“Maybe we’ll get hard evidence from the team that’s going to tear this spoofing device apart.”
“The Wright-Patt engineers are en route. Oh, and as I said, we’ve been trying to track down Malenkov. The NSA uncovered an airline ticket. He was booked to fly from Moscow to Porto a couple of days ago. He ended up being a no-show.”
“Which means we only know where heisn’t,” Ryan lamented.
“Basically. But we’ll find him.”
“Any way you look at this, Klaus seems like our best hope.”
“He is. And he’s most likely still in Tangier.”
“In that event, to be proactive…let’s assume CC6 locates him. We’d need to bring him in immediately. My inclination is to have every option available.” He let that hang in the air suggestively.
“Boots on the ground? Possibly a kinetic option?”
“That would be a last resort, but given what we’ve seen so far…I think it has to be on the table. Do we have any CIA assets near Tangier?”
“I spoke to the station chief in Rabat yesterday. He’s got two paramilitaries in the entire country. Both are in the field, eight hundred miles south on the Mauritanian border.”
“Not much help. And Malenkov has got at least one goon squad already in the neighborhood. We saw three of them in the video, but now that Klaus is on the run, I’ll bet more are en route.”
“There’s never a shortage of hired guns. I think you’re right, the race is on. We have to find Klaus fast. Once we do, we have to get him out of the country under the nose of a hostile adversary.”
Ryan said, “And that, my expert in all things clandestine, is your department.”
Mary Pat grinned. “I’ll bet Yermilov says that on a daily basis.”
“But in his case, instead of preventing chaos, he’s manufacturing it.”
“It would take time to get DEVGRU or Delta briefed in and transported to site. I’d say Task Force 99 is the obvious choice. They’re not far away and they’ve already got a grip on the basic situation.”
“How fast can you make that happen?” Ryan inquired.
“I took a quick peek right before the meeting. Our best option is a C-17 on the ramp at Incirlik. It was heading to Iraq, but I can have those orders amended.”
Ryan regarded her knowingly. “Sometimes I think you’re telepathic. Other times…I think you just know how to play me.”
“Maybe a little of both. We’ve been working together a long time.”
“That we have.”
“I’ll notify the appropriate command and have the C-17 crew start prepping.”
Ryan hesitated. “Won’t that look a little conspicuous? One of our C-17s landing in Tangier to unload a team of operators?”
“Already taken care of. The plan is to stop in Sigonella and switch to a less conspicuous airplane. I also asked State to smooth their entry into the country.”
He shot her a withering look.
Mary Pat smiled and headed for the door.
40
The Kremlin
Moscow, Russia
1742 Local Time
