Lethal Agent (Mitch Rapp #18)(57)
Rapp tossed the bottle into the sink, hearing it shatter against the porcelain. He’d made his decision and there was no changing it now. Time to focus.
CHAPTER 28
THE CAPITOL COMPLEX
WASHINGTON, D.C.
USA
IRENE Kennedy felt her pace slow as she approached Senator Barnett’s office. The emergency meeting was originally scheduled to take place in the White House but when rumors about Mitch Rapp had begun circulating, the location had abruptly changed. And when those rumors had turned toxic, the president suddenly discovered a conflict that wouldn’t allow him to attend. Not surprising, but disappointing. And a bit foreboding.
She passed through Barnett’s outer office and was motioned to an open door at the back. Inside she found Barnett standing in the middle of the imposing space, speaking quietly with the head of the DEA.
Her handshake with Woodman was tense and perfunctory, but Barnett dispensed with the pleasantry entirely, instead walking to a small conference table. Kennedy was surprised, having assumed that the politician would take a position of authority behind her desk. The purpose of the move became clear when Woodman took a seat to the right of her. The only remaining chair was a rather austere wooden one directly across from them.
The battle lines had been drawn.
“When was the last time you spoke to Mitch Rapp?” Barnett asked.
“I’m not sure exactly. A few weeks? Around the time the president asked him to stand down.”
Barnett made a show of writing her response down. “You’re certain?”
“If you need a precise date and time, I can check my phone records and provide you with one.”
She didn’t seem that interested. “Are you aware that Mr. Rapp was sent to interrogate the two men who smuggled the anthrax across the U.S. border?”
“Sent? By whom?”
“I assume by you.”
“I can assure you that isn’t the case, Senator.”
“So you’re saying you had no involvement in those orders?”
“I think we’ve already established that.”
Clearly Barnett was less interested in what was happening with the DEA and ISIS than she was with understanding who could be blamed and how it could help her quest for the presidency.
“Are you aware of what happened during Rapp’s questioning of the two suspects?”
“I’m not.”
It was actually true. There was a significant amount of loose talk swirling around the Beltway, but it would have been unnecessarily dangerous for her to look into it. For the first time in her career, ignorance seemed to be the best course.
“The police received an anonymous tip about gunshots at the facility where the men were being held. When they arrived, they found the suspects dead and three DEA agents gravely wounded.”
Barnett leaned back in her chair, a satisfied smile exposing overwhitened teeth. She motioned to Woodman, who finally got an opportunity to talk. He didn’t seem happy about it, though.
“Rapp tortured at least one of the suspects and murdered both. Then he attacked my men and stole a significant portion of the narcotics being held on-site.”
Kennedy paused to consider what she had just heard. Conclusions weren’t hard to come to. Rapp had wanted answers from those drug traffickers that the DEA weren’t able to get. A murkier question, though, was on whose authority? Was he working under political cover that she wasn’t aware of. The president had gone directly to him before. Was this another case of that?
“Are your people going to be all right?” Kennedy asked finally.
“They sustained substantial injuries, but I’m told they’ll recover.”
“Thanks to their body armor and training,” Barnett cut in. “Otherwise they’d be in the morgue with those two suspects.”
Woodman’s face was expressionless. He knew full well that if Rapp had wanted those men dead, they would be.
“Please continue, Bob.”
His expression suggested continued reluctance. What was causing that reluctance, though, was difficult to say. Even if Kennedy had known the man well, it was hard to predict how someone would react to a situation like this. He was smart enough to know that something didn’t smell quite right. But he was also smart enough to know that Barnett was likely to be his boss in a few months.
“Rapp also said something.”
“Yes?” Kennedy prompted.
“That he had financial problems and needed the drugs to settle his accounts.”
“Are you aware of Mr. Rapp’s financial situation?” Barnett interjected.
Kennedy folded her hands in front of her on the table. “Yesterday, my office received a file that seems to detail a number of financial improprieties on Mitch’s part. It’s my understanding that the FBI and IRS received similar files. Of course, we’re looking into the allegations, but they’re complicated and far-reaching, so I don’t have anything to report yet.”
“Financial improprieties,” Barnett repeated incredulously. “My people’s initial review of that file suggests something more like an organized crime syndicate that would put Al Capone to shame.”
It was an exaggeration, but not an outrageous one. The maze of hidden accounts, foreign partnerships, and shell corporations had almost certainly been created by Rapp’s brother Steven. And if that was the case, it would take years—perhaps decades—to get to the bottom of it. His gift for complex financial transactions rivaled his older brother’s abilities with a gun.