Page 13

B y using me as bait?” Rogers asked once Harvath had sketched out the broad strokes of his plan.

“It’s the only way,” he replied. “We can’t go after them, because we don’t know who they are. Our only option is to bring them to us.”

“Can’t we go after some local Iranian diplomat and use them for leverage?”

“That’s not how Tehran works,” Nicholas interjected. “They wouldn’t run something like this through their embassy. It’s too risky. Everything would be self-contained, compartmentalized.”

“Meaning what?”

Harvath envisioned how he would put something like this together if he were in the Iranian’s shoes.

“Depending upon the number of targets, they’d probably send two to four men.

If it was four, they’d split them into two teams and house them in two separate locations.

One team would conduct all pre-attack surveillance and the other team would actually carry out the deed.

“They’d also require a local contact, a fixer of sorts—someone established who could help get them anything they needed and sort out any problems. In addition to English, this person very likely speaks Farsi and is of Iranian descent.

The fixer would be the conduit back to Tehran, handling all the message traffic, lowering the risk that the operatives would be discovered. ”

“There’s only one problem with this,” said Rogers.

“What’s that?”

“The men last night in Rock Creek Park didn’t look Iranian. I’ve been to Iran, I’ve dealt with those people. These guys were not that.”

“I wouldn’t put it past the mullahs or the Quds Force to have agents who were more physically suited for operations in the West,” Nicholas stated. “Considering the high profile of the targets they appear to be after, they’d want to leave nothing to chance.”

“What if we’re wrong?” the Ambassador asked.

“About what?” Harvath replied.

“What if it’s not the Iranians?”

“Do you have someone else it could be?”

“We killed a lot of bad guys and we weren’t quiet about it. This could be coming from any of their organizations.”

“And it wouldn’t make a bit of difference,” said Harvath. “We’d still be in the same position with the same limited options and I’d still be recommending the same approach.”

“You’re sure there’s absolutely no Plan B we can kick around?”

“I’m sure.”

For several moments, the Ambassador sat in silence as he pondered the situation. This was not at all what he’d had in mind when he first set foot in the Carlton Group’s offices this morning.

Harvath attempted to put the man at ease. “You can always say no. I don’t know what our next steps would then be, but I’m sure we’d come up with something. This, however, is a good plan. The sooner we put it into action, the better off you’re going to be.”

Rogers looked at him, still thinking, still silent.

“You saved me once,” said Harvath. “All I’m asking for is the opportunity to return the favor. I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”

Whether it was the words or Harvath’s tone, something clicked. The Ambassador relented.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

With the decision made and the green light given, Rogers excused himself to use the men’s room, leaving Scot and Nicholas to discuss next steps.

“I’ll want to run three shifts,” said Harvath. “How many guys from my team can I get?”

Nicholas held up his right hand and made the international signal for “zero.”

“What do you mean, none?”

“They’re all downrange on assignments.”

“ All of them?” Harvath asked.

“We’re still running a business here. That didn’t stop just because you did.”

He knew Nicholas was simply telling him the truth, but the remark still stung. Even though he’d made the best decision for himself and S?lvi by turning in his resignation, there had been a part of him that felt like he was abandoning his colleagues. He was feeling that sensation again now.

“What about from any of the other teams? Hell, I’d even be glad to have Thing One and Thing Two from the lobby.”

“With all the cutbacks in D.C., our business is booming. In fact, we’ve had to turn down work. We don’t have a single body to spare.”

“So the only thing standing between Ambassador Rogers and a possible Iranian hit team is me?”

“And me,” said Nicholas. “I’m more than happy to provide whatever support I can.”

“As long as it doesn’t require you to physically be in the field.”

The man nodded. “Correct. That has not changed. When I told you that in the South of France, I meant it.”

Harvath hadn’t doubted it then and he didn’t doubt it now.

What he was trying to figure out was how the hell he was going to pull something like this off with no backup.

“What about Haney?”

“What about him?” Nicholas replied.

“He’s not downrange.”

“Because he’s still in rehab after you got him shot for the second time.”

“A, technically, the Russians shot him and B, how close is he to being done with rehab?”

“No.”

“ No what?” Harvath asked.

“No you can’t pull Mike Haney into this.”

“Don’t you think that’s a question for him to answer?”

“Not when we’re paying for his rehab and a hazardous-duty bonus, all of which is because you got him shot.”

“Fine, I’ll leave Mike alone.”

It was obvious by his expression that Nicholas didn’t believe him. Harvath changed the subject.

“If I wanted you to kill the Ambassador’s old phone, the one he slid into that woman’s suitcase, could you do that?”

Nicholas didn’t even need to think about it. “Sure. If it’s attached to the cloud and he can give me his password, it’s a piece of cake.”

“What about cloning a new one for me?”

“Also a piece of cake, but do you think the Iranians are actually tracking his phone?”

“I have no idea,” said Harvath. “I just want to make sure we put enough chum in the water. Which brings me to his car.”

“What about it?”

“I don’t want him to have to start it with a stick if you know what I mean.”

Nicholas’s dark sense of humor got the better of him and he chuckled at the image. “No, you don’t want that.”

“So how do we make sure it hasn’t been rigged with a bomb?”

Rubbing his chin, Nicholas ran some options through his mind.

“He parked in the extended lot at Reagan National, correct?”

Harvath nodded. “Correct.”

“I know somebody out there in airport operations. They’ve got a couple of trucks that are their own mini version of AAA.

They help fix flats, jump batteries, that sort of thing.

We might be able to get one of our tech people to ride along and make it look like Rogers is having trouble starting his car.

The tech could pop the hood and give it a full, top-to-bottom, bumper-to-bumper sweep, just to make sure it’s clean. ”

“Perfect. Let’s get that in motion. In the meantime, I’ve got to recruit some more muscle.”

“As long as it’s not Haney, who are you thinking about?”

“I have an ex-federal employee that I’ve heard is very angry. I think he’d be great for this job.”

Nicholas looked at him. “Because he’s angry?”

“No, because even though he doesn’t know it yet,” said Harvath, “he’s got his own skin in this game.”