Radiant Surrender (CSA Case Files Book 6) (2 page)

“You want a recap? Some added details that will have you believe that I have good intentions with the dossier I gave you earlier?” Ryland twirled what remaining whiskey was in his glass and tapped his index finger against the crystal. He nodded slowly, acquiescing by continuing to answer. “Taryn assumed from what she’d discovered in Texas that I solely falsified my death due to my unfortunate affiliation with drug lords overseas. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I didn’t have the resources in place back then to carry that type of thing off alone.”

Crest felt some tension build in his shoulders at hearing the telltale sign of a larger problem than what he’d thought CSA had been dealing with. If Ryland had help in securing a new identity, there were very few people or agencies that could have done so without tripping a few flares.

“What government organization are we talking about?” Crest asked, taking another drink to fortify himself for what was to come. An intelligence agency was the only assumption to be made. “And do you still have ties with them?”

“The Central Intelligence Agency, of course.” Ryland paused long enough for the moniker to sink in before he stood and walked back to the side table, securing himself another two fingers of whiskey. His back was toward Crest, giving him long enough to glance Kevin’s way. His agent stood at the ready, awaiting whatever orders Crest deemed necessary. He needed to hear more before taking any action or relaying this information to his team. “They recruited me and gave me no choice but to follow their directives early on. I was young and naïve, but it didn’t take long before I knew how to work within the system. I was a freelance agent within a few years and I made it so that the CIA couldn’t touch me without too much personal embarrassment. I even took contracts from the same people who would rather have seen me dead. What I did for them has no bearing on this with the exception that a specific department within the CIA didn’t expect you and your team to uncover my real identity. You also involved the Special Assistant to the National Security Advisor. That was a major mistake on your part and you’ve made several important people rather nervous. Unfortunately that includes my old handler who is now a fairly senior operations department head.”

“Really?” Crest considered himself an intelligent man, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out where this was leading. “You’re telling me that the CIA is coming after me and my agency all in the name of stopping my pursuit of making sure you spend the rest of your life in federal prison and uncovering your affiliation with them? If they wanted that, all they would have had to do was pay you to take a contract out on my head.”

Ryland was now walking back to his chair, throwing his head back in genuine laughter. He even fabricated wiping an eye as he sat back down before placing his tumbler on the side table. Crest didn’t take that as a compliment and he sure as hell didn’t care what Ryland thought of him.

“You and I both know you have more informants and contacts within the intelligence community than I do, though I try not to take that particular difference personally. At the first hint of a contract on your life, you would have been notified and you would have made it impossible for me or any other professional to line up a sight picture before you and your friends uncovered and eliminated the source of the contract.” Ryland’s dark eyes still contained a bit of humor as he rested his arms on the sides of his chair. “It also wouldn’t have served in my best interest, but I digress. We’ll get to that soon enough. To resume where we left off, the CIA took steps to ensure that your time and energy would be spent elsewhere. I must admit, they know how to hit their target where it hurts the most.”

Jessie Miller. Crest’s former personal assistant and the one woman who came closer than any other in making him break his personal rule of not getting involved with someone he worked with. Only then further assuming he could have put aside the obvious age difference. She didn’t have a clue as to how intoxicating her innocence was to a man like him and he damned well would make sure she never found out. It didn’t matter that her emerald green eyes had been his one ray of sunshine each and every goddamned day that she’d walked through the doors of CSA. She deserved much more than he could give her, which was why he’d kept his distance and thereby giving her reason to resign from her position. Now her life was about to be torn apart because of him and the darkness his life attracted. He was a man used to carrying around a lot of bricks, but hardly ever was he placed into a position of being the one responsible for dropping that same bag of bricks on someone else’s life—least of all someone important to him.

“This contact of yours…he states that the FBI has issued an arrest warrant for Jessie due to unauthorized disclosure of classified information to the Russian Federation that she’d obtained while working inside one of the local FBI field offices. The evidence presented is reasonably conclusive, which is why she’s in a safe place until this can be sorted out. I won’t have her charged and placed in custody due to the CIA planting evidence and having the FBI be a puppet for their adversaries unknowingly.” Crest downed the rest of his whiskey, relishing in the burn as it warmed his body. He closed his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath before meeting Ryland’s stare. “You and I both know that Jessie is innocent.”

“That’ll be hard to prove since Jessie’s parents were sleeper agents for the old Soviet Union back in the day,” Ryland stated, looking a little too smug for Crest’s liking. He spoke the truth, no matter how much Jessie wanted to deny it. “You know what they say about treason running in the family. Jessie will unfortunately continue to be a fugitive of the United States until the day finally comes when the FBI takes her in. Make no mistake, the FBI doesn’t take kindly to selling classified information to a foreign government nor do they care much for the traitors that undermine the security of our nation. So the deal is this—I help you to destroy the CIA’s operation to undermine your credibility by placing your girlfriend’s head on a platter and you help me get a full pardon from your favorite executive office holder within our federal government. What do you say, Crest? Do we have a gentlemen’s agreement?”

Chapter Two

“A
full pardon?” Crest had to admit he was somewhat stunned by Ryland’s objectives. There was no way in hell this professional assassin could achieve what he was asking for. “You’ve taken at least forty contracts and snuffed out the lives of more than a few influential and important people. What leads you to believe that I can get you, of all people, a full pardon from the President of the United States? More to the point, what will you do with the rest of your life…retire to a two bedroom house in the suburbs, mow the lawn, and tend to your tulips planted in neat little rows at the base of a white picket fence?”

Crest couldn’t imagine that Ryland had changed so much. He wasn’t the type of man to be content with abiding by the law and retiring from the life he’d carved out for himself. He was used to the finer things in life and Crest couldn’t see him giving up the type of lifestyle that taking contracts afforded him. Not that any of that mattered. No one in the present government would give Ryland a full pardon for the crimes that he’s committed.

“Did your bank account finally hit the magic number or have you decided to sue your remaining family members for your inheritance?”

“There have been worse men than me who’ve received a full pardon, so there’s no reason to believe I wouldn’t receive one with the right pressure. You see, I will give you the name of the man supervising the department within the CIA that is willing to go to very severe lengths to prevent you from revealing my true identity and my association with them.”

“I’m assuming if your connection to a certain intelligence agency comes to light that there might be certain government officials who would not agree with some of the kills that you were supposedly ordered to take.” Things were finally starting to fall into place and Crest itched to obtain the hit list that Ryland was responsible for. In the end, it really didn’t matter. The CIA didn’t want any of their illicit involvement with Ryland known. Period. “And you providing me with that name will help me how? The CIA has already planted enough contrived evidence within the FBI’s field office to get Jessie arrested and convicted, I suspect. My only concern is rectifying that situation and you can be damn sure I’ll use my considerable contacts to see that happens in the very near future.”

“Your contacts won’t come near to touching this man’s position.” Ryland wasn’t argumentative but more matter-of-fact. Crest refrained from showing any sign of the mounting anger that was currently flowing through his veins. What type of department was
that
out of reach? How black was this outfit and just how well funded could they be while still remaining in the public eye? The longer Jessie remained in hiding the harder it was going to be to prove her innocence. “I’m suggesting that upon your visit to this man’s office you’ll also have in your hand the list that you so badly want. You see, if you’re armed with the information that he was initially afraid you’d find, the game is over.”

“And you think in exchange for that piece of intelligence I’ll be able to obtain you a full pardon. I’m influential enough in certain areas,” Crest admitted with the tilt of his head, “but I don’t have POTUS in my pocket. As for the Special Assistant to the National Security Advisor, Schultz Jessalyn doesn’t have that type of pull either.”

“I disagree.” Ryland held up both hands as if he weren’t holding the cards. Crest despised being placed in this situation. “So the deal is this—you come back with a written offer of a full pardon signed by the Attorney General and endorsed by the Chief Executive. In exchange I’ll give you the information you need to remedy this unfortunate issue with Jessie and the FBI.”

“And what makes you think I will keep my end of the bargain? I could spew the words, type out the promises, and not deliver after the fact.”

“There is only one thing I admire about you, Crest, and that is you live by your word. It is a rarity these days.”

Crest took a moment to mull over what was being laid out on the table. He certainly didn’t have an appetite for any of it, but there didn’t seem to be any alternative available. He was armed with enough information that he could potentially discover who within the CIA wanted to discredit him, but that didn’t solve his immediate issue of absolving Jessie of these crimes attributed to her. The taste in his mouth was sour as he thought of what obtaining a full pardon for Ryland meant. One, Crest wasn’t sure he had enough juice to pull something like this off. Even if he did, his political capital after taking a dump in the Rotunda would certainly be worthless. Second, a man who’d murdered countless numbers of people would never be executed for those crimes he’d committed nor would he earn the traitor’s death that he so richly deserved. That was a travesty, but that wasn’t to say that there weren’t numerous ways to dish out retribution.

“You’ll stay here, under the guard of my men.” Crest was about to lay some ground rules down that were non-negotiable. On one hand, even though he was the one who seemed to be having his strings pulled…Ryland wanted that full pardon for reasons unknown. The reasons didn’t really matter to Crest. However, they could help him determine what Ryland was ultimately hoping to accomplish. “No contact with the outside world. I want access to all your account numbers so that Taryn may keep an eye on them to ensure you aren’t double-crossing us—that includes all offshore numbered accounts.”

“No.”

“Did I hesitate in my order?” Crest had the upper hand for the moment and he wasn’t about to lose it. “You can’t tell me that you forgot what it was like to serve your country. You take orders and you carry them out. I’m offering you my word to try and negotiate a full pardon, although it will take me some time and I’m not going to be played with here. In order to accomplish that, in exchange for whatever information I may need to affect changing my current dilemma I need to know that you won’t be playing some damn side bet that will allow you to back out of our deal. Money seems to be the one thing you do value. If we’re going to negotiate for all the marbles, it will be done my fucking way.”

Ryland didn’t reply instantly and Crest could understand why. He also didn’t believe for a moment that Ryland would hand over every bank account, but once Taryn was given the information she could map his methods of banking his ill-gotten gains and develop a pattern to help locate the remaining funds. Crest waited for Ryland to concede.

“So be it. I’ll turn over the required information to your associate, Mr. Dreier, over there and you’ll have the account numbers before morning.” Ryland stared at Kevin a little too long for Crest’s liking, almost as if the man were evaluating how far he could push the agent. Ryland liked to play mind games but there wasn’t a chance in hell that anyone from CSA would fall for any more of his duplicity. “Once you’ve procured my pardon I’ll see to it that you are fully armed with the information you need to have the charges against Jessie dropped.”