The Faithful Spy

“Too much driving,” he said. “Khadri sent me to Montreal for a briefcase.” He told her what had happened with Tarik the day before, and his suspicions of another courier.

“You don’t know what it is?”

“It’s locked. I haven’t tried to open it.”

“And you’re meeting Khadri here? In D.C.?”

“No. I was heading south, but he just called. Changed the plan. Told me to turn around, go to New York. Something’s about to happen. It’s happening already.”

“Shafer thinks so too.”

He looked at her, then out at the river. “Care to share?”

She half smiled. “I was sort of hoping you would know.”

“It’s like we’re in ancient Rome, sacrificing sheep, reading the entrails. Trying to figure out what catastrophe the gods have planned for us next.”

“They’re not gods.”

“They want to be,” he said. “Angry pagan gods who throw thunderbolts because they can.”

“Do you believe in God, John? Not little — g gods but the big one?”

The question stopped him. He found himself looking at the sparrows flying over the river, thinking about the Koran in his truck, the men he had killed. “Yes,” he said finally. “But I’m not sure he believes in me.”

“I’m serious—”

“So am I. Can you do everything I’ve done and still feel grace? Still feel peace? And that’s God to me. I’m afraid I’ve left Him a long way behind.”

“When I was a kid I believed,” Exley said. “Then my brother went crazy and I stopped. It seemed too cruel, to take someone’s mind away that way. I remember one time, when his meds were working, joking around with him: ‘How come God never just tells you to go shopping? How come it’s always “The water’s poisoned, there’s a chip in your brain, the aliens are coming”?’ He laughed, really laughed, and I did too. It just seemed so futile. But now that I have kids I want to believe again, if not for my sake then for theirs, believe that there’s something more than this.”

“I know what you mean.” Wells touched her arm. “Jenny. Does anybody know I’m here?”

“Back to work, huh? No. Not even Shafer. You’re toxic, John. Worse than toxic. I’m ending my career right now. Heading for jail, maybe.”

“I’m sorry, Jenny.”

“It’s not your fault. Where have you been since April?”

“Sitting on my ass, mainly.”

“Where?”

He didn’t want to tell her, but he knew he couldn’t lie. “Atlanta.”

“Not just sitting on your ass.”

He looked at her sidelong. “Tell your friend Duto I didn’t shoot West,” he said. “I tried to save him but I couldn’t. Khadri set it up. To test my loyalty.”

“And you passed,” she said. “Khadri trusts you. That’s why he sent you to pick up the case.”

“He doesn’t, though. Something’s wrong. He’s playing with me. I think maybe I’m some kind of a decoy.” Wells paused. “Any of this fit with what you’ve got?”

She shook her head. “But we arrested a sleeper last week. In Brooklyn. And we think they have a dirty bomb.” She told him about Farouk Khan, the explosion in Albany, Shafer’s suspicions that al Qaeda planned to move fast.

“So when are you raising the alert level?” Wells said.

“We don’t do that anymore. Not without specific intel. We’re winning this war, remember? No need to upset anyone.”

“A dirty bomb doesn’t count as specific?”

“Not if we don’t know where it is. We already embarrassed ourselves in Albany.”

“Maybe it’s in that briefcase in my truck.”

She shook her head. “The radiation detectors at the border would have picked it up. And if the case was lined with lead you’d know. It’d be heavy as hell.”

He was quiet. After a minute she looked at him. “What are you thinking, John?”

“I’m thinking it’s time to get on the road.” Back to New York. The day was still warm, but the trees on the opposite bank of the river were casting long shadows.

Her voice rose. “You’re coming in.”

“And cut the link to Khadri?”

“Give me the address. We’ll get him.”

“He won’t be there. You know that. It’ll be one of his guys, waiting for me. If I don’t show, he won’t either. And we’ll all be scratching our butts in Langley when the bomb goes off. I’ve seen that episode before. Didn’t like it much.” He stepped toward the trail that led to the parking lot.

“You can tell it to Vinny. We’ll get you up there tonight.”

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