Page 70 of The Last Kingdom

“Let’s say I have a good source of intel. I’m head of special operations, yet I wasn’t told a word about it. Why?”

“It’s being handled,” Bryie said. “By counter-intelligence. We’re dealing with it quietly.”

He’d never liked Bryie and the feeling was mutual. Counter-terrorism was akin to internal affairs at a police department. Part of its job was to find the bad apples. And if that effort squashed a few good ones along the way? Too bad. They’d squashed him once.

But not today. “Explain to me, and my associate here, how you’re handling it.”

Bryie shook his head. “That’s above both of your pay grades. Langley sent me here not to brief you, but to clean up your mess. And Malone should not even be part of this. You know the orders on him.”

“Malone is my problem. Not yours.”

He allowed his icy gaze to bore into the wiry little man. He was in a bad mood. A lot was happening around him that he knew little to nothing about. Long ago he’d learned how to deal with the sluggish obstinacy of petty bureaucrats. Especially ones like Paul Bryie who’d never worked the field. Bryie had been an analyst. Every aspect of his life neat and precise, everything tallied in tidy columns, each minute planned. A desk jockey. Always had been. Always would be, preferring the world neatly arranged, like paragraphs on a page. TOO had told him to do what he did best.Raise hell.And the White House would stand behind him. So he allowed his sullen features to take on the frozen expression of a death mask.

And withdrew his revolver.

Which he aimed straight at Paul Bryie.

* * *

COTTON WATCHED THE SCENE PLAY OUT.

He could feel the tension and sensed there was a history between these three men. Yet Koger seemed different. Calm. Measured. Empowered?

Bryie straightened up in his seat.

No matter who you were, no matter how much experience you possessed, having a gun pointed at you was unnerving. He knew that from bitter experience. Doubtful Koger would pull the trigger, but that was the thing about having a gun pointed your way.You just never quite knew what was coming next.

“We’re here all alone,” Koger said. “This floor doesn’t open up for another two hours. Do you get my drift?”

Bryie said nothing.

The gun stayed aimed.

“You going to kill me?” Bryie asked.

“More wound you, with some enormous pain.”

No one said a word.

“I called for information,” Koger said. “Langley approved my request for a briefing and sent you two. I don’t need a lecture on how to do things. What I need is information. This Scythe interfered with an ongoing operation last night. They fired on my people. They then tried to intimidate some German nationals with more gunfire. Of course, I had no idea the group existed until a little while ago. Otherwise, I would have been prepared. I don’t like being unprepared.”

“It isn’t going to happen,” Bryie said. “You’re not being brought into the loop on this one.”

The gun fired, its retort loud and startling. The bullet had zoomed past the wiry man and pinged off the inner glass wall, which apparently could take a hit as bulletproof.

“Holy crap,” Bryie called out as he shrank down in the chair. “Are you out of your mind?”

“I’m not screwin’ around here,” Koger said. “The next one is going to send you bleeding to the hospital.”

“You’re nuts,” Bryie called out, trying to regain his composure. “A pain-in-the-ass loose cannon.”

“No. I’m aggravated, and I need intel.”

“I’m counter-intelligence,” Bryie said. “You know what I can do to you.”

“If I shoot this piece of crap in the knee,” Koger said. “What are you two going to say?”

Miller shook his head. “Looked like an accident to me.”

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