Read Online Treason by Newt Gingrich, Pete Earley - Free Book Online

miraculous. I just hope this doesn’t set her back. She’s a hero.”
    â€œSo are you, and not only because of what you did in Somalia last year and yesterday at the National Cathedral. I don’t know many single women in the Marines who’d be willing to take care of a fourteen-year-old girl with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress, especially one who isn’t even her blood.”
    â€œI promised her father, remember?”
    â€œYes, I do. I was there.” Lowering his voice, he added, “But I also remember Gunter Conner
wasn’t
a hero. What he did in Mogadishu cost American lives.”
    â€œPeople make mistakes.”
    â€œPeople died because of his arrogance. You know that.”
    â€œI hated him when I first realized it,” Brooke replied softly. “But he saved my life and I made him a promise. I can’t walk away from Jennifer because of a screw-up by her father.”
    â€œThirteen Americans died in Somalia because of him. That’s more than a screw-up.”
    For an awkward moment, neither spoke as Miles continued removing items from his bag.
    Brooke said, “I’ll make coffee.”
    â€œI can do it.”
    â€œNo! I tasted your coffee on the flight back to the States, remember?”
    â€œYeah, you said it was a bit strong.”
    â€œIt was undrinkable.”
    He laughed as she sorted through a stash of individual serving cups for her Keurig machine.
    â€œThere’s something I need to tell you,” he said. “I want you to hear it from me, not someone else.”
    From the inflection in his voice, Brooke sensed this was serious. She immediately suspected it was about their futures. After returning from Somalia, Brooke had gotten her uncle to pull strings so she could shift from being a military attaché to working in the Marine Corps Intelligence Department at the Pentagon—a stateside job that allowed her more time with Jennifer. But Miles still worked for the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group and was overdue for an overseas posting.
    â€œI’m returning to Somalia,” he said, “and I’m not certain how long I will be gone.”
    â€œSomalia? When are you leaving and why are you going there?”
    â€œYou’ve been interviewed so many times by reporters that you’re beginning to sound like one,” he quipped.
    â€œSomalia doesn’t make sense for an embassy posting. After the attack and election, we shut down everything but a couple of front offices. Our embassy there is primarily for show. We all know that now. A few Somali locals hired to process visas while our U.S. ambassador and staff live and work in Kenya. There’s no need for Marines in Somalia, and besides, I don’t think a certain general there would welcome you back.”
    â€œGeneral Haji and I are not friends, although I suspect he would prefer me coming back to having you return.”
    She handed him a cup and sat down at the kitchen table with her own.
    â€œI’m not going back as part of embassy security,” he said. “I’ve quit the Marines.”
    â€œWhat! That’s not possible.”
    â€œI’m out.”
    â€œBut you bleed Marine. And if you’re not a Marine, then why are you going back to Somalia?”
    â€œMy new employer is sending me there.”
    For a moment she stared blankly at him. Miles had always planned to be a lifer, and he wasn’t the type who would do well working for a private defense contractor. Suddenly, she understood. “You’ve joined SAD, haven’t you?” She was referring to the CIA’s secretive Special Activities Division, a covert paramilitary unit. “But why? Why leave the Marines for the agency?”
    â€œTwo reasons. Both related.” He took a sip of coffee and said, “This isn’t very strong.”
    â€œWho cares about the damn coffee? We’re talking about your