AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“All the people are inside. Wick and Bruno are working on them. The easiest way out is going to be the snowcat these guys came in on. We can bring in a plane that can better handle the weather and rendezvous with it in Ukhta.”
Rapp nodded and pointed to Gadai. “Take him.”
The Pakistani couldn’t walk and he let out a gurgling cry when Coleman lifted him into a fireman’s carry. Rapp pointed to Katdsyn and Dumond took the hint, helping the man to his feet and following Coleman out.
Rapp waited until he was alone before he turned back to the image of Irene Kennedy. “Tomorrow night is President Chutani’s reception for the secretary of state, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Sunny’s already arrived in Islamabad with a congressional delegation led by Carl Ferris.”
“But why kill her? Or a bunch of congressmen? What good would that do? As far as I’m concerned, he’d be doing America a favor if he gets rid of Ferris.”
“I don’t think he’s after our people, Mitch.”
“Then what?”
She stared intently out from the screen. “If President Chutani were killed at that function, it wouldn’t be hard for Taj to convince Pakistan that we’re responsible. It’s already one of the most anti-American places on earth.”
Rapp had to admit that there was a certain twisted logic to it. Coups were the national pastime in Pakistan and the timing was perfect. Taj could run the CIA ragged with Rickman’s files while he took control of the country and its nuclear arsenal.
“So you think we should warn Chutani?” Rapp said.
Kennedy remained silent. Her
expressions were always hard to read, but the poor image quality made it impossible.
“What?” Rapp said.
“In the context of that region, Chutani is a reasonable man. But I don’t think either of us has any illusions about him. He’s a violent, power-hungry dictator who allies himself with us because it’s in his best interest. If he gets Taj, then it’s likely he also gets the files. I’m not sure I want to spend the next twenty years being blackmailed by him.”
“Agreed.”
“How fast can you get to Islamabad?”
“Figure eight or so hours to get to Ukhta and then flight time.”
“Do it. And extract as much as you can from Gadai en route. I’ll try to determine our next step from here.”
CHAPTER 56
ISLAMABAD
PAKISTAN
IT was after midnight and Ahmed Taj was still hunched over his desk. Behind him, large windows looked out on the well-lit campus of ISI headquarters. The traffic beyond the gate was light as it always was this time of the morning and armed guards patrolled in the same pattern they always did. The familiarity of it was little more than an illusion, though. Everything had changed. Everything.
The goal he’d constructed his life around was less than twenty-four hours from being achieved and Taj knew he should be attending to the myriad last-minute details. It was impossible, though. He couldn’t tear himself away.
The ISI director clicked on another of Rickman’s files and scanned through its contents. This one had no taunting video attached, only reproductions of handwritten CIA reports from Ukraine. It seemed that a man high up in the Russian separatist movement had been lining his Swiss bank account with American dollars.
Only when his eyes could no longer focus did Taj finally slide his chair back and turn away from the screen. There were still well over a hundred files he hadn’t yet examined. What secrets did they contain? How devastating would their impact be?
Allah had provided so much more than his faithful servant could have imagined. Tomorrow, Saad Chutani would die. His last breath would mark Taj’s inevitable rise to rule Pakistan and eventually the Middle East. These files would not only accelerate his plans, but expand them in ways he never could have imagined.
Taj stood and began pacing across his dimly lit office. The scale of what he would accomplish was just beginning to settle its weight on him.
The brilliant Joe Rickman had been planning this attack for years. He’d put together files not only on the Middle East, but on China, Russia, and countless U.S. allies. There was damning intelligence on American politicians, descriptions of unsanctioned assassinations, and detailed accounts of unlawful domestic operations carried out by CIA operatives.
Taj would use this information to create a worldwide outcry for the dismantling of America’s spy network, and Carl Ferris would be the perfect tool to lead that effort. Taj now had much more than just money to offer the man. He had classified information on many of -Ferris’s political opponents. The combination of the two would almost certainly be enough to put him in the White House.
