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Alexander dropped back into the couch. “What do you know about all this, Irene? I’m not buying that you came up with Zaman and Nassar going to school together from your phone.”
“No, sir, I didn’t.”
“Give me your best guess on this, Irene. What’s Mitch’s involvement?”
She smiled easily, hiding her anger at Alexander for having the audacity to so calmly ask her that question. “It seems self-evident that Mitch was at that nightclub, watching bin Musaid. Based on our analysis of the video, what happened there wasn’t a random terrorist attack. They were there to get bin Musaid. Rapp saw it happening during his surveillance and intervened.”
“So what about el-Hashem and Zaman? Is it possible that bin Musaid fingered them when he was in the car with Mitch and that Mitch decided to deal with them on his own? We both know how opposed he was to the arrangement that was made after 9/11.”
“It’s possible but unlikely. Leaving aside el-Hashem for the moment, Zaman’s death in Brussels implies that Mitch murdered a security guard. There’s nothing in his history to suggest he’d do something like that.”
“But then he’s never gone rogue before, either.”
She let that go, but her anger notched higher.
“If you don’t think it’s too immoral for Mitch, sir, then I’d argue that it’s simply too sloppy. Once that guard was killed, the clock would be ticking on his body being discovered. There would be no time to carry out an effective interrogation.”
“So what, then?”
“A much more likely scenario is that whoever was behind Prince bin Musaid’s actions in Morocco is getting rid of everyone who knows his identity and framing Mitch for it.”
“Are you sure you’re not letting your friendship with him cloud your judgment?”
“Let me ask you something, sir. How many times have I told you I was certain of something?”
“Never. You’re the master of the hedge.”
“Well, I’m certain Mitch is not responsible for the death of that hotel security guard. And if he didn’t do it, someone else did.”
“Okay. Who?”
“If I had to guess? Aali Nassar.”
“Is that a joke?”
“Not at all. Nassar is an ambitious man. He’ll want to be on the winning side when Faisal dies, and he might see ISIS as a critical backer. Frankly, he might be right.”
“Can you contact Mitch in a way that no one can track?”
“I don’t know if Mitch would take my call, and there’s no such thing as completely secure communications—particularly if Nassar knows more than he’s telling us.”
“Then don’t. You can’t be seen as having any involvement in this.” He sank a little deeper into the cushions and let out a long breath. “I can’t believe that Mitch would do something like this without authorization, Irene.”
She stared directly at him when she answered. “Neither can I.”
For the first time in their relationship, the most powerful man in the world wouldn’t meet her eye.
CHAPTER 40
Bismarck
North Dakota
U.S.A.
AALI Nassar stayed in the car, looking past his driver at distant snowcapped mountains. He had sent his security detail back to Saudi Arabia and replaced them with a team of Secret Service men provided by the president. All were too young to have much experience, but also too young to have a relationship with Mitch Rapp. The fact that the CIA man had appeared at Zaman’s hotel virtually guaranteed that he was aware of Nassar’s role in the financing of ISIS. And if that was true, he would be coming.
Nassar was now engaged in mortal combat with a man who had never lost such a confrontation. It had been proved over and over again that brute force would fail against Rapp. The only hope was to outman
