Page 77 of Every Last Breath

Gideon chewed on his gum, detached demeanor locked tight. “I worked him over a little. Didn’t take much.”

Reece shifted in his chair. “Did he give up the seller?”

“Never met the seller. Van Helden offers a blind system for any skittish clientele. There was a specified site, date, and time for Van Helden to pick up the bioweapon along with specific instructions for the auction process. The seller gave him a list of the arms dealers to be invited, date of the auction, and the international account number for the wire transfer of payment.”

The team exchanged can-this-crap-day-get-any-crappier looks.

“And here’s the kicker,” Gideon said, his icy, pale-blue eyes sparkling.

Apparently, it could.

“The auction room was wired. The seller saw and heard everything.”

Cole groaned, rolling his eyes. “With that system, how does a skittish seller know Van Helden won’t just steal their product?”

“Van Helden may be a criminal, but he prides himself on not being a cheat. He’s built his business on his reputation.”

“At least there’s one less black-market middleman out in the world,” Castle said.

“No-go on sending Van Helden to the Hole.”

The Hole was the super-spook maximum security facility so highly classified, the only Gray Box personnel to know where it was located were Sanborn, Castle, and deputy director Knox.

“Sanborn made a call to arrange Van Helden’s transfer. Ten minutes later, the director of national intelligence called.”

The Gray Box only reported to the DNI and the president.

“Sanborn has to cut him loose. Looks like either the CIA or NSA is protecting him as a confidential informant. They’re working something and need Van Helden to hook a big fish. Sanborn is on his way to the White House to find out specifics and update the president on our status.”

Cole unleashed an appalled snicker, leveling the room into silence. “Van Helden is just as bad as those scumbag arms traffickers, not to mention whoever decided they wanted to sell a bioweapon. And you guys are letting him walk because of some filthy interagency deal?”

“Sometimes, we let the lesser evil walk in order to protect the greater good,” Castle said.

Incredulity gripped Cole’s face. “You guys are no better than—”

Maddox rested a hand on Cole’s arm and squeezed. “This is going to be a long day.” She needed to shut this down. They had to pull together, not tear each other to pieces. “We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Janet strolled into the conference with a platter of sandwiches and crudités. She was a godsend, greasing the wheels to keep everyone moving. “Should I plan dinner too?”

She’d already fed them breakfast, and this spread would carry them through. Hopefully.

“No,” Maddox said. “Don’t trouble yourself. Thanks.”

“I have a fresh pot of coffee brewing.” She grabbed the old pot and left.

“Reece, do another search through the stuff we found in Novak’s room,” Maddox said. “See if we missed anything.”

They’d done a thorough sweep of the room before leaving the hotel, bringing back everything they’d found. In the closet, she’d discovered the tux the Ghost had worn at the auction and the empty metallic case the bioweapon had been stored in. That at least told them the cylindrical canister they were looking for was sixteen inches long.

Reece had canvassed the bathroom, collecting the contents of the wastebasket. Cole had found a copy of the Washington Post on the desk and had brought it to the conference room.

“On it,” Reece said.

“Castle,” she said, catching him with a sandwich in his hand, “before you stuff your face, we need to know what’s within a one-mile radius of the hotel. He chose to stay at the location for a reason. We need to figure out what it is. Prep a threat matrix for each potential target. Prioritize anything high-profile or time-sensitive. Task an analyst to help. Not Harper.”

As much as she hated bringing in a second analyst full-time on this, they had little choice. She wanted Amanda, trusted her the most in analysis, but a mole in the small organization meant the traitor was going to be someone they trusted. Better to let Castle choose, a random pick.

“Agreed.” Castle rose. “But just to clarify, you are not the team leader.”