Talons of the Falcon Read Free

slightly. “And?” she prompted.
    “There was evidence that some of the details of the project were showing up in unfriendly hands, so I was asked to put a man on the team who could double as an engineer while he discreetly investigated the security leak.”
    Why had Gordon—and not air force security—taken on that duty, she wondered, but suppressed the urge to ask. If she wasn’t going to work with this man—and she probably wasn’t—she was better off knowing as little as possible about him and his high-placed connections.
    “I had the perfect agent for the assignment,” Gordon went on. “He was a brilliant air force engineer who had been integral to a number of high-tech projects. He had also worked for me on several occasions, although his official orders always covered any suspicious absences from regular duty. He was everything I needed—loyal, dedicated and smart. More than once I’d put him in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between his personal life and service to his country. And he never failed me when I needed him.”
    Eden bit her lip. She thought she knew what kind of sacrifice he was describing. It took an emotional toll—in fact, one that had been too high for her to pay over the long term.
    Gordon noted the young woman’s reaction and pressed on. “I think he came through for me this time, too. He had sent a coded message that he had identified the leak and was on his way back from Berlin with the evidence.” He paused for dramatic effect. “But his plane crashed in East Germany.”
    Even without knowing this engineer, Eden felt herself shudder at the price he’d apparently paid for his patriotism. When she thought back over the past year, however, she couldn’t remember an incident like that coming out in the press.
    Gordon answered her unspoken question. “It didn’t make the papers,” he said. “He was necessarily a loner with no family. And we didn’t want any publicity.”
    “But, if he died...”
    “That’s just it. Six months later, the other side notified our Secretary of State that he was safe in one of their medical facilities. It seems they’d pulled him from the wreckage of his plane and managed to save his life. He’d been pretty badly burned and had a dozen broken bones. But they’d patched him up, and as a `gesture of goodwill’ they were returning him to us.”
    The tea in front of Eden was growing cold, but she’d forgotten all about it. “If they had him for six months, God knows what they did to him,” she whispered.
    “Exactly.”
    Despite her professed lack of interest, Eden found herself asking, “Where is he now?”
    “For two months a special air force security unit has had him down at a facility called Pine Island off the Georgia coast. They’re trying to debrief him, but he’s not saying anything at all. I think he’s afraid the information he learned before the accident is going to get him into more trouble. But that’s not how air force security sees it. They’re convinced the other side has brainwashed him—and gotten the specs on the weapons project he was working on. So they’ve decided he’s expendable, and they’re going to extract what they can out of him, no matter what the cost.”
    “They don’t know he was actually working for us,” Constance interjected. “We can’t tell them without tipping our hand to whoever it was that sabotaged that plane in the first place.”
    Eden drew in a ragged breath. Sabotage. She had been thinking the East Germans had taken advantage of an unfortunate accident. Now the drama had become even more complex. But she still thought she understood why Gordon had sent for her. “You want me to go down to Pine Island and referee,” she stated.
    “Not exactly. There’s an opening on the staff for a psychologist. Evidently they’ve decided strong-arm tactics aren’t working, so they’re going to give the persuasive arts a try.”
    Gordon had effectively drawn her into his