Color of Blood(116)
“Nope.”
“And you said that he was working closely with the Pennsylvania Avenue folks, right? Maybe even JSOC?”
She took a sip.
“And you said the people at Pennsylvania Avenue were coming up with a host of crazy ideas in order to demonstrate progress in the war to people at home. Do you remember that?”
“No, I don’t,” she said. “Look, I really have to be going, Cunningham.” She tried to stand, but he reached across and grabbed her wrist.
“Just one more question, OK?” he said, feeling her tendons tighten. He let go of her wrist.
She glared at him.
“One of those crazy ideas involved shipping rare earth metals to Iran, didn’t it?”
She frowned.
“Come on, Sally,” he said. “You must know what I’m talking about. Was one of these crazy ideas to ship rare metals like Europium to Iran? They use Europium in nuclear reactors and even nuclear weapons detonators. Did you know that?”
“Cunningham, what the hell are you talking about? I think you might want to consider getting a full psychiatric workup.”
“Sally, it’s common knowledge that the Administration would do anything to stop American soldiers from being blown up by IEDs in Iraq. The media is full of stories showing our poor guys maimed by these bombs. We’ve all heard bizarre stories of plots to keep Shiites and Sunnis from killing GIs.”
“I can’t remember all of the stupid ideas that were thrown around, Cunningham,” she said. “And what’s the point? None of this stuff moved off the blue-sky list to live ops.”
“No, I think this one did,” Dennis said. “Yeah, I know it’s crazy, but someone kicked this project off using contractors to ship these metals to Iran. And I know you must have heard about it.”
“I told you, Cunningham, that one never happened. Do you have a tumor or something?”
“OK; but stick with me. What was the logic of that particular idea?”
“Oh, Christ, who knows what the idea was?” she said, pushing her chair back. “Maybe some people thought Iran would do anything to acquire this stuff, including restraining Shiite militias and pointing them at the Sunnis to get them to stop? I don’t know. A million scenarios are hashed out daily.”
“But didn’t anyone think that this particular idea was a really, really bad one?”
“That’s why it was never approved,” she said, standing. “Stop worrying about shit that doesn’t go down; worry about the shit that does.”
“You’re wrong, Sally. It was certainly approved. Someone gave a green light to the program, and it looks like Massey ran it through his group.”
“That’s total bullshit,” Sally said.
“Sally, I found the mining operation tucked away in Australia. I tracked a shipment of Europium to Iran. There’s no compelling reason for the US to be shipping rare earth metals to Iran unless they get something really, really big in return. There was an Operations guy before me who stumbled upon the same scheme. He was working for Massey, and the kid tried to alert the news media, but the Agency killed the story.”
Sally twitched at the mention of news media. She sat back down and scanned the interior of the Starbucks, looking at the face of every patron and employee.
“Relax,” he said. “It’s just me.”
She stared hard at him for several seconds. “You understand that I’m required to report this conversation?”
“Of course I know that,” he said. “But for the record, you folks are absolutely one hundred percent out of control.”
“Poor, poor Dennis,” she said, standing. She was out the front door before he could fold up his Washington Post.
Chapter 42
He passed through the guardhouse at the Langley parking lot without incident. He half expected to be detained there but was relieved to avoid that indignity.
Dennis went directly to his office and waited.
Agitated, he fiddled with his computer.
Why did I go through all this trouble? he wondered. What was the point? To prove I could break into their little operation? Big f*cking deal. At least Garder tried to do something about it. I’m just sitting here waiting to get punished like a naughty child.
Dennis stood up and walked quickly down the labyrinth of hallways to the main entrance. At the front desk, he asked one of the receptionists to call him a cab. He kept looking at his watch. He had been inside the facility for twenty-two minutes. Dennis estimated Sally had a forty-five-minute head start.
It took twelve excruciating minutes for his cab to arrive, and he relaxed only slightly when the cab got through the main gate.
***
The lie was not so hard to pull off. First, the secretary wrinkled her nose and called her superior. Dennis repeated his pitch, and after nearly thirty minutes of confusion on the part of staffers, Dennis found himself speaking to congressman Daniel Barkley’s chief of staff in her small, disheveled office.
“I’m sorry, but you say you’ve been sent here to report directly on a sensitive constituent service request the congressman has requested? Is that what you’re saying?” Veronica Chastain said.
“Yes. Sent directly from the inspector general to report on something the congressman had requested regarding one of his constituents. Representative Barkley said it was very important, and that’s why I was sent to deliver the information personally to him.”