Call to Treason - Tom Clancy [56]
"Do we know anything about Katherine Lockley and Kendra Peterson?" Hood asked.
"A little," McCaskey said. He leaned over Hood, typed his password on the keyboard, and opened the file he had collected on Senator Orr's staff.
"Lockley was a journalist before joining Orr," McCaskey said, looking at his notes. "I checked her bylines, her college records. She checks out. Peterson was a Vietnam war baby, Marine dad, came to live here when she was a kid. She's a gymnast, a national champion in her early teens who missed out on the Olympics because of tendonitis in her fingers. She joined the Marines and managed to pass the physical, though the tendonitis returned, and she ended up working in Camp Pendleton on the DANTES program."
"Which is?"
"Not as ominous at it sounds," McCaskey told him. "It's the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support certification program.
She pushed paper to make sure qualified Marines got a good shot at civilian jobs."
"Is that all she did?"
"It's the only job on record," McCaskey said. "When her enlistment was up, Ms. Peterson used her DANTES connections to get herself a job as a clerk in the U.S. embassy in Japan. That often means a spook."
"Did she pick Japan?"
"That was what the Military Outplacement Specialty Office came up with," McCaskey said.
"No obvious red flags there," Hood said. "Who else is on the senator's staff?"
McCaskey went through the remainder of the list and what he had gathered about each individual. No one stood out.
Hood sighed as McCaskey walked back around the desk. "I don't know, Darrell. You've shown me how Link is qualified to mastermind this but not a single reason why he would."
"Why was Wilson at that party?"
"According to the news reports, so that Orr's friends could make a connection, try to temper his plans," Hood said.
"Is that easier to believe than the fact that Wilson was being set up?"
McCaskey asked.
"Frankly, yes. I don't see the trail of bread crumbs that leads from Wilson to Link. Senator Orr is wealthy, and he has extremely wealthy friends. They could have set up a program to challenge Wilson. In fact, that would have made a very strong campaign plank. Even if Link wanted to sabotage Orr's campaign for some reason, make it appear that he was behind the murder, why kill a second businessman? No," Hood said, "I don't see how they connect."
"Okay. Here's a reason Link might have wanted Wilson dead," McCaskey said. "Publicity for Orr. Guilty by innuendo, then exonerated by the second murder."
"Possibly."
"Or maybe Link is a sociopath who misses the thrill of undercover operations," McCaskey said. "I know I do."
"You were stopping transgressions, not instigating them," Hood pointed out.
"Whether you snort, smoke, or inject, danger is a tonic," McCaskey said. "Look, Paul. I don't know why he would do this. I only have a feeling that there's something here."
"How much time will you need to explore this feeling?"
"Forty-eight hours?"
Hood frowned. "Take a day and see where it leads. I can't promise you more than that."
"All right."
"You also have to decide about Mike," Hood went on. "Until I have his resignation, he's still working with us."
"What do you think?"
"Tough call. If he finds out, he'll think we couldn't trust him. But he'd also feel obligated to tell Link. Best to give him plausible deniability for now."
"Good call. Speaking of calls, I'm going to let Maria know what's up.
She might have some ideas."
"Good idea," Hood said. He thought for a moment. "Mike is an honorable man. He may not like what we're doing, but if he smells something wrong, he'll act."
McCaskey smiled.
"Did I miss something?" Hood asked.
"The smile, you mean? Yeah. You never leave us out to dry."
"You lost me," Hood said.
"You said that Mike may not like what we're doing," McCaskey told him as he turned to go. "You don't pass the buck, Paul."
Hood did not realize he had done that.
When McCaskey had gone, Hood went