68. GRAYSON
68
GRAYSON
“What do you think?” I pressed.
Cleveland Trace sat back in his seat, folding his hands over his lap. This was my second time talking to the CIA director, and like last time, his stoic facial expressions made it virtually impossible to read him.
“We have an active operation in place already,” he said tightly.
“But after multiple attempts, no one has been able to carry it out,” I reasoned.
“Without Daniel’s help, Vosch won’t always be a step ahead,” he reasoned.
“We don’t know that,” I countered. “While he approached me to be his operative, there’s no telling if he has others on his payroll already.”
Cleveland’s jaw tensed. For as skilled as he was at hiding his emotions, there were still telltale signs of the stress he must be under from the fallout of Daniel’s breach. I wondered if his job was in jeopardy, how badly his ego had been damaged, and most importantly, what he might be willing to do to end the very criminal who had started it all.
Candidly, my only hope was if he’d abandon the current slow, potentially futile plan of taking Vosch down in favor of mine.
“Do you think it will work?” I probed.
“Hard to say,” he hedged, glaring. “I thought the other attempts would succeed. Yet here we are.”
“I’m the one that didn’t take the shot,” I said. “Let me do this for my family and for my country. All I ask for in return is protection for my loved ones.”
“There’s no guarantee that even with CIA protection, your loved ones will be safe.”
“But I can guarantee they are unsafe so long as Vosch is walking the earth.”
Cleveland stared at me silently. The truth was, I was going to do this with or without his help, but without it would be far more dangerous for me and, more importantly, my family.
The silence that stretched between us felt like a leaky poison, thickening the oxygen, given me no indication which way this was going to go.
But finally, Cleveland sighed and said, “The captain will need to be one of ours, and we’ll need at least three flight plans.”
My shoulders sank in relief.
“One of them will be registered. The official decoy that Vosch would follow, if it came to that. The second decoy, if you will, will have armed fighter jets on the ready, to assist with the first. The third will be the actual route. Once they land, they will need to immediately board a small aircraft to a classified location.”
I nodded. That made sense, and, more importantly, gave me hope that I could keep my family safe.
“What about missiles?” I asked. “What if Vosch uses them when the plane first takes off?”
“We’ll have fighter jets ready to take them down,” he answered. “But if he’s got missiles in the country, we have bigger problems on our hands.”
After a few seconds, Cleveland leaned forward.
“I must caution,” he started, his firm eyes locked on mine, “while this is the best shot to take Vosch down, he’ll be surrounded by his soldiers when you arrive. He had only two with him in your penthouse because he took you by surprise, but this time, he’ll be anticipating something different. This is a test, and for all he knows, you’re going to come back and refuse to do his bidding—in which case, he’ll be anticipating your counterattack.”
“That’s why I need to pass his test and make him think I’m complying. Are you sure you can get the safety protocols changed immediately?”
Because once I delivered the safety protocols to Vosch, who knew how quickly he would try to carry out an attack against an “L” train?
He nodded. “We can make them go live with the push of a button.”
More oxygen flowed into my lungs with each tidbit of relief.
“That said…while you might succeed in taking out Vosch, you know the odds of you making it out alive, don’t you?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m practical enough to realize how this ends.”