Dance with the Dragon (50 page)

“And we need to pass this along to Homeland Security and the FBI,” Whittaker added.

“We’ll need to generate a National Intelligence Estimate immediately,” Adkins said. “Otto, can you help?”

“I’m here for the duration, boss,” Rencke promised.

Adkins turned to McGarvey. “Mac?”

“You can handle it from here,” McGarvey said, getting to his feet. “I’m going home.” He headed for the door.

“Hold on just a moment,” McCann called after him. “What about Ms. Ibenez?”

“She deserves a star on the wall downstairs.” Stars, not names, were inscribed on a wall in the lobby for field officers who’d fallen in the line of duty.

“I thought she was a traitor.”

“She saved my ass last year in Karachi, and she saved it again last night in Mexico,” McGarvey said. “Give her the star.”

“Say hi to Mrs. M.,” Rencke said at the door.

“Good luck,” McGarvey said. “To all of us.”

EIGHTY-EIGHT

CASEY KEY

It was early evening when the cab dropped McGarvey off at his home. The Florida air was soft, a light breeze off the Gulf pleasant. It was good to be home, except he felt dirty, and he didn’t think a hot shower would ever take care of it.

He’d phoned from the Sarasota airport that he was home but that he would cab it, and she understood. Now that he was back on the ground, back to his life, he needed the extra time to come down, to return from the place where his tradecraft was all that mattered, the only thing that could preserve his life, and his sanity.

He dropped his bag in the front hall, took off his jacket and pistol and laid them on the bench, and went back to the kitchen. It was a full moon, and he could see Kathleen’s silhouette in the gazebo down by the water, where she was waiting for him.

For a long time he just stared at her, and it began to dawn on him that he wasn’t some freak of nature after all. He wasn’t some psychopath whose mission in life was murder. He was a soldier, and what he did was for her, always and forever for her.

When he came down the lawn, she turned around, a huge smile on her pretty oval face, her eyes lit up like a billion stars.

“Hello,” he said.

“This is the part I like best,” she said, the words coming from the back of her throat. “When the boy finally comes home and gets the girl.”

WRITING AS 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

WRITING AS SEAN FLANNERY

The Kremlin Conspiracy

Eagles Fly

The Trinity Factor

The Hollow Men

False Prophets

Broken Idols

Gulag

Moscow Crossing

The Zebra Network

Crossed Swords

Counterstrike

Moving Targets

Winner Take All

Achilles’ Heel

WRITING NONFICTION WITH BORIS GINDIN

Mutiny!
the story that inspired Tom Clancy’s blockbuster novel
The Hunt for Red October

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 are used fictitiously.

DANCE WITH THE DRAGON

Copyright © 2007 by David Hagberg

All rights reserved.

A Forge Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Forge
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

First Edition: September 2007

eISBN 9781466864542

First eBook edition: December 2013