The Eighth Sister (Charles Jenkins #1)(116)

Jenkins told the jury of Randy Traeger’s proposal.

“Did you consider it an odd coincidence that Traeger would have a job seemingly right up your alley?”

“Not at the time, no.”

“What about now?”

“Now I wonder.”

“Did you have any suspicion that LSR&C was a CIA front for agents and their operations overseas, as Mitchell Goldstone testified?”

“No.”

“Did you know Carl Emerson was running TBT Investments as Mitchell Goldstone testified?”

“No. I hadn’t seen Carl Emerson or heard his name since I’d left Mexico City. He just showed up on my farm one day in November, after Alex had taken CJ to school.”

Jenkins told the details of his meetings with Emerson and what Emerson asked him to do.

“Did you think it an odd coincidence for Mr. Emerson to show up on your farm?”

“Not then, but I do now.”

Jenkins answered Sloane’s questions about the financial difficulties CJ Security endured, about the personal guaranties, and about the business loans the company owed.

“Is that why you accepted the job?”

“It’s one of the reasons, certainly,” he said. “But there was another reason.”

“And what was that?”

“Carl Emerson said agents’ lives were in danger. He said they would likely die if the operation wasn’t successful.”

“What was your cover supposed to be?”

“The best cover is one closest to the truth. I was a former CIA field officer, disillusioned and upset at the agency, and I had classified information to sell. I was told by Carl Emerson that I would go in, set the hook, and get certain things to occur. Then other agents would take over the operation.”

“How were you to contact Mr. Emerson, if needed?”

“He gave me a business card with a number on it.”

Sloane projected that card on the court’s computer monitors and Jenkins confirmed it to be the one Carl Emerson gave him.

“Did Emerson say anything to you about what would happen if the operation fell apart?”

“I was told that if anything went wrong, the agency would not acknowledge the operation.”

“Did you think they would acknowledge that you had been reactivated?”

“Not publicly, but yes, in private.”

“Is that why you voluntarily went to the FBI and spoke to Agent Daugherty?”

“Yes. I asked him to look into the matter. I thought the CIA would acknowledge my reactivation and would investigate what I was telling Daugherty.”

Sloane and Jenkins got out the basic story. It was time to finish up.

“Did you at any time, give to the FSB, or to anyone else, any information that was not authorized?”

“No. I hadn’t been a field officer for decades. I didn’t have any information that wasn’t authorized.” They had discussed this the night before and considered it a strong argument.

“Did you do anything other than follow CIA orders?”

“No.”

The final two questions were designed to impress to the jury that Jenkins was one of the good guys.

“Are you loyal to the United States of America?”

“I always have been. I love my country.”

Sloane let that answer linger, turned, and sat down.

Velasquez stood and approached the lectern. “That’s quite a story, Mr. Jenkins. It dovetails nicely with Mr. Goldstone’s story, doesn’t it?”

“It’s the truth.”

“You knew, didn’t you, Mr. Goldstone’s allegation that he, too, had been working for the Central Intelligence Agency?”

“I learned of it. I’m not sure when, but I learned of it.”

“Mr. Sloane asked you about coincidences. I’d like to ask you about that as well. It’s quite a coincidence, isn’t it, that Carl Emerson, whom you hadn’t seen in some forty years, just happened to show up on your farm at the same time your business was on the verge of financial collapse, isn’t it?”

Jenkins had to be careful here. If he said no, he would have to testify, without the documents to support him, that Emerson, or someone else, had orchestrated withholding payment to CJ Security to put Jenkins under duress. It might be too much for a jury to believe. Instead, he piggybacked on Goldstone’s testimony that he had met Emerson at LSR&C in November. “I didn’t think so at the time because I didn’t think the two were related. Now that I know Mr. Emerson was working at LSR&C, no, I don’t think it was a coincidence.”

“You were a trained CIA field officer and you didn’t question your former station chief showing up, unannounced, decades after you left, offering you a job when you just happened to need money?”

“I didn’t question his motives at that time. But I did question why he was there. You bet I did.”

“Isn’t it true, Mr. Jenkins, that when you met with FBI agents, you didn’t ask for a CIA representative to be present at those interrogations?”

“That is true.”

“You told Agent Daugherty that you had disclosed information to a Russian FSB agent.”

“I told Agent Daugherty that I had not disclosed any unauthorized information.”