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“Federal prosecutors work for the Justice Department, not the CIA. Why were you cutting a deal with the CIA?”

“Three reasons. I uncovered the next phase of Project Naïveté. More important, I knew the CIA was behind it. Most important, I agreed to keep my mouth shut.”

“Agreed to keep your mouth shut about the code? Or about the fact that the CIA was behind it?”

“It all boiled down to the same thing. The CIA is Buck’s biggest investor. If I decided to be the next Edward Snowden and reveal what Naïveté Two could do, the blowback to the CIA would be astronomical.”

“What kind of blowback?”

“The kind of blowback that comes when the public learns that the CIA invested tax dollars in a private tech company to develop technology to use against its own people.”

He took a moment to wrap his mind around her words. “You were a management coach. How did you uncover all this?”

“I slept with the founder of Buck Technologies and used his credentials,” she said, completely matter-of-fact in her delivery, neither proud nor embarrassed.

“First of all, we never slept together,” said Gamble. “And even if we had, the CIA has always kept me dark to its most sensitive projects, so my credentials wouldn’t have suited your purpose.”

“I didn’t mean you,” she said. “I meant Jeremy Peel.”

A lower level of clearance was something Gamble had been forced to accept, given Peel’s connection to Walker and the CIA. But hearing about Sandra with Peel, after living with rumors that had all but destroyed his marriage, was enough to make his head explode.

“You and Jeremy? How could you?”

“He was such an easy mark. I’m only five years younger than him, so I’m obviously way too old for his tastes. But all I had to do was suggest that I was sleeping with you, and of course he bit. If it means taking something from you, Jeremy is all over it.”

Gamble was in a state of disbelief. “Are you saying you reallyarea—”

She cut him off before he could say the word “spy.”

“It’s not what you’re thinking. But put that aside. Does everything really need a label? The most important thing here is that I acted with good intentions.”

“Meaning what?”

“Like I told you. I did it for my daughter.”

She’d said the same thing in their last visit, and again it stirred up the confusion he and Kate shared over the suicide note.

“Didwhatfor your daughter?” he asked, speaking in a hushed but urgent voice. “What does this Naïveté Two do?”

“How much time do you have?”

“As long as it takes.”

Sandra was about to begin, but the corrections offered appeared at their table, and her voice halted.

“Time’s up,” he said.

“We were just getting started,” said Gamble.

“Sorry,” said the guard. “This inmate is limited to just one thirty-minute visit per week.”

“Since when?” asked Sandra.

“Since the warden announced your punishment this morning.”

Gamble looked at Sandra. “Punishment for what?”

“I smuggled in cigarettes,” said Sandra, a bit like a schoolgirl caught smoking in the bathroom.