"Fine," said the masked man, fully expecting Abel to refuse. "I know how the business end of these things works. I am guessing that you are taking a fee off the top of anywhere between ten and thirty-three percent. Knowing you are a greedy man who likes the finer things in life I will grant you a third of the contract, but not a penny more. Have you already negotiated the contract?"

"No," Abel lied.

"Have you been given a budget?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

The man thought about it for a while. He knew of Abel's connections and could hazard a pretty good guess at who had hired him. He decided to shoot for the stars. "The price is ten million, and since I like round numbers you will cut your fee to a flat thirty percent."

The number was at the high end, but within what he thought would be asked. "I will have to check and see if they are willing to pay that much."

The man got off the couch and started for the small balcony. "E-mail my associate in the morning with your answer." The man opened the French door.

They were on the eighth floor, and Abel was about to ask him how he was going to leave, but decided not to. The man made him curious, though. He was different. "Tell me…Why did you get into this line of work?"

He looked over his shoulder and said, "Because I am very good at it."

With that, the man was gone. Abel stared blankly at the closed door for almost a full minute, resisting the urge to go look. During that time he was left in a strange state of limbo wondering if he'd just made the best or worst decision of his life. He decided he needed another drink. Abel refilled his snifter and let the smooth cognac envelop his tongue before swallowing it. The man was talented, he had to grant him that, and he was correct that Abel could not simply send one of his regular people to take care of this. In the end he would just have to take some comfort in the knowledge that he was about to make thirteen million dollars for what would likely be less than a week's work. Abel smiled and held up his glass in a toast to the man who had just disappeared into the night.

"To the death of Mitch Rapp, and thirteen million dollars." Abel threw back the rest of the cognac and went to bed.

16

A big Ford Excursion rolled into the parking lot and parked one spot over from Rapp's car. Scott Coleman got out. He was wearing a blue polo shirt that was a little on the tight side, a pair of jeans, and black boots. The blond-haired former Navy SEAL looked more like a construction worker than the head of a private security firm that was now billing the federal government more than twenty million dollars a year. Rapp didn't see a gun on him, but he had no doubt there was one within reach of the driver's seat and probably an entire arsenal in the back cargo area.

"What's with all the cloak-and-dagger shit?" Coleman asked. He sounded irritated. "I thought we had friends in high places these days."

"Yeah, well, we also have enemies in high places."

"Fuck 'em."

Rapp scanned the parking lot. "You sure you weren't followed?"

"No." He looked at his vehicle. "You think you'd have a hard time putting a tail on this thing?"

Rapp looked at the nine-passenger truck. "You get married and have a bunch of kids I don't know about?"

"No, I've got a lot of shit I have to haul around," the former SEAL replied a bit defensively.

"The environmentalists must love you. What's that thing get…about two miles to the gallon?"

"The environmentalists can go fuck themselves," growled Coleman. "There isn't a bigger group of brainwashed dipshits on the planet."

"Come on, Scott, tell me how you really feel about them."

"The same way you do," snarled Coleman. "Now, I didn't drive all the way across town to meet you in some high school parking lot so you could give me shit about my truck."

Rapp held up his hands. Coleman was normally a pretty cool customer. "Calm down. What in the hell is wrong with you?"

"I haven't killed anyone in a while. What's wrong with you?"

"God," Rapp moaned, "you SEALs are a weird bunch."

"Oh…and you're the picture of mental health."

"Good point," Rapp laughed, "but seriously…what's up? You just find out you have testicular cancer or something?"

"Worse…the fucking IRS called me this morning. They want to see all my records…personal and business."

Rapp didn't like the sound of this. He got noticeably more serious. "Have you ever had any problems with them before?"

"Hell no. I was an officer in the Navy for almost twenty years. We don't make enough money for them to mess around with."

"And now that you're getting all of these government contracts…"

"Shit, I suppose. I mean, Mitch, we're billing seven-plus figures every month. I've had to hire five people just to handle all the paperwork."

"How are your records?"

"How the fuck would I know…I'm not an accountant."

Rapp stared at him with his hawklike eyes. "Do you have anything to hide?"

Coleman looked down and kicked a rock. "I don't know. Like I said, I'm not an accountant."

"Scott, it's me…Mitch. If I'm going to help you out here, you have to be straight with me."

"Can you make this go away?" Coleman asked hopefully.

"As long as you haven't fucked up too bad…yeah."

Coleman kicked another rock. "As far as I know all the domestic stuff is in order, but I've got an offshore company that I run most of the foreign contracts through."

"And you keep the money offshore."

"Yeah." He looked up at Rapp uncomfortably.

Rapp nodded. "Don't worry. You're not alone. Anything else happen in the last few days?"

"Like what?"

"Anyone poking around asking questions? Anyone from your past try to contact you? Any new unexpected business come in?"

Coleman thought about it for a moment. "No." He studied Rapp. "Why?"

Rapp leaned against his car and put his hands in his pockets. "I got a call from a source over at the DOD this morning." By DOD, Rapp meant Department of Defense.

"You mean a mole?"

"I wouldn't call the chairman of the Joint Chiefs a mole."

"General Flood called you?"

"Yes."

"What'd he want?" asked Coleman.

"He didn't want anything. It was a courtesy call. It appears someone in Washington has a real hard-on for you this week."

Coleman closed his eyes. "Please tell me the IRS didn't call the Pentagon and ask to review my contracts."

"No. Someone else called and asked for a copy of your personnel file."

"They can look all they want. That file is clean."

"They called back and asked for your classified file. They wanted to know how many times you've been sheep-dipped by the CIA, and if you've ever worked with yours truly before." Rapp pointed to himself.

"They asked General Flood this?"

"No…they tried to browbeat someone much further down the totem pole. It got kicked up to the Joint Special Operations Command, who in turn called Flood."

"So who's asking?"

"Someone who works for the director of National Intelligence."

"Why would they give a rat's ass about me?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. I think it has something to do with our meeting the other day."

"In Irene's office."

"Yeah…that was a mistake."

"Hold on a minute. We haven't done anything wrong."

"You're kidding…right?" Rapp looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Well…nothing recently. I mean for Christ's sake we're on the same team. Aren't we?"

"That doesn't always matter with these pricks." Rapp shook his head. "It was stupid to meet at the CIA the other day."

"You're telling me that's what this is all about? Mark Ross didn't like my smart-ass attitude, so he's going to have the IRS bend me over and give me an exam?"