“Look, guys,” Gayle said, folding her hands on the table in front of her. “I know there is a lot of rice bowl mentality in our line of work—people not wanting to share information on things they view as their private purview. And I know that some of you may have been burned by some OGA task force or organic CIA assets in the past, but that’s not how I work. I’m here because I want to be here. I don’t care about credit or cost sharing or intelligence crossover. I saw what happened up there on the mountain—what happened to those people. I want to find out where this came from and stop the people involved before more innocent people are hurt—especially if the United States is a target. That is why I joined CIA—to safeguard and save lives, just like you guys. Whatever the issues the various head sheds involved might have, I trust you.” She turned to Jed and held his eyes until his face softened and he gave her a nod. Then she turned back to Nisha. “My ask is that we work this together, and that should include working up a plan to get close to this Chinese weapons scientist. I’ll be looking for a green light for a cooperative joint task force to do just that.”

“I don’t know if getting close is enough. I think we need to get him out of China,” Jed said, but he was looking at Julia now. “I doubt he’ll cooperate unless he’s safe and away from Chinese eyes. Over the past decade, China’s become an oppressive security state.”

She nodded. “Agreed. If we can get him here, we have a chance to learn the truth.”

“Now when you say here . . .” Gayle looked around nervously. They didn’t really expect that the CIA would disappear a Chinese national and then just turn him over to a small outfit in the hills of Tennessee, did they?

“Here means Trinity,” Jed assured her, “with all principals involved present, of course, but this snatch and grab should be done by my team.”

She watched Jed fold his thick arms over his broad chest, a statement she took to mean that in his mind the matter was settled. Despite her own rice bowl misgivings, she had a feeling that Jed was right, that they were the best positioned to act on any intelligence gained from the operation. Selling that to management was another matter altogether.

“How about I check in with my bosses at Langley right now and see if there’s any update?” she offered. She needed guidance but also a break from a conversation that was spiraling rapidly out of her control.