Read Online The Fellowship by William Tyree - Free Book Online Page B

flames.”
    “ And once people start speculating about whether these assassinations were state-sponsored, there won’t be enough oxygen left in the room for anyone to think straight. It’ll make it that much tougher to catch these monsters.” 
    E very head in the room reluctantly nodded. Carver checked his watch. It had been at least four hours since the senator’s death. The fact that no group had yet claimed responsibility for the murders was highly unusual. It was also deeply disturbing.
    Fordham licked his lips before speaking. “W e may need to practice misdirection as a strategy.”
    “ With all due respect,” Ellis said, “What are you going to tell people? That Senator Preston went to live on a big farm in the country?”
    “Let me worry about that,” the president said.
    “ If the truth gets out, the scandal would be bigger than the missing WMDs in Iraq. Bigger than Benghazi by a mile.”
    “ Just do your job,” the president put forth in a tone that officially sealed the discussion on that topic. She leveled her gaze at Carver and Ellis. “Starting now, this case is your entire world.”
    As much as Carver had wanted to get out from behind the desk in McLean, this wasn’t the way he wanted to do it. After months of boredom, Operation Crossbow had only just started to get interesting, only to be wrenched out of his hands.
    “What about support?” Ellis said.
    “I want as few people knowing the details as possible,” the president cut in. “Julian here, and Chad Fordham, will oversee this operation personally.”
    Sp eers’ protest came immediately, but the president cut him off. “You both have competent deputy directors. Let them run things for a few days. I want your full and undivided attention on this.”
    “ This is a mistake,” Carver said. “We should have dozens, if not hundreds, of people on this.” 
    “I think I’ve made myself clear. We can’t afford a leak.”
    She had a point. As the business of keeping secrets went, this was about as big and juicy as they came. “When can I see the London crime scene photos?”
    Speers sucked his teeth, as he always did when he was about to say something disappointing. “You can’t. MI6 won’t chance transmitting anything electronically.”
    Carver’s face felt suddenly hot. “We have a pact to share intelligence data that is mutually benef icial to international security.”
    “ Oh, they’re fully willing to cooperate. It’s just that they insist on doing it in person.”
    “Wh at is this, 1985?”
    “ The hactivists have them spooked,” the president explained. Earlier that year, a group claiming to be former WikiLeaks members had risen from the organization’s ashes to release sensitive video that MI6 had shared with the CIA. Before either side could deploy its forces to shut the video down, the Allied Jihad had used the material to identify a British double agent within the Iranian government. He had never been heard from again. Similar moves by hacker activists – who believed that governments had no right to withhold even sensitive information from the public – had so terrorized governments across the globe that even diplomats had been transported back to the industrial age, at times refusing to communicate even benign correspondence by email.
    “Fine,” Carver conceded. “I’ll go to London if that’s what you want. But I suggest that Ellis stays here.” He deliberately avoided eye contact with his new partner. “We can’t afford to let the trail in Washington get any colder.”
    “Noted,” Speers said, “But denied. Chad and I will supervise the domestic end of this. You are both to go to London and anywhere else necessary to find out who did this.”
    The president stood up. “Until we know who’s behind this, and why, we are fully exposed.”
    Speers glanced at his phone, reading an incoming text message. He looked up, apparently horrified by what he had read. “Madam President…Senator Preston’s