EXFIL by Anthony Patton (best book reader txt) 📕

to the living room to start the fireworks. To my dismay, his excitement faded from his demeanor.

“Ready to pull the trigger?” I asked to get him back on track.

This would be his first recruitment, so he was probably plagued by doubts.

One of the first challenges of espionage was putting your trust in the tools of the trade, which weren’t always intuitive. This case was textbook, though: we had led our victim down the primrose path.

“It’s nothing, Colonel, it’s…”

I squeezed his shoulder. “Let’s close this deal—easy day.”

He sipped his drink, sweat glistening on his forehead.

“About the other night at Club Ecstasy.” He took a deep breath and turned away, unable to look me in the eye. “My wife can never find out,” he said, finally, daring to cast a furtive glance back. “Never.”

Tom had no idea how offended I was by his comment, but I gave him a mulligan and continued as his mentor. “I’ve got your back, brother.”

I twitched inwardly with irritation but gave nothing away as I gripped his chin firmly to gain eye contact—always important.

“Never, ever forget that,” I added.

He nodded. “Thank you, sir.” He exhaled and met my gaze, confident yet cautious of my rank. “If I can be honest, sir, I don’t think Captain Chen is going to accept the pitch. Are you sure we have approval from Washington?”

I smiled, slapping him on the shoulder to convey misplaced confidence.

“Of course,” I lied. “Let’s do this.”

I opened the door to see Captain Chen from the People’s Liberation Army sitting on the living room couch watching television—a living, breathing Chicom. He wore black-rimmed designer glasses, a black suit, and a striped dress shirt.

Tom and I walked around opposite sides of the couch and sat to offer him a drink.

“Captain Chen,” Tom said, “this is my colleague I was telling you about, Colonel Lance Reed.”

I shook Chen’s hand—limp fish—forcing a smile as we clinked glasses to toast. “Captain Chen, Captain Howard has told me about all your great work. Such a privilege to meet you.”

Chen nodded cordially.

“Nice to meet you, Colonel Reed. Captain Howard and I have had many informative discussions about how our two countries are providing military training and equipment in Southeast Asia.”

“Truth in advertising,” I said, cutting to the chase with a glance at Tom. “Captain Howard and I work for the Defense Intelligence Agency—DIA.”

Chen set his drink down, not surprised by this sudden turn of events. They never were surprised, no matter how much they might protest. “I understand that your military attaché program is managed by DIA. Why are you telling me this?”

Ah, feigned confusion. Let the science of intelligence begin.

The civilian brass in Washington didn’t appreciate the magnitude of the Chinese cyber threat and lacked the testicular fortitude to counter it, so patriots like yours truly had to force the issue and ask for forgiveness later. So, after a pregnant pause, I reached into the soft-sided leather briefcase pre-staged on my side of the couch, slowly removing a black and white photograph of a Chinese military officer, and setting it on the table. “Do you know this man?”

Chen studied the photograph with his eyes narrowed, shook his head, and instinctively removed a pack of cigarettes and lighter from his blazer pocket.

He flicked his thumb to conjure an orange-blue flame, inhaling deeply.

“Never seen him before,” he said as he exhaled.

“Captain Chen, we both know that’s not true,” I said, tapping the photograph. “We both know he’s your boss in Beijing—Lieutenant Colonel Li, who has a nasty habit of hacking American computers and stealing intellectual property.”

Revealing someone’s secret boss was no reason to get flustered, but it was enough to prime his imagination for what was coming next. After another pause, I drew four more photographs from the briefcase, lining them up to create the illusion of cinematic motion: Captain Chen and a Thai prostitute talking; the two kissing and getting undressed; the two engaging in foreplay on a bed; and Chen thrusting in all his glory. Never forget to have a sense of humor.

“My God, Captain Chen, you must have split her in two!”

Chen crushed his cigarette and stood defiantly. “This is an outrage! I will report this to my embassy immediately.”

I refreshed his drink, gesturing for him to sit. “And tell them what exactly?”

As I’d hoped, Chen sat, sipped his drink, and leaned back, relieved to finally face judgment.

“What do you want?”

“Information about China’s cyber operations would be just swell,” I said and set a pen and notebook down on the table.

He pushed the photographs away. “I told you, I work for…”

“Captain Chen,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “Stop.”

We had to play the game with bold moves if we wanted to protect America from our enemies, foreign and domestic, despite the protests from gutless bureaucrats or so-called progressives in Washington.

Chen leaned back, glaring at me.

In accordance with the science of intelligence and the jousting protocols, he had violated his own moral standards. The only reason we were in a position to exploit his misdeeds was because he had slapped down cash for a prostitute of his own free will.

Everyone in the intelligence business knows the apocryphal story of the Middle Eastern diplomat who, when confronted with photographs of his own sexual misdeeds, cheerfully thanked the foreign Intelligence Officers and offered to buy copies. I assessed that Chen wasn’t in the market for naughty photographs and that his superiors would frown on such behavior.

Also, lest we forget, Chen, Lieutenant Colonel Li, and their ilk had declared war on America and threatened our way of life with a series of devastating cyberattacks.

Chen lit another cigarette and sipped his drink, with sweat glistened on his brow.

At this point, he could face the shame of begging forgiveness from his wife and his superiors, or double down and place his trust in me. If my assessment was correct, due to the superb work of Tom over the past few months, seeking forgiveness wasn’t in the cards.

“I want one million dollars and resettlement for my family,” he said.

Double down