“Thank you.”
Dutch put his hand on the small of her back as they followed Gunner and Razor back into the room they’d met in earlier.
“By the way, I don’t know what that crap with Alegria was about earlier. I can talk to her.”
Malin shook her head. “It’s not necessary.”
“Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Dutch, I can handle myself with her. I don’t need you to intervene.”
He nodded and followed her into the room where the others were waiting.
—:—
“I don’t know how the hell you rank high enough to be in here. Any of the three of you,” Gunner said to him, Striker, and Copeland.
Dutch knew he was joking, but Copeland looked uncomfortable, and Striker looked pissed. On the other hand, Striker always had a scowl on his face.
“Here’s how I see it,” said Razor. “This is Kilbourne’s mission, so instead of Gunner and me figuring out how she wants to run it, let’s let her do it.”
Malin stood. “To recap, everyone from the agency, outside of the two of you, believes Ghafor is dead.”
“That’s correct,” answered McTiernan.
“What about Striker and Ranger?”
“As far as the agency is concerned, both are still in the hospital in varying degrees of critical condition.”
“And the two dead men?”
“Didn’t exist to begin with.”
“We need Montgomery to think that Ghafor fed me both proof and details while I was still in Pakistan. Same with Orlov. That he read me in before he was killed.”
“Montgomery will have questions before he acts,” said Striker.
Malin nodded. “What we can dangle as bait will be based on how much Ghafor knows. He may know it all, even whether United Russia is involved in the way I think they were.”
Dutch couldn’t remember a time he felt as proud as he did in that moment. Malin Kilbourne was kick-ass good at what she did. Given she’d worked for him early in her career, he gave himself a little pat on the back, but the reality was, it was all her.
It would be a damn shame if she retired at the end of this mission like she’d told him she planned to when they were in South Carolina. The world would lose one of the “good guys,” someone smart enough, brave enough, and savvy enough to take down the Islamic State, the corrupt parts of the Central Intelligence Agency, Congress, and maybe even neutralize the bad guys in the executive and judicial branches of the US government.
And United Russia? She might be able to hit them hard enough that they’d stop believing they could poke their nose into the inner-workings of America.
“Timeline?” asked McTiernan.
“Depends on when you’re leaving,” muttered Gunner. “Now probably wouldn’t be too soon.”
The agent leveled his gaze at the K19 senior partner. “I’ll remind you that your fiancée might very well have a bounty on her head if I hadn’t been part of the team that negotiated its release. Before you dismiss me, keep that in mind.”
Gunner threw his head back and laughed. “Well, look who finally showed up. Quit pussy-footing around, McTiernan. No one here is going to treat you with respect unless you prove yourself worthy of it.”
If it had been Dutch, he would’ve told Gunner to fuck off, which would’ve probably made him respect him more. McTiernan just stared him down.
“You get used to it,” Striker told his replacement. “You went to college. Hazing doesn’t end once you have a degree.”
“Pussy,” everyone in the room heard Gunner mumble, followed by Striker flipping him off.