“That’s where they were headed when the plane malfunctioned? To Italy?” Gannon said.

“Yes. The cabin pressure failure problem must have happened as soon as they got to altitude. The plane was supposed to make a turn to the north, but it never did. It kept going west out over the Atlantic.”

“Until it ran out of gas,” Gannon said.

“We had no idea where it was until it crashed,” Emerson said. “We couldn’t track it because the radar-jamming device was on.”

“Who was the other guy on the plane? The other stocky white guy?”

“His name was Oliver Buchanan. He was an undercover MI6 agent working with us. He was posing as a hostage negotiator working with the doctor’s family for Scott’s release.”

“Wow, quite an elaborate production,” Gannon said. “A cast of thousands.”

“Are you familiar with the term parallel construction?” Emerson said. “It’s standard operational procedure in a case like this. We needed to put the doctor in a moving box, cover every angle.”

“You certainly seemed to have accomplished that,” Gannon said. “You must have had him coming and going.”

“Yes. Please, now you know everything. I’ve told you everything. Get me to a hospital now. Please, I’m begging you,” Emerson said.

Gannon stood and started pacing back and forth behind Emerson.

“Not so fast. I don’t think you’re telling me everything,” Gannon said.

He walked over to a computer on a desk in the corner. He shook the mouse, brought up Google, typed into the search bar and hit Enter.

“I knew it,” Gannon said, looking up from the screen. “It says here Messerly’s big info drop is in two days’ time. This operation is still on as we speak, isn’t it? Dr. Santos is still about to take out Messerly for you. He still thinks he can save his son.”

“I don’t know,” Emerson said.

“You don’t know? Okay, fine,” Gannon said as he came over and started peeling off Emerson’s bloody rags. “Are you familiar with the term bleeding out?”

“Stop!” Emerson screamed. “Okay, okay! Yes, you’re right. The doctor is still in the dark. He picked up a package in London we sent him three days ago. It contains sedatives and a drone he’s to use to get all the data out of the embassy for us. That’s why the diver was renditioned and the reporter killed. All the potential leaks needed to be plugged in order to keep the doctor in the dark.”

“Because if Messerly delivers the truth,” Gannon finished for him, “then all you corrupt rotten filthy pieces of money-grubbing shit go to jail.”

“Yes,” Emerson said. “That’s really it. That’s all of it. Now please just drop me off at a hospital. I don’t care if I go to jail. I’m twenty-nine, man. I just don’t want to die!”

“Relax, bro. You’ll be fine,” Gannon said.

“But the internal bleeding!”

“There isn’t any,” Gannon said. “You were only shot in the leg. It’s a through-and-through. I just covered you in some of your own blood. You think you guys are the only ones who can make shit up?”