Retribution (9781429922593) (41 page)

He sat this noon at the tavern by the ferry dock as the boat from the mainland pulled up and the passengers, mostly tourists at this time of early fall, disembarked.

Time to go home, the idle thought crossed his mind. Physically he was back to nearly one hundred percent, and he was beginning to chafe at the bit sitting around here. And as was often the case with him, he was beginning to feel that something was coming his way.

Not Pam Schlueter, or the ISI—but something or someone else. Something just beyond his ken.

Louise said that it was an instinct for survival honed after a lot of years in the field, and Otto agreed. But he thought it more likely that every time he got bored he looked for something to do. Some nut to crack. He'd been doing it for so long, and he'd lost so much, that it was a way of life. His life.

“It's what I am,” he'd once told a DDO who'd tried to figure him out.

“An anachronism,” the deputy director had called him.

But the man had been gunned down when he'd stupidly stuck his nose in the middle of an operation.

He raised his wine glass, but then stopped. Pete was getting off the ferry, trailed by Marty Bambridge, who looked anxious even from this distance.

They walked across the quay to the line of waiting taxis, but while Marty was negotiating with a cabbie Pete scanned the waterfront cafés, finding McGarvey sitting alone at a sidewalk table.

She smiled and nodded, and then said something to Bambridge, who did a double take before he too spotted McGarvey. They had to wait for a break in traffic before they could cross the street.

“At least we don't have to climb all the way up the godforsaken hill to your lighthouse,” Bambridge said by way of greeting.

“Hi, Mac, you okay?” Pete said.

He got up and they embraced. “A little lonely.”

“Me too.”

They all sat down, and when the waiter came over Pete ordered a retsina while the DDO asked for a Coke.

“We have a developing problem,” Bambridge said. “It's why we came over to talk to you.”

“I thought that I was persona non grata in Washington,” McGarvey said, though he didn't really know why he was being so irascible, except that he was still tired from dealing with the political bullshit. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way. But it was never that simple.

“There's a serial killer loose inside the CIA headquarters campus,” Pete said. “We need your help.”

 

BOOKS BY DAVID HAGBERG

Twister

The Capsule

Last Come the Children

Heartland

Heroes

Without Honor
*

Countdown
*

Crossfire
*

Critical Mass
*

Desert Fire

High Flight
*

Assassin
*

White House
*

Joshua's Hammer
*

Eden's Gate

The Kill Zone
*

By Dawn's Early Light

Soldier of God
*

Allah's Scorpion
*

Dance with the Dragon
*

The Expediter
*

The Cabal
*

Abyss
*

Castro's Daughter
*

Burned

Blood Pact
*

FICTION BY BYRON DORGAN AND DAVID HAGBERG

Blowout

Gridlock

NONFICTION BY DAVID HAGBERG AND BORIS GINDIN

Mutiny!

 

*
Kirk McGarvey adventures

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DAVID HAGBERG is a former U.S. Air Force cryptographer who has traveled extensively in Europe, the Arctic, and the Caribbean and has spoken at CIA functions. He has published more than seventy novels of suspense, including the bestselling
Allah's Scorpion, Dance with the Dragon
, and
The Expediter
. He makes his home in Sarasota, Florida.

Visit his Web site at
www.david-hagberg.com
.

 

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously.

 

RETRIBUTION

 

Copyright © 2014 by David Hagberg

 

All rights reserved.

 

Cover photograph by Getty Images

 

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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

 

ISBN 978-0-7653-3155-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4299-2259-3 (e-book)

 

e-ISBN 9781429922593

 

First Edition: January 2015