Page 121 of The Secret of Secrets

“I hadn’t either. From all I can gather, they’re an incredibly well-funded venture capital firm that develops advanced technologies, mostly under the radar, so it’s no surprise you don’t know who they are.”

“But that makes no sense,” Langdon argued. “Venture capital firms don’t hire hackers and field operatives.”

“I believe this one does. You may not have heard of In-Q-Tel, but you’ve definitely heard of their parent organization.”

“Who is that?”

Faukman sighed heavily. “A little group called the CIA.”

The line went silent.

I know, Faukman thought, recalling his own stunned reaction. “Here’s all I know,” Faukman continued. “The CIA owns and operates In-Q-Tel as a private venture capital firm to discreetly invest in technologies related to national security. They control hundreds of high-tech patents, as well as majority stakes in some of the boldest new tech companies.” The editor had turned back to his computer, pulling up the screen he had just been reading. “Their critics—mostly in competing investment firms—consistently complain that In-Q-Tel’s affiliation with the U.S. intelligence machine affords them, and I quote, ‘an alarming flexibility in the way they pursue their goals.’ Something tells me we’ve witnessed some of that flexibility tonight.”

“Incredible,” Langdon whispered, sounding shaken. “Who knows why the CIA would target Katherine’s book, but considering all that’s happened, their fingerprints seem to be all over this—”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Alex exclaimed, waving wildly and spinning his laptop so Faukman could see the screen. “Look at this!”

The laptop displayed a Wikipedia page, which Alex had apparently opened after hearing Langdon mention the ambassador.

Wikipedia:

Heide Nagel: U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic:

The citation was several pages long and dotted by a series of underlined highlights, underscoring the results of the document search Alex had just conducted.

…Nagel was hired by CIA directly out of NYU Law…

…overseeing CIA policy counsel…

…promoted to CIA general counsel advising agency director…

…retired from CIA to serve as ambassador…

“Oh shit, Robert…” Faukman whispered into the phone. “Get out of that house! Now!”

Chapter 78

Upstairs in her sprawling master bathroom, Ambassador Nagel gripped the sides of the marble sink and threw up. The text that had just arrived from Dana was only four words.

Michael Harris is dead.

Horrified, the ambassador had immediately excused herself and called Dana, who fumbled her way through a tearful, frantic update. Apparently, Dana and her Marine escort had found Sasha’s apartment unlocked. Kerble had entered to ensure all was safe and was immediately confronted by a body on the hallway floor.

Michael Harris’s strangled corpse.

No trace of Sasha Vesna or anyone else.

Despite the waves of emotion Nagel felt, she kept her cool long enough to give orders for Kerble to secure the apartment and call a forensics team to recover the body. And keep this quiet! The last thing Nagel needed was the press exploding with headlines of a consulate official’s murder on foreign soil. Not today.

Whatever had transpired in that apartment, her first order of business was her own employee. Michael. Nagel felt ill. His blood is on my hands. She stared into her bathroom mirror now, overwhelmed with guilt and regret…not just for Michael, but for everything that had occurred in the last three years since coming to Prague…

Unlike so many ambassadors who attained their coveted appointments by having donated a small fortune to the winning presidential candidate, Heide Nagel had simply been in the right place at the right time.

Or the wrong place, as it turned out.

Several years ago, during her tenure as general counsel for the CIA, an important file of classified documents had gone missing until an agency task force broke into her home and located the file buried in a desk drawer. Not surprisingly, Nagel was escorted to the top floor of Langley for a meeting with the agency overlord.

CIA Director Gregory Judd was a former U.S. senator with a quiet and thoughtful demeanor, despite his reputation for total intolerance of anything short of perfection. CIA insiders said Judd knew where all the bodies were buried, because he had buried many of them.