Free Rogue Asset (Book 3 of the Wade Hanna Series) by Joseph D'Antoni

office buildings and serve on administrative committees. They push papers, grin and meet the public, sit in meetings, prepare memos, fill out forms, make presentations and speeches, and meet the press. Most of these guys don’t even know I exist.”
    Wade raised his eyebrows at Leo’s directness. He didn’t know what to say next. Leo jumped in to further explain, “You noticed no one except you came over to speak to me. Most don’t even know me and I like it that way. The ones that know me just keep silent and ignore me like a ghost who isn’t here.”
    Leo paused to see if Wade was listening. Wade was all ears. Leo continued his explanation, “I get my assignments directly from the top of the Agency on a special secure line. Nothing I do goes through departments or has any paperwork attached.”
    “In other words there’s total deniability?”
    “That’s very good. You were listening.”
    Wade continued curiously. Something was bothering him, “Why would you ever come to an event like this evening?”
    “Good question. I’m not here for this event. I’m in D.C. on assignment to meet a foreign contact that is here for the U.N. meetings. My trip just happens to coincide with the reception tonight. I thought I would come by and see if I recognized anyone.”
    “Have you seen anyone you recognized?”
    “Yeah. I know some of the guys who have been around for a while. They are all bureaucrats now. There’s one or two of the older guys I had assignments with years ago. If they’re in some important position within the company now, they won’t acknowledge me.”
    “How can I get to know more about what your side of the company does?”
    “My area’s not covered in the Agency brochures. Why do you want to know?”
    “I’m trying to decide which direction to go in the company and not sure I like these social, glad-handing activities. I’m more of a field guy than an office or administrative type.”
    Wade felt somehow he was on common ground with Leo even though he didn’t have Leo’s experience and wasn’t sure exactly what he did.
    “Do you have any advice for me on which way to go with the company?”
    “You’ve got to decide if you want to be in a nice office and a comfortable administrative capacity or some other capacity. The Agency is very large, and there are plenty of jobs and directions for you to consider. You can just serve your remaining time out or make this a career. It all depends on what you want to do.”
    Wade paused with a questioning look on his face.
    “You see the way I work is not the normal Agency path. In fact, people like me are deniable assets. We work alone outside the Agency and accomplish things Agency people can’t or won’t do. If I’ve done my job right, nobody hears anything about it. We’re ghosts to the outside world and to be more precise ‘deniable ghosts’ within the company.”
    Wade still looked puzzled. He wasn’t sure how to find out about Leo’s line of work or who to ask about ‘deniable asset’ positions.
    Sensing Wade’s confusion, Leo continued, “You should know there is considerable danger in my line of work. You have to be a survivor to make it in my area. I’ve survived many close calls over my 24 years. You develop ‘street smarts’ or ‘instincts’ for the jobs we do. Some of those smarts come from natural instincts; another part comes from training and experience you can only get in the field. Most of it comes from on-the-job training. If you’re good at it, you’ll get better and learn. If you’re sloppy or prone to mistakes, you end up in a box at a young age.”
    “I think I understand. All I know at this point is I don’t want to do office work or attend social functions. I want to be in the field.”
    Leo looked hard into Wade’s eyes as he spoke. The dose of reality he just delivered on his line of work would have scared off most new graduating recruits. There was something in Wade that reminded Leo of himself when he