“There is one potential lead, but I’m not sure it will pan out,” she offered, unsure exactly how to get more than she gave here—as ordered.

“So what’s that?” Jed asked bluntly.

“Well,” she said, deciding just to trust her gut and go for it, “the CIA received information from a Chinese scientist working with SRSC who claimed he had information on an emerging weapons system that could do something that sounds an awful lot like what we saw in Peru . . .”

“And you’re just mentioning this now?” Jed asked.

“I was just made aware of it myself,” she snapped, more defensively than she’d intended. “We get dozens of leads every day. Many are so far-fetched as to be dismissed out of hand, as this one was, and the agency has to be highly selective about facilitating defectors in the current political environment.” She watched Jed roll his eyes at that and felt her cheeks flush. “Look, I get it, but that’s the world we work in. I don’t make the rules. We can’t just snatch a dozen Chinese nationals a month and not expect escalation with the CCP. But now, with what happened in Peru, we need to revisit the claims made by this guy . . .”

“What’s his status?” Julia asked coolly. Gayle felt the entire tone shifting and realized she needed to salvage her role on this combined task force if she was to have a seat at the table at all.

“I’m waiting to hear,” she fibbed. Before she could answer, she needed to consult with Langley. “I was hoping to get word before I got to this meeting, but nothing yet.”

“So what’s your ask?”

She looked over at Nisha, who now eyed her suspiciously. Time to take control of the narrative before the Shepherds penned their own.