CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The door opened, and David looked up from the couch. He smiled at his wife a split second before a tornado of fur launched itself into the air and knocked him onto his back.
He laughed and accepted Turk’s enthusiastic affection, hugging him tightly and saying, “Oh, God. Turk, you better live forever. I really don’t know what we’re gonna do without you.”
Turk cocked his head, not comprehending why David would even think of a world without him.
David laughed and kissed the tip of his nose.
He got to his feet and tried to kiss, Faith but she put a hand in front of him and said, “Uh uh. I love Turk, but I’m not smooching you with his spittle slathered all over your lips. ”
“Fair enough,” David said, contenting himself with an embrace, then moving to the kitchen to wash his face in the sink. “How was the case?”
Faith chuckled. “That is going to involve a long conversation and at least two glasses of wine. The short answer is that I’m seriously considering going to church.”
David blinked. “Really?”
“No, not really,” Faith said. “But I had to think about it. That’s saying something.”
“I don’t mind if you want to go to church. I used to go when I was a kid.”
“Really?” she said as she started warming up leftovers for Turk. “How did I not know this? Also, where are Rogers and Hammerton?”
“You didn’t know this because it stopped being a part of my life when I became an adult. And Rogers and Hammerton are in the garage grabbing drinks.”
“The garage?”
The door opened—the front door—and Rogers and Hammerton entered. Hammerton was carrying a case of beer, and Faith lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t recognize that brand.”
“You will, ma’am,” Rogers said. “Because it’s the best damned beer on Earth.”
“How did you guys go to the garage and come in through the front door?” David asked.
Hammerton grinned sheepishly. “Sorry. We saw Faith pull up and went out to investigate. We probably should have sent someone in for you and someone else out to look.”
“You should have,” Faith agreed, “but that’s all right. Are you two staying for dinner?”
They shook their heads. “We have dates tonight.”
David’s blood ran cold. He tried to keep his voice light. “The girls from the Academy earlier?”
“No,” Rogers said. “A couple of analysts we’ve been mack—” He glanced at Faith. “Been interested in for a little while.”
“Well, good luck to you two,” Faith said. “I hope you successfully mack tonight.”
The two men looked at each other but decided to just let Faith’s comment pass. Hammerton laid the beer on the counter and said, “Enjoy. It goes better with chocolate ice cream, but it’s good by itself too.”
“You need to watch your damned cholesterol,” Rogers told his partner on their way out the door. “The hell you talking about, chocolate ice cream?”
When the door closed behind them, Turk barked, reminding Faith about his dinner. Faith retrieved it from the microwave and asked David, “So, anything interesting happen while I was away?”
David hesitated for a moment, but he was past the point of trying to hide anything from her. “Actually… yes.”
She looked hard at him. “How serious?”
“Pretty serious.”
She took a slow breath, then gave Turk his food. Turk dug in eagerly, and Faith closed the distance between them. “Okay. Talk to me.”
David recounted his encounter with the CIA agent earlier that morning. Faith listened without interrupting, her beautiful brown eyes more intense than worried. When David finished, she said, “He didn’t threaten you?”
“Well… the whole ‘it’s in yours and Faith’s best interests to stay away’ thing kind of sounded like a threat.”
“But nothing explicit. No, ‘stay away or else’?”
“Not in so many words, no.”
She nodded. “Cybercrimes told me they tried to get into your computer.”
“Yeah,” David said. “I figured.”
She took another deep breath and heaved an exasperated sigh. “Jesus, David.”
“I don’t have a choice, Faith. If it was Turk—”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Faith interrupted. “I’m just saying this is serious.” She ran her hands through her hair. “Have you told Michael?”
“No, I wanted to talk to you, first.”
“We should tell him. I know he’s not back here until Friday night, but we need to loop him in. Jessica too. The CIA is taking this extremely seriously if they sent an agent to the FBI Academy.” Her brow furrowed. “Where were Rogers and Hammerton?”
David gave her a tight smile. “The CIA staged two security incidents. One to distract security, and one to distract Rogers and Hammerton. While security was dealing with a vandal, Rogers and Hammerton were breaking up a fight.”
“Yeah,” Faith said. Her eyes widened. “Really?”
“Holy shit.”
Faith shook her head. She bit her lip and looked anxiously at Turk, who was finishing the last of his food. David walked to her and pulled her into his arms. “We’ll be okay,” he said. “We can handle this.”
“It’s not enough to just say that,” Faith said. “This isn’t a gang or a serial killer. This is the Central Intelligence Agency. There are stories about them in the Bureau.”
“There are stories about them everywhere,” David said. “Some actors have made a nice career out of playing CIA agents.”
“There are stories from people who have worked with the CIA. They’re a different kind of serious. They’re like Delta Force or DEVGRU. They’re almost inhuman. They don’t lose.”
David didn’t know what DEVGRU was, but he understood Faith’s point.
“You don’t lose. We don’t lose.” Realizing that wasn’t enough, he said, “Look, how valuable can this program be, really? It’s a mind-control program for dogs.
The CIA surely isn’t going to risk exposure and all of the expensive rearranging it would take to make this problem go away.
If we can gather enough evidence to put pressure on them, they’ll just shut it down.
You’re in the news again, and they’re not going to risk killing you or me with the media worshipping you like they are.
We’ll be okay. We just need to keep being careful and patient, and above all, persistent. We can handle this.”
Faith nodded, slowly at first, then more firmly.
She leaned against him, and they stood there for a long moment.
It wasn’t until Turk finished his meal, trotted to the living room and barked for help with the television that they moved.
Faith smiled at David and kissed him softly on the lips.
David returned her smile and warmed up microwave meals for them while Faith put on a show.
His smile faded as he watched Faith’s meal spin slowly under the yellow light.
The CIA considered this program very valuable.
Enough to keep it going as an extension of MKUltra.
Enough to usurp Green Glen and control it for decades.
Enough to murder people and steal their research.
Enough to try to murder him and invade his office.
Enough that he was sure if the CIA decided they were enough of a thorn, they would kill both him and Faith even if they had to assassinate Faith in the middle of a press conference.
The CIA was a serious enemy, and they were not taking David’s interference lightly.
But he would keep fighting. He had to. Someone had to stand up for Sierra and the other working dogs suffering at the hands of the 93rd Testing Brigade. If it wasn’t them, then who?
He put his smile back on as he carried their food to the living room. He sat next to Faith, and they watched a team of golden retrievers win a high school football championship on behalf of a collection of teenage outcasts.
David put his arm around Faith and put his hand on Turk. This was his family. He loved them with all of his heart. He would die protecting them.
He just hoped that thought was a promise and not a prophecy.