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“Mrs. Akbas is going to be providing me with the intelligence I need to find the kidnapped men. Once I parse her data, I will determine if it is worthy to provide to you. We will be meeting with Mr. Kaplan, the CEO of RTP Enerji. He has agreed to meet with us this evening, but I have postponed the meeting until tomorrow morning so that I have enough time to study up on the Turkey/American foreign policy—”
Kostya stood up from where he was sitting next to Gideon in the front row.
“Mr. Carlisle, I want to thank you for the briefing that you have provided us, up to this point. I appreciate that you have some ideas on how things should be run in this operation. I think you can sit down now.” Kostya waved him to the seat in the front row where he had been sitting.
“But I’m not finished.” The guy was young, and he looked a little bewildered. Ryker appreciated the fact that he didn’t sound pompous, only confused.
“You are for now,” Kostya said in an even tone. He must have realized that the kid wasn’t going to give him any push-back, so there wasn’t any point in annihilating him. “I’m going to have to insist that you allow my second-in-command to now take over as point person with Akbas-Bey.”
“Who?”
“Akbas-Bey, that is the appropriate way to refer to a woman in Turkey. As a diplomat representing America here in Turkey, you would be expected to know that. You will also refer to the CEO as Kaplan-Bey. Got that?”
The kid nodded.
“Now, why don’t you go take my place and sit down next to Gideon, and start providing him with the information I tell you to give him?”
“But then I’ll get in trouble with my boss.”
“My commander will smooth things over with your boss’s boss. Do you know that we’re on a time clock?” Kostya looked down at his watch. “We now have forty-five hours and eighteen minutes to find those young men before they will be decapitated. We cannot wait until tomorrow morning for that meeting to take place, it has to happen as soon as possible. Am I making myself clear?”
The entire room was focused on the dumbass who didn’t say anything.
“Mr. Carlisle, I need an answer, and it had better be yes. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very good.”
“But I’m not going to do well in the meeting. The CEO will know something is up.”
Did he actually whine? Aw, fuck.
“We’ve got you covered. One of our men has extensive knowledge of the oil and petroleum business. He is going to be your Naval attaché. He will be with you the entire time. You will explain that you are here to make sure that America’s interests are covered, while Chief Petty Officer Drakos will be able to talk to the details. Do you understand?”
Ryker saw the kid nod.
“I need to hear you agree with me, Mr. Carlisle.”
“Call me Dermott. I agree with you…”
“You can call me Lieutenant Barona.”
“Yes, sir, Lieutenant Barona.”
Ryker coughed in order to cover his chuckle, he heard Linc and Nolan coughing too.
Kostya looked over his shoulder at his team, and gave them the death stare. The coughing stopped.
“Now that Chief Petty Officer Drakos will be with you the entire time, he will be the one responsible for getting all information provided by Akbas-Bey to my second-in-command. Gideon will be able to determine who she might be talking about, figure out how we can get to any coordinates that she might provide, and disseminating critical information to me and the team that we need to evaluate. This is not your job. Have I made myself clear?”
“But I was told—”
“I don’t give a flying fuck what you were told, I have gone above your head, and your orders have been changed. Your focus is to convince the CEO of RTP Enerji that you are who you say you are and to ensure that we continue to have access to Akbas-Bey without blowing her cover. Do you understand?”
“Are you sure—”
“That was a yes or no question. Answer the question, Mr. Carlisle.”
