Page 48 of Shadow Burn

“Write it all down,” Reid said, pointing to Jasper. “You want a detailed log of what was said just in case. Also, that all of us were present as witnesses.”

He sounded like a lawyer. Maybe he was.

Jasper scribbled the details in her notebook, documenting the time and those present. “Is it normal for an Associate Deputy Director to personally call an archivist on a temporary assignment?”

“No.” Her voice sounded calm, but her pulse had not slowed. “It’s possible if the materials are considered sensitive enough, but the normal route would be through my supervisor, Dr. Helms, or the Chief of History Staff. Upton signed off on my assignment. He has the authority to recall me, but personal involvement at this stage is highly unusual.”

“Unusual meaning suspicious?” Reid asked.

“Unusual meaning I’d like to see the routing memo.”

Jasper’s mouth moved slightly with an almost smile. “He wants you and the papers out of Montana.”

“And back under his control,” Katherine said.

Sebastian nodded once. “He’s created a clock.”

“Forty-eight hours,” Mack said. “That’s not much.”

She paced, her mind moving now despite the fear sitting cold beneath her breastbone. “If Upton is involved in the Cinder cover-up, or whatever it is, calling me directly was a risk. If he isn’t involved, he still wants the papers moved before I’m finished reviewing them. Either way, the papers matter.”

“And it all started with the Cinder flag,” Jasper added. “Odds are it’s a cover-up of some importance.”

Garrett entered, a phone in one hand and a fresh cup of coffee in the other. He took in the room’s silence, and everyone’s expressions. “I missed something.”

“The CIA wants Katherine back at Langley with the Vance papers in forty-eight hours,” Jasper told him.

Garrett’s eyes sharpened. “On whose orders?”

“My boss’s boss, ADD Richard Upton,” Katherine said.

Garrett glanced at Jasper. “Because of the shooter?”

Jasper shook his head. “He never mentioned anything about last night.”

Katherine pressed her fingertips lightly to the edge of her notebook. “I need to write the notification memo.”

Jasper’s brows drew together. “Now?”

“Yes. If I don’t document the attack in some form before Upton’s recall order hits whatever internal routing he uses, I lose control of the sequence. I don’t want the first official record of today to be his request for me to return. I want my report in the system first, narrow and clean.”

Garrett looked approving. “She’s right.”

“I know she is,” Jasper said. “I’m deciding how much I hate it.”

“You can hate it while I write,” Katherine said.

“That seems to be our system.” He pulled out a chair for her. “Sit down before you take on any more bureaucratic knife fights. You’re still pale.”

“I’m always pale.” Katherine sat because her legs had begun to feel less reliable than her voice. The moment she did, Priss jumped into her lap, then onto the table, where the cat sat directly in front of the Agency phone as if prepared to challenge the next caller.

CB pointed at her. “That’s the energy we need.”

Katherine looked at Priss, the phone, then at Jasper. The absurdity of the tableau should have amused her. Instead, it steadied her.

Jasper powered down the phone, removed the SIM, and slid both into a small metal box at his workstation. “This goes dark until I can isolate it properly. If that device is managed the way I think it is, the SIM is only one problem.”

Katherine winced. “I hadn’t thought of that.” She took out her laptop. “This too? If I log in, they may see where I am.”