at it, and punched a button. “Beth, unless it’s an act of war, the President, or the Chief of Staff calling, I don’t want to be disturbed.”
“I know that, sir. But Janet Cray is here and she says she has to speak to you right away-about Lieutenant Carver.”
“Let her in.” Nestler’s expression turned from concerned to grim.
Janet walked into the general’s office, covered her surprise at seeing Tracy and Adam sitting there, and focused on Laurel’s god. “Carver is dead.”
“What?” The general sat straight up in his seat.
“We sequestered him in the Intel bunker. According to his guard, he committed suicide.”
“He didn’t.” Tracy spoke before thinking. “Carver wouldn’t have done that.”
“I agree,” Adam said, his knuckles white from curling around the chair arm.
Rapping a pen against his desk blotter, Nestler weighed their comments. “He might have done it. He was playing both sides of the fence.”
Tracy and Adam locked gazes and then simultaneously looked at Janet. She nodded. “Hackett made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
That took a moment to digest, but it didn’t change Tracy Is gut feeling. “I still think they killed him.”
“What about Carver’s guard?” Adam asked the general.
Nestler picked up the phone, issued orders to bring the guard to Headquarters for questioning, then cradled the receivers “I think we’d better call in the OSI and counsel. Let’s move this to the briefing room. It appears we have even more of a situation than I suspected.”
Dread flooded Tracy. Janet signaled her to step aside. Adam must have noted it, too, because he deliberately moved away from her, giving her and Janet a chance to speak privately.
Janet dropped her voice, slowed her steps to put some distance between the general and them. “I didn’t set you up or betray you, Tracy. I , didn’t like what I had to do, but-”
“it was your job,” Tracy said. ,I figure you never left Intel. Nestler planted you in my office. I understand, okay? This was important, and you did what you had to do.”
Relief flooded Janet’s eyes. “I tried to let you know. I put the note under your wiper blade, warning you that Adam’s death and yours had been arranged. I wasn’t trying to scare you to death, only to prepare you.”
“I understand.”
Janet blinked hard. “Don’t worry about the bug you put in Hackett’s office, and don’t mention it. Nestler authorized a listening device. Only you and I know there were two of them.”
“I won’t, unless specifically asked. But I did tell Adam.”
“Damn it, Tracy, I didn’t want to do any of it. But you needed more information than you were getting.-I had to do what I did. I tried to do the right thing. I did the best I could without burying my skinny ass and you with me. Tell me you understand that, okay? You’re my best friend, and I don’t want to lose you. In Intel, friends are damn hard to come by.”
“I do understand. I already said so, didn’t I?” Tracy patted her friend’s shoulder and then motioned her toward the door. “I’m not upset, okay? Once in Intel, always in Intel.” That truth worried her. Not for Janet, but for Adam. He had received so much public exposure that he could never go back to covert operations without a new identity.
They could do that-give him a new identity. And if they did, then he would have to abandon his old one. Break all ties to it-including his ties to her. Would Adam agree to that? Would he leave her, too? He couldn’t leave her, too!
Stop it. Just stop it. You knew the risks of getting hurt, and you took them.
“Um, Tracy, I went to the bunker.” Her look said it all. Janet had seen the tangled sheets, Tracy’s and Adam’s clothes tossed together. “Yes?”
“He’s a good man.” Janet fell into step beside her. “Yes, he is.” Adam was a very good man. Special. Lovable. And she did love him.
“He’s even better-looking than Dr. Kane, too.”
Seeing Janet admiring Adam’s backside had Tracy bristling. “Yes, and he’s mine, friend. Hands-and eyes-off. Now.
“Got it.” Janet muffled a little laugh. “I can see how you fell for him. And I’m so glad to see it. Moxley’s a loser, Tracy. No offense, but he’s-”
“A former friend,” she cut in. “And a traitor.”
“That, too.” Janet sighed, a.little irked that her attempt to enlighten Tracy about Randall Moxley’s character had been revealed too late. Tracy already knew the truth about him. “So how was he?”
Adam, in bed. Janet was earthy, and thought nothing of discussing her sexual exploits, but Tracy wasn’t comfortable with that. The matter was private. Still, a little friendly torment was in order. “Better than in your wildest dreams.” Truth, that.
“My wildest dreams, or yours?” Janet persisted.
“Mine are far too tame. Definitely yours.”
“I knew it.” Janet groaned. “The minute I saw the potato chips, I just knew it.”
Tracy laughed. She couldn’t help herself, then remembering the brash lieutenant, she sobered. “Janet, do you think Carver killed himself?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Hackett?”
“Maybe. But more likely O’Dell.” Her eyes filled with disgust. “His throat was slashed, and Hackett has a thing about blood. He can’t stomach it.”
“He’s a soldier, for God’s sake.”
“Not in this woman’s Air Force.” Janet’s gaze burned. “I can’t wait for his trial. Seeing him kicked out on his ass is going to be a day to celebrate.”
“Seeing him stripped of his rank and his ass shipped to Leavenworth will be even sweeter.” Tracy walked into the briefing room. “Wonder how big a conflict of interest Colonel Jackson would consider it for me to prosecute the case?”
Janet’s eyes gleamed. “Now that would be justice.”
Chapter 29.
Tracy listened to the conversation in the briefing room, becoming more and more convinced that, while she lacked Janet’s experience and that of the men sitting at the conference table, she did have something solid to offer: her belief in simplicity.
The OSI, represented by a man who looked like everyone’s next-door neighbor, had been introduced only as Agent Seven. He currently held the floor. “I want a fullscale investigation.”
His idea had merit, but in Tracy’s opinion, it would cost them more than they would gain.
“That’s a luxury we can’t afford”, General Nestler said. “An investigation would Prevent Project Duplicity from being funded until next year-after the investigation is completed.”
Mark, the general’s special counsel, sided with the OSI. “The regulations are expressly clear on this matter, and they don’t give us any choice but to proceed as Agent Seven suggests.”
“Yes, they do.” Adam adeptly refuted that statement. “If we place Project Duplicity under the ‘matter of national security’ umbrella, then we have the latitude to proceed.”
Tracy backed Adam. “He’s right, General. National security matters take precedence.”
“Provided we’re legally under that umbrella, I’ll endorse this,” Mark agreed. “We need that antidote.”