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“You were just going to sneak in and sneak out?”
“Yes.”
“And I would be left in the dark.”
“Your judgment would be left intact.”
“And the marks on the prisoner? How would I explain that?”
“That was not intended. He tried to bite me.” Rapp looked up at the monitor, as did the two officers. Haggani was still tied to his chair. His blood-streaked face looked horrible. Rapp grimaced and offered, “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“It looks bad, Mr….?” The general left the question unfinished.
Rapp wavered and then thought, What the hell, I’m in deep enough already. “Rapp…Mitch Rapp.”
“You work for the CIA?” Garrison asked.
“That’s right.”
“You’re a spy,” Leland said.
“Counterterrorism specialist.”
“What exactly does that entail?” the general asked.
“It involves dealing with people like that.” Rapp pointed at the screen.
“Dealing,” the general repeated the word, “that’s pretty vague.”
“We walk in different circles, General. I don’t expect someone who puts on a uniform like yours to ever fully condone what I do. You guys have to have your rules…your discipline. You need that to remain an effective fighting force. Me…I’m the guy who sneaks out under the wire late at night and crawls up next to these guys and cuts their throats.”
“Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night?” Leland folded his arms across his chest, a look of contempt on his face.
Rapp cocked his head and studied the captain. He couldn’t care less what this wet-behind-the-ears officer thought of him, but with the intent of buying more time for Nash and the others, he supposed he should engage him. “I sleep like a baby, Captain. How about you?”
“It’s because of people like you that we’re losing this war.”
With a raised eyebrow Rapp said, “I wasn’t aware that we’re losing it.”
“This is about hearts and minds, and you know it. Not torturing prisoners so we can get false confessions out of them.”
“False confessions…that’s what you think this is about? That man sitting in that room right there; do you even know who he is?”
“It doesn’t matter who he is or what he’s done. As an officer of the United States Air Force, I am sworn to uphold the Geneva Conventions.”
“You’re also sworn to protect and defend the United States of America. So which comes first, the Geneva Conventions or your fellow citizens?”
“They coexist equally.”
“I’m sure they do in your little perfect world, Captain, but out there in the real world, on the other side of the wire, things aren’t so academic.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Mr. Rapp.”
“Really…I love being told how things are by some prick in a clean uniform who thinks he has all the answers. Tell me how it is, Captain. Tell me how many terrorists you’ve killed. Tell me how many times you’ve been shot.”
Leland shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his chin stuck stubbornly out. “General, I think we’re wasting our time. May I please put him under arrest and have him thrown in lockup?” Leland’s hand slid down to the top of his thigh holster.
“Captain,” Rapp said in a casual voice, “I’ll break your wrist before you ever get that thing out of the holster.”
