Line of Control - Tom Clancy [40]
"Yes, but they've worked with Friday," Hood said.
"They'll give Striker more freedom because they trust Friday."
"There's an irony in there somewhere," Herbert said.
"Look, I see where you're coming from," Hood acknowledged.
"Friday worked for Fenwick. Fenwick betrayed his country. But we have to be careful about pushing guilt by association."
"How about guilt by criminal activity?" Herbert said.
"Whatever Friday was doing in Baku was removed from his file."
"That's assuming he was working for the NSA," Hood said.
"I just put in a call to Deputy Ambassador Williamson in Baku. Her personal file says that Friday worked as her aide. He was on loan from the NSA to collect intelligence on the oil situation. There's no reason to assume the CIA involved him in the hunt for the Harpooner.
And Jack Fenwick was playing with fire. He may not have told Friday what the NSA was really doing in the Caspian."
"Or Fenwick may have sent him there," Herbert pointed out.
"Friday's oil credentials made him the perfect inside man." "You'll need to prove that one," Hood said.
Herbert didn't like that answer. When his gut told him something he listened to it. To him. Hood's habit of being a devil's advocate was one of his big weaknesses. Still, from the perspective of accountability Hood was doing the right thing. That was why Hood was in charge of Op-Center and Herbert was not. They could not go back to the CIOC and tell them they called off the mission or were concerned about Friday's role in it because of Herbert's intuition.
The phone beeped. It was Dorothy Williamson. Hood put the phone on speaker. He was busy typing something on his keyboard as he introduced himself and Herbert. Then he explained that they were involved in a joint operation with Ron Friday. Hood asked if she would mind sharing her impressions of the agent.
"He was very efficient, a good attorney and negotiator, and I was sorry to lose him," she said.
"Did he interact much with the two Company men, the ones who were killed by the Harpooner's man?" Hood asked.
"Mr. Friday spent a great deal of time with Mr. Moore and Mr. Thomas,"
Williamson replied.
"I see," Hood said.
Herbert felt vindicated. Friday's interaction with the men should have shown up in his reports to the NSA. Now he knew the file had been sanitized.
"For the record, Mr. Hood, I do want to point out one thing," Williamson said.
"The Company agents were not killed by one assassin but by two."
That caught Herbert by surprise.
"There were two assassins at the hospital," the deputy ambassador went on.
"One of them was killed. The other one got away. The Baku police department is still looking for him."
"I did not know that," Hood said.
"Thank you."
Herbert's gut growled a little. The two CIA operatives were killed getting medical attention for a visiting agent who had been poisoned by the Harpooner. Fenwick's plan to start a Caspian war had depended upon killing all three men at the hospital. Fenwick certainly would have asked Friday for information regarding the movements of the CIA operatives.
And just as certainly that information would have been deleted from Friday's files. But after the two men were killed, Friday had to have suspected that something was wrong. He should have confided in Williamson or made sure he had a better alibi.
Unless he was a willing part of Fenwick's team.
"Bob Herbert here. Madam Deputy Ambassador," Herbert said.
"Can you tell me where Mr. Friday was on the night of the murders?"
"In his apartment, as I recall," Williamson informed him.
"Did Mr. Friday have anything to say after he learned about the killings?" Herbert pressed.
"Not really," she said.
"Was he concerned for his own safety?" Herbert asked.
"He never expressed any worries," she said.
"But there was not a lot of time for chat. We were working hard to put down a war."
Hood shot Herbert a glance. The intelligence chief sat back, exasperated, as Hood complimented her on her efforts during the crisis.
That was Paul Hood. Whatever the situation he always had the presence