Chapter 8 - The Man I Once TrustedGeneral Warren Cole had taught me my first rule of intelligence work:
Not to jail.
Not yet.
To a secure interrogation site outside Washington.
His arrest remained unofficial.
So did the betrayal he had revealed.
Rebecca personally supervised the investigation.
“We have fourteen people with access to your full file.”
“Start with eleven.”
“Why eleven?”
“Three are impossible.”
“Nobody’s impossible.”
“President’s national security adviser?”
She sighed.
“Fine. Thirteen.”
Even under stress, Rebecca could be difficult.
It was why I trusted her.
While analysts searched access logs, I returned to Emma.
She was sitting in bed coloring.
Her fever was finally gone.
When she saw me, she smiled.
“You look tired.”
“So do you.”
“I was sick.”
“What’s my excuse?”
“You’re old.”
I stared.
She giggled.
Five-year-olds were brutal.
I sat beside her.
“What are you drawing?”
“Our new house.”
The page showed something enormous with six crooked windows.
“That’s big.”
“So Grandma can live there.”
I smiled.
“And Uncle Michael.”
She added a stick figure.
Then stopped.
Her crayon hovered.
“And Aunt Sarah?”
I didn’t answer for her.
“What do you think?”
Emma frowned.
“She was mean.”
“Yes.”
“But she got scared.”
“Yes.”
“Did the bad man hurt her?”
“A little.”
Emma thought.
“Can mean people become nice?”
There are questions children ask that adults spend lifetimes answering badly.
“Sometimes.”
“How?”
“When they stop pretending the bad thing they did wasn’t bad.”
Emma nodded seriously.
“Like when I broke your coffee cup.”
“Exactly.”
“I told you.”
“You did.”
“And I said sorry.”
“You did.”
“And then you bought another one.”
“That part isn’t required.”
She smiled.
Then she added another stick figure outside the house.
I didn’t ask who it was.
Downstairs, Sarah was packing.
Michael stood beside her.
“You don’t have to leave tonight.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Where will you go?”
“My mother’s.”
Michael nodded.
Sarah zipped the bag.
“I’m starting therapy.”
He looked surprised.
She gave a weak laugh.
“I know. Shocking.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You thought it.”
He almost smiled.
Then she became serious.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me.”
Michael looked down.
“I don’t know if I can.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
“I know.”
“That makes it worse.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I know that too.”
He looked toward the stairs.
“Emma asked about you.”
Sarah froze.
“What did she say?”
“That’s between her and Caleb.”
Sarah nodded.
“Good.”
“What?”
“For once, someone is protecting her privacy.”
Michael looked at her differently.
It wasn’t forgiveness.
But it was recognition.
She was beginning to understand.
Before Sarah left, I met her in the foyer.
She looked nervous.
“I wrote something for Emma.”
She handed me an envelope.
“I won’t give it to her unless she wants it.”
“That’s fair.”
She nodded.
“Caleb.”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry.”
I waited.
She continued.
“Not because you’re a colonel.”
A bitter smile.
“Not because you have money. Not because my uncle is angry. Not because Michael left.”
Her eyes filled.
“I’m sorry because she was five and sick and trusted me.”
That mattered.
Not enough.
But it mattered.
“I believe you.”
She wiped her cheek.
“Does that mean you forgive me?”
“No.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
“I’m glad you’re getting help.”
She looked surprised.
“Why?”
“Because Tyler deserves a mother who understands why this happened.”
That landed.
She left quietly.
An hour later, Rebecca called.
“We found the leak.”
I went to the secure office.
She displayed a name.
Major General Warren Cole.
I stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Cole had been my commanding officer during my first intelligence assignment.
He had recommended me for promotion.
He had attended Caroline’s funeral.
He had held Emma when she was two years old.
“He accessed my file?”
“Six times.”
“Why?”
“Financial trouble.”
Rebecca brought up bank records.
Gambling debt.
Nearly $900,000.
Offshore transfers followed.
Varga had paid him.
I felt physically sick.
“Where is he?”
“Pentagon.”
“Does he know?”
“No.”
“We take him quietly.”
Rebecca nodded.
Then her phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Her face changed.
“What?”
“Cole just left the building.”
“Destination?”
“Unknown.”
I grabbed my jacket.
Rebecca stopped me.
“There’s more.”
She showed me another alert.
A security camera at Emma’s school had captured General Cole twenty minutes earlier.
He wasn’t alone.
My mother was with him.
I stared.
“What is she doing there?”
Then my phone rang.
Mom.
I answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
Her voice trembled.
“Caleb, I need you to listen carefully.”
“Are you with Warren Cole?”
“Yes.”
“Get away from him.”
“I can’t.”
Something scraped near the phone.
Then Cole’s voice came through.
“Hello, son.”
My blood turned cold.
“Warren.”
“I’m disappointed.”
“You sold my daughter’s identity.”
“I sold information. Varga chose how to use it.”
“That distinction won’t help you.”
He sighed.
“You always were self-righteous.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“Put her on.”
“No.”
I heard my mother whisper something.
Then Cole said:
“You’re going to bring me Varga.”
I almost laughed.
“You know that’s impossible.”
“Then Eleanor and I will take a drive.”
My fist tightened.
“You won’t get out of Virginia.”
“Maybe.”
He sounded tired.
“But after losing Caroline, do you really want to gamble with losing your mother too?”
The line went dead.
Rebecca looked at me.
I stared at the phone.
We had caught the foreign enemy.
May you like
Now the man who had once been my mentor had taken my mother.
And this time, the person I needed to outthink knew exactly how I operated.
