Deception

by Ethan Jones

  Nothing happened.

  Javin slammed the horn with his fist as he grabbed his knapsack by his feet. He kept one hand firmly on Haram’s wound, feeling his blood pump against his palm, and his carotid artery throbbing in stress. With the other hand, Javin took out of the knapsack a package of QuikClot. He tore it open with his teeth, then applied the QuikClot to Haram’s wound as Yael popped up next to the driver’s window.

  “Help me get him out,” Javin said as she opened the door.

  He sealed the wound with a blowout patch he took from the knapsack and kept applying pressure to Haram’s neck.

  Claudia was standing near the second SUV with her C8 carbine pointed at the houses. On the other side of the vehicle, Haram’s partners were firing quick bursts.

  Javin wondered whether they could see the targets or whether it was suppressive fire. He decided it was the latter; otherwise Claudia would have also tapped the trigger.

  When Javin and Yael had taken Haram out of the vehicle, one of his partners came to assist them. Haram was laid in the backseat without anyone’s firing shots at them. Javin looked at Yael and said, “Can you take care of him?”

  Yael shrugged. “I think he’s gone…”

  “Do what you can to save his life. I’m going after the shooters.”

  Haram’s partner followed Javin, but he shook his head. “No, you and your buddy need to stay back and provide cover fire.”

  “They’ll kill you.”

  “They won’t.”

  He came to Claudia and said, “Take the wheel.”

  She handed him the carbine and climbed into the SUV.

  Javin walked around, and Claudia hit the gas before he had slammed the door shut.

  She asked, “Who are these people?”

  “We’ll find out soon.”

  He looked through the carbine’s scope at the terrace of the nearest house. A silhouette of a thin man went through a doorway. He returned and seemed to be looking at the nearing Toyota SUV. The man was unarmed, and Javin wasn’t sure if he were the shooter or just a curious observer. The terrace looked like the perfect place for a sniper. So did the terrace of the house next door, or any of the four windows on the second floor.

  No one took shots at them, and Javin’s mind began to race through the possibilities. He doubted Haram’s partners had been successful in bringing down the shooters. Did anyone from the next house intervene and neutralize them? Or are the shooters gone? He scanned the horizon for dust trails or any other sign that a vehicle was leaving the location.

  He found none.

  As they drew nearer, Javin re-examined the terraces and the windows. The man had disappeared, and there had been no other movement. A couple of trucks, one black and one silver, along with a white sedan were parked outside the first house, the one Javin suspected.

  That was the house Javin and Claudia were going to raid first.

  She parked next to the sedan, an old model BMW, and they jumped out cautiously. Javin had returned the weapon to Claudia and had pulled out his C8 carbine. He gestured to Claudia that he was going to take the front entrance and instructed her to move to the left side.

  The house didn’t have a garage, and the small front gate was left open a crack. Javin pushed it with the tip of his boot, then cleared the courtyard. He climbed the three steps leading to the veranda, staying away from the windows and the door.

  No gunfire.

  He came to the door and opened it slowly. The front room and the kitchen to the side were empty. A trail of dusty footprints over the multicolored carpet with a flowery motif led to a staircase to the right. A second set and perhaps a third snaked through the narrow hall and to the back of the house. The door had been left ajar, and it looked like it had been pried open from the outside.

  Javin cleared each room carefully, making as little noise as possible. No sounds came from above, and it looked as if the house was empty. Javin stopped when he came to the back entrance and waited for Claudia, who appeared a moment later. Then they both began to climb the staircase.

  They followed the dusty footsteps, which went off in two different directions as they came to the second floor. Javin gestured for Claudia to go toward the back of the house while he stepped toward the front. He cleared a small room to his right, noticing bullet holes in the walls and shattered windows.

  Then he drew near the terrace.

  Through one of the shattered windows, he noticed a man sitting on a chair with his back close to the door, which was left slightly open. Javin couldn’t tell if the man were armed, but a sniper rifle was a few steps away, turned on its side. A pistol was farther to the left, near a large, black sniper rifle carrying case. An AK rifle was set against the terrace’s parapet, beyond the man’s immediate reach. Another AK was near the man’s arms.

  A second man was lying face down on the terrace, and a pool of blood had formed close to his head. He was dressed in gray pants and a desert tan vest. Javin couldn’t see the man’s face, but he recognized him by his head shape.

  It was Tom Murphy.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jawdurayn

  Bahrain

  “Hands up. Up, and turn around,” Javin shouted at the man in Arabic.

  “Relax, Mr. Pierce,” the man replied in a calm, firm voice. “I’m not here to kill or capture you.”

  “Show me your hands. Now, and turn around. Do it!”

  The man nodded and spread his hands. He pivoted slowly and gave Javin a composed look. “See, I’ve no intention of hurting you.”

  Javin stepped slowly onto the terrace and kept his carbine pointed at the man’s head at all times. He glanced at the other house, searching its windows and the terrace, which was partially obstructed. Satisfied that it was safe, he returned his eyes to the man. His waistband holster was empty, although Javin couldn’t determine if the man had a weapon hidden elsewhere on his body, at the small of his back, or in an ankle holster. He was dressed in black pants with a black shirt and a khaki flak jacket. The man’s face was tanned, and he looked Arab. He had neck-length black hair and a broad forehead. His nose was long and curved, like an eagle’s beak. He had high cheekbones and a full beard, which was about half a centimeter long.

  The man began to stand up, but Javin shouted, “Down, down, don’t move.”

  The man sat down. “I thought you wanted to search me…”

  A shuffling noise came behind him, then Claudia said, “I’ve got you, Javin.”

  “Get down, on your knees. Now!”

  The man grinned and cocked his head. “I thought you said ‘Don’t move’…”

  Claudia stepped to the side, her carbine trained on the man’s head.

  Javin hoisted his rifle over his shoulder and walked to the man. He grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and threw him to the terrace. The man didn’t resist and didn’t say anything.

  Javin gave the man a thorough pat-down. When the CIS operative was certain that the man was unarmed, Claudia checked on Murphy. A moment later, she said, “I’m sorry, Javin. Tom’s dead. And I found two handcuffed and gagged men in one of the closets. They claimed they’re brothers, the owners of the house, and that an American overpowered them and locked them there.”

  Javin shook his head. He had found a phone in the man’s jacket pocket. When Javin checked the screen, he read the owner’s name: Tom Murphy.

  Javin shook his head and said, “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

  “Can I get up now?”

  “No. Who are you?”

  “And here I thought this was going to be easy.” The man sighed. “My name is Rashid Salimi, and I work for Pasdaran, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.”

  Javin swore bitterly.

  “What? The Guard?” Claudia said.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Saving your life from Mr. Murphy there.” Salimi cocked his head toward the body.

  “You killed him, you son of a—”

  “Because he was trying to kil
l you,” Salimi cut him off. “Look for yourself. His fingerprints are all over the sniper rifle. And the messages on his phone… It’s all there.”

  “Get up, up.”

  The man stood up slowly and returned to his seat. He gave Javin a look of interest.

  The CIS operative was still seething, but a wave of confusion was overwhelming him. They had suspected Murphy was lying to them but setting up an ambush to kill them? He shook his head. “You put his prints on the rifle,” he said to Salimi.

  “No need to do that. He was already in position, waiting for you.”

  Javin tried to contain his surprise and anger. He stepped closer to Salimi, who was now grinning. “And you just happened to be here and become our savior?”

  “No, that’s a long story, and I’d rather tell it to you another time—”

  “You’re going to tell me now…”

  Salimi shrugged. “I can do that, but your Bahraini friends will soon be here and start asking questions. Difficult questions about my presence here…”

  “Yes, and I will hand you over to them, if I don’t kill you myself…”

  Salimi shrugged again and shook his head. “You’ll do nothing of that sort because you need me.”

  “And why is that?” Claudia asked.

  “Because I have what you want. I can give you the location of the nuclear scientist, Dr. Niyazov. I know you are still looking for him.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Salimi tipped his head toward the safehouse. “Can we do this somewhere else, when we’re not under pressure? They can’t see us, yet…”

  Javin shook his head. “Not until I’m convinced you’re telling me the truth…”

  “How do I convince you?”

  “How did you get here?”

  “We followed you from your hotel, Grand Gulf in Manama. Then we noticed someone else was following you as well.” Salimi gestured at the body. “He was easier to follow. When we got here, we noticed he’d set up his sniper position. We couldn’t let him kill you so—”

  “We?”

  “My partner. He’s in one of the trucks downstairs…”

  Javin bit his lip. He had given only a cursory glance to the trucks and hadn’t seen anyone. Is he bluffing? “Go check it,” he said to Claudia.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Salimi said. “That’s our signal that something went wrong. Unless he sees me come out in the next, eh…” he glanced at his wristwatch, “two minutes, he’s coming with guns blazing…”

  “Okay, let’s say you’re telling me the truth. I still don’t understand why you need me alive…”

  “We know about your operation trying to gather intel about the Iranian nuclear program. We’d like to give you the facts…”

  Javin snorted. “Really?”

  “Yes. But again, that will take some time, time we don’t have…”

  Javin looked at the locked screen of Murphy’s phone.

  Salimi said, “You need his fingerprint. Right hand, index finger.”

  Javin knelt next to Murphy and picked up his hand. He used it to unlock the phone, then scrolled through a series of text messages. One of the most recent ones that Murphy had received from a name Javin didn’t recognize gave Murphy the number of Javin’s and Yael’s hotel suite at the Grand Gulf Hotel. The Iranian operative was telling the truth, at least about this aspect of his operation.

  “Okay, so now what?” Javin asked Salimi.

  He smiled. “I walk through that door. You explain to your friends what happened here in whatever way you see fit. When you return to Manama, call me. My number is in there.” He gestured at Javin’s hands holding Murphy’s phone.

  “That easy?”

  “Unless you want to make it more complicated…”

  Javin thought about it for a brief moment. His operation was already complicated, perhaps beyond what he could handle. He could do without adding a new enemy to his long list.

  He glanced at Claudia, who offered a head nod.

  Javin nodded back at her and said, “All right, Salimi. I will let you go. We’ll talk about how this happened and what we’ll do about it when we meet in Manama.”

  Salimi smiled. “Wise decision, Pierce.” He stood up and walked toward the AK.

  “Uh-uh,” Claudia said.

  “I don’t think so,” Javin said.

  “That’s my favorite gun…” He grinned.

  Javin returned the grin. “We’ll bring it to you. Now, make yourself scarce.”

  Salimi grinned. “I’ll see you soon, Pierce.”

  “Yeah, and I’m not looking forward to it.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jawdurayn

  Bahrain

  Claudia escorted Salimi downstairs while Javin paced on the terrace trying to make sense of the rapidly evolving, always-escalating situation. He still couldn’t believe that Murphy would try to kill them. However, here he was, lying dead in front of him, with incriminating evidence on his phone. But is this real? And does it actually incriminate him?

  Javin sighed. He had checked Murphy’s body but had found nothing in his pockets. Javin reviewed about a dozen or so of Murphy’s messages. At first glance, it didn’t look good. Murphy had been following Javin and Yael across the Gulf area. He knew about their being in Qatar and their initial plans to travel to the Emirates. How did he know about this? And why didn’t he tell us the truth?

  He wondered if Murphy were hired by Al-Attiya as part of a back-up team, the “redundancy option,” as Yael had called it. But he could have told us we were both on the same side.

  Javin leaned over Murphy and checked his hands, wrists, arms, and ankles. No signs that he was handcuffed or brought to this location against his will. Only a couple of gun wounds to his chest. Small-caliber fire from Salimi’s .45 caliber H&K USP compact pistol still on the terrace. Javin shook his head. Tom was here because he wanted to be here…

  He sighed as the noise of a truck engine came from the back of the house. He walked to the parapet and saw one of the trucks, the silver one, zip away. A curtain of dust and smoke came from the back, and he couldn’t tell if Salimi had a partner as he had claimed.

  Javin looked at the entrance to the terrace as Claudia stepped out and walked toward him. “He was telling the truth. He had an accomplice hidden in the truck’s backseat.”

  “I should have checked the truck,” he said in a tired, defeated voice.

  “If Tom hadn’t been here, we wouldn’t have the Iranian problem.” Claudia walked to Javin. “This isn’t your fault, our fault.”

  “Right, but we have to deal with this…”

  “And we will. I uncuffed the brothers. They’re downstairs, still in shock, but at least they’re alive. Tom had roughed them up.” She looked at Murphy’s dead body. “How do we explain this?”

  Javin thought about it for a moment. “He saw us coming and fired a volley. I dropped him with a double-tap.”

  Claudia nodded. “Easy enough. And the other gunfire?”

  “He fired the AK when he saw us coming…”

  “And missed? Completely missed?”

  Javin shrugged. “It happens. The Bahrainis won’t ask questions. After his killing Issa, they’ll be glad to know Tom is dead.”

  Claudia nodded. “It might work.” She glanced at Murphy. “What made him want to do this?”

  “Not sure, but we’ll see what we can find here.” He waved the phone at her.

  “Someone’s coming.” Claudia gestured with her hand.

  Javin turned around. It was a Toyota SUV, followed by a black truck. “Could that be Yael and Haram’s people?”

  “It better be. Now, about Salimi and the Iranians. What do we make of it?”

  Javin shrugged. “I haven’t thought that far, but I don’t get it. This direct contact; that’s not how the Iranians work.”

  “Let’s think about it: If the Iranians eliminate us, that doesn’t resolve anything. Another team will come to investigate and gather evidenc
e. And if they attack that team, there will be a third one, and so on… But if they make us believe their intel, convince us about their version of the truth, their job is done. There will be no further teams…”

  Javin frowned. “How naïve do they think we are?”

  “We’ve been so in the past, trusting easily, wanting to hear what we wanted to hear.”

  He nodded. The nature of their business demanded that they gather intelligence, which sometimes came from less than trusted sources. But decisions needed to be made. And, at times, politicians based their decisions on what they wanted to believe, what they had already decided to believe.

  Claudia said, “But it can’t hurt to listen. So far, they’ve shown goodwill…”

  Javin gave her a thoughtful look. “Yes, they seem to have saved my life… if that’s what really happened here.”

  Claudia nodded. “We’ll figure it out when we talk to Salimi.”

  “Yes. Now, let’s check the other house, to avoid any further surprises.”

  “And the brothers?”

  “Make sure they don’t go anywhere. We need to find out what happened when Tom arrived here…”

  Javin retrieved Salimi’s pistol and tossed it into his knapsack. They went downstairs and split up. Claudia went toward the front while Javin walked through the back and approached the next house.

  The front door was locked, and no one answered when he knocked. So Javin fired a few rounds from his carbine into the lock. They were dead on, and the lock shattered.

  He searched the house and found no one inside. When he came out, he saw Yael standing next to the Toyota SUV along with one of Haram’s partners. Her saddened face told him the truth before Yael said, “Haram didn’t make it.”

  Javin said, “It was Tom Murphy.”

  Yael nodded. “Yes, Claudia told me.”

  “Have you been up?”

  “No, not yet.”

  “I’ll show you. Are you coming?” he asked the Bahraini operative.

  He shook his head. “We’ll interrogate the people who live here, then I’ll come to the terrace.”