Burnt Sienna

“I need a little clarification,” Jeb said.

“About?”

“I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t my imagination. The way you’re so concerned about her… the way you touched her shoulder just now… Do you and she have something going?”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s not a hard question to understand. Are the two of you emotionally involved?”

“What the hell business is it of yours?”

“Look, as your case officer -”

“Case officer?”

“You haven’t had the psychological training, so let me just tell you it gets messy when an operative becomes emotionally involved with an informant. Among other things, you lose your objectivity. There’s a risk you’ll miss something we need to know.”

“You’re talking as if I work for you,” Malone said.

“Well, isn’t that what we’re doing here?”

“When I went into this, I told you it was personal. It had nothing to do with the Agency.”

“Well, you sure need us now,” Jeb said, “so maybe you’d better rethink your position. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. It’s understandable you’re attracted to her. But she’s Bellasar’s target more than you are. If you stay with her, you’re doubling the chances he’ll catch up to you.”

“Not if you do your job.”

Jeb looked toward the pitch-black sea, working to calm himself. “I’m just trying to be your friend. You’re making a mistake.”

“The mistake would be to pass up the chance to be with her.”

“Hey, I’m doing my best to be tactful about this,” Jeb said. “This isn’t the first time this kind of situation’s come up. Nine times out of ten, when an operative gets romantically involved with an informant, the romance collapses as soon as the pressure of the assignment passes. Buddy, you’re setting yourself up for a fall.”

“I think, from now on” – Malone’s voice became severe – “you’d better assume I’m not one of your operatives.”

“Whatever you want.”

“That’s right,” Malone said. “Whatever I want.”

8

The debriefing began the next morning. It continued into the next day, until they were transferred to the aircraft carrier. They had a rest while they were flown to the base in Italy, but as soon as a U.S. Air Force C-130 transport plane took off from there, carrying them toward the United States, Jeb resumed the debriefing. One of the armed escorts assisted him, sometimes questioning Malone, sometimes Sie

It wasn’t an interrogation, although the polite but insistent, seemingly inexhaustible sequence of questions had aspects of one. For Sie

From the start of the debriefing, Malone and Sie

After the transport plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base, the group was flown by helicopter to a clearing in a wooded estate in the Virginia hills. There, to Malone’s displeasure, he and Sie

Sie

The house had slate floors and beamed ceilings. There were corridors to the right, left, and straight ahead. Malone had no way of telling where Sie

His legs ached from having been on too many aircraft. His head pounded from jet lag. His eyes burned from lack of sleep. He hadn’t had a chance to talk to Sie

He walked to the door through which he had entered, tried to open it, and found it locked. A number pad on the right seemed the only way to disengage the lock.

“Hey!” He pounded on the door. “Whoever’s out there, open up.”

No response.

He pounded louder. “Open the damn door!”

Nothing.

“Fine.” He picked up a bedside lamp and hurled it against the window, shattering the lamp but having no effect on the glass. He grabbed the lamp on the other side of the bed and threw it against the mirror above the bureau, protecting his face as chunks of glass flew. He pulled out a dresser drawer and heaved it down through a glass-topped table in a corner. He hurled a second drawer toward an overhead light fixture, disintegrating it. He yanked out a third drawer and was about to head toward the mirror in the bathroom when a metallic sound directed his attention toward the door.

Someone was turning the knob.

The door swung open.

Jeb stepped into view, shaking his head in displeasure. His suit seemed to constrict his large frame. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Where’s Sie

“When we’re finished, you can see her.”

“No, I’ll see her now.” Malone started past him.

Jeb put a restraining hand on his shoulder. “This isn’t the time.”

“Get out of my way.”

“Look, we have procedures that need to be followed.”

“Not anymore. Where is she?”

“Chase, you’re making a -”

Malone pushed him aside.

“Stop!”

Malone stalked from the bedroom.

An armed man appeared before him, holding up his hand. “Sir, you’re going to have to go back to -”

“Go to hell.” Malone shoved past him. “Sie

“Stop!” Jeb repeated.

At the foyer, a guard blocked Malone’s way, shoving him back. Malone pretended to lose his balance. When the overconfident guard came forward to shove him again, Malone stiffened the fingers of his right hand and drove them into the man’s diaphragm. Wheezing, suddenly pale, the man sank to his knees. Malone whirled and used the heel of his palm to stiff-arm the other guard, who rushed toward him. Struck in the chest, the man jerked back as if yanked by a rope, then slammed onto the floor.