Lethal Agent (Mitch Rapp #18)(52)

“It wouldn’t matter.”

“You’re not bulletproof.”

“Pull your head out of your ass, Kevin. I hired you for your cynicism and now you’re finding Jesus on me?”

“I’m not finding Jesus. But there are people out there who have. And you need their votes.”

She smirked and started pacing around her office again. “You’re thirty-five years old and already living in the past. The American people don’t give a shit about God. They don’t care about the environment or the deficit or health care. And they couldn’t find Iraq or Yemen on a map.”

“What do they care about?” Gray said coldly.

“Should it worry me that I’m having to tell you?”

“Anytime you think you can find someone better, I’ll be happy to step down.”

Barnett was always on the lookout, but the truth was that there wasn’t anyone even close. She wasn’t sure if that spoke to Gray’s brilliance or the fact that everyone else out there was a drooling idiot, but at this point it didn’t matter.

“What they want—what they thirst for—is to hurt the people they hate. They don’t want a politician droning on about unemployment. They want a general. They want to blindly follow someone who can provide them an enemy and lead them to victory against that enemy. Someone who can give their lives purpose.” She leaned back against her desk and glared down at him. “If you spend your time and my money finding ways to help people, we’re going to lose this election. But if you can find me ways to inflict damage, we’re going to run away with it.”

“And you think making anthrax your signature issue is the right weapon?”

“I’m not sure yet. It has potential, but like all good weapons it’s dangerous if you don’t use it right.” She smiled, recalling yesterday’s meeting. “You should have seen Irene Kennedy. She was sweating bullets. And Alexander just looked lost. He’s done and just wants to avoid any fireworks on the way out. The DEA head, though . . .”

“Woodman?” Gray said.

She nodded. “He doesn’t seem stupid. We should be reaching out to him and letting him know there’s a place for him in my administration if he plays ball.”

“Agreed. I’ll take care of it.”

“The question is whether we leak the fact that the anthrax made it across the border. Then we’d have a clear message: Sayid Halabi isn’t bluffing and we can’t keep counting on blind luck and NASA. Next time this administration lets someone stroll over the border with a bioweapon, people are going to die.”

“I’d advise caution, Senator. If that leak were ever traced back to you—”

“Then we’d have to make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s not the first time we’ve leaked something and it’s never been tracked back to us before.”

“What about the fact that we’d be jeopardizing an ongoing terrorism investigation? ISIS will pull back if they know we’re onto them. Halabi will disappear and they’ll switch to another smuggling route. Our chance of stopping them will be even worse.”

“That’s the story Alexander and that bitch Kennedy will tell, but no one’s going to listen. After the fact, it’ll just sound like an excuse. What the American people would take away is that the White House and CIA were keeping a serious threat secret so they wouldn’t look bad during the election season.”

“What if this goes beyond politics, Senator? What if our actions actually do help the terrorists?”

She shrugged. “How would that hurt me?”

“I don’t understand.”

“You read the briefing. It’s anthrax. It can’t be used as a weapon of mass destruction. We’re talking about a few high-profile targets. Hysteria grows and Alexander’s administration gets the blame.”

“People will die.”

“According to Gary Statham, fewer than a hundred. What would be much worse for us is if Alexander’s people actually succeed. What I don’t need to see on television is a bunch of spec ops guys busting up terrorist cells. Or even worse, one of them putting a bullet in Sayid Halabi. That could give Alexander’s party a bump at the worst possible moment.”

“And what do you think the chance of that is?”

“Of them pulling off something big? Low. And even lower now. My understanding is that Mitch Rapp is out. Alexander’s afraid of letting him off the leash during the election cycle.”

Gray didn’t look as happy about that as he should have.

“Relax, Kevin. I’ve got Secret Service and thirty private contractors working my security.”

“Yeah, your security. But nobody’s looking for suspicious white powder in my mailbox.”

She waved a hand dismissively. “ISIS isn’t going to bother with you.”

“You have no idea what ISIS is going to bother with.”

“Fine,” she said. “Figure out what security you’re comfortable with and set it up. Happy now?”

Based on his expression, happy was an overstatement. But he gave a short nod. “So what do you want to do, Senator?”

She fell silent for almost a minute as she considered the question. “Right now? Nothing. But we need to be ready. Start looking into how we can leak with zero chance of it being tracked back to us. If I decide to move on this, I want to be able to move fast.”