The Chimera Secret

by Dean Crawford

  William Steel’s tone betrayed no rancour as he replied.

  ‘No, Mr. Jarvis. Only that they can be more closely monitored and their allegiance assured.’

  Jarvis’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘That’s utter crap and every man around this table knows it. What’s the CIA’s stake here?’

  Tyler Morris raised a hand, silencing Steel’s response.

  ‘Gentlemen, the fact remains that we have a situation here that is best resolved by ensuring a return to more traditional methods. Outsourcing is all well and good for administration purposes, but for sensitive investigations I propose that we require trained, qualified agents to take over within this department of the DIA.’

  Jarvis raised an eyebrow at Tyler.

  ‘The same trained, qualified agents that tossed those same cases aside before we picked them up and solved them?’

  ‘We’ll review our analysis procedures,’ Tyler Morris rumbled back.

  ‘Sure you will.’

  General Hank Butcher, Chief of the Army, shook his head.

  ‘What’s your problem with this?’ he asked Jarvis. ‘Why are you so opposed to military influence in your investigations?’

  ‘Because it’s not influence the CIA wants,’ Jarvis replied. ‘This is about control. They dropped the ball time after time when these investigations came up, passing them off as the stuff of myth and mystery. Now, they see that we’re getting results at the DIA and they’re throwing a hissy fit because they want to play.’

  ‘That’s not the case,’ William Steel snapped, finally showing his anger. ‘We’re interested only in what you haven’t done, not what you’ve achieved.’

  ‘Fine,’ Jarvis said. ‘I’ll send Warner and Lopez down to Quantico for some training and get them badged officially to the agency. Satisfied?’

  Steel squirmed. Jarvis could see him grinding his teeth in his jaw.

  ‘No,’ he replied. ‘This operation is over, period.’

  ‘Is that an order now?’ Jarvis mocked. ‘I thought that in terms of rank you were the smallest fish in the room.’

  Abraham Mitchell intervened, his voice quiet but forceful enough to cut through the tension.

  ‘Doug, for now I think it’s best if we draw this operation to a close until something can be worked out.’

  Jarvis looked at Mitchell and slowly shook his head.

  ‘Y’know, I had you down as pretty solid, Abe. Didn’t realize you’d fold so easily just because the JCs are flashing their pretty medals and ribbons at you.’

  ‘It’s practicality, not pressure!’ Mitchell growled back. ‘Every man at this table is in basic agreement except you. We can put it to a vote if you like, Doug, make it real fair.’

  ‘Fair?’ Jarvis uttered. ‘Nothing’s fair when it comes to inter-agency squabbling. I don’t suppose this has gone up as far as the Director of Intelligence, has it?’

  ‘This is a manpower issue,’ Steel replied. ‘It’s not something we need to off-load on him.’

  ‘Perish the thought,’ Jarvis said as he looked at the Director of the CIA and got up from his seat. ‘He might disagree and wonder whether the CIA has an ulterior motive for shutting us down, and then what would you do?’

  ‘Shut you down anyway,’ Steel uttered.

  Jarvis shot Mitchell a look of pure contempt. ‘Are we done here?’

  Mitchell nodded once, curtly. Jarvis turned, and had almost made it to the door when Steel’s voice reached him.

  ‘Jarvis. Where are Warner and Lopez right now?’

  ‘Busy,’ Jarvis said as he opened the office door.

  ‘Busy where?’

  Mitchell looked at Jarvis. ‘Doug, their whereabouts is not a big deal.’

  ‘Busy in Idaho,’ Jarvis replied finally. ‘Why?’

  ‘Pull them out, immediately,’ Steel snapped.

  ‘They’re dark, out of reach,’ Jarvis lied. ‘I’ll pull them out when they make contact, or are we intending to put their lives at risk by going in there and searching for them in plain view of potential enemies of the state?’

  Jarvis saw a tremor of unease flicker like a shadow behind the director’s eyes.

  ‘What are they doing in Idaho?’ Steel demanded.

  Jarvis smiled at him, then stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  ‘He’s up to something,’ General Butcher said. ‘Had it written all over his face.’

  ‘He’s supposed to be up to things,’ Mitchell replied defensively. ‘That’s what we pay him for.’

  Steel leaned on the table.

  ‘It’s not his job to risk the exposure of classified projects to—’

  ‘Oh, cut the crap,’ Mitchell interrupted him. ‘We all know that the CIA just wants to take control of Jarvis’s operation and the credit that goes with it. If you had sharpened up in Israel when Warner first appeared on the scene we wouldn’t be having this conversation.’

  ‘He’s a liability, a wild card,’ Steel snapped back. ‘He’s got his own mission and he’ll prioritize that before any concerns for national security. Look what happened in Israel – he damned near caused an international incident because he doesn’t know when to stop.’

  ‘By his own mission, I presume you’re referring to his fiancée, Joanna Defoe?’ Mitchell asked.

  ‘Warner’s still hung up on her,’ William Steel acknowledged, and then backtracked. ‘But she is irrelevant to this. It’s his attitude and methods that are our problem.’

  ‘Strange,’ Mitchell said, ‘that you should know so much about a bail bondsman. If I didn’t know better I’d say you’ve been watching him.’

  ‘Beyond the scope of this discussion,’ Steel muttered.

  There was silence for a moment before John Griffiths spoke.

  ‘Warner’s fitness report from the marines says it all: he’ll either do nothing or he’ll go at something full-on like a bull at a red flag, regardless of orders. From what we’ve seen of his history working with the DIA he’s illegally crossed international borders, blown up apartment blocks, damned near got a senator killed and is now doing God knows what in Idaho. As for his partner, Lopez, I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.’

  ‘I’m aware of their volatile nature,’ Mitchell replied to the Joint Chiefs as one. ‘I’m also aware of their extraordinary devotion to their work. They get results where, frankly, other agencies do not.’

  ‘What are they working on in Idaho?’ Steel asked. ‘Can they be pulled out without Jarvis’s help?’

  Steel stared expectantly at Mitchell, who decided to give Jarvis the benefit of the doubt once again, just to see the spook’s irritation.

  ‘Not if they’re dark,’ Mitchell said. ‘Jarvis requested an armed unit to support them, which I forwarded to the 116th Brigade at Gowen Field. Whatever they’re up to, it needs firepower.’

  ‘National Guard units are easily tracked,’ Morris Tyler noted. ‘Shouldn’t be too hard to keep them under surveillance, even in the field.’

  General Butcher opened his hands palm up on the table. ‘So, what do we do with them?’

  Mitchell sighed.

  ‘I’ll ensure that when they return from this latest expedition Jarvis retires them from operations and revokes any clearances they might have. Beyond that, there’s very little more that I can do.’

  ‘You can surrender all of the paperwork pertaining to their operations to me,’ Steel said. ‘That way, we can assess what happened and ensure there is no repeat performance when the CIA takes over.’

  Every man in the room looked at the CIA director for a long beat before Butcher spoke.

  ‘What’s the big deal?’ he asked. ‘You’ve already got what you want. Where’s the fire?’

  Steel hesitated, as though unsure of whether to address the question or not.

  ‘Covert ops,’ he replied finally. ‘There’s a danger that Warner’s work in one area might uncover CIA investigations in another. It’ll be a lot easier for us all if Warner’s out of
sight and out of mind.’

  Mitchell leaned forward on the table. ‘What investigations?’ he demanded.

  ‘There are no secrets at this level,’ John Griffiths said to Steel, ‘unless the CIA are up to something that Congress doesn’t know about, which I’m sure they would be most displeased to hear.’

  Steel stood from the table and made his way to the door without replying. He opened it just as Abraham Mitchell spoke again.

  ‘Interesting, that you have gone to such great lengths to protect a covert CIA op when you didn’t actually know where Ethan Warner and Nicola Lopez were. Or did you?’

  Steel made no reply as he closed the door behind him.

  22

  DIXIE-US FOREST SERVICE AIRPORT, NEZ PERCE NATIONAL FOREST, IDAHO

  ‘Remember the last time we tried to pull a stunt like this? It didn’t end so well.’

  Lopez’s voice crackled into Ethan’s antiquated headphones above the clatter of the Cessna’s engine as it descended toward what was little more than a dirt-strip buried between soaring mountains deep in the forest. As the aircraft bobbed and weaved on the wind currents and the pilot struggled to keep the wings level, Ethan shrugged.

  ‘We’re no good to anybody sitting in a motel in Riggins. This is our only option right now.’

  The Cessna thumped down onto the dusty airstrip as the pilot pulled the throttles back to idle. The engine settled down to a soft chugging as he taxied off the strip into a parking area flanked by a scattering of low sheds. What struck Ethan most of all was how completely devoid the area was of evidence of humanity’s presence. Just thirty miles east of Riggins, it may as well have been another planet. There were no roads and no vehicles. Dense forest surrounded the entire strip, with only Forest Service trails disappearing into the trees in various directions. Low clouds obscured a pale flare of light where the sun was struggling to break through.

  ‘Here we go again,’ Lopez said as the aircraft’s engine spluttered to a stop.

  The pilot helped them unpack their gear from the rear of the aircraft then bade them farewell and good hunting. He climbed back aboard and within a couple of minutes the Cessna soared back into the air, giving them a quick wiggle of the wings before turning and departing to the west.

  Within sixty seconds it was out of sight and the forest was deathly silent around them.

  ‘Supposed to be very scenic out here,’ Ethan said to Lopez as they stood alone beside the airstrip.

  ‘Jeez, forgot my camera,’ she uttered in reply. ‘What the hell are we doing out here, Ethan? Look at this place. It’s bigger than God’s garden and we don’t have a damned clue where to start looking for Cletus MacCarthy’s body. Plus there’s nobody here to meet us.’

  ‘Fox Creek,’ he replied, unpacking a map from the back of his heavy bergen and unfolding it. ‘That was where Jesse said the attack happened. And our scientist friends will be here soon.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Lopez agreed, ‘and I’m sure our big-footed killer left us a signposted trail to follow. This is the outdoors, Ethan. Horrible creatures live and die here, decompose and then get eaten by other horrible creatures. We’ll be lucky to find bones.’

  ‘You don’t like the outdoors much, do you?’ he smiled as he studied the map.

  ‘Not when it’s full of bad-mannered, head-smashing giants, no.’

  ‘Could just be a wounded animal of some kind.’

  ‘Thank God for that. Five hundred pounds of enraged grizzly makes me feel a lot better.’

  ‘It’s out that way,’ Ethan said, pointing to the northeast, ‘about five miles along this trail.’

  ‘What is?’ Lopez grumbled as she hauled her bergen onto her back.

  ‘Dixie,’ Ethan said. ‘The scientists are probably already there, so we’ll meet them on the way and then head into the forest to rendezvous with the escort team.’

  Lopez made a disapproving sound but said nothing as they set out along the track.

  Ethan could see that there were tire marks in the dusty sand of the track. Dixie was a small settlement nestled deep into the hills, mostly farmsteads and smallholdings. It had taken him a moment to find it on the map, so small was it amid the immense wilderness, but the people who lived there needed access to the highway in their trucks. That meant that if the scientists used their no doubt prodigious intellect, they would drive out to meet Ethan and Lopez and save them the trek.

  ‘You ever think about the places that your friend Jarvis keeps sending us?’ Lopez asked as they walked, her voice sounding strangely loud in the silence.

  Ethan shrugged. ‘Not so much. He’s our employer, we just do what he asks.’

  ‘I guess,’ she replied. ‘Just it seems that with time we’re getting put up against ever more dangerous odds and in ever more remote locations. It’s like he’s trying to get us killed.’

  ‘You don’t trust him.’

  ‘Nope,’ she replied without hesitation. ‘He’s got his own agenda, Ethan, and we’re not high up on his list of priorities.’

  Ethan stared at his boots as they walked, Natalie’s recent revelation ringing in his ears. They, and their family, had been kept under observation by at least one government agency in an operation running for years. The implications were too great for him to even begin considering, the questions far too many. That Doug Jarvis was behind it seemed remote, but then how could he be sure?

  ‘My sister and family have been under surveillance,’ he said finally. ‘Natalie found out during her work at the Capitol.’

  Lopez looked at him as her jaw dropped open. ‘When did you find that out?’

  ‘Yesterday,’ Ethan admitted.

  ‘And you didn’t figure on telling me about it then?’

  ‘I’m telling you about it now.’

  ‘Honored, I’m sure,’ Lopez muttered.

  ‘It’s not Jarvis doing the surveillance,’ Ethan said.

  ‘And you know that how?’

  Ethan found himself stumped. Between serving as his lieutenant in the Marine Corps to working for him at the DIA was a six-year gap where they’d had no contact. Who knew what the old man might have gotten involved with during the intervening years?

  Then he remembered all that Jarvis had done for him, what he had now compared to when the old man had first approached him years before when he had been barely scraping through life, living in a battered apartment in downtown Chicago.

  ‘He gave me my life back,’ Ethan said finally. ‘Doesn’t mean much to you, I know, but when we need him to he goes the distance for us. He damned near got himself killed in New York last year trying to help us.’

  Lopez said nothing for a while, but Ethan could see that she was mulling it all over, and he could hardly blame her for questioning the risks they were taking. Six months ago they’d almost died 2,000 feet beneath the surface of the Florida Straits. The year before that they’d almost been buried alive in New Mexico, and prior to that Ethan had almost lost his life in Israel. Now, they were strolling out into immense wilderness to search for a wild creature that had already killed at least two people.

  Bail jumpers, by comparison, seemed tame foes.

  ‘I just wonder when the money we earn from doing this is outweighed by the likelihood of, y’know, dying,’ Lopez said. ‘I’ve got my family to think about.’

  ‘We’ve been here before,’ Ethan said. ‘We agreed it was worth it. Besides, it was your idea to work for the DIA.’

  ‘That was then,’ Lopez pointed out. ‘This is now, a lot further down the line. I thought we’d be apprehending high-profile criminals, not running around in the woods looking for man-eating monsters.’

  ‘We’re well paid,’ Ethan answered her.

  Lopez smiled, her neat white teeth contrasting with her olive-brown skin.

  ‘And you get access to all kinds of technical wizardry so you can keep searching for Joanna,’ she said demurely.

  Ethan stopped on the trail and looked at her. ‘You think that’s all this is about?’
<
br />   ‘Is it?’ Lopez challenged. ‘You’re a risk-taker, Ethan, just like me. But is what we’re doing for the DIA too much of a risk? What good are you to Joanna if you get your head ripped off by the homicidal long-lost relative of the gorilla?’

  ‘Finding her means a lot to me,’ Ethan replied, and was surprised by how easily it came out. Once upon a time, he would not have found the words.

  Lopez sighed and nodded, took a pace closer to him.

  ‘I know it is,’ she said. ‘And I also know that Doug Jarvis keeps dangling a damned carrot in your face to keep you hoping that you can find her.’

  ‘He doesn’t do it like that.’

  ‘No?’ Lopez asked. ‘Like the fact that he let you see the footage that proves she’s still alive, then refuses to let you use the same intelligence information to track her movements?’

  ‘He said that national security would not allow me to—’

  ‘Bullshit!’ Lopez almost shouted, loud enough to scare a nearby bird into flight. The flapping wings chased the echo of her voice into the distance. ‘He had us inside what was probably the most secret installation in the entire United States’ secret arsenal of secret places, lets you have a quick glimpse of her, then suddenly you’re not allowed to see any more? Jesus, Ethan, wake up and smell the beans.’

  Ethan felt momentarily deflated as he looked into her angry eyes and realized that she was right. He hadn’t even noticed, so focused was he on the chance that Joanna might still be found.

  ‘If it’s all so bad,’ he said finally, ‘then why do you stick with me?’

  Her eyes flickered and she blinked.

  ‘Because . . . we’re partners; that’s what we do.’

  Lopez had lost her previous partner, a DC homicide detective, years before during an investigation in the city that eventually led her to Ethan. Lucas Tyrell had died a hero, and Ethan knew that Lopez still blamed herself for leaving his side.

  Ethan swallowed thickly. Words tumbled out of him as though he were listening to a recording of his own voice.

  ‘I’m not leaving you,’ he said. ‘If you’re done with this, I’ll follow you.’

  Lopez stared at him and he saw a smile blossom across her features that she tried, and failed miserably, to hide.