“Of course you do. Krieger follows the Chinese around like a cattle bird, providing security for President Ho’s investments, making his own moves. He’s got a thousand men running security for Chinese Development Bank oil interests in Angola. He’s the spear for China’s Djibouti base. He got them the Darwin port. Now he’s got them Mindanao. He’s locking up the coast from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea. If that leads to conflict someplace, he sells one side, or both, the weapons—”

“I was in the Congo,” Klay interrupted. “I know how he operates.”

Barrow paused, assessing him again.

“It’s a modern world, Tom. You ever hear that? I always think what the hell else could it be—every day’s more modern than the one before it—but that’s me. You got High Tech. High Finance. Maybe now we got High Intelligence. I don’t know. I don’t have to know. My job, most of the time, is follow the money. Same as you.” Barrow adjusted in his seat.

“Krieger didn’t come out of nowhere with this fund idea of his. We’re in a race, Tom. Our spies have to keep up with their spies. But how do you do that? Our in-house engineers aren’t exactly Silicon Valley’s finest. And we can’t buy off the shelf. We need what hasn’t been invented yet. Our people put together a venture capital firm called Maven-Q. The company’s genuine—our people do trade shows, hand out Maven-Q ball caps and ink pens,” Barrow said with a chuckle. “It lets us invest in promising ideas, steer product development, lock up end products.”

“Let me guess,” Klay speculated. “The CIA with its own investment fund. You wouldn’t leave management of a venture capital firm to intelligence officers. You hired outside?”

Barrow nodded.

“Wall Street?”

Barrow waited.

“You hired Wall Street bankers, but you couldn’t pay Wall Street–sized bonuses with taxpayer dollars. You told them they had the opportunity to serve and protect, they said screw you, so you . . .” A bitter smile formed on Klay’s lips. “You told them they can eat what they kill, and they took you up on it . . .”

“Well, they’ve made some very good investments, so they tell me. But they did make one that put our ass in the jackpot.”

“They invested in Perseus Group.”

Barrow raised his glass in acknowledgment.

Klay sat back in his leather seat. The CIA had invested in Perseus Group. “So now Krieger has your money and your secrets,” he said, and laughed. “And now it’s your money funding those port acquisitions. Providing China’s security. Killing Congolese. Anything he does, you’re tied to.”