AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He wanted to know what in the hell you were doing in his country meeting privately with five of his top bankers.”
Attorney General Stokes leaned forward. “I have a major case pending in front of the Swiss courts right now. We have been working on it for years. So help me God, if you’ve screwed it up, you and I are going to have some big problems.”
Stokes was clearly upset. Kennedy figured he and Ross had been feeding off of each other’s anger. They were the two career politicians, and next to the vice president the two men who would more than likely run for president at some point. Kennedy found it interesting that Secretary of State Berg was sitting out the first round.
“Do you know what happened in Riyadh today?” Ross asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you know anything about it?”
“That’s a pretty open-ended question.”
“Do you know who was responsible?”
“Maybe.”
“Would you care to share?”
“No.”
“Dammit, Irene,” Ross snapped, “do you think this is some game?” Ross flipped open a folder he had on the coffee table. There was a black and white, eight-by-ten surveillance photo inside. “This was sent to me by Prince Muhammad.”
Ross spun the photo around so Kennedy could see it. There was a man dressed in traditional Saudi garb walking down a street. Someone had drawn a red circle around him. His arm was extended and he was flipping the surveillance camera the bird. The photo was pretty grainy. Kennedy studied it. He was about the right size, but other than that it was impossible to tell who it was.
“Any idea who that is?”
Kennedy shook her head.
Ross angrily tossed another photo her way. This one showed two men about to embrace. “The man on the left is Waheed Ahmed Abdullah. I assume you know who he is, at least?”
Kennedy nodded.
“Why did we tell the Saudi government that he was dead six months ago?”
“Is this the same Waheed Ahmed Abdullah who was a top lieutenant for al-Qaeda?” Kennedy’s tone was one of false confusion. “The same Waheed Ahmed Abdullah that helped finance and plan a terrorist attack earlier this year? An attack that involved smuggling two nuclear weapons into this country?” She studied the photo. “The same Waheed Ahmed Abdullah who wanted to vaporize Washington, DC, and New York City?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“And you didn’t answer mine. Have you read the file on Waheed?”
“I don’t need to. I want to know why we’re lying to one of our staunchest allies.”
“If you think Saudi Arabia is one of our staunchest allies, I humbly suggest that you offer your resignation to the president immediately.”
Ross’s face flushed with anger. “And I suggest you watch your step, Dr. Kennedy. You are on very thin ice.” Ross glanced at the president once again, as if to say, I told you so. He looked back at Kennedy and asked, “Where is Mitch Rapp?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying,” barked Ross as he stabbed his finger at the first surveillance photo. “That’s him right there. What did we tell you? There was a right way to handle this and a wrong way. Having a vigilante on the loose setting off bombs in Saudi Arabia is most definitely the wrong way.”
Kennedy grabbed the third and last surveillance photo. She held it up for Ross and the others. “Who is this man right here? The one Waheed is about to hug?”
“That is Saeed Ahmed Abdullah,” Ross answered angrily. “Waheed’s father and one of Prince Muhammad bin Rashid’s closest friends.”
“Really,” Kennedy said with feigned surprise. Ross had just put his nuts on the chopping block. She opened her own folder and displayed a series of financial transactions. “Is this the same Saeed Ahmed Abdullah who earlier this month paid a former East German Stasi officer twenty million dollars to have Mitch Rapp killed?” Kennedy let the multiple sheets spill forth onto the coffee table. “I’m pretty sure we’re talking about the same guy.”
Ross, Berg, and Stokes all leaned forward to take a page.
