Chapter One
Grady Kenton stormed through the glass security doors of the CIA’s Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis Desk in the Intelligence Division located in the maze of halls at Langley. He was looking for the one woman who could give him the answers he sought. He didn’t care about the curious stares he was receiving as he made his way through the sea of cubicles facing the multitude of executive offices lining the outer wall. The analysts who worked here didn’t get an office with a view—at least, not until they had been promoted to the level of their incompetence.
When Grady had a choice between the two separated hallways, he veered down the left corridor with a purpose. The office he was targeting was the last one on the left, offering a view out of the specially designed windows of multiple rows of pine trees. The vista was definitely a one-way experience, deliberately constructed to keep prying eyes from determining what was going on inside one of the world’s most secretive buildings. It would also prevent anyone from seeing or hearing the upcoming argument that was about to ensue.
“Sir, you can’t—”
Grady held up his agency identification badge dangling from his company lanyard without breaking stride, most of these employees knowing exactly who he was and the influence he had at the highest levels within the National Clandestine Services (NCS) Division at the Agency. He’d worked hard in garnering the rank of Lieutenant Colonel from his career in the Marine Corps within the Intelligence field and he’d been recruited as a senior planning and operations advisor to the CIA after his retirement from the military.
He was good at his job and worked closely with those within his particular department. This young administrative assistant was notably not among them, but at least he had the wisdom to step aside while lifting his coffee mug out of the way of Grady’s headlong path.
It didn’t surprise Grady to find the dark wooden door to Brienne Chaylse’s office currently closed. Their paths had crossed numerous times throughout his years in the military, especially during his lead role in dismantling the fledgling IRG leadership cabal formed shortly after the invasion during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was always conscientious of their personal boundaries and it was rare he ever entered into the Intelligence Division’s territory without at least a courtesy heads-up, but he was too irate to mind his manners or professional protocol at the moment. He glanced back at her assistant as the man buzzed him in and opened the door a little harder than necessary, but he might as well get his point across early on.
“When were you going to tell me, for Christ’s sake?” Grady demanded, seeking Brienne out and finding her seated behind her cluttered desk as expected.
She’d been conducting a meeting with Bob Jensen, one of the other office POG analysts Grady didn’t particularly like, when she broke off the conversation. The fact that she didn’t seem too surprised to see Grady when he should be on a plane to Florida on a counterintelligence case told him all he needed to know about her motives. She’d gone behind his back with information related to an old friend’s death and she hadn’t had the decency to inform him.
Jensen immediately stood after clearing his throat, the slender man not needing an invitation to leave what he had to know would be a volatile discussion. He didn’t lack common sense and ducked out of the office quickly, closing the door behind him as he muttered something about picking up the discussion at a later date. It would be a long wait if Grady had anything to say about it.
“I did everything exactly by the book, Grady,” Brienne informed him in a rather confident tone, which only made him more intent on forcing her hand on this one. She was too self-assured in what she’d done to see the irreparable damage she had most likely caused to a very dear friend of his. “It’s my case. I dotted every I and crossed every T before I made that phone call. It was the right thing to do, given the situation.”
“For who?” Grady wanted to know, shaking his head at her naïve knowledge of the situation. It was times like these that highlighted their age difference and level of experience. His proficiency at the tradecraft required to operate in the field had taught him better than to react with emotion. “You? So you could claim you did your job well, according to procedure?”
Brienne leaned back in her chair with conviction brimming in her blue eyes over what Grady believed to be a terrible decision, looking every bit as poised as he knew her to be. Her long blonde hair had been pulled back into a bun, but in such a manner that a person could see the soft natural curls while she maintained her professionalism. Her features reminded him of the actress Gene Teirney, whose classic beauty reigned back in the mid-1940s. He had a penchant for the black and white films, and at the moment he would have given anything to go back to an era where things hadn’t been so complicated. Brienne had made a terrible mistake and it wasn’t something he could easily fix.
“Catori Starr is a good friend of mine…and that of the director’s as well,” Grady explained slowly, not telling Brienne anything she didn’t already know. He purposefully closed the distance to the front of her desk, leaning down to rest his knuckles on the hard surface. He needed to get across to her the damage she’d done. “Starr’s been through hell and back after losing her husband, and you calling to tell her about some outdated intelligence from an unknown source to give her an unrealistic hope he might still be alive wasn’t your best work, Brienne. And I will have to justify your position while discussing this whole incident with the director, because what you did affects operations. Starr is the owner and operator of Red Starr HRT, and she has every right to know that the bodies of her original team were never recovered because there is no official record of their deaths according to the Pakistani government. You have no idea what you have set into motion. You should know better than most.”
“Don’t you dare go there, Colonel.” Brienne abruptly stood, causing her black leather chair to roll into the windowsill behind her with a thud. Her white jacket was unbuttoned and revealed a red camisole he’d never seen her wear before. Another thing she never did was call him by his nickname used by those around the Agency, preferring to use his given name, but it proved he finally had her attention. Good, because her saying she’d just been doing her job didn’t cut it when it came to the shakers and movers within their community. Her hands started waving in her usual manner as she tried to explain a decision he would never agree with, but he didn’t think it was charming at the moment. “I’m not saying they are alive, but they were not killed the day they made their way into that Christian enclave to rescue those mission workers as we originally suspected. She deserves to know and more importantly, she has clearance from people farther up the ladder than I could ever hope to be. My hands were tied and I did what I had been directed to do. You don’t get to pass judgment on me for doing my duty. Besides, the intelligence I received was good or else I would never have forwarded it on.”
“Based on what? Who?” Grady shot back, demanding to know the identity of Brienne’s source. He had a personal stake in this and had every right to know where she was getting her information. “Starr and her team are a primary operational independent contractor for the NCS. You may have just fucked that up. We’re talking years old information and most likely from someone who’s requesting a lighter sentence in exchange for a pack of fucking lies. Hell, you weren’t even the chief liaison back then. And now you’re allowing this bastard to give false hope to a woman who’s already gone through the grieving process and picked up the pieces of her life and moved on. You never should have made that call without first talking to me.”
“Why?” Brienne countered fiercely, leaning down and setting her manicured hands in front of his. Her red lips, perfectly outlined with her favorite lipstick, were inches from his and her warm breath caressed his clean-shaven chin. Grady should have been more prepared for where she was going to take this, but her brutally honest words were still like bullets striking his hardened flesh. “Because you never got over the death of your wife?”
Grady couldn’t have heard her right, but damn if Brienne didn’t appear a little shocked at her own words. He pushed off of her desk as slowly as he could, doing his best not to pick up the clear paperweight she’d had in the same place for the last four years and throw it through the exceptionally expensive electronic window behind her. He inhaled deeply to give himself balance and turned away from Brienne, not wanting her to see how her accusation stung. She knew based on personal facts better than most that he’d moved on with his life.
“If I recall correctly, it was your bed I left this morning.” Grady was willing to fight fire with fire as he turned back around to witness Brienne’s reaction. This was a battle she’d never win. “I’d say my grieving process has been quite comprehensive, wouldn’t you?”
Grady hadn’t meant for this conversation to come around to them, but Brienne had been the first one to throw down the gauntlet. Yes, his wife had died and left him a widower over five years ago now. Had he loved her? More than his own life, and he would have traded places with her in a split second if he’d known a suicide bomber was going to make his way into the makeshift hospital tent during one of Madison’s mission trips with Doctors Without Borders. He’d grieved and he’d moved on…most recently with Brienne. They made excellent bed partners and both were happy with the way things developed, so he was confused as to why she would throw Madison’s death into the conversation like she had. It was unfair and it was downright uncalled for.
“Touché,” Brienne murmured with one brow arched higher than the other before she straightened from her desk and pulled her chair back in place. Grady would have sworn he saw a flicker of hurt flash in her baby blues, but her professional mask was back in place by the time she was seated. She gestured toward one of her guest chairs, but he walked to the corner window and stared out over the numerous rows of enveloping pine trees basking in the morning sun. He was still on edge and he needed time to collect himself. “Grady, this isn’t about us. I had a job to do and I felt it in Starr’s best interest she be furnished with all the available information on hand to do with as she wishes. It’s pointless to even discuss this. Technically, the case has been reviewed by the after action board and closed. The original members of Red Starr HRT were officially declared dead for legal purposes a while back and we aren’t pursuing this unless we are given a mandate or something more concrete is developed. It’s over and done with.”
“Which is precisely the reason you never should have communicated any further information to Starr. Did you know she and her team were the ones who rescued those Nigerian girls a couple of months ago? She received your message during that mission and it was a distraction we didn’t need on our side of the house.” Grady shook his head at this endless circle they were traveling in, deciding to appeal to Brienne’s softer side. He knew it well and she wasn’t the hardass her office personnel thought she was. “You know of my friendship with Red, as well as the fact that I keep in contact with Starr personally and not just professionally. I’m directly requesting you to keep me in the loop from here on out—before making any further calls. I’d rather she hear anything of importance from me than a—”
“Complete fucking stranger?” Brienne asked, not so subtly pointing out the barriers each had put into place back in the day. Grady shot her a cross glance, noticing she’d closed her eyes in irritation as if she were the one with the right to feel betrayed. The words she used in place of what he was going to say didn’t sit well with him. “This is the way you wanted it, Grady. We lead separate lives, inside and outside of this office. My professional dealings don’t always require your review.”
Grady waited for Brienne to say more, but she fell quiet. It made him think she knew more than she was letting on. He could easily go over her head to obtain the means in which she’d acquired her intelligence, but he didn’t want to have to do that. She’d been pulling away from him little by little this last year and he wasn’t quite sure of the reason why. He’d actually put it on the back burner to deal with after his trip to Florida, which apparently wasn’t going to happen now. He made a mental note to get in touch with the FBI Special Agent-In-Charge, because it was clear he was staying in Virginia to deal with personal matters.
“You want to know what I revealed to Starr? I was able to gather intel on the day Red and his team were supposed to meet with their contact at the rendezvous point near a village outside Islamabad. My source gave names, dates, and times corresponding with the hostage rescue mission Red Starr had been assigned to. Red and his team never arrived, Grady.”
“We had solid intelligence Red and his team ran into a large group of well-armed insurgents,” Grady countered, wanting the name of Brienne’s source, but knowing she wouldn’t give it. Pakistan was technically considered an ally, but those within the Agency knew better. Any intelligence given on behalf of America always made it back to the factions who were closely related to those same terrorists the United States was fighting against. It made it very hard to get things done. “I was at Starr’s side when she received confirmation. Your guy doesn’t have the slightest idea what he is talking about.”
“My source is a woman and she’s not wrong.” Brienne picked up a pen from her desk and rolled it in between her fingers as she appeared to think over what she was going to say next. Grady leaned a shoulder against the windowpane, feeling the slight electronic vibration while studying her features and trying to get a fix on what was different today than any other for the past four years of their relationship. She was right, to an extent. They always tried to maintain their professional roles during work hours, but there was a chill in the air he didn’t like. “Should anything else arise as a result of this source’s information, I’ll judge then if it’s something you should know professionally.”
Grady stiffened at Brienne’s dismissal, not liking this side of her and not willing to let her put any more distance between them at the moment than he’d already allowed. He leisurely crossed her office floor and walked around her desk, leaning down until his hands rested on the arms of her chair. He always gave her his full attention and now was no different. He was at eye level and it took her a moment to meet his stare. It was then he realized she’d made another decision without consulting him…this time on a subject a little more personal, and he hadn’t thought that was possible.
Brienne was leaving him.