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“Sir, I’m as big a believer in Rapp’s abilities as anyone. I just think that his judgment is clouded at the moment. He’s too close to this thing.”
England cleared his throat and said, “Chuck, Brad England here. What has he done that has you so worried?”
“Apparently several of the attackers were left behind and taken prisoner. One of the men, who we think may be a policeman, was wounded. After the attack was over, Rapp shot the man in the backside while he was lying on the ground.”
“The policeman?” asked a surprised attorney general.
“Yes. We think local law enforcement may have aided the insurgents. Rapp then decided to conduct a battlefield interrogation with one of the other men. According to early reports he pulled out a knife and stabbed the man in the shoulder while he was subdued.”
The attorney general looked extremely uncomfortable. “Were there witnesses?”
“This all happened in a residential neighborhood,” O’Brien replied. “My guess is there were plenty of people who saw it.”
“Oh God,” the attorney general moaned. “Any reporters on the scene?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Again,” England said, “I apologize if I missed something, but why are we so concerned with how Rapp is handling prisoners? I just got off the phone with the base commander in Mosul. He says the local police didn’t merely look the other way. He says they opened fire on Directory Kennedy’s motorcade.”
“That’s correct,” O’Brien’s voice sounded from the speaker phone.
“So let me get this straight. The director of the CIA has been kidnapped, her personal security detail was all shot execution-style, and we are worried about Mitch Rapp roughing up a few prisoners?”
“I personally could care less about these men, Brad, but mark my words, when the dust has settled, the hill is going to have a lot of questions. They are bound to launch hearings into how this happened and how all of us acted in the aftermath. Right now Rapp is out of control.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t he always out of control? Isn’t that one of the reasons why he gets stuff done while everyone else sits around and talks about it?”
“Mitch Rapp is very good. But there have been plenty of times when he’s gone overboard.”
England looked at the president and then said, “Chuck, I’m going to try and be gentle here. You’ve got a lot of pressure on you right now. One of Director Kennedy’s greatest strengths was that she got results. She also knew how to keep the president insulated from some of the less-than-civil stuff that is sometimes required in your covert world. Do you follow what I’m saying?”
O’Brien did not answer right away. After a moment he said, “Yes, but I still think it would be a good idea for the president to talk to him. Just briefly. My point is we can get answers out of these guys without cutting off appendages.”
“I agree,” the attorney general said forcefully.
President Alexander looked to England, who simply shrugged in a manner that said, what harm could it do?
“All right,” the president said. “Have your people put the call through.”
“Will do, sir.”
There was a click as the line went dead. The president leaned forward and pressed a button on the speaker phone. He then looked up at his old friend England and asked, “Your thoughts?”
“My thoughts,” the secretary of defense leaned back and sighed. “If we don’t get her back soon…and I mean really quick, we are going to have some major problems.”
The president rubbed his forehead. “How the hell did this happen?”
“Don’t even go there, sir. It won’t do us any good at this point. We have to deal with the here and no
w. Let’s talk to Rapp, find out what he has, and then we can make some contingency plans.
The president nodded. A few seconds later a voice came over the speaker announcing that Rapp was on the line. The president leaned forward and stabbed the speaker button saying, “Mitch, it’s the president here. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, sir.”
“Do I have this right that you saw Irene being put into the back of a sedan and driven away?”
“That’s correct, sir.”