“Did you tell him?” I asked.

Albright pulled a clean white handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his brow.

“I told him we were investigating a routing error,” he said.

“He didn’t buy it, Eleanor.”

“He told me that any disruption to the Joint Tactical Initiative right now would be treated as a matter of national security.”

“They are protecting Cole,” I said.

“No,” Albright said, shaking his head. “They are protecting the system.”

“If Cole falls, the entire procurement chain for the Middle East theater goes with him.”

He stepped closer to the desk, leaning his heavy hands on the metal edge.

The smell of stale tobacco and wet wool clung to his uniform.

“There are three senators on the Appropriations Committee who have already signed off on the next phase of the Apex Horizon contract,” he said.

“They have been told that the field trials in Jordan were a complete success.”

“But they weren’t,” I said. “The telemetry data was falsified.”

“I know that, and you know that,” Albright said.

“But the moment that paperwork becomes public, the Senate halts the funding.”