“And that’s where you should be.”
“No. I want to be here.”
“No,theywanted you to be here.”
She didn’t respond.
Well, this seemed to be the conclusion of her coerced multi-part confession. Unless she was about to confess that she’d been instructed to whack him, and was seriously considering it. At this point, he could inform her that she was in violation of several articles of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and he could also ask for her weapon. But considering they were heading up shit’s creek with two paddles and a small motor, her gun would be better off in her pocket than his.
“Scott… say something.”
“You’ll need to answer for this when we get back.”
“I will. If we get back.”
He was glad now that he hadn’t slept with her. That would complicate his report to Dombroski. He looked at her. “Do you understand what you did?”
“I do. But… I didn’tdoanything.”
“You agreed to conspire with another government agency. Same as you did in Afghanistan.”
“I agreed to take the tracking device with me. I never used it. Never sent a text, never—”
“And you understood the criminal conspiracy that Trent and his colleagues were trying to cover up, and you aided and abetted it. You understood what Flagstaff was about.”
She nodded.
“And you know they want to kill—to murder—Kyle Mercer, to keep him quiet.”
“I’m not sure about—”
“We work for the Criminal Investigation Division, Maggie, not Murder Incorporated.”
“Don’t lecture me.” She looked at him. “You’d put a bullet in him if you couldn’t kidnap him.”
“I would not.”
“We’ll never know. But what do you think the Army is going to do with the map coordinates we give them of Mercer’s camp? Drop a copy of the Code of Conduct on him?”
He ignored that, and continued, “Do you also understand that Trentand his friends must have known before we did that Kyle Mercer was not in Caracas? They gave you that device because they wanted to see if we left Caracas, and where we went.”
“I guess I did wonder why I needed the Garmin in Caracas, where I could text and make a cell phone call to… anywhere.”
“Well, now you know. Trent’s colleagues suspect or know that Mercer is somewhere out of Caracas, and if you and I were lucky enough or smart enough to get a lead—which I did—you and your Garmin would tell them where we were, in real time, right down to the grid coordinates.”
“I… understand that.”
“And did it also occur to you that you, like Kyle Mercer, know too much?”
“I was never threatened with harm. I was threatened with exposure.” She added, “I’ve kept their secret, but if we ever get back, I’m ready to tell CID everything I told you.”
“You’re not paying attention. You and Captain Mercer could be sharing the same fate.”
“That’s… I don’t believe that.”
“That is why you’re here. The wet stuff is done on foreign soil.”
“You’re trying to frighten me. I’m frightened enough.”
