“He sure did. This is a domestic matter now. You know it’s in violation of CIA rules to conduct missions on US soil,” Jones says, giving me a stern look. “Besides, I thought Smith has been nothing but a thorn in your side. Seems you’d want me to take him off your hands.”
“Yeah, that’s what it seems like, Berg.” I finally manage to say something, but it’s so weak, it probably would have been best to remain quiet.
“You only want him because you figured out Peter’s a better operative than you’ll ever be,” Katie says, getting all up in Berg’s face. “He’s pretty much handed this operation over to you with a bow on it: Marchuk and crew, Andrews. No more freebies for you. Let’s go, Agent Richardson.”
“Sorry, Ms. Carmichael, but you nearly stunned me and did sedate me. Why would I take you anywhere with me?”
“Because I am here on request of Her Majesty’s secret service. And I—”
“Like I said, Ms. Carmichael, this is a domestic matter and I’m certainly not working with a foreign spy,” Jones explains. “I only need Smith for a debriefing.”
Katie turns to Jones and gives him such a look that I think every last one of us in the room is afraid. “This was my mission long before any of you even knew who Joel Easter was. I am not about to let—”
“Who’s Joel Easter?” Berg makes the mistake of interrupting her again.
“See, now it’s your turn to shut up, Berg,” Katie says before turning to Jones. “If you think for one minute you’re kicking me off this mission, be prepared to feel the wrath of the British Secret Service and the Prime Minister, because—”
Jones looks at her like he just figured out that despite the plaid skirt and saddle shoes, the Katie standing before him is not the one who won homecoming queen.
“Okay, okay, my mistake,” Jones says wisely. “You come, too.”
“And me?” Bunker asks.
“You aren’t working undercover with Interpol or the Defense Intelligence Agency, are you?” Jones asks.
“No, but—”
“Sorry, no civilians,” Jones says, cutting Bunker off. “And now time is critical, so we need to go.”
Bunker looks disappointed, but goes with a local officer to give his statement as Jones instructs. I don’t know if I’ll see him again, since that’s how it works with the Company sometimes, so before he leaves, I tell him, “Thanks for having my back.”
“Always, brother.”
He gives me a man-hug and this time I don’t care who’s there, so I give him a real hug back before the officer takes him away.
CHAPTER 31
“So what’s the plan?” Katie asks Jones once we’re away from Berg and his people. “I think the way to go is to split up—you search inside, Peter and I will start searching the grounds—find and secure Joel, then eliminate Koval.”
“I know you want to find Joel, but we need to reassess the situation first, and from there, figure out where Koval might have taken him,” Jones says, but he doesn’t know Katie. So much of espionage is watching and waiting, so I’m not sure how she passed all the psych evals for the job, because her patience level is always set to low.
“Can we do it on the fly? Every minute we spend talking about finding Joel is time we aren’t actually finding him.”
“She’s more a doer than a planner,” I explain to Jones. “But he’s got a point, Katie. This is probably not the time to just wing it.”
Katie sighs but follows us into the nearest unoccupied classroom. “Okay, so reassess, regroup, whatever, and let me know when you’re both ready to actually do something. I’ll be over here reassessing and regrouping my supplies.”
She stakes out the teacher’s desk at the front of the room, where she dumps out the contents of her bag. Jones takes a seat in the front row and I pace the empty space between them. Pacing always helps me think better.
“All right, Smith, give me a quick recap.”
I start with the storming of my chem lab, the naming of all the characters, the roles they played, and end with where we stand now.
“And now Vadim Koval has Joel, in case you forgot,” Katie says as she breaks into parts what had been a small flute. Soccer, engineering club, spy. How did she find time for band, too, and why didn’t I know about it? “We should be out there searching instead of in here talking, guys.”
I go over to the window and watch the arrival of frantic parents. It’s strange that a couple of hours ago, all the chaos was inside and I longed for the peace beyond Carlisle’s walls. Now it’s the opposite—law enforcement agents are calmly and methodically going about their work inside, while the rest of the city is trying not to lose it outside as word of the incursion reaches them.
“Maybe Sveta can tell us where Koval’s keeping him.”
I remind Katie, “She’s unconscious, thanks to your needles of doom.”
“I have ways of bringing her back.”
I don’t doubt she carries some kind of carfentanil antidote in that bag, because now she’s holding up a small pistol made from the reassembled parts of her flute—I’m guessing a .22 caliber, from the size of it. But probably not. I’ve only known her as a spy for a little over an hour, but I can’t see Katie carrying such a wimpy caliber gun, even if it was made out of a band instrument.
“The only reason Koval wants Joel is to get to his father. I have a man at the federal lab guarding him. Let me call and fill him in, in case Koval has tried to make contact with Joel’s dad,” Jones says, dialing a number.
“That’s hopeful,” I tell Katie. “Koval needs Joel alive and well, and close by, until he can use him as leverage. And he can’t get to the father if the FBI is guarding him.”
“Hmm, my agent isn’t answering.”
He makes a second phone call and though we can’t hear the other end of it, it’s obvious from his expression that it’s bad news. When he hangs up, he fills us in.
“I called his desk at the lab and got his supervisor, who says Nolan Easter and his guest left for lunch and never returned.”
“What guest?” I ask.
“My agent posed as a visiting scientist. He and Mr. Easter left for lunch over two hours ago.”
“That’s a long lunch, especially when your agent knows there’s intel suggesting possible trouble today. Maybe he took Joel’s dad somewhere safer,” I say, more for Katie’s nerves than because I believe it.
“Not many places in town safer than a secured federal lab,” Jones says.
“The police department,” I offer.
“No, my agent would have called me.”
“Are you certain your agent isn’t on Marchuk’s payroll like Andrews?” Katie asks.
“I trust him,” Jones says as he rests one hand on top of his head. “Maybe Marchuk has more men in town, and they intercepted my agent somehow.”
“Uh oh,” I say, flashing back to the visitor’s sign-in screen. “Jones, did you take your lunch the same time you always do during fifth period?”
“Yes, and I hate the idea that you’ve been spying on me this whole time.”
“Not spying. Intel-gathering,” I say. “So whoever fills in for you while you’re at lunch must have been at the window when he arrived.”
“When who arrived?” Jones asks.
“Mr. Easter, just before the end of fifth period and the lunch bell. It didn’t occur to me until you said his full name because he signed in as Dr. Nolan E.,” I explain.
“Could they have been here this whole time?” Katie asks. “Where? And doing what?”
“He gave the purpose for the visit as a parent-teacher conference. Guess who the teacher was.”
“Maitland,” Katie says. “So he wasn’t wandering the halls for no reason when Bunker found him in the biology lab. He’s somehow in on all of this.”
“The guy was always my least favorite teacher,” Jones says, “but to be involved in this? I don’t know. Where’s the motive?”
“I was so busy scoping out new students as suspects, I didn’t even consider new employees like you, Jones, or Maitland. He arrived this year too, with a gambling problem which is apparently a lot worse than I thought.”