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“What have you heard so far?”
“Basically that this guy was dumped in the FBI’s lap with some very weak evidence.”
Ross nodded. “Continue.”
“There are some major problems with the case. The FBI and Justice are fighting, and neither of them is happy with the CIA. The Greek government is going to file an official complaint with the UN in the morning and supposedly no one knows where to find Mitch Rapp, who my sources tell me ran the team that grabbed this guy.”
“You’ve got the broad brushstrokes down, but there’s a lot more. Rapp not only ran the team, he was the one who identifi
ed, grabbed, and tortured the suspect.”
“Did you say torture?” Rich looked up with wary eyes.
“What would you call shooting a man once in each knee and then in both hands?”
“He kneecapped him?”
“And shot him in both hands.”
Rich kept his eyes on Ross while his right hand flew across the page. “Let me guess…he tortured a confession out of the guy?”
“No one knows.”
“What does Rapp say?”
“No one knows because Rapp has been AWOL for three days now.”
“AWOL?”
“Absent without leave. Rapp had his team bring this guy back from Cyprus and he has yet to report in. We literally have nothing on this guy other than Rapp’s word. The Greek government is furious. The State Department is outraged. The Justice Department says they have no case against this guy and then here’s the kicker. The guy volunteered to be polygraphed.”
“And?”
“He passed with flying colors.”
“So this might really be the wrong guy?”
“That’s a distinct possibility, and even if he is the guy, Rapp screwed things up so bad by torturing him that I don’t think there’s any chance of convicting him.”
Rich wrote frantically. This was going to be a huge scoop. The type of story that could win him his second Pulitzer. After a moment he gained control of his escalating euphoria and remembered that he was a journalist. He looked up at Ross and asked, “Why are you telling me this?”
Ross was prepared for this question. “When I was director of National Intelligence, I warned President Hayes that Mitch Rapp was a malcontent. I told him, ‘Sir, sooner or later he’s going to do something that will permanently damage America’s international standing.’” Ross sat back and crossed his legs. “And now, here we are. President Hayes is on his way out, and we’re on our way in. Well, I’m not going to allow this administration to pay for his poor leadership.”
“I assume you mean President Hayes.”
“Yes. And, Tom, I can’t stress it enough. This is off the record. Way off the record.”
“I know,” Rich said, as he scribbled frantically. “So this is Hayes’s fault?”
“I’m not willing to go that far on or off the record. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions.”
“So who do you blame besides Rapp?”
“His boss, for starters.”
“Irene Kennedy?”
“Yes.”
