She saw that his drink was done. “What’s your room number and what are you drinking?”
He told her the room number and said, “I’ll take an old-fashioned. Get yourself one too, if you want. It’s better to drink with company.” He offered a weak grin.
She returned from the pool bar and set the glasses down on the tile. Then she gracefully plopped into the water next to him. She went under, wetting her long black hair, and threw it over her shoulders. He watched her swim back up to the side of the pool. She was very well put together. More than just sexy. She looked like a natural athlete. That was probably what had first attracted him to her.
She saw him checking her out and smiled. Then her look changed and she took a sip from her drink. “You can tell me about everything now. The counterespionage team cleared me today. You can check with Elliot if you need to.”
The look in her eye suggested that she was hoping he would trust her.
He was drained, and a little drunk. He decided to trust her, so he told her the gist of it. He’d spent most of his day at the crime scene. Waleed had received a call earlier from one of the Dubai police detectives who had been told to inform him of any violent crimes, and they’d arrived at a skyrise that was still under construction.
“Pakvar and his goons had him strung him up from the rafters.”
“Who’s Pakvar?”
“An Iranian that we’re after. Connected to this Abu Musa business.”
“The Navy stuff?”
“No, not that. Something else. We had a source that we were going to get information from. A man that Elliot had planted within the Dubai Financial Exchange. When we got to him, he was hung over a plastic barrel and… it was sickening.” Chase looked out over the water.
She said, “If you don’t want to talk about it, it’s alright.”
“They used some type of acid, I think. The lower half of his body had melted away. You could actually see the bottom half of his skeleton in places.”
Her hand went up over her mouth. “Oh my God.”
“He had something he was supposed to give us that would let us monitor the new exchange. We had given him some software to load into their system. It was going to help us monitor any bitcoin-backed currency. They carved something in his chest, too. It looked like it might have been an American flag. They were sending us a message. It was just a bloody mess. I don’t know what kind of people would do something like this.”
“That’s awful. Were you able to get what you needed from the man before they killed him?”
“No.” He realized he was being a bit too loose-lipped. “We probably shouldn’t talk about it anymore.”
“Alright.” She rubbed his back muscles and around his neck. Then she took his glass and placed it down on the edge of the pool. She took his hands and wrapped his arms around her. They kissed in the pool, oblivious to the world around them.
She asked, “Am I helping you get your mind off it?”
Chase said, “It’s certainly helping.” He reached for his drink and took a final swig, crunching one of the ice cubes in his teeth. “Let’s stay out here all night.”
She laughed. “Fine by me.”
A poolside servant came by and they asked for two more drinks and a menu for food. An hour later, the sun was setting and they had finished off two more rounds of drinks, as well as a platter of appetizers. They stopped talking about work. Well, about their current work anyway. They traded stories about their past. About old assignments and duty stations. Funny stories and interesting events from previous missions. Chase realized that her work and attitude were very similar to his own. She was a warrior, driven by a sense of duty and honor. He admired her very much.
A custodian lit tiki torches on the perimeter of the pool as night crept closer.
“Would you like to take a walk on the beach?” he asked.
“Sure.”
They bumped into each other as they stepped, giggling drunk as they walked along the sand. About a half mile down, Lisa sat down in the light surf and Chase came up next to her. A handful of people swam in the beach in front of them.
Lisa said, “Tell me about your family.”
So he did. Chase told her all about their Navy history and his father being the admiral who had just been relieved of command. He suspected that she already knew that, but she seemed to be surprised and impressed. He also told her about their mother dying and Victoria being deployed and David…
“What do you mean, he was on the list?”
Oh shit. He shouldn’t have let that slip.
“It was…” He tried to find the right words, but he had consumed too many drinks. Plus, it was just so much easier to tell the truth. “I met with Gorji’s man. He said he had a list of people that were going to give information to them on the island.”
“What island?”
“Abu Musa. What other island is there?”
She shrugged.
“Anyway, so apparently this list of Americans contains the names of informants. Traitors or something. So then before he leaves he gives me an envelope. He says that the reason they wanted to speak to me is because I know someone on the list. That I can verify that the list is real, because the person I know will be able to prove it or something.”
Lisa seemed much more sober than he did, which was both extraordinary and concerning. She said, “And you are saying that your brother David was on this list?”
“He handed me the envelope, and the name David Manning was written on it. Yes.”
“Hmm.” She looked down at the sand for a moment and then said, “And what did Elliot say when you told him this?”
“He said not to talk to David. That he had to run it up the chain or some bullshit. I feel like such a traitor. He’s my brother. He would never do anything like that. I have no idea if there really is a list or why he would be on it. Even Elliot knows that it might be some misinformation play. But I’ve got to keep quiet for now. It was either betray David or my country. I guess I’m just too well trained.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I see.”
“What do you think I should do?”
“Well, legally I would suggest that you obey Elliot.”
He sighed. He knew that she was right.
“But personally,” she added, “I wouldn’t leave it alone, either.”
He said, “What would you do, then?”
“Do your homework and gather more information. But I wouldn’t say anything to David. Whether he is or is not doing something that he shouldn’t be, you talking directly to him would not be appropriate. Where did you say he works?”
“A company called In-Q-Tel.”
“Right. Okay, I’ll tell you what. I’m headed to D.C. in a few days for work. I’ll be there for a couple weeks.”
“Really?”
He was surprised. She hadn’t said anything to him until now. Not that she had to. It wasn’t like they were dating or anything.
“I know someone at Langley who interacts with In-Q-Tel. I could have him discreetly check up on David for you. If he turns anything up, I’ll bring it back to you and we can talk about next steps. If my contact doesn’t find anything, then there is probably nothing to find. Either way, I don’t agree with the Elliot’s suggestion that you leave it all to him. I couldn’t do that, if it was my family.”
Chase nodded. “I mean, after Elliot runs it up the chain, I think that we’d be doing this sort of thing anyway, right? Doing our due diligence on him and anyone else on that list.”