Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(78)

Clicking the lock button on his keychain, Kromly left the red Mustang convertible wedged in close to a black Caddy that had pulled in crooked and made his way inside the large foyer. The ride to the eleventh floor was notable only for the seventh-floor light that failed to illuminate. Nothing surprising about that. Lucky number seven just wasn’t coming up lately.

At the door to his apartment, Kromly fumbled with his key ring. Damn. Gonna have to get rid of some of these things. He couldn’t even remember what two of the small ones unlocked.

The door swung open to a dark apartment, the only light coming in through the large window that looked out across the Potomac to the Washington Monument and the rest of DC. Without bothering to switch on the light, Kromly moved to the window. God he loved this city. Since Pam had died, his work, one bedroom, a small kitchen, a living room, and this view were all he had to keep himself sane.

Looking down at the Potomac, Kromly shook his head sadly. Another president shot down in a motorcade, this time only a few miles from this very spot. The assassin had made the shots that had almost cut the president’s body in half and slid down a zip line into those muddy waters to make his escape. Except for the fifty-caliber rifle secured to the tree and some ancillary equipment, the killer had vanished without a trace.

Kromly stiffened. Had he heard something? His hand moved toward his shoulder holster.

“I wouldn’t.”

The familiar voice raised the fine hairs along the back of his neck. Kromly let his hands fall back to his sides, turning slowly toward the speaker. There in the darkness across the room, a shadow leaned back in his reading chair.

“Jack.”

A low chuckle. “Now, Garfield. Is that any way to greet an old friend?”

Kromly struggled to control his elevated heart rate, applying the same techniques he had drilled into field operatives for the last thirty years, including the man who now sat shrouded in darkness. His ultimate student.

“Sorry. I didn’t expect to see you.”

“Not surprising. Have a seat.”

Kromly moved to the couch, keeping his hands well away from his body at all times. No use giving Jack an excuse to pull the trigger. Not that he needed much of an excuse, not after what had happened to his team.

“Why, Jack?”

“Why what?”

“Why the president?”

Jack paused several seconds, the silence in the room growing thicker with each passing moment. Kromly considered triggering the panic button on his key ring but discarded the idea. Jack would kill him before his hand reached his pocket.

“How many years have we known each other?”

Kromly cleared his throat. “Twelve.”

“How long has it been since you considered yourself my friend?”

The question stunned him. Christ. Jack had been the best student he had ever had at the CIA. He was the whole package: dynamic personality, quick wits, lightning-swift reactions. But it had been his instincts that set him apart. Jack had always seemed to sense what was about to happen before it did.

Kromly had been drawn to the young man early on, pulling strings to get Jack the assignments he desired. And Pam had loved him like the son they had never had. She had succumbed to breast cancer shortly after Jack was reported killed in Pakistan in 2002. It just seemed that she had lost part of her will to keep fighting. If a young god like Jack could fall, then maybe she could let go too.

“I guess it was when I thought you were dead.” Kromly felt the anger edging into his voice. “You damn sure didn’t go out of your way to let me know that wasn’t true. You must have been busy those five years. You’ll have to forgive me for not being thrilled to see you now.”

“I know you were advising the FBI unit that took down my team.”

Shit. This was it. Nothing to do now but bend over and kiss his ass good-bye.

“You know me well enough to know that you’d already be dead if I wanted that.”

“Yes.” A faint glimmer of hope that he might yet see another sunrise sharpened Kromly’s focus. “I’m listening.”

“You think I killed the president.”

“There aren’t many that could have made that hit. You’re at the top of the list.”

“But here I am, sitting in your living room.”

Kromly shrugged. “You might have stopped by to scratch another name off your list.”

“You’re still alive.”

“True.”

“When were you first aware that Admiral Riles had a special NSA team looking into the Rho Project?”

“I only found out shortly before his suicide. The FBI was keeping the investigation very close-hold.”

“What do you know about what Admiral Riles was up to at NSA?”

“Not much more than was in the press. He was trying to discredit the Rho Project in order to prevent the president from publicly releasing the technologies coming out of it.”

“Let me paint a different picture. Admiral Riles called me in on a meeting at the NSA in early January of this year. The subject of that meeting was what was being called the New Year’s Day Virus. I led the team that secured a computer from the house in Glen Bernie.”

“Then Riles exceeded his authority by sending your team in on that one.”

“Maybe. He had a Presidential Finding. That was good enough for me.”