Page 26 of Edge of Honor

“Did you happen to hit the jackpot and one of them dropped an Iranian passport while pursuing Ambassador Rogers?”

“If that were the case,” Harvath replied, “you’d already have it in your inbox.”

“Listen, I’m not trying to be a wiseass. Please understand that our hands are tied.”

“What about the deaths of the secretaries of state and defense?”

“We looked into those, along with the FBI and local law enforcement. One was an accident and the other was natural causes. It wasn’t the Iranians.”

“So what I’m hearing is that you need airtight, actionable intelligence before you can do anything.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. It was so pronounced that Harvath wondered if maybe the call had dropped.

“Hello?” he said.

“Since we’re off the record,” Gaines replied, having finally found his voice, “I am going to let you know something. And if it ever comes back to me, I’m going to deny I ever said it. Even if you brought me airtight, actionable intelligence, my hands would still be tied.”

Harvath couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What? That’s insane. You’d let the Iranians assassinate him?”

“I wouldn’t be letting anyone do anything. This comes from much higher up the chain than me.”

“The Secret Service director?”

“Yes, but he got it from even higher up.”

“The White House?” Harvath asked.

“Bingo.”

“I don’t understand. Why would we serve up a former U.S. government official to one of America’s enemies?”

“I’ll give you two reasons. One, the type of protection the Ambassador would need costs around two million dollars a month. President Mitchell ran on dramatically shrinking the size of government and slashing what it spends.”

“Lots of politicians run on that,” Harvath interrupted. “It’s eye-watering, I get it, but it’s a drop in the bucket budget-wise. More important, this is a serious national security issue. How is an administration ever going to recruit top-tier talent, much less get personnel who’ll be tough with America’s enemies and carry out the President’s policies, if they know that one day they might very well be thrown to the wolves?”

“Off the record, I don’t disagree. And if you asked me on the record, my position would be to refer you to the White House, which is the official position of the Secret Service on this.”

“I really can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

“It gets worse, so hold on to your hat. When you asked why the United States might serve up a former government official, I told you that, off the record, there were two reasons why that might be happening. First was the cost. The second is the amount of time Ambassador Rogers has spent on TV criticizing the new administration.”

Harvath was beyond stunned. “They’re that thin-skinned? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

“So, no matter what kind of intel Ambassador Rogers might bring you, this White House, and by extension the Secret Service, will not protect him.”

“I don’t like it any more than you do, but yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

After that, there really wasn’t much more to discuss. Harvath thanked Gaines for looking out for Sølvi and asked to be kept in the loop on anything the Secret Service man learned about the attack. They said goodbye, then Harvath disconnected the call and returned to the conference room. He was still pissed-off.

“How’d it go?” Nicholas asked.

“I’ve had better calls,” Harvath replied.

The Ambassador wasn’t hopeful. “Are they going to help?”

“No, they’re not.”