by Brad Thor
“And I gave the CIA a full description.”
“But that’s not enough. You’re the only person who can positively ID him, Meg.”
“Can’t you just send some people wherever you think he is, do what you have to do, and then let me identify him from photos once it’s all over?”
“I wish we could, but we can’t. For all we know, there might be a hundred or more people with Nidal when we track down his whereabouts. We can’t just fire missiles at them, wait until the smoke clears, and then whip out the camcorder. There could be nothing left of him to ID. What’s more, this is going to be a covert surgical-strike team that needs to get in and out fast. If there were any other way to do it, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now having breakfast with you.”
“Thanks a lot.”
Harvath hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, but he needed to press on. “We need on-site confirmation of his identity before we take action, and you’re the only person that can do that for us. We have to be absolutely sure that we have got the right man. The CIA can’t do this without you.”
“The CIA almost got me killed. I feel like they used me for bait.”
“You’re right. They did.”
“So I’m nothing more than a means to an end as far as the CIA is concerned?”
“Basically.”
“That’s great. You really know how to inspire confidence in a girl.”
“Meg, what I’m trying to tell you is that you matter to me and you very much matter to the president. It’s not just the CIA that needs you; your country needs you. Right now you’re the only person who can help us nail Hashim Nidal. He’s already put the United States on his list. First he takes care of Israel, and then the terror begins here. It could happen right outside this restaurant, and it will happen if we don’t do something.”
“How do I know I’ll be safe?”
“Because you have one thing tipping the odds dramatically in your favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Me. If you agree to come on board, you and I will be joined at the hip. The president knows what an incredible sacrifice this is for you and he wants you to know that every effort is being made to protect you.”
“So, he’s sent his best man to do the job?”
Harvath flashed his most irresistible smile. “I guess you could say that.”
Meg tried to ignore it and changed the subject. “What am I supposed to do about my company? My clients?”
“The CIA is trying to pinpoint the whereabouts of Nidal as quickly as possible. Surely, you’ve got people who can handle things while you’re gone.”
“Maybe. It’s just tough to up and leave everything for God knows how long.”
“I know it’s hard. If there was any other way, believe me—”
“You wouldn’t be sitting here having breakfast with me. I caught that part earlier.”
“You’ll also be eligible to receive a substantial portion of the reward. Of course, all of this is classified and you’re not allowed to discuss it with anyone.”
“I’m going to be late for work.”
“Fine. Why don’t I get the check and we can talk about it on the way to your office.”
33
Nick Wilson and his partner were the two FBI agents on Meg’s protective detail that morning, and Harvath stopped outside the restaurant to chat with them in their car. He explained that he and Meg would be walking to her office and that the two agents could go pick up breakfast and meet them there.
Despite the thickening storm clouds, it was still a beautiful day to be walking in Chicago. A cool breeze was keeping the humidity down, and there was a tangible electricity in the air as the sky grew darker. Meg pointed out places of interest as they walked, and though Scot wanted to press her for an answer, he could tell walking and talking about other things was Meg’s way of working her way through to a decision.
When they arrived at the Beckwith Realty Building, Meg invited Harvath up to see her offices. It was a reasonable invitation, as Meg had yet to voice her decision, but in truth, neither of them was ready to say good-bye. As the elevator made its slow ascent, Meg leaned over and punched a button for one of the intermediate floors.
“What’s up?” asked Harvath.
“I forgot to get coffee. You don’t mind, do you? It’ll only take a second.”
“As long as it’s good coffee, I don’t mind.”
Meg laughed. “It’s good coffee, all right. Much better than what my assistant Judy’s got waiting up in the office. Trust me.”
The elevator doors opened and Meg showed Harvath to a stairwell that exited onto the alley behind her building. Around the corner was a Starbucks.
In the amount of time it took Meg to get her thermos filled and paid for, it started raining. Harvath was standing at the front of the shop looking out the window. “Lovely weather you have here in Chicago,” he said.
“Hopefully, we’ll get a little of this up in Lake Geneva. My grass needs it badly.”
“I only wish I’d brought an umbrella.”
“I thought you guys were supposed to always be prepared.”
“That’s not the Secret Service; that’s the Boy Scouts,” teased Harvath.
“I’m sure that makes the president feel real safe. Here, we’ll use this,” said Meg as she handed Harvath part of a newspaper to cover his head with. “You ready to go?”
“It looks pretty wet out there.”
“I thought SEALs liked the water.”
Immediately, Harvath’s antennae went up. “I never told you I was a SEAL.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“So how did you know?”
“I have my sources. This one was temporarily stationed in Cairo. He seemed to know you quite well. Said you did a little training together—that is, I assume, when you weren’t barhopping and chasing young ladies.”
A smile crept across Harvath’s face. “Lemme guess. Did this source have a Brooklyn accent by any chance?”
“Maybe,” said Meg, with a coy smile.
Bullet Bob, Harvath thought to himself. “Well, regardless of what fairy tales your source might have told you, I have no problem with getting wet.”
“Good, neither do I. Let’s get going.”
On the count of three, the pair ran from the coffee shop and down the street. When they got to the alley behind Meg’s office building, it was already filled with large puddles, so they decided to stick to the sidewalk and run around to the front.
When they turned the corner and were only fifty feet from the entrance, a huge explosion rocked the Beckwith Realty Building and shook the ground beneath them. Harvath pulled Meg behind the safety of a parked car as broken glass rained down on top of them and an enormous fireball climbed into the black sky. It took Harvath only a moment to realize that the car they were using for cover belonged to Nick Wilson and his partner, who were supposed to be meeting them upstairs at Cassidy Public Relations.
Meg looked up and screamed. The blast had come from directly inside her corner office. Right away, Harvath knew it was no accident. And had they not gone for coffee, both of them would have been killed in the explosion.
“Oh, my God, my office! I have to get up there,” yelled Meg, her ears ringing from the blast.
Harvath grabbed her face in both of his hands and turned it toward him. His ice blue eyes bore into hers as he said, “No way. Whatever that was, it was meant for you. We’re not going up there.”
“But Judy…My staff,” was all Meg could say.
Harvath raised himself from behind the cover of the parked car where they were hiding, and looked up and down the block for any signs of people who might be injured and in need of assistance. His eyes swept past a motorcycle messenger and almost kept going, but something made him stop and look back.
That was all it took. Their eyes met and instantly, each knew who the other was. Before Harvath could draw his gun, the terrorist was firing up the motorcycle.
“Stay here and wai
t for the police,” Harvath said to Meg.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Just do it!” he yelled as he ran across the street toward the half-moon driveway of the opposite office building. Underneath the canopy was a man waiting out the rain on his motorcycle.
“I need your helmet and keys, now,” said Harvath as he ran up to the man and flashed his Secret Service credentials.
“But, this is my Ducati, dude.”
Harvath pulled out his gun and said, “Your choice.”
The man handed his helmet and keys right over.
Harvath reholstered his gun, pulled the helmet on, and fastened the Velcro chin strap. In an instant, he had the bright red motorcycle throbbing to life. He revved the rpms into the red and popped the clutch, laying down a trail of rubbery fire under the canopy. When he hit the street, the bike fishtailed underneath him on the wet asphalt and threatened to tear loose, but Harvath got it back under control. Almost a full block ahead of him, he saw his target turn left onto State Street.
Rocketing down Hubbard, Harvath blew the stop sign and pulled an incredibly hard left on State that sent the bike shooting out of control through the intersection. He narrowly missed slamming into the side of a northbound green-and-white Chicago Transit Authority bus complete with a billboard encouraging young men and women to join the Army for excitement. The Army? How about the Secret Service?
Harvath chased Nidal three blocks north, where he turned and headed east. By this time, Harvath was only a half block behind and closing the distance fast. Nidal pulled out of the street traffic and raced up the sidewalk. Harvath followed right behind. Because of the wet conditions, Scot lost control several more times and thought for sure he was going down, but mercifully he got things under control at the last second. There was no doubt that this ride was taking years off his life.
When the dueling motorcycles hit Michigan Avenue, Nidal removed a Micro-Uzi from beneath his jacket. Harvath saw the weapon, but not before Nidal let loose with a rolling wall of nine-millimeter lead that tore through several cars and shop windows on both sides of him.
Harvath desperately wanted to unleash his own weapon, but as he was right-handed, to do so meant he would have to let go of the gas—something he couldn’t do at this point if he hoped to keep up with Nidal. Though he was good at shooting with his left hand, he wasn’t that good.
They continued racing east, with Harvath trying at every chance to overtake Nidal. At the next intersection, he turned south and Harvath followed right behind. They crossed the Chicago River and Nidal headed toward the lake, but then slammed on his brakes and pulled a U-turn, rocketing down onto lower Wacker Drive.
The pair were now out of the rain and on dry pavement. Harvath gunned the Ducati for everything it was worth. They darted around astounded commuters at speeds over ninety miles an hour. Even if Harvath could have removed his Secret Service issued SIG Sauer, there were too many innocent people within his field of fire.
At the next bridge, Nidal pulled an almost impossible right turn and shot beneath upper Michigan Avenue, then grabbed the first left. Harvath let go of the handle bar and reached behind with his left hand. He unholstered his SIG Sauer P229, swung it around, and let several rounds fly. All of them went wide of their mark, except for one, which barely missed hitting Nidal and instead took out his entire taillight assembly.
Nidal took another sharp left and sped down a dark service ramp toward the river. When Harvath hit the ramp seconds later, he could smell the noxious odor of brake smoke and melted tires. His entrance was greeted with another tidal wave of nine-millimeter rounds, two of which caught the front of the Ducati and sent him into an irrecoverable slide. Harvath ditched the bike and crashed end over end in a painful roll down the concrete ramp. When he finally came to a stop, he pulled the helmet from his head and saw the bike totaled against the far wall. Because his adrenaline was still pumping, he had yet to feel the effects of the fall, but he knew it was just a matter of time before the pain set in.
It took Harvath only a moment to find his gun and when he did, he pointed it down the ramp as he slowly picked his way to the bottom. He was inside some sort of underground service entrance. Train tracks ran off to his right and electric and gas company trucks were parked pell-mell beneath the dim fluorescent lighting. There was neither sight nor sound of Hashim Nidal until a loud roar ripped through the underground tunnel. Harvath recognized it right away—marine engines.
He ran toward the murky daylight coming from the end of the service tunnel, where a small indoor-outdoor marina opened up onto the river. The marina master was yelling as Nidal finished untying a swift thirty-eight-foot Baja and sped away from the partially covered pier. The only other thing in the water when Harvath reached the dock was a thirty-foot twin-screw Cigarette Mystique, which thankfully had the keys in it. Apparently, the marina master had prepped both boats for optimistic owners who hoped the weather would clear so they would get a nice day out on Lake Michigan. It looked as though they were going to have to make other plans.
As Harvath slammed both throttles forward and adjusted the trim tabs to help pop the Cigarette out of the hole, the rain hit him full force in the face. It reminded him exactly of Macau. Except this time he was chasing the silver-eyed assassin by boat instead of by car. That was fine by Harvath. Knowing water the way he did gave him the edge.
Nidal wisely avoided the locks that opened onto the lake, knowing full well he’d be a sitting duck, and headed west. Just after the Merchandise Mart, he swamped a Wendella sight-seeing boat and managed to sneak around it as it turned sideways. Harvath had to slow down considerably to get around the boat, and it cost him valuable time.
Reaching the north-south fork, Nidal steered his boat as if he was going to go north under the Kinzie Street Bridge, and then swung the Baja hard to port and aimed it due south. Once again, he withdrew his Micro-Uzi and fired, the rounds tearing up the bow of Harvath’s Cigarette. Scot ducked beneath the wraparound windshield to avoid being hit and, when he looked up again, realized he was perilously off-course. He jerked the wheel hard to starboard, sideswiping a construction barge parked on the east side of the river, and tore up the left side of his boat.
The howling wind and pounding rain made it impossible to see, much less aim, but Harvath had little choice and fired away. He had no idea if his shots were finding their mark or not. If they were, the Baja showed no signs of slowing. They passed beneath the Lake, Randolph and Washington Street Bridges, the sound of their roaring engines reverberating off the façades of the concrete-and-glass buildings that fronted the river.
At the Adams Street Bridge, Harvath saw a searing white light race from Nidal’s Baja and strike the engine compartment of another sight-seeing boat floating just off Union Station. He had never figured Chicago boaters for safety nuts, but apparently whoever owned the Baja kept a flare gun aboard, and the wrong person had found it. Nidal managed to get around the sight-seeing boat just as an explosion rocked through the engine compartment and blew a gaping hole in the hull. Passengers jumped, screaming, into the water as the boat quickly caught fire. Once again, Harvath had to pull back on the throttles, and once again, he lost valuable time.
After Harrison Street, the Chicago River opened up into a long straightaway. If he was going to catch Nidal, this would have to be place to do it. He tried to coax every ounce of speed he could from the Cigarette, and around Taylor Street, it looked as if the effort was paying off. Through the torrential rain, just ahead, he could make out the stern of Nidal’s Baja.
The gap was closing, but something was wrong. It was closing too fast. For a moment, Harvath let himself believe that one of his rounds had hit home and had caused the Baja to slow, but when he realized what was really happening, the searing bolt of a flare was almost on top him. He turned the Cigarette hard to port and played right into Nidal’s hands. Though the flare missed, rounds from the Micro-Uzi ripped down the starboard side of the Cigarette. Smoke began pouring from the star
board engine, and Harvath had no choice but to shut it down.
Running on one engine now, he pushed the remaining throttle as far as it would go and headed right for Nidal before he could load another flare and come around for a second attack. Harvath raised his SIG and pulled the trigger repeatedly until he heard the empty click of the spent magazine. In one fluid motion, he ejected the old clip and slammed in a fresh one, but it was too late. With Harvath operating on only one engine, Hashim Nidal had more horsepower and could easily outrun him. The driving rain had cut visibility down to nothing. With alarms buzzing and engine warning lights flashing, Harvath backed off on the remaining throttle and limped down the river, hoping against hope that maybe he’d catch a break and still be able to come across Nidal.
The only thing Harvath came across was the Baja abandoned just before Chinatown. Once again, the silver-eyed assassin had vanished into the storm.
34
By the time Harvath made it back to the Beckwith Realty Building, the fire department had the blaze all but extinguished and the police had established a command center in the lobby of the office building across the street. It was there that he found Meg, still being interviewed by police.
As he crossed the marble lobby toward where she was sitting, she could see that his clothes were soaked through. Though the look on his face said it all, she still had to ask, “Did you get him? Is he dead?”
“No,” Harvath replied. “I didn’t get him and he’s not dead.”
Meg had been hoping, praying, for Scot to return safely, but with a completely different report. “This is never going to end, is it?” she asked as tears began to well up in her eyes. “He’s going to hunt me down and he won’t stop until he’s killed me.”
“They’re not going to hurt you. I promise you.”
“But they already have. Hurting the people I care about is the same as hurting me.”
“How are the people in your office? Have you heard anything?”
“Two people are dead.”
