The Devil's Playground

by Michael Reagan

wouldn't have the balls to write a report accusing the organization's former Director of illegal collusion with the head of a major oil and gas provider to the United States in fear that Young would end their careers. Not Ashley. He knew why of course. Ashley saw his life as a "crusade with him leading and taking part in a vigorous campaign for social, political, or religious change: a crusading stance on wrongs of the world," to quote the psychoanalyst that had interviewed him as part of his promotion process to the rank of Deputy Director. Ali also saw his quest as something else that nobody ever discussed inside the Agency.

  By not coming through the traditional system of recruitment, Rob Ashley had been able to avoid the need to develop political alliances to progress through the ranks. His quick promotion since coming in from the field was a direct consequence of operating one of the best "networks" in the new cold war, the "control of the world's Natural Resources," as outlined by the Energy Security policy. Despite that, politically Rob had caused Ali a serious problem as to what to do about the intelligence. Until that was three days ago when events presented him opportunity to come up with the "shadow line" plan that he was about discuss with Rob.

  Greetings over, they quickly entered Ali's office and once the door closed behind them, Ali got straight to the point.

  "Rob, I want you drop this Mexican business," he said as he sat down behind his desk. "I have something more pressing we need to get the drop on.

  "But, Director?" Rob started then stopped because Ali's look told him to do so.

  The new Deputy Director of SAD sat down opposite him.

  "I need you to look into this attack on the Turkmenistan pipeline business for me," Ali continued.

  "I thought the Near East desk was handling that?" Rob replied flippantly, another trait Ali found irritating but chose to ignore in any case. The reason why Ali had chosen the Near East's Office set of desk analysts for the NSS briefing was purely because it was staffed with Young loyalists. Their accusation that Putin was behind the attack on Turkmenistan was exactly the type of response he had been hoping from them, as it allowed him to promote a view that fitted with Young's plans for the moment.

  The only thing that had surprised him during the briefings was the extent of the President's knowledge with regard to the Crimean situation and his determination to use the Annexation Treaty as the stick to politically attack Putin if he even looked in the direction of the former Soviet State.

  That was way too smart for the man who, up until nine months before his election to the office, had limited knowledge on world affairs outside of the Mexican immigration problem. He also knew that rounded briefing hadn't come from the legion of Special Advisors that the President had surrounded himself with and he could also tell by the look on Young's face it hadn't come from him either! That meant The President was getting his intelligence from an unseen source, which left Ali feeling uneasy.

  "They don't have the active links with Litchfield that you do," Ali said with a wry smile, giving Rob an open door.

  If Young and Hank Dowling were planning a clandestine move against Russian interests in the Far East then putting 'Thesiger' back into play would throw a real spanner in the works for two reasons: One, Ali knew that Rob couldn't resist the opportunity he had just been presented with to look into further into Dowling and Young's plans; and two, Litchfield and Rob shared a healthy respect for each other-he had no doubt that Rob would gain valuable HUMINT into what Putin's next move was going to be in Central Asia. This was crucial if he was going to be able to assist and guide the Administration through the crisis that was about to boil over in the Japan Sea.

  The Director's reasoning in using Litchfield in this manner was, unlike the majority of the analysts of the Agency, he knew that the man had no love of Putin, despite his public position to the contrary.

  Ali, like his Deputy Director sitting in front of him, saw Litchfield as a survivor; his involvement in Adwalland and Korea affairs had shown that. He also knew that the man had been responsible for Rob's introduction into the "nest" of loyalists surrounding the Russian Leader. The information the Agency had been gathering from the various Russian players in the world of natural resources had enabled them to assist and help U.S. Companies outbid their Russian counterparts in virtually all parts of the world since Korea's reunification.

  Virtually all of Putin's henchmen now used Rob's covert introduction business to gain access to the network of contacts he had established in the service of his previous employer the Sheikh of Dubai. If Thomas had been a Putin loyalist he would have never untaken such an introduction. But there was one extra piece of information in that mix that Ali had never shared with anyone: that being he was the Agency's asset who had knowingly sent Litchfield and his SAS team into Iraq to destroy a Scud with a chemical payload before it could be used on Israel and then left them to die all those years ago. As an ex-Marine and Muslim of devout faith it had never sat easy with him to send in a man to his death without telling him the odds and as he reflected on his plan maybe this was Allah's way of allowing him repay his debt that he felt he owed Litchfield and many others over the years and thereby regain his soul.

  Luckily, the look that immediately appeared on Rob's face told Ali that his Deputy Director would be his instrument.

  30

  Moscow

  "Good to see you again, Rob" Thomas said warmly as they shook hands in the private office within TLH's modern tower block headquarters located in the Moscow Business Complex that was double the size of London's Canary Wharf business district and now housed the tallest buildings in Europe.

  Thomas immediately got down to business and the second he saw Rob smile, pull out his cellphone and remove the battery from it in order to prevent any SIGINT software from listening in, he knew this was an official visit on behalf Rob's masters and not a social call.

  The initial information from Rob that had followed had not surprised him. He had expected an enquiry into what was happening in Turkmenistan. That was natural. What caught him off guard was the knowledge that Dowling and Yazuka were actually behind the crisis that was starting to develop, and not the Americans. That didn't mean though, despite being friends that Rob might be lying to him. So he decided to probe him.

  "So, Russia and I stand accused of depriving China and Japan the possibility of gaining access to the fields in Turkmenistan and being behind the attack on the Saman-Depe," Thomas stated, referring to the briefings by the Secretary of State to the world's media. "What you have just told me is that it was actually Dowling and his Japanese partners making a play for Turkmenistan!" Thomas continued in a manner that suggested he had not quite believed Rob.

  He studied Rob's face for a second. He could sense his friend was holding something back, but what?

  "Does he actually believe Putin's going to stand by and let the America take control of Turkmenistan's gas via a proxy? They saw what happened the last time they tried that in Crimea," Thomas debated, in reference to the oil under the Black Sea. "But the question is, why are you sharing all of this with me?" he asked, following the logic of always questioning a gift horse in the mouth.

  Rob smiled back at him. "The Agency isn't on the same page as Hank Dowling," he said without hesitation and the micro-expressions on his face indicated he was not lying.

  Thomas was dumfounded. He knew that Dowling was close to the Secretary of State so using him to stir things up with the Japanese on a political level made sense.

  "But then he's close to Parker as well," he thought searching for reason why the CIA was giving him, an instrument of a foreign government, the wink and nod. Thomas got up and walked to the panoramic window and looked out across the haze of Moscow pollution for a moment before continuing with his line of thinking.

  "Come on Rob, what's the Agency's thinking behind sharing this information with me?"

  His friend looked at him for a moment "Our goal is to protect the United States of America's interests in the Korean peninsula, not assist with Dow
ling's destabilizing power games," Rob answered without hesitation again.

  "So what do you want me to do with this information?" Thomas asked Rob as he turned around.

  "Pass it up the line," replied Rob.

  "To what end?"

  "That's for your Mayor to decide," Rob answered using the term that Thomas preferred when referring to Putin.

  "Christ!" said Thomas shaking his head at his friend. "You know how he will respond!"

  "I am only the messenger," Rob responded with a serious face.

  The second the G-4 left Russian airspace for the trip back to London, Rob immediately relaxed. He picked up the telephone in the plane and called Clara to check in on his family. She didn't ask him about the trip instead they discussed their plans for the weekend and signed off with a simple "love you and see you tomorrow" and ended the call.

  Giving Thomas the information that Dowling and his Yazuka partners were behind the attacks on him had not been a lie. What he had left out was that Turkmenistan crisis and the personal attacks on Thomas's profiteering in Korea, followed by the attempt on his life, were merely a sideshow to assist the Japanese in the annexation of the Liancourt Rocks because those actions further undermined the Russian position in the Far East. The simple truth of the matter as to why he hadn't was that