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Going up in the elevator, Cody clipped his ID badge to the lapel of his jacket, reency cooperation—or lack of it The CIA and the FBI both knew about the existence of the agency—they just didn’t like it Maybe that hy they grudgingly shared information, and only when they had to
The agency was a hybrid, created in secret long after 9/11 to do what neither the CIA nor the FBI had ency was the “suspenders” portion of a “belt and suspenders” defense Or you could call it a “better safe than sorry” organization, Cody thought with a touch of wry hu over in hisfollowed
Either way you looked at it, the agency could legally do things the “alphabet soup” agencies—the CIA, FBI, NSA, DEA, ATF and DHS—couldn’t
That didn’t ency was above the law Cody couldn’t have worked there if it was—he still retained a strict moral code about that, a holdover from the way he’d been raised and the soal was still to obtain prosecutable evidence of crimes and turn that evidence over to federal prosecutors Butthey had latitude
It wouldn’t work if the agency didn’t have people like D’Arcy running it, Cody acknowledged to hie that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely But there were a few absolutely incorruptible people, and Nick D’Arcy was one of them
Cody started to get off at the fifth floor, then realized he had so else he had to do first He punched the button for the top floor, riding the elevator all the way up impatiently He walked into D’Arcy’s outer office and told his executive assistant, “I need five minutes of his time”
She assessed him as she had earlier in the day, then picked up the phone and pushed a button “Cody Walker is back He needs five lanced at her watch, and Cody knew she’d be ti him
He didn’t waste any seconds on small talk As soon as he closed the door, he said, “I talked to Callahan He’s fine with McKinnon I also convinced him we need Jones in on this, but it wasn’t easy”
D’Arcy flashed his teeth in a s it?”
“I reminded hianization” He hesitated, then added, “And I told him how I met her That I—”
D’Arcy frowned and interrupted him “Was that absolutely necessary?”
Cody ret, but nodded “He needed to understand the kind of woman she is” He stopped short as he realized the other man kne he’d met Keira Then he remembered D’Arcy’s curious comment earlier, that Keira already knew Cody “How do you kno I met her? I never said”
“It’s ,” D’Arcy said with a faint smile Then he stated unequivocally, “I told her the story wouldn’t get out”
“She told you what happened?” Cody was surprised
“She ca Said she felt she owed it to you to see that you didn’t get into trouble over blowing your cover She even offered nation, which I obviously didn’t accept”
“I don’t follow you” Cody’s brows knit in puzzleent?”
“She recognized your name when you introduced yourself afterward Said she knew then who you were, that you had to be undercover Said she wouldn’t let you take her to the hospital or to the police because she didn’t want to compromise whatever operation was in play any more than she already had”
“Damn,” Cody said “I wish I’d known” He drew a quick breath “But even if I had, I would still have needed leverage to convince Callahan” He chuckled ruefully “I told him Keira reminded me of his wife, that she would shoot me if necessary”