by Davis, Dee
“Cullen’s friend is Bingham Smith, and he was on his way to a meeting with the Chinese delegation,” Evan said, his tone solemn, ominous. Bingham Smith made Cullen Pulaski look like chump change. The man was notorious for leveraging takeovers of even the most unavailable companies.
“The consortium has been working on a trade deal with China for almost three years now. And we were close to success. But Bing was our lead man. He’d built a relationship with his Chinese counterpart that can’t easily be replaced.”
“And you think someone purposefully took him out to queer the deal?”
“I think it’s a possibility.”
“But surely this is something the police should be handling.” Gabe looked from Cullen to Evan in confusion.
“There’s more,” Evan said, shooting a sideways look at Cullen.
“I mentioned patterns. The fact is that two other consortium members have died recently.”
“More subway problems?”
“No.” Cullen’s smile was terse at best. “Totally unrelated as far as cause. Jacob Dashal was electrocuted, and Robert Barnes was killed when one of his warehouses burned to the ground. Both deaths were ruled accidental.”
“So what’s the pattern, other than the fact that they were also members of the consortium?”
“Nothing concrete. It’s more of a feeling I have. But each man was significant in the effort to reach economic accord with China. And their deaths caused setbacks that have been difficult to overcome.”
“How many people are in this consortium?” Gabe asked, setting his now cold coffee on the table.
“There are about fifty member companies, headed by an eleven member board, of which I’m now the acting chairman.”
“Bingham served as chairman until his death. And both Barnes and Dashal were key players in the negotiations.” Evan added for clarity.
Gabe nodded, trying to assimilate the information. “So you believe that someone out there wants the trade agreement to fail. And that your friends’ deaths have been an attempt to stop things from moving forward.”
“Yes. But I’ve had trouble convincing local authorities of the same. All three men died in different states, which means different jurisdictions and varying degree of interest in pursuing anything more.”
“What about the Feds?”
“Same reaction. They gave it cursory attention. I demanded that much, but the conclusion was that although it was an unfortunate coincidence, there was no evidence to support a conspiracy of any kind.”
“So he’s brought it to the CIA?” Gabe frowned at Evan.
“No, Gabriel,” Cullen said, forcing Gabe’s attention back to him. “I went to the President. And once I’d explained my concerns, he authorized a task force. A group of experts to investigate the situation and report directly back to me. I’ve got carte blanche to pull the members from wherever I see fit.”
“Our tax dollars at work.” Gabe tried but couldn’t keep the cynicism from his voice.
“Cullen wants you to head up the task force, Gabe. That’s why I called you in.”
“You risked my operation to send me on a wild goose chase trying to find some illusive conspiracy dreamed up by an over-moneyed, highly imaginative computer magnate?” Gabe glared at Evan through narrowed eyes, purposefully ignoring Cullen.
“Your job, Roarke,” Evan hissed, “is to go where I tell you to go. And while your operative skills are unimpeachable, your attitude is not. The President gave the order, and wild goose chase or no, you will head up the task force, or find a job in the private sector. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yes.” Gabe allowed his tone to border on subservient. If he hadn’t been so tired he’d have never let his anger show, but he’d been undercover for months now, and the strain was obviously taking its toll. “I didn’t mean offense, Cullen.”
“None taken.” Cullen waved off the apology. “I realize this is out of the ordinary. And the only thing I can say to reassure you is that this accord, if successful, has the power to change the face of international commerce. Which means it’s as important as whatever you’re doing now.”
“If there’s a conspiracy.”
Cullen’s eyes narrowed to slits, all geniality vanishing. “There is. I’m certain of it. A good deal of successful business is based on intuition, Gabriel. And I can feel this in my gut. Something’s afoot. And I need you to figure out what it is.” He leaned forward, his hand gripping the edge of the table, adding a feeling of urgency to his words. “You’ll of course have all the funding you need. And any personnel you desire.”
“I can pull together my own team?” The idea had a certain appeal, and since the assignment was inevitable, he might as well enjoy it.
“More or less. I am asking someone from the FBI to work with you. And I suspect she’ll have some ideas as to the make-up of the task force.”
“She?” His eyebrow shot up again, this time of its own accord.
“Madison Harper. She’s with the Investigative Support Unit.”
“A profiler?” The other eyebrow rose to meet its partner, his voice breaking on his surprise.
“An excellent one.” Cullen nodded, ignoring Gabe’s reaction. “She’s also a friend. I trust her implicitly. And more importantly, I think she’ll be the perfect compliment to your more tumultuary style.”
Gabe decided to let it pass. There was enough to deal with without further antagonizing the man who was, apparently, his new boss. “How soon do you want to get started?”
“As soon as possible. Evan has agreed to let you have anyone you need, and I have similar permission from other agencies. I want the best. And I trust that you can get them for me. Of course you’ll probably want to meet Madison first.”
Actually she was the last person he wanted to meet. He wasn’t a share command kind of guy, and quite frankly the prospect of sharing it with some quasi-cerebral FBI guru made the idea that much more loathsome.
Especially when said guru was a woman.
Excerpt from Endame by Dee Davis, Copyright©2004 by Dee Davis. All rights reserved. Reprint only with permission from author.
About Dee Davis
Award winning author Dee Davis worked in association management before turning her hand to writing. Her highly acclaimed first novel, Everything In Its Time, was published in July 2000. Since then, among others, she’s won the Booksellers Best, Golden Leaf, Texas Gold and Prism awards, and been nominated for the National Readers Choice Award, the Holt and two RT Reviewers Choice Awards. To date, she is the author of twenty-two books and five novellas. When not sitting at the computer, Dee spends time exploring Connecticut with her husband and daughter.
Visit Dee at http://www.deedavis.com or catch up with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/deedavisbooks or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/deesdavis
Photo: Marti Corn