20. Chapter Twenty
Chapter twenty
The elevator dinged and the doors rolled open. Sam wanted to leap on the car and jam the button for the ground floor like a bank robber narrowly escaping the law. She gave the empty interior a longing glance before turning back.
Marilynn Kearns stood at the other end of the floor, one pudgy hand on her ample hip, and the other holding up a page. Light from the overheads gleamed on the white paper, causing it to glow, like something mythical. Sam already knew what was on the page. It was the priority-one flight request.
She’d been banking on the fact that Kearns, busy running the entire division, wouldn’t see the flight log until sometime tomorrow or even the day after. By that time, Sam figured, Trevor would have something definite to report. Or so she hoped.
Hope in one hand and crap in the other, as the old adage goes. See which fills up first.
Behind her, the elevator doors rolled shut. The soft thump of the bumpers coming together felt like the tolling of doom.
Kearns crooked a finger. “My office. Now.”
Sam took a deep breath as she crossed the office floor. At least it was late. Most of the day staff had gone home already. Fewer coworkers witnessed her walk of shame. When she stepped inside Kearns’s office, Sam said, “I had hoped—”
“That I wouldn’t notice,” Kearns stated, and threw the door shut with a bang. She pointed to a chair in front of her desk and barked, “Park it.”
Sam sat.
Kearns circled the desk, slapped the page down on the blotter, and planted two chubby fists on the desktop.
“I knew you were trouble the moment you were assigned to me, Gunn. You think you’re a cowboy.
You still think you’re on the operations side of things, acting first and thinking later, or never.
You think rules don’t apply to you. You spent years behind enemy lines running ops with the Israelis and you think that gives you some kind of ‘get out of jail free’ card. Well, you’re wrong.”
“It’s not like that,” Sam said. “Honestly, ma’am, I was just trying—”
“To make me look like a fool. You were hoping your little boy toy de Camp would run over there and find some kind of evidence to prove your wild theories correct. Then I’d be discredited. Maybe you’d even get my job when I got fired for incompetence.”
“No, no.” Sam shook her head. “Honestly, it’s nothing like that. I don’t want anybody to get fired. I just want to make sure there’s not a terror organization with a bioweapon. What’s the harm in—”
“Save it.” Kearns held a hand up like a traffic cop. “Your little coup isn’t going to work, Gunn. You’re finished here, understand? Soon as de Camp lands, you are going to tell him to turn around and put his butt right back on that plane. I want him stateside in the next twelve hours.”
Sam bristled. “With all due respect, ma’am, that’s a waste of resources.
He’ll be landing soon, if he hasn’t already.
He’s in the area so we might as well put him to work.
If he doesn’t find anything, then we’ll know and you take any disciplinary actions you think are necessary; just take them out on me, not Trevor. He’s only following orders.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Gunn?” Kearns crossed her arms over her ample bosom.
“Give your buddy de Camp a couple days to prove me wrong? To prove you were right? I hate to disappoint you. That’s not going to happen.
You’re going to call de Camp and tell him to return to the office for disciplinary action immediately.
And tomorrow, first thing, you’ll be standing in front of the Deputy Director of Intelligence explaining why you requisitioned a priority-one international flight without authorization, wasting time and taxpayer funds. Do you understand me?”
“I understand,” Sam said, fighting hard to keep her own temper in check.
Kearns wasn’t interested in the truth, and she wasn’t interested in saving lives.
She was a typical bureaucrat, and right now, she felt her place at the top of the heap threatened.
She’d do anything to maintain control. Sam had no doubt about that.
She said, “But couldn’t we give Trevor a day to make sure the outbreak is not something more dangerous? ”
Kearns jabbed a finger at Sam’s chest. “You messed with the wrong woman, Gunn. Apparently no one ever told you, if you take a shot at the queen, you better make sure you don’t miss. Well, you missed.”
“Do you even hear yourself?” Sam asked. “No one is trying to take your job. I’m trying to save lives.”
“Spare me.” Kearns showed her teeth in a nasty grin. “I’ll see you first thing tomorrow in the DDI’s office, and with any luck, it will be the last time I see you.”