by Vince Flynn
Rapp started to shake his head and then stopped because of the pain. “Sorry.”
“That’s all right. His name is Tommy. The two of you are rather close.”
“What happened to me?” Rapp reached a hand to his head and winced.
“There was an explosion. You hit your head. You have swelling on the brain. They call it a subdural hematoma.”
“Explosion?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think we want to get into that right now. The fact that you’re awake and fairly lucid is a good sign. The doctors tell me all of this is normal and with time you should regain most if not all of your memory.” Kennedy smiled and put on a brave face. Rapp was her top operative. Even at 90 percent he could be exceptional, but that depended on which 10 percent was lost.
“How long have I been out?”
“A little over a day.”
“A day?” Rapp asked in surprise. 15 4 Vince FLy nn
“Yes.” And it had been a stressful day. Twenty-one dead police officers, all killed by her men and an assassin, which further complicated the entire affair. She was sitting on that particular piece of information for the moment. The facts, as she’d gathered them, showed that Rapp and his men were left with no choice but to defend themselves. Those facts, however, didn’t matter to the Afghani people and their political leaders-at least not in the immediate aftermath of the slaughter. The president had ordered Kennedy to Afghanistan to see if she could straighten out the mess before the damage was irreversible. By the time she landed she was in possession of the information she needed. Her people had already identified the corrupt Afghani Police commander who had ordered the attack. The man had simply vanished, his government sponsored house cleaned out of anything of value. Contacts within the Afghan National Police confirmed that most of the police officers who were killed were former Taliban members whom the corrupt commander had brought onto the force. They were all part of the State Department’s vaunted reintegration program. Kennedy gave the go-ahead for her assets to begin sharing this information far and wide.
By the time she landed, the Afghans were firmly split. One camp of hard-liners refused to blame anyone other than America for the catastrophe. It was no shock to anyone who followed Afghan politics that these men were the ones who had pushed reintegration in the first place. The second camp was made up of the various groups that had fought the Taliban for more than a decade and had warned the first group that their scheme of bringing them into the fold was shortsighted and naive.
Kennedy arrived at the U.S. Embassy, and after giving Darren Sickles a very cool reception, she kicked him out of his office and called the president and his national security team. In her typical analytical manner, she relayed the information regarding the corrupt Afghan Police commander. The president asked just two questions. Did we suspect that this commander was a bad egg, and did Kennedy think this was linked to the abduction of Rickman?
The first question was easy to answer. The CIA had a file as thick as a phone book on Lieutenant General Abdul Rauf Qayem. They had warned the State Department that the man was hard-core Taliban and should not be included in the reintegration program. Kennedy relayed this as dispassionately as possible. The secretary of state would get beat up over this, and Kennedy didn’t need to pile on. They had a good working relationship and she wanted to keep it that way. The answer to the president’s second question was less clear. Kennedy wasn’t ready to share the information surrounding Louie Gould until she knew more. It was looking as if the abduction of Rickman and the attack on Rapp were part of a coordinated effort to damage the CIA’s ability to operate in Afghanistan. Until she had more information, though, she simply told the president that they were proceeding under the premise that the two events were linked.
Chapter 23
Kennedy spent another ten minutes with Rapp, both answering and evading his questions and gently probing to gauge the depth of his memory loss. His inability to recall information stretched across all aspects of his life. One pattern did emerge, though-his mind was blank when it came to anything that involved the last three days. Before that things were spotty, but Rapp’s recall seemed to get better as each memory fell into place. Not wanting to overwhelm him, she didn’t bother to tell him that in the middle of the night, the doctors had been on the verge of drilling into his head to drain the clotted blood that was creating pressure on the brain. The prognosis was very iffy at the moment.
The military doctors had ample experience with head trauma caused by explosions. Every case was different. Some patients progressed to a full recovery with nothing more than a week’s bed rest, while others never fully recovered despite the best effort and medical care. Kennedy would not allow herself to think the worst. Over the years Rapp had proven that he had an extremely strong ability to survive what would kill most people. His refusal to be deterred, despite overwhelming odds, while it often put him in harm’s way, was the very thing that drove him to never quit. Dying simply wasn’t an option.
His recovery right now depended on rest and relaxation-two things that were as foreign to Rapp as not barking at a stranger was to a dog. This put Kennedy in a unique quandary. She needed Rapp to find Rickman. There was no other asset up to the task. There were others who could help, but she needed Rapp’s fearless, ruthless behavior to deal with the miscreants who orbited their interests in this part of the world. Unfortunately, he was sidelined until the doctors told her otherwise. So far they were being vague, telling her he would likely be kept in bed for a week and then there would be another week of rehabilitation. A variety of symptoms could persist, including lethargy, slurred speech, difficulty in walking, blurred vision, numbness, headaches, amnesia, dizziness, and pain. The last part didn’t concern Kennedy. Rapp’s pain threshold was off the charts. She was betting that he would recover way ahead of the curve, but she couldn’t count on that, so she told him she had some things to attend to, but she’d be back to see him in a bit.
Kennedy found one of the doctors in the hall, an Air Force major, and told him that Rapp was awake. She filled him in on their conversation, and the doctor said this was a very positive development. He then excused himself and went to personally check on his patient.
Kennedy found Coleman in the small lounge with two of her bodyguards. She asked her men for a bit of privacy and sat down next to Coleman.
Kennedy grabbed Coleman’s hand. “You know you saved his life.” Coleman was embarrassed. “Let’s not get all melodramatic.” An uncharacteristically big smile spread across Kennedy’s face. “I don’t think you understand. You’ll be able to hold this over his head for years.”
Coleman joined in with a big grin. “Good point. The only problem is that I think he’s saved my life at least twice. I’m still behind.”
“His memory is a little shaky at the moment. Maybe he’ll forget he’s ahead. I’ll never tell him.”
“He’s awake?”
Kennedy nodded.
Coleman breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God. How’s he doing?”
“He seems to be okay, but he doesn’t remember much.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure he knew who I was when he woke up. He recognized me, but he had to struggle to come up with my name. He remembered his own name, but he couldn’t tell me where he worked… at least not at first. As we talked, more and more things seemed to fall into place.”
“Rick?”
“No idea. In fact I don’t think he can remember a single detail over the past seventy-two hours.”
“Shit.” Coleman dropped his face into his hands. “So he’s out of commission.”
“I’d say for at least the next week.”
“What are we going to do?”
“I’m not sure at this point. Do you have it in you to take the lead?” Kennedy thought she knew the answer, but she needed to ask the question.
Coleman thought about it for a moment and then said, “I have the drive, but Mitch and I are very
different. You know that. I’m not afraid to break a few rules and even a few noses, but I’m an amateur, compared to him. The only other person I know who could do it is Stan, and from what I heard yesterday, he’s not exactly up to the challenge.”
“What about Mike?” Kennedy asked, referring to Mike Nash, her counterterrorism director.
After inhaling sharply, Coleman shook his head. “I like Mike, but I’m not sure he’s cut out for this rough stuff. I don’t blame him. He’s got a wife and kids and you gave him an important job with a nice title. He’ll do well, and if he had his back to the wall, he’d do whatever it would take to survive, but that’s not what this is.”
“What is this?”
“You want Rick back, you need to find someone who’s willing to throw out the rule book. You need someone like Mitch who doesn’t give a shit about the politics… someone who’s fearless. Someone who will make these dirt bags fear for their lives.”
Kennedy agreed. The only problem was that she had no such man available. “Louie Gould… have you had a chance to talk to him?”
“Only briefly.”
“Do you buy his story?”
Coleman let out a small laugh that said what he thought of the question. “I’m not sure I believe a thing that comes out of that guy’s mouth. What does Mike say?” Nash and another CIA interrogator had been tag-teaming Gould since the night before, trying to sort through his lies.
“He says progress is slow. I’m going over there in a minute. Gould doesn’t know it but I have some leverage on him. He’ll tell us what we need to know and then some.”
“If we can find out who hired him… everything might fall into place.”
“It would be nice if it were that easy, but I’m guessing there are some firewalls in place that are going to make that very difficult.”
“Probably, but he might be able to point us in the right direction.”
“I’m counting on it.” Kennedy closed her eyes briefly and then said, “You lost a man?”
Coleman wore the fateful memory on his face. “Yeah… one of my best.”
“Mick Reavers.”
“That’s right.”
Kennedy could tell Coleman had some emotions that he hadn’t yet begun to deal with. She looked away and said, “Through back channels I’ve made it very clear that I want his body back by the end of the day.”
“I appreciate that.” Coleman looked across the room for a second and stared at a poster of an A-10 Warthog. “He never had a chance. They shot him before he even got his weapon up.”
It wasn’t often that Kennedy allowed herself to get pissed off, and it was even more rare for her to show it. She supposed she was filling the void left by both Rapp and Hurley. “Scott, I want to make something clear. We are not going to allow this crap to go unchallenged. I’ve got more shooters on the way over and within twenty-four hours I am going to have some targets for you. We’re going to find General Qayem. It might not be this week or the following, but you are going to find him and you are going to kill him. Do you understand me?”
Coleman nodded. “That’s what I was hoping you were going to say.”
“And by the time we’re done, my guess is there’s going to be a few more names added to our list.”
Chapter 24
Inter-Services Intelligence HQ, Islamabad, Pakistan
A
shAn had been summoned to the director general’s office, and he thought he knew why. His people had informed him of the developments across the border. Not only was Rickman gone, but another operative in Jalalabad had gone missing and there had been an attempt on Mitch Rapp’s life. As the deputy general of the Foreign Relations Wing, the only thing that surprised Ashan was that he hadn’t heard directly from the Americans. Even so, he had directed his people in both Jalalabad and Kabul to aid their counterparts from the CIA.
The ISI was an extremely controversial yet influential part of the Pakistani government. In recent years there had been pressure to make the intelligence agency more accountable. Parliament had decided that the best way to avoid future scandal would be to make sure the head of the spy agency wasn’t anyone too special. In other words, they wanted someone they could control. They found just the person in Air Force General Ahmed Taj. Taj’s career in the Air Force had been spent almost entirely in supply and logistics. He had both a fondness and an aptitude for moving men and equipment from point A to point B. Ashan had noticed this some time ago, as it seemed that nearly every time he was called to Taj’s office he was ordered to get on a plane and go somewhere. When he’d been informed of the meeting, he called his wife and asked her to pack a bag for him just in case. The office of the director general was decadent. The space was nearly as big as a tennis court. The walls and ceiling were covered in a deep brown rosewood paneling and there were three granite fireplaces. Most of the walls were covered with bookcases, but there had been updates that included several large flat-screen monitors tastefully concealed behind tapestries.
Ashan was five minutes early and was irritated to find his friend General Durrani seated and sharing tea with their boss. It was just like Durrani to arrive early in an attempt to reform and dictate the agenda. The room was divided into three parts. To the far left was the director general’s mammoth desk, a map table and four chairs. The middle of the room was dominated by a conference table for sixteen. The most Ashan had ever seen at the table were six people. To the right was a sitting area. A massive leather couch that could seat six was centered on the fireplace. Two more couches framed the area around a large glass coffee table.
Taj greeted Ashan and asked him if he’d like some tea. Ashan graciously accepted and sat by himself on one of the shorter couches. He accepted his tea and saucer with both hands and placed it on the glass tabletop. He would very much like to know what the two men had been discussing, but would never want to seem so desperate. Besides, there was a good chance it would be revealed during the course of their conversation. “How are things in Foreign Relations?” Taj asked.
Ashan was pleased to see that in a break from his predecessors, Taj was dressed in a light gray suit as opposed to his military uniform. “We’re getting along.”
“Good. So,” said Taj, picking up his cup of tea and taking a sip, “I assume you’ve been following the recent developments in Afghanistan.”
“I have.”
“Any thoughts?” Taj was less than average in height and sitting by himself in the middle of the massive couch gave him kind of a childlike appearance.
Ashan hated such open-ended questions. Especially when there was likely an agenda or at least a formed opinion behind it. His job was to offer his insights to the director general, so he took in a short breath and pushed ahead. “It appears, at least from a timing standpoint, that someone has decided to launch an operation against our American friends.” “Any idea who?”
This was where it always got tricky. Ashan decided to start out cautiously. “Beyond the usual suspects, no, sir.”
“As for the usual suspects… I’d like to hear your list.”
“The Taliban is the obvious choice, although I doubt that they have the organization to be able to conduct such a complicated operation.”
“Explain, please.”
“Three different targets, all individuals, which means it’s very hard to predict where they will be in advance. From everything we know, the Taliban by themselves don’t have the assets to pull something like this off.”
“By themselves?”
“They are,” Ashan started, and then stopped. There was a safer way to go about this. “All we need to do, sir, is look at a map. Afghanistan is landlocked.” Ashan ticked off the neighbors. “Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, and us.”
“Don’t leave out the Americans,” Durrani interjected.
Ashan was struck by the stupidity of the statement. “You think the CIA is doing this to itself?”
“I don’t pretend to know the American mind. I’m si
mply saying they are highly invested in maintaining their influence over the region.”
Ashan decided to let the stupidity of his colleague’s statement stand on its own. “Historically, the Stans have had no relationship with the Taliban. If anything, they have been pulled into America’s orbit. It is, however, possible that Russia could be involved.”
“Do you have any evidence?”
“No,” Ashan said with a quick shake of his head. Although they seem to be taking great joy in poking the Americans as of late, so we should at least consider them. Iran is growing in influence, and we all know they have ample hatred to attempt something so brazen. China, so far has shown almost no interest in the region. As to why, that is fairly obvious. There are no natural resources other than the opium trade. As we’ve discussed, if Afghanistan had oil, China would be very interested.”
The director general rubbed his fingers along his mustache while he considered the analysis. “So we think it is likely that it is either the Iranians or the Russians.”
“There is one more possibility, sir. You forgot about us.” It was immediately obvious that Durrani had been waiting for this.
“I told you he would try to pull us into this sordid mess.”
“I am trying to do no such thing,” Ashan answered in a voice bereft of tension. “The director general asked for my analysis and I gave it to him.”
Durrani ignored his old friend and looked directly at Taj. “I warned you. This is dangerous. He has absolutely no evidence, yet he is willing to implicate us. How long do you think it will take until the Americans get word of this? They have spies all over this building.” Shifting his butt so he could face Ashan directly, he asked, “How many people have you told of this?”
Ashan would have burst out laughing if the entire thing wasn’t so serious. “Akhtar, you must not be listening. Let me phrase this a different way. If you were the Americans, where would you start looking?”
“I don’t give a damn about the Americans. This is not our problem. It is theirs, and we should keep it that way. Not help them try to implicate us.”
