The Big Bad Wolf

CHAPTER 11

WHEN I WOKE IN THE MORNING, Little Alex was sleeping peacefully beside me, his head

on my chest. I couldn’t resist sneaking another kiss. And another. Then, as I lay there next to

my boy, I found myself thinking about Detective Dennis Coulter and his family. I had been

moved emotionally when they came out of that house together. The family had saved

Coulter’s life, and I was a sucker for family stuff.

I had been asked to stop at the Hoover Building, always referred to as “the Bureau,” before I

drove down to Quantico. The director wanted to see me about what had happened in

Baltimore. I had no idea what to expect, but I was anxious about the visit. Maybe I should

have skipped Nana’s coffee that morning.

Almost anybody who has seen it would agree that the Hoover Building is a strange and

supernaturally ugly structure. It takes up an entire block between Pennsylvania Avenue,

Ninth, Tenth, and E Streets. The nicest thing I could say about it is that it’s fortresslike.”

Inside, it’s even worse. The Bureau is library quiet and warehouse grim. The long halls glow in

medicinal white.

As soon as I stepped onto the director’s floor, I was met by his executive assistant, a very

effluent man named Tony Woods, whom I liked quite a bit already.

“How is he this morning, Tony?” I asked.

“He likes what happened down in Baltimore,” Tony answered. “His Highness is in a pretty

good mood. For a change.”



“Was Baltimore a test?” I asked, not sure how far I could go with the assistant.

“Oh, it was your final exam. But remember, everything’s a test.”



I was led into the director’s relatively small conference room. Burns was already sitting there

waiting for me. He raised a glass of orange juice in mock salute. “Here he is!” He smiled. “I’m

making sure that everybody knows you did a bang-up job in Baltimore. Just the way I

wanted to see you start out.”



“Nobody got shot,” I said.

“You got the job done, Alex. HRT was very impressed. So was I.”



I sat down and poured myself coffee. I knew it was “help yourself” and no formalities with

Burns. “You’re spreading the word … because you have such big plans for me?” I asked.

Burns laughed in his usual conspiratorial way. “Absolutely, Alex. I want you to take my job.”



Now it was my turn to laugh. “No, thank you.” I sipped the coffee, which was dark brown, a

little bitter, but delicious almost as good as Nana Mama’s. Well, maybe half as good as the

best in Washington. “You care to share any of your more immediate plans with me?” I

asked.

Burns laughed again. He was in a good mood this morning. “I just want the Bureau to

operate simply and effectively, that’s all. It’s the way it was when I ran the New York office.

I’ll tell you what I don’t believe in: bureaucrats, and cowboys. There are too many of both in

the Bureau. Especially the former. I want street smarts on the street, Alex. Or maybe I just

want smarts. You took a chance yesterday, only you probably didn’t see it that way. There

were no politics for you just the right way to get the job done.”



“What if it hadn’t worked?” I asked as I set my coffee down on a coaster emblazoned with

the Bureau’s emblem.

“Well, hell, then you wouldn’t be here now and we wouldn’t be talking like this. Seriously,

though, there’s one thing I want to caution you about. It may seem obvious to you, but it’s a

lot worse than you imagine. You can’t always tell the good guys from the bad ones in the

Bureau. No one can. I’ve tried, and it’s almost impossible.”



I thought about what he was implying part of which was that Burns already knew that one

of my weaknesses was to look for the good in people. I understood it was a weakness

sometimes, but I wouldn’t change, or maybe I couldn’t change.

“Are you a good guy?” I asked him.

“Of course I am,” Burns said with a wholesome grin that could have landed him a starring

role on The West Wing. “You can trust me, Alex. Always. Absolutely. Just like you trusted

Kyle Craig a few years back.”



Jesus, he was giving me the shivers. Or maybe the director was just trying to get me to see the

world his way: Trust no one. Go to the head of the class.