by Bob Mayer
“I’m quitting.”
“Probably good for you.”
Chase stared at him, smelling the nicotine. Realizing once more how stupid he had been. “You’re not DEA.”
Cardena chuckled. “That’s a losing fucking war if I ever saw one. You can’t stop demand. When you can’t stop demand, you can’t win. Prohibition didn’t work, why does anyone think the war on drugs will?”
“So who do you work for? CIA?”
“Horace Chase, my man.” The sound of a deep drag on a cigarette echoed in the van. “DEA. CIA. FBI. Fucking alphabet soups. I’m not even on the map. You get that? I try to keep things clean and keep them from fucking up too badly.
“The CIA should have never contracted Vladislav. Fucking psychopath. Fucking FBI of course should have never allowed nine-eleven, of course. I’ll give your guys that. Spec ops Intel guys, reservists at that, weekend warriors, warned them about Al-Qaeda. But everyone was too worried about their damn careers and their little fiefdoms to do their damn jobs. I just clean up the shit they all leave behind.
“But let’s not go there. I’m here as a courtesy to you. Because you finally did what needed to be done. You cleaned up the clusterfuck.”
“Which? Rivers? Vadislav?”
Cardena lit another cigarette, chain-smoking. Chase felt the aching desire for one.
“Both,” Cardena said. “Can’t have that stuff happening here in the good old U. S. of A. The CIA should have just paid off Vladislav or put a bullet in his fucking brain. And eliminated Rivers before he even fucking retired.”
“You got me this assignment,” Chase said.
“Give the man a cigarette,” Cardena said, holding out the one he had just lit.
Chase shook his head.
“Getting healthy?” Cardena asked. “Expecting a long and happy life? With the stripper? Like your mother?”
Chase just stared at the dark figure.
Cardena sighed. “Ok. Sorry. That was cheap. Your father was a fucking hero. Medal of Honor winner. And you did us right. Cleared a big problem up. Took you a while. Take some time off. Go fishing. Do something. Be happy.”
“Fortin?” Chase asked.
Cardena shook his head. “Another dumb fuck. Good riddance.”
“Why are you letting me live?”
Cardena actually looked surprised. “We’re the good guys, Chase, for Gods-sakes.” He paused. “You know. I’d really like you to work for us. Really. But. It just wouldn’t work out.”
“Why not?”
Cardena flicked the cigarette to the van’s floor and ground it out. “You wouldn’t smoke in the airport.” He nodded toward the door.
As Chase exited, he heard Cardena say one last thing: “But you’ve got a special talent and we’ll keep you in mind.”
THE END
Other Books
by Bob Mayer
Reference Mayer’s Thrillers:
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“Fascinating, imaginative and nerve-wracking.” Kirkus Reviews
“A pulsing technothriller. A nailbiter in the best tradition of adventure fiction.” Publishers Weekly.
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Praise for Atlantis by Bob Mayer:
“Spell-binding! Will keep you on the edge of your seat. Call it techno-thriller, call it science fiction, call it just terrific story-telling.” Terry Brooks, #1 NY Times Bestselling author of the Shannara series and Star Wars Phantom Menace
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About the Author
NY Times bestselling author Bob Mayer has over 50 books published. He has sold over four million books and is in demand as a team-building, life-change, and leadership speaker and consultant. Bob graduated from West Point and served in the military as a Special Forces A-Team leader and a teacher at the JFK Special Warfare Center & School. He teaches novel writing and improving the author via his Write it Forward program. He is the Co-Creator of Who Dares Wins Publishing. For more information see www.bobmayer.org or www.WhoDaresWinsPublishing.com
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
CHASING THE GHOST by Bob Mayer
COPYRIGHT © 2010 by Bob Mayer
Cover Art by Jen Talty
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author (Bob Mayer, Who Dares Wins) except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
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