Page 12

A pologizing for making him do it a second time, Harvath had the Ambassador go all the way back to the beginning of his story and tell him everything he had relayed to Nicholas.

No detail was too small or too trivial. And when he was done, Harvath made him repeat it all again and battered him with questions at every turn.

Seeing the two goons earlier in the day, only to see them again on a running trail in Rock Creek Park that evening might have been the world’s most incredible coincidence—something Harvath didn’t believe in—but when they had chased Rogers up and over a hill into traffic, that’s where all mystery surrounding their intent should have evaporated.

Rogers was right to be concerned, and Harvath believed the man’s instincts were spot-on. He wasn’t overreacting and had no reason to make any of this up.

Wisely, the Ambassador had asked the Park Police to forward a copy of their report to the Secret Service. There would be a paper trail putting them on notice.

What made no sense, however, was that as Rogers had been driven toward Reagan National, he had called the Secret Service again, only to be told that once they received the report, someone would look into it.

Exposing a U.S. government official, active or retired, to the predations of a hostile foreign actor was unethical, unconscionable, and absolutely un-American. And it pissed Harvath off. Big-time .

He still had a few contacts at the Secret Service and, taking a break from the meeting, excused himself from the room. Grabbing an unoccupied office nearby, he closed the door and made a call.

Russ Gaines had been a member of the Secret Service’s Counter Assault Team back when Harvath had been a protective agent stationed at the White House. They had trained off and on together and had seen more than their fair share of action.

Like a professional athlete, eventually Gaines was unable to outrun the physical demands of the job.

But instead of cashing in and going the private sector route, as many of his colleagues had, he chose to remain with the Service and had worked his way up to a big position in the Special Operations Division.

If anyone could clear a roadblock for Ambassador Rogers, it was him.

“If it isn’t the Norseman himself,” said Gaines, referring to Harvath’s call sign as he picked up the phone. “How the hell are you?”

“I’m good, Russ. How ’bout you?”

“I’m not shooting-up-bad-guys-along-embassy-row-with-my-new-blond-wife-good, but I’m getting by.”

Harvath laughed. Of course Gaines knew. Part of his purview at the Special Operations Division was overseeing the Secret Service’s Emergency Response Teams, which provided exterior tactical security at the White House and the Vice President’s Residence.

He would have been informed immediately of the attack and kept constantly apprised of the investigation.

“Anything new on last night?” Scot asked.

“Not yet. The FBI is leading the investigation and they’re still working on identifying the attackers.”

“Have any groups claimed credit?”

“Plenty of domestic crackpots,” said Gaines, “and a few bad actors overseas. Nothing credible so far. The press, as you can imagine, are extremely eager to get their hands on your name, as well as Mrs. Harvath’s. Speaking of which, congratulations on your nuptials.”

“Thanks. Sorry you didn’t get an invite. It was a pretty small ceremony.”

This time it was Gaines who laughed. “Don’t worry about it. If I ever get married again, I’m doing the Elvis Chapel in Vegas and will have to pay someone off the street to be a witness. I’ll be so far under the radar, any pings will be in Chinese.”

Harvath didn’t relish the idea of his and S?lvi’s names being released to the press and circled back. “I assume the Bureau is running point with the media?”

“They are.”

“Any clue as to what their thoughts are regarding the release of our names?”

“From what I hear, they don’t want to put targets on your backs if they can help it.”

“That’s nice of them.”

“You’re lucky,” said Gaines. “You’ve got more than a few friends left in this town. On the intel and law enforcement sides, everyone sees you as one of them. They’re not going to throw you under the bus.”

“But the press isn’t going to give up. Sooner or later, it’s going to leak. This is Washington after all.”

“Which is why the Bureau is thinking about getting out in front of it and releasing an attribution.”

“An attribution ?” Harvath replied.

“You’ve been secretly moved around so much, that you’re still on the books at some of your old agencies.

Technically, we’ve still got you and so does DHS.

The idea is to ‘deconflict’ the press by telling them that a plainclothes federal agent accompanied by a Norwegian protective services agent were in the area and responded to the attack and ended up saving countless lives.

Out of respect for the agents’ privacy and the sensitive nature of their jobs, both governments are withholding their identities. ”

“Do they think that’ll work?”

“I suppose, but what do I know? I’m an ex–trigger puller. Media strategy isn’t exactly my forte.”

“Fair enough,” Harvath admitted. “I guess it could be worse.”

“Now I get to drop the other shoe. Unlike the Bureau, the Vice President’s people think this is an excellent media opportunity. They want to throw a reception, at the residence, where the Vice President will thank you in person for your bravery. You and S?lvi both.”

“Fuck.”

“I take it you’re not a fan?” Gaines asked.

“Of the Vice President? I don’t care either way. This isn’t about politics. It’s about privacy. We’d be happy to go and meet with him. I just don’t want it splashed all over the press.”

“Well, he’s a splash kind of guy. The bigger the better. It’s an attention economy out there. And he who commands the most attention wins.”

“ Fuck ,” Harvath repeated.

“Maybe I can make your day a little brighter,” Gaines continued. “S?lvi’s packet came through from the Norwegian Foreign Service office. I didn’t know she did close protection work.”

“She and the Prime Minister have a history together.”

“I made sure it went to the top of the stack and got approved right away.”

“Thank you,” said Scot.

“You’re welcome. Just understand that if you two get in a squabble and she reaches for her sidearm instead of a rolling pin, she’s covered by diplomatic immunity for as long as the Prime Minister is on U.S. soil.”

“I’ll do my best not to piss her off.”

Gaines laughed again. “Good luck. Knowing you, my money’s on two to your chest and one between your eyebrows before the summit even starts.”

“Speaking of the summit,” Harvath said, transitioning from a chuckle to a more serious tone, “whatever you can do to put your best people on her team, I’d really appreciate it.”

“In light of what happened at the Norwegian ambassador’s residence, the State Department has made the same request, so I’m already ahead of you.

But I have to be honest, with all the cutbacks, we’re stretched pretty thin, especially with so many dignitaries coming to town.

We’re working on it, though. We’re not going to let anything happen to S?lvi or the Norwegian PM. ”

“Thanks, Russ. I appreciate it.”

“Any time,” Gaines replied. “If there’s nothing else you need, I’ve got to get ready for the hourly update call with the FBI.”

Harvath looked at his watch. There was fifteen minutes until the top of the hour. Gaines had been terrific, but they had not yet discussed the primary reason for his call.

“I do have one thing to ask you,” said Scot. “Completely off the record.”

“Go ahead.”

“I just met with Ambassador Brendan Rogers. He thinks the Iranians want to kill him.”

“They probably do,” Gaines agreed.

“He thinks it’s more than that. He thinks he’s an active target.”

“I know he does. The Ambassador has even more friends in Washington than you do.”

“Are you aware that two men chased him through Rock Creek Park last night?”

“No,” Gaines responded. “I was not. Is he okay?”

“He managed to find a park ranger and get away. He says the pair had been following him earlier in the day. He filed a report with U.S. Park Police and asked that it be forwarded to the Secret Service.”

“So they didn’t catch the guys.”

“No,” said Harvath. “They didn’t.”

“Were either of the men captured on video?”

“No idea.”

“Do you have a vehicle description or license plate number?”

“Negative.”

“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 S?lvi 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.”

“So what are we going to do?”

Harvath looked at them both and said, “We’re going to help ourselves.”