Ozzie nodded, but his expression remained unconvinced. Then he shrugged. “Speaking of people poking their heads out, now that the news about Morrison and Chelsea has aired, the heat will die down across the pond. The rest of the gang is planning to return stateside. The same charter pilot that brought you and Chelsea home is scheduled to bring them over in two days. And get this… That friend of Emily’s who helped you all out over there is coming with them. Since we don’t know exactly which authorities are in Spider’s pocket, it’s been decided this Rusty Parker guy would be safer here with us. At least for a while.”
For the first time in days, Dagan felt a smile tug at his lips. “Ace will be happy about that.”
Ozzie cocked his head. It reminded Dagan so much of Chelsea’s “thinking pose” that he had to turn away.
“How’s that?” Ozzie prompted.
“Huh?” Dagan had lost his train of thought.
“You said Ace will be happy about Rusty Parker being here.”
“Oh, right. Well, I don’t want to tell tales out of school…”
“Sure you do.”
“But there were definite sparks flying between Ace and Rusty.”
“No shit?” Ozzie’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.
“No shit.”
“Huh. Well…good for Ace.”
“If you two are finished gossiping like a couple of frickin’ schoolgirls…” Becky arrived in the doorway. “Zoelner, there’s a phone call for you. Came in on the main line.”
She handed him a cordless phone, and he looked at it in confusion. Who would be calling him at headquarters? Everyone who knew him knew to reach him on his cell.
He didn’t try to disguise the curiosity in his voice when he said, “Hello? Who am I speaking with?”
“Agent Zoelner.” A booming baritone sounded over the line. Dagan paid less attention to the voice and more attention to the “agent” in front of his name. No one had called him that in years. “This is Elliot Russell. Director of the CIA.”
Dagan’s stomach hit the floor right along with his feet. “What happened? Is Chels… I mean, is Agent Duvall okay?”
“She’s fine,” Director Russell assured him. Dagan blew out a ragged breath and tried to calm his pounding heart. He gave Ozzie and Becky a thumbs-up to wipe away the concern on their faces.
“Well, her cover is officially and eternally blown,” the director added. “She’ll never be able to do undercover work again, which means her job as the official liaison to BKI has been terminated. But other than that, she’s fine. She’ll go back to riding a desk somewhere, which she assures me will please you to no end. According to Agent Duvall, you never were too enthusiastic about her fieldwork.”
“I was wrong about that, sir,” he said. “Agent Duvall makes an excellent field agent. She’s brave and decisive and—”
“That’s good to hear,” the director interrupted. “Too bad she’s burned. But it’s not Agent Duvall’s future I called to talk to you about.”
“No?”
“It’s yours.”
Dagan’s chin jerked back. Did a needle scratch over a record somewhere? “Mine? What do you mean?”
“I mean now that President Thompson is out of office, and now that the Black Knights are in the midst of finishing their last assignment for him, I think it’s time you started thinking about what comes next. A man with your skills would be wasted in retirement. Have you ever considered coming back to work for us here at Langley?”
“Come back to…” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.What?”
“Agent Duvall told me what happened with Ted Edens,” Russell said, and Dagan stopped breathing. “She assures me if anyone deserved to be fired over that tragedy all those years ago, it was Edens for not taking action on reliable Intel and her for not coming forward to out her boss for his failings despite all his threats and accusations. Although, I’ll tell you like I told her, she was pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’m not sure anyone walking in her shoes would have—”
“Sir?” Dagan’s blood pounded in his ears. Chelsea had… She’dtold? She’d risked her job, risked her reputation, perhaps risked losing the house she’d worked so hard to save for her mother and…told? “Are you really offering me my old job back?”
At this, both Becky and Ozzie leaned forward, frowns on their faces, unabashedly listening in to his phone conversation. Privacy wasn’t a concept anyone at the shop held dear.
“Of course. You were always an excellent agent. Had I known what really happened all those years ago, you would never have been fired in the first place. Only an agent like Chelsea Duvall, with her tenacity and nose for connecting dots, could have been able to find the familial connection between your source and Mullah Zahed. I don’t blame you for missing the link. But Edens made it seem like you had blatantly… Never mind. That’s not important. The important thing is that your job is here if and when you want it. Oh, and one more thing…”
