Westwood wiped ice-cold perspiration from his face with his hand. “Shit. Any comebacks on what I’m doing?”
“As far as the Nicaraguans know, it was just a Chinese operation passed down to them. They have no knowledge that any of this intel came out of the USA. You and your operation are clean.” She added, “Managua will just proclaim that its valiant anti-drug officers fell in the line of duty after being attacked by a group of Renazco men. It will all get swept under the rug as far as it being an international incident.”
Scardino said, “Like Tunis.”
She nodded. “Like Tunis. And like Addis Ababa. And Madrid. And the others.” She glanced down at her watch. “Except the Americans didn’t send a CIA officer on this job, likely because of what happened in the other places. They sent a contractor so they won’t be tied to this publicly.”
J.W. nodded at this. “Well, as long as the action is in the Third World, I guess it’s going to stay quiet.”
Gracie turned all her attention to Westwood now. “We have some concerns about that.”
Scardino came closer, indicating to her that she needed to be addressing them both. She rose, J.W. rose, and they stood close together in the darkness. She said, “The American last night might have gotten close enough to the dead snipers to identify them as Chinese. Taking this into account, we have to move forward under the assumption that America will know my country is operating against them.”
J.W. said, “What does that have to do with us?”
“A decision has been made in Beijing. You will need to speed up your schedule here. Significantly. Operation Marigold must begin in the next forty-eight hours.”
Westwood kept his cool, but Big Mike said, “You’ve got to be kidding.”
The woman hidden behind the neck gaiter stared him down, then said, “Kinetic operations. Coordinated assassinations of all the targets already given to you with their corresponding dossiers. Further targets to be added, if the situation warrants it.”
J.W. looked worried, and the woman seemed to take note of this.
“You won’t be connected to the American operations, just like you won’t be connected to the operations that already happened internationally.”
To this, he said, “So far, we’ve just passed on intelligence to you. But what you need us to do now…this is something else.”
“Itissomething else. And you have already agreed to Marigold. We thought we had more time to prepare, to bring in resources, but what happened in Nicaragua, on top of the investigations underway in the U.S. intelligence community about the recent compromises, dictates that we act now. Don’t forget, James,” she said a little patronizingly, “our missionhere, your mission here”—she turned to Scardino—“Gauntlet Group’s mission here. It is all in furtherance of the same goal.”
James Westwood looked off into the darkness, listening to the trickle of the little creek nearby.The same goal?His goal was winning that Senate seat; this woman’s goal was something else entirely. He imagined Scardino was fuming inside right now, as well.
Still, this plan had been in place for weeks. The Chinese had over twenty people they needed permanently removed from the U.S. intelligence apparatus, and the two Americans in this clandestine meeting with Chinese intelligence had their own reasons for helping.
Scardino said, “We’ve been seeking tier-one assets across Europe for the operations. We have three in-country now and ready to go.”
“The Belarusian known as Spiral? He is here, in the District, now?”
“Yes. Spiral is his Russian code name. American intelligence calls him Deep Space. They don’t know who he is, but they will tie him to Russia quickly if he’s captured or killed. And as far as he knows, he’s working for American contractors tied to Russia. He’s already working with his support team. Surveillance on his first target can begin as soon as you give us the green light.”
“Then consider this meeting the green light.”
Scardino nodded reluctantly.
Gracie said, “You have the Jordanian and the Italian here, as well? They can be operational within two days?”
“Yes,” Big Mike said. “Their support teams have been established. But we still need two more assets. We won’t be full strength and ready to go in two days.”
“We can provide you with one.”
“Who are you offering us?”
Gracie answered quickly. “The Havana negotiations have been successful. I only need you to send an aircraft, and you can retrieve the asset in Cuba.”
Westwood looked to Scardino and said, “Excellent. That leaves one.”
The smaller woman said, “Make it happen.”
J.W. leaned forward. “I can’t just make—”
