CHAPTER NINE
Faith read the message from Director Smythe several times. Each time, she tried to calm herself and think about the situation logically. Each time, she failed.
Jessica had stepped out to get dinner from a nearby Chinese food place.
They’d spent the day scouring social media, calling coworkers and friends, and digging for leads everywhere they could think of and come up empty.
With nowhere else to go, and her mind frayed from their wasted day, Faith decided to follow up on the situation with David.
She called Director Smythe.
“Good evening, Faith.” He sounded resigned. “I assume you’re calling to ask me if I’ve heard anything from the Corps regarding your husband?”
“Actually, I had a thought I wanted to share.”
“What thought is that?”
She took a breath. “I am not sure that the 93rd Testing Brigade is operating under the approval of Corps leadership.”
“They are.”
She blinked. “You know this for sure?”
“I do. I called General Norman Bastian today. He’s the Deputy Commandant and an acquaintance of mine.
He assured me that he knew of the conflict between the 93rd Testing Brigade and your husband.
He apologized for Colonel Chastain’s approach but also assured me that his complaint was legitimate.
It seems your husband has been harassing them about the condition of a working dog he examined a few weeks ago.
This harassment continued after he certified the working dog with a clean bill of health. ”
Faith’s hands tightened around the phone. “When you say harassing…”
“Phone calls, emails, unlawful intrusions onto Marine Corps property, and acts of espionage.”
Faith recalled the pictures she’d recovered on David’s laptop of David in his car. He was holding a camera, a very expensive one that he had just bought while Faith was on assignment hunting a killer who was killing parkgoers in the Quantico area. She swallowed. “I see.”
“Norman promised me that no criminal charges would be pursued against David. He seemed more amused than anything else. He did tell me that David’s authority with Marine Corps working dogs would be revoked, and he would no longer be considered certified to examine them. That should take place today.”
“And Colonel Chastain was satisfied with that?”
“I assume so. Norman told me that Chastain is odd, but not vindictive. He’s more like a chemist who wants to be left alone to tinker with his burners and beakers.
Norman’s words. Faith, I understand you and David have endured trauma before.
I urge you to please take advantage of the Bureau’s very extensive network of therapists and mental health counselors. ”
Faith sighed. “Thank you, sir. I’ll look into it. I’m sorry to bother you with all of this.”
“No need to be sorry. As I said, I understand. But don’t worry. The Marines have better things to do than kill a civilian doctor who got a little petty over a working dog.”
“Yeah. That makes sense. Again, thank you, sir.”
“All right. Good night.”
He hung up, and Faith sighed and looked ruefully at Turk, who was watching tv, this one a cartoon about superhero dogs who rescued their town from villains whose idea of evil appeared to be splashing paint on people or causing flowers to grow uncontrollably.
“Guess Mommy and Daddy got a little paranoid, huh, bud?”
What if it was Turk?
No, you know what? It wasn’t Turk. And it wasn’t Sierra either.
It was them being jumpy and paranoid and looking for trouble when there was no trouble to be found.
Faith needed to stop making mountains out of molehills.
David was being an idiot, but he wasn’t being the kind of idiot the Marine Corps needed to kill.
Even if something was going on, what could David do about it?
What if it was Turk?
“Oh, shut the hell up.”
Turk looked at her, confused. She sighed. “Not you, boy. Mommy’s demons. They’re extra chatty today.”
Turk watched her for a second longer, then decided to trust her.
He looked at the television and started wagging his tail when one of the dogs, a puppy with boots that gave him super speed, wrapped the villains up in a leash so they couldn’t terrorize the town with sticky goo that got in everyone’s hair.
Faith’s phone rang. Michael. She sighed, steeling herself for several minutes of merciless teasing. Michael was a loyal friend and one of the best people Faith knew, but he definitely enjoyed any chance he could get to rib Faith.
She answered, smiling ruefully. “Hey, buddy.”
“Is this phone secure?”
The seriousness of Michael’s tone precluded any possibility of this being a joke. Faith’s smile vanished. “Um, it’s my Bureau phone. Is that secure enough?”
“Go into your settings.”
“Michael, what—”
“Go into your settings, open About Phone, and look at the software information. Do you see the sequence one-five-uppercase A-lowercase b-colon-exclamation point-one-asterisk anywhere in the kernel number?”
Faith blinked. She navigated to the kernel, and when she saw the sequence he described, her soul left her body. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I see it.”
“Okay, good. That means your phone is secure.”
“Michael, God damn it! Start with that! Is this one of your stupid pranks?”
“Whoa, take it easy. Not a prank. Just making sure.”
Faith sighed and pressed her left fingertips to her temple. “Okay. Sorry. I’ve been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster the past few days.”
“Yeah, I understand that. I wish I was calling with good news.”
Faith sighed again, but the scare Michael had just given her seemed to have vented most of her nervous energy, so she didn’t react with the fear she might otherwise have reacted with. “Tell me.”
“I did some crawling through some records that I’m not allowed to know exist and you’re definitely not allowed to know exist. Had to call in some favors with the NSA, but I got some information on the 93rd Testing Brigade.”
Faith’s brow furrowed. “How does the NSA owe you favors?”
“That’s a long story that I definitely want to tell you another time. The short version is that we’re still having a lot of fun up here in Philly. The point is, the 93rd Testing Brigade really exists, they really are into some crazy shit, and the threat on David’s life is very real.”
Another wave of terror ran through her. Her tongue felt thick, and a headache was coming on. “Um… Can you be more specific?”
“Yeah. The 93rd Testing Brigade isn’t actually a Marine Corps unit. It’s a CIA unit.”
Faith had endured so many shocks in such a short amount of time that she was too numb to do anything other than say, “Ah.”
“Yeah. Officially, it’s a Marine Corps unit, and the staff members are all commissioned Marine officers, but they’re really a CIA experimental unit, just like Area 51 is officially an Air Force base but is actually a CIA facility.”
Faith swallowed. “Okay. So, David somehow stepped into it with the CIA.”
“Yep. Specifically, a PsyOps black project designed to enhance human-animal interactions to improve combat utility and multimission flexibility.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure. That was all the information I was able to find. That, and the identity of the unit’s commander. Colonel Randall Chastain.”
He paused, and Faith asked, “Am I supposed to know who that is?”
“No, but you should become familiar with him because he’s a real piece of work. I can’t get much on him either, but what I can get suggests he’s a big honcho in PsyOps. That’s Psychological Operations, by the way.”
“Yeah, I got that.” The plastic of Faith’s phone case creaked from the tightness of her grip, so she set it on the table. She swallowed again and asked, “So this is some sort of MKUltra but for working dogs?”
“I think so. Like I said, I can’t find details of what exactly they do, but Chastain’s name is attached to pretty much every CIA black ops project involving psychological experimentation.”
“There are more?”
“Oh yeah. Highly illegal, all of them, but they exist. Sorry if I’m shattering your beautiful image of the world, but the CIA never stopped being unethical pieces of crap.”
Faith’s analytical mind was starting to recover from her shocks. “So, David caught them doing something illegal, and Chastain’s threatening him because he could blow the lid on a whole bevy of CIA bullshit that could get him in trouble.”
“Him, his bosses, and his bosses’ bosses. Needless to say, the CIA tends to take those things seriously.”
Faith thought back to Smythe’s assurance earlier that the Corps would never actually threaten David’s life.
He was probably right about that. The CIA, though?
They were experts at getting away with murder.
It was a big part of their job. They could erase David from existence and leave no trace of themselves behind.
Shit, Smythe.
She closed her eyes and ran her hands through her hair. “Um… I told Smythe.”
“I know. I talked to him. He thinks you’re freaking out because you’re traumatized over the Messenger, and we’re going to let him think that.”
“Yes, but he talked to the Corps.”
“I know. And that’s not good, but we can still intervene before avoiding a conflict with the CIA becomes impossible. We just need to convince David to back off. Do you think you can do that?”
Faith’s shoulders slumped. “No. Probably not. He’s really passionate about this. I’ve never seen him so obsessed with something. It’s like… It’s like I was with West.”
“Okay. Then we have two options. We make David stop, which won’t be too difficult but will frustrate him a lot and could have an impact on your marriage depending on how immature he decides to be. Or we help him.”
“Help him?”
“Yes.”
Michael’s words rang in Faith’s ears as she considered the implications of each choice. It would break her heart if this drove a rift between her and David, but if that was the price she had to pay for his safety, she would pay it.
But…
What if it was Turk?
She glanced at her dog, wagging his tail as he watched the superpowered cartoon dogs on the screen keep an evil rat from dumping trash into the ocean.
“We help him,” she told Michael.
“That’s the Faith Bold I love,” Michael said. “Platonically. Just to be clear.”
Faith rolled her eyes. She and Michael had dated briefly earlier in their partnership, but they’d split amicably and remained friends. Both were married to other people now, but from time to time, they still teased each other about their romantic past.
“So… what do we do?” she asked.
“Let me do some more background and gather some resources. We’re going to have to be very careful, which is the understatement of the century.
In the meantime, as impossible as it is, I need you to try not to worry.
This is bad, but it’s not insurmountably bad yet.
I understand you have widebodies watching David to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid. ”
She actually had widebodies to make sure no one attacked David, but considering who they were up against, she was no longer sure that was enough. “I hope so,” she replied to Michael.
“Good. Finish your case, and by the time you get home, I’ll be there, and I’ll have a plan. We’re going to be okay. He’s going to be okay.”
Faith might not be in love with Michael anymore, but the wave of affection she felt for him was so powerful that she wished he was here so she could wrap him in a bear hug. “Thank you, Michael. I really appreciate this.”
“Don’t mention it. You’d do the same for me. Take care, all right?”
“I will. Thank you again.”
He hung up, and Faith took a deep breath and released it in a heavy sigh. She felt a lot better after talking to him, but as the reality of their situation set in, a shadow fell over her mind again.
The CIA was an almost mythical agency and for good reason. They were an opponent unlike any she had ever faced. For the first time since she woke up in Trammell’s barn, Faith felt completely helpless.
Only now it was her husband’s life on the line.