The Eighth Sister (Charles Jenkins #1)(107)

“Call your first witness.”

Velasquez called Nathaniel Ikeda, a records clerk at the CIA’s offices in Langley, Virginia. Ikeda was a good-looking Japanese man with graying black hair. After establishing Ikeda’s credentials and his job responsibilities, Velasquez asked, “Did your records check turn up any information that a Charles William Jenkins was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency?”

“It did,” Ikeda said in a confident tone.

“Will you explain to the jury what the records revealed?”

Ikeda faced the jurors, no doubt as instructed, or from years of experience testifying in a courtroom. He held documents in his lap, which the prosecution had turned over to Sloane only the night before, and he explained that Jenkins had been employed from roughly June 1976 to approximately July 1978.

“Do they indicate how his employment ended?”

“Assumed voluntary retirement after unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr. Jenkins.”

“Did your records reveal that Mr. Jenkins was reactivated as a field operative in November or December 2017?”

“No, they do not.”

“Did you search for any records pertaining to a Carl Emerson?”

Ikeda again turned to the jury and said that he had. After Velasquez had the documents marked and admitted, Ikeda explained what those records revealed. Then he said, “Mr. Emerson was deactivated from his position as station chief in Mexico City and was working in Langley, Virginia.”

“Do the records reveal whether Carl Emerson was running an operation in Russia in December 2017?”

“They do not.”

Ikeda explained what records he would have expected to find if such an operation had been initiated, then said he had found no such documents.

“Is there a record of a fifty-thousand-dollar payment being made to Mr. Jenkins or to Mr. Emerson in December 2017?”

“There is not.”

Velasquez then asked Ikeda about the two assets Jenkins had revealed to the FSB—Alexei Sukurov and Uliana Artemyeva. “Do your records indicate whether either of those individuals or their operations were active files?”

“Active in the sense that the files remained open, yes.”

“When were those operations first activated?”

“They were first activated in 1972 and 1973.”

“Out of which field office?”

“Mexico City.”

“Who opened those files?”

“Carl Emerson.”

Velasquez thanked Ikeda and sat.

Jenkins and Sloane had only had the morning to pore through the records, and Jenkins knew that to some extent, Sloane would have to wing his cross-examination. He’d told Jenkins his goal was to establish that Carl Emerson existed, that he wasn’t some phantom figure. He wanted to establish that Emerson ran the Alexei Sukurov and Uliana Artemyeva operations, and that there were no records tying Jenkins to either. He also wanted to establish that Emerson had been fired from the CIA at about the same time LSR&C blew up and Jenkins was charged with espionage. “I hope,” Sloane told Jenkins, “that where the jury sees smoke, they’ll assume there is a fire.”

“Who was the station chief in Mexico City in 1972 and 1973?” he asked Ikeda.

“Carl Emerson,” Ikeda said.

“Do your records indicate whether Mr. Jenkins worked on either of the two operations previously mentioned?”

“I’m not sure,” Ikeda said. “He could have.”

“Please, feel free to consult your records and tell me if Mr. Jenkins’s name appears on any document in either of those files.”

For the next couple minutes Ikeda looked through his documents. Jenkins watched him, and he watched the jurors’ reactions. “I don’t find his name in either file,” Ikeda finally said.

“You have no information in your records that Mr. Jenkins even knew of those operations, do you?”

“Not in my records, no.”

“Do you have records with you today documenting that Carl Emerson worked for TBT Investments in Seattle, Washington?”

“Objection,” Velasquez said, “the question violates the CIPA ruling.”

“Sustained,” Harden said.

“Do you have records with you today that Richard Peterson worked for TBT Investments in Seattle, Washington?”

“Same objection,” Velasquez said.

“Sustained.”

“Were you asked to look for such records?”

“Same objection.”

“Sustained.” Harden shot Sloane a look not to try that again.

“Do you have records—plane reservations, hotel receipts, dinner receipts—from Mr. Emerson seeking expense reimbursement for travel from Langley, Virginia, to Seattle, Washington, between November 2017 and January 2018?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t asked to look for those records.”

“But Mr. Emerson did work for the CIA in November and December 2017 and January 2018, didn’t he?”

“According to the records, he did.”

“Your records don’t reveal that Mr. Emerson traveled to Seattle in his capacity as the chief operating officer of TBT Investments?”

“Same objection,” Velasquez said.

“Sustained,” Harden replied.