Near Dark (Scot Harvath #19)(30)

It was all the more reason that Holidae going to Carl with suspicions over her drug use had felt like such a betrayal. Friends didn’t turn each other in.

In fairness—and if pressed—S?lvi would likely be forced to admit that friends also didn’t sit idly by and watch their friends descend into a narcotic pit there was little hope of climbing out of.

Nonetheless, Holidae could have come to her first. She didn’t need to go over her head to her boss. It was something, right or wrong, she still was struggling to forgive.

It felt as if they’d had this great friendship, but the moment something had gone wrong, something that potentially could have impacted work, Holidae had been all business.

It had made their friendship feel false, hollow. It had also made S?lvi feel betrayed. Having just lost her husband, the betrayal of such a close friend had been even more bitter and difficult to absorb.

“What is it you say in English?” S?lvi inquired. “I’d like us to bury the hatchet?”

Hayes smiled. “Interesting choice of idioms. I didn’t know we had been at war. I thought we just weren’t on speaking terms.”

The Norwegian smiled back. “I’m a Viking. ? grave ned strids?ksen is what we say. I think burying war axes sounds better than offering olive branches. Peace?”

The CIA operative raised her glass. “To peace.”





CHAPTER 14


“So,” said Hayes, once their oysters had arrived, “you want me to tell you what I can about Scot Harvath.”

S?lvi smiled and, after setting an empty shell down on the platter, replied, “Actually, I want you to tell me what you can’t.”

“Can’t or shouldn’t?”

“It’s the same thing in English, isn’t it?”

Hayes nodded. “Usually. But why are you asking me? I told Ivar everything we know.”

“Ivar Stang. The NIS Director?”

Hayes nodded. “When Harvath’s name was discovered in the searches on Carl’s devices, he asked me to come in and meet with him.”

“And?”

“And I spoke to Langley. Out of a spirit of cooperation, they prepped a presentation, which I gave in Ivar’s office.”

“Who else was there?” asked S?lvi.

“Ivar’s number two, Norvik.”

“Lars Norvik.”

“Yes,” said Hayes. “And then someone I had not previously met before. A woman named Holst.”

“Hella Holst?”

“She didn’t give a first name.”

“Heavyset woman?” S?lvi asked. “Late fifties? Short brown hair? Greenish eyes that bulge out just enough to make you wonder if she has a thyroid condition?”

Hayes tapped her index finger against the tip of her nose and then pointed it at her friend. “Maybe we can help each other. Tell me about Holst and I’ll share a couple of things about Harvath that weren’t in my presentation. Deal?”

S?lvi nodded. “Hella heads a new division at NIS. In English, it roughly translates to Strategy Section.”

“What’s it responsible for?”

“As you know, when it comes to population, Norway is a relatively small country. We have less than five and a half million citizens. But despite our size, bureaucracy is a growing problem—as it is for most advanced Western nations.

“Like a person with heart disease, the arteries of our agencies are calcifying, making it impossible for blood to efficiently flow. In the case of the NIS, our blood flow is information. Cut it off, or even reduce it partially, and not only does our agency risk atrophy and even death, but our greater body, the country of Norway, is susceptible as well. Does this make sense?”

“Of course,” said Hayes.

“Good, because now it gets tricky. Strategy Section,” S?lvi continued, “was designed, in part, as a heart bypass, if you will. If NIS was ever severely compromised, or shut down—say in the case of an invasion or a massive terrorist attack—Strategy Section’s job is to make sure that critical information is still pumped to all the vital organs of state.”

“So it’s a continuity-of-government program. In essence, a backup. A fail-safe.”

The Norwegian nodded. “The ultimate fail-safe. In case of national emergency, it would be largely immune from oversight by Parliament. The thought was, if a patient has had a heart attack and needs to be rushed to the hospital for surgery, should politicians be slowing things down arguing about speed limits, or should those most intimately involved with the patient, the actual people in the ambulance, be making the calls?”

“Interesting. But that doesn’t explain why Holst was in the briefing. What involvement, if any, would she have regarding the death of Carl Pedersen?”

“Strategy Section was Carl’s idea.”

“Do you think it might be connected to his murder?” Hayes asked.

“Ivar is a careful man. It was likely just out of an abundance of caution that Holst was there. Strategy Section is a bit like your Red Cell teams. Part of their job is to think outside the box—to look for connections no one else is seeing.”

“Are you a member of it?”

“No,” said S?lvi. “At least not officially. Carl told me that my name’s on a list of intelligence officers who might be tapped in an emergency. My day-to-day portfolio, though, is outside of what they do.”