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“I call him all the time.”
Ke
Rapp shook his head. “Listen, before we get too far off track, did you know that this meeting was going to be about a big PR offensive?”
“Of course not,” Ke
“So, if he’s as smart a guy as you say he is, how could he possibly think I’d go along with something like this?”
Ke
“And so the brave thing to do is launch a PR offensive.”
“Theirs is a different world, Mitch.” Ke
“Why?”
“Because they have come up with nothing. They know very little about the men who carried out the attack. And the three men who are still at large. They’ve vanished.”
“Well, don’t get mad at the FBI. They’re operating within the very constraints the president campaigned on.”
“And that,” Ke
“But Dickerson waved him off,” Rapp said.
“Correct, and to be honest, I’m not sure it wasn’t wise counsel.”
“God forbid the president get a little dose of reality. Maybe sign an executive order that allows us to really go after these guys.”
“Be careful what you wish for, Mitchell.”
“If I could wish for anything it would be some damn support from the White House and the Hill.”
“As foreign as it seems, that’s what Gabe was trying to offer you, but for reasons that I completely understand you would prefer to not have your image splashed across the world media outlets.” Ke
Rapp stopped listening. His mind was wondering off down a path that involved a bird in his hand and two in the bush, or was it a stone and two birds? Whichever it was he saw an opportunity.
“Are you listening to a word I’m saying?” Ke
Rapp shook the dazed look from his eyes and said, “Sorry, I was just thinking of something else.”
“Were you guys drinking last night?” Ke
Rapp thought about his roadside confrontation with Nash and wondered how he would explain to his boss that one of her most valued operatives was experiencing a mental collapse.
“Don’t tell me he was too hung over to see the president.”
It sounded like as good a story as any, so Rapp gave it the nondenial denial and shrugged his shoulders.
Ke
Rapp thought of Adams and said, “Probably not.”
“How bad can it be?”
Rapp was tempted to tell her it involved hookers and a bunch of drugs, but he didn’t want to push her over the edge. “Some cards, some drinking, some harmless talk. That’s all it ever is.”
Ke
“Hey . . . this isn’t exactly the easiest job in the world,” Rapp said defensively. “There’s nothing wrong with blowing off a little steam.”
“I agree. Just make sure that’s all it is.” She maneuvered her mouse and opened up her email. “Speaking of PR . . . the last thing we need right now is some TV news crew to catch you guys doing God only knows what you do down there.”
Rapp found the idea preposterous. Hurley had more damn security than some federal buildings. If any reporters were dumb enough to ignore all the signs and wander onto the property they would end up ru
Ke
“Not for me,” Rapp added quickly. “I’m thinking of Mike.”
Ke
“He’s perfect. Former Marine officer, gorgeous wife, four cute kids. Dickerson could do wonders with something like that.”
Ke
“What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean. Fifteen minutes ago you thought it was the craziest thing you’d ever heard, and now all of the sudden you’re offering up Mike.”
“You’re always telling me I need to be more open-minded . . . that’s all this is.”
Ke
CHAPTER 25
RAPP was thinking on the fly. He wasn’t about to explain to Ke
There wasn’t a cover story worth a damn that wasn’t somehow grounded in truth, and Ke
“So your answer is to thrust him into the spotlight and end his career as a clandestine operative.”
Rapp shrugged and tried to play down the obvious. “It wouldn’t be ended. There’s still plenty of work for him to do around here. He just wouldn’t be involved in some of the more risky operations.” Rapp watched her eyes burrow through him as if she were trying to read his soul.
“Something happened last night,” Ke
This time it was a statement, as if she knew for certain something had gone on. Rapp sighed and said, “He’s burnt out, Irene. This shit has really gotten to him. I’m not sure he ever fully recovered from the injuries he suffered over in the Kush.” Rapp was referring to an operation they had run in Afghanistan nearly a year ago. The intel had been solid. A high-value target was staying in a village on the border. They had gone in with a Special Forces team right at dawn. Everything was looking good and then the house they were about to raid blew up, killing two troopers and nearly killing Nash. “The docs are still picking shrapnel from him, and his wife tells me he wakes up every morning with an ear-splitting headache. Then last week he sees his secretary and a bunch of his coworkers gu