AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sardinia
WHAT happened to the BMW?” Claudia said as she walked into the yacht’s galley.
“Bottom of the sea,” Rapp responded, sliding a cup of coffee toward her.
“That was my job.”
“You were dead asleep. I also called your pilot. He’ll have the jet waiting for us in Malta.”
She pulled her robe up around her neck and pointed to the potato he was chopping. “And you’re making breakfast? I feel like I’m not earning my money.”
“I’m not paying you.”
“In that case, I’ll have an omelet.”
He walked to the refrigerator and began digging around for some eggs. She’d been up half the night putting together everything she could on Aali Nassar, although they hadn’t yet discussed what she’d found. Rapp had considered telling her about the deal that was struck with the Saudis after 9/11 but quickly abandoned the idea. It was one of the ugliest skeletons in America’s closet, and she didn’t really need to know.
> “Maybe I should do that,” she said, watching him pile ingredients on the counter.
“Have a little faith.”
“I’m skeptical by nature.”
“Did you find anything interesting on Nassar?”
She took a sip of her coffee while he looked for a pan. “I did, but then I considered throwing it all into the sea.”
“Why?”
“Because this wasn’t the mission, Mitch. You were going to coerce bin Musaid into pointing a finger at high-level Saudis involved with ISIS and—”
“He did that.”
“But it isn’t a group of minor royals or wealthy businessmen. It’s the director of Saudi intelligence. That’s a fundamental shift in the mission.”
“It’s not a shift. Just a change in scale.”
“Mitch, we—”
“Do you want out?” he asked. It would be impossible to hold it against her. While she’d worked some fairly high-profile targets in the past, none were anything like Nassar.
She stared at him for a few beats before speaking again without directly answering the question. Whether that was because she wasn’t sure or because she was insulted by the question, he didn’t know. Probably best to let it go for now.
“I wasn’t focused on Nassar’s personal history because I assume you’re already aware of it—his modest upbringing, his education in the madrassas and then Oxford. His time in the Saudi special forces . . .”
“Yeah. The Agency’s been keeping an eye on him since he was a young officer. He was always going places, though I don’t think any of us would have guessed that he’d replace a royal as head of the Intelligence Directorate. I assume you looked into his associates?”
She nodded.
“And?”
“I’ve come up with a good list, I think. The most important name on it is Mahja Zaman.”
“Who’s he?”
“A childhood friend and his roommate at university. They continue to maintain a close friendship, and Zaman is both extremely wealthy and extremely religious. By all reports, he’s also quite intelligent.”
“So a completely different animal than bin Musaid,” Rapp said, cracking a couple eggs into the pan he found.
