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“They might be, but they have proven nothing yet. It has been my skill and ingenuity that have gotten you this far, and the help of a twenty-two-year-old student.”
“We do not need your help.”
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“Hah!” Hakim scoffed at his friend’s outrageous statement. “Then why did you send me here?”
Karim refused to answer the question, instead saying, “It is time to leave.” He looked at one of his men and flashed a hand signal.
Hakim grabbed him by the front of his sweatshirt and yelled, “You sent me here because you couldn’t do it yourself, and you hate to admit it, because you think so highly of yourself. I am not one of your soldiers, Karim, I am your equal.”
Karim jabbed his gun into the belly of his friend, “I will kill you right here and now if you do not let go of me.”
Hakim’s eyes searched Karim’s for a sign that he was bluffing but he saw none. Hakim let go and stepped away. “Fine, have it your way, but when we get to Washington, I am done. Since you and your men are so talented, I’m sure you will have no problem completing your mission without me.”
Hakim started for the driver’s door and under his breath added, “Good luck finding your way back to Pakistan.”
CHAPTER 43
CAPITOL HILL
NASH sat in silence and watched as one senator after another peppered his bosses with questions. Rapp was taking most of the heat, followed by Kennedy, and they were holding their own against the considerable combined intellect of the committee’s members. Normally loath to pay the group of windbags any compliment, Nash had to admit that this was no collection of dummies. They had their faults, to be sure, but not when it came to verbal combat.
For the better part of two hours he had watched them maneuver and attempt to punch holes in Rapp’s and Kennedy’s stories. Kennedy’s narrative was fairly easy to stick to. As part of Rapp’s arrangement, the only thing she had to do was deny any knowledge of the operation. This would seem easy enough, if it weren’t for the fact that she was in charge. Thirteen of the nineteen members had law degrees, and two of them had been prosecutors. Without a gallery of reporters to play to, they were quick and to the point. Nash also thought he noticed them treading more lightly than normal.
The first group of senators focused on getting Rapp and Kennedy to make statements under oath, and then as their version of events became record, the senators who followed looked to point out inconsistencies and try to get them to contradict themselves. Again, for Kennedy, this was not difficult, although several senators tried to make Rapp’s history of insubordination an issue. They hammered Kennedy for her lack of leadership and accountability. One senator went so far as to actually say that he had been warning Kennedy for several years that she needed to keep Rapp on a shorter leash.
It was the only time that Kennedy bristled at her questioners. In a tone that bordered on rebellious she admonished the committee for referring to her most decorated clandestine operative in such a demeaning way. “Regardless of your personal feelings,” she told them, “you should respect the sacrifice this man has made to defend this country.”
Most of the senators took Kennedy’s words in a sober manner, but a few couldn’t help snickering and whispering derisive remarks to each other. The day dragged on, and the dinner hour approached. With nearly a third of the members still having to get their time, the chairman suggested they take a quick fifteen-minute break and then push through. The five of them went into one of the smaller secure briefing rooms and gathered themselves together, while the two CIA lawyers went off to try and get a word in with the chairman. Kennedy’s mood was as usual unreadable, while O’Brien and Ridley looked like tired old warriors who knew they were in the middle of a battle that was already lost. Rapp, on the other hand, was upbeat, bouncing around the room clapping his hands and rubbing them together like he couldn’t wait to get back out there.
He must have noticed the dire expression on Nash’s face, because he grabbed him by the shoulder and said, “Cheer up. The fun’s about to start.”
“It doesn’t look real fun out there.”
Rapp laughed. “I haven’t had such a good time since I drowned that little prick down in…”
“Mitch!” Kennedy screamed from across the room, stopping him from providing any more details to a murder that only the two of them knew about.
“Relax,” Rapp said as he looked around the room. “You guys are way too uptight.”
Kennedy picked up a phone and dialed the office. Ridley joined Rapp and Nash and said, “Seriously, Mitch, what in the hell do you think is going on out there? We’re getting our asses kicked.”
“No,” Rapp replied, “I’m getting my ass kicked.”
“You don’t think this is going to affect the rest of us?” Ridley said.
“I never said that.”
“Well, it is going to affect us, and it is quite possibly going to affect our ability to do our jobs.”
“By jobs, do you mean running up here five times a week to hold their hands and fill out all your forms in triplicate, or do you mean going out there and busting up these terrorist cells before they hit us?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I’m not sure I do sometimes, Rob.” He gestured to Nash and said, “Look at you two. You look beat. You look ashamed.”
“We’re worried,” Nash said.
