Page 67 of Into the Gray Zone (Pike Logan #19)
Three hours later we’d landed at Mumbai International. I’d let Jennifer handle the debrief on the flight while Knuckles, Brett,
and I planned for a reconnaissance of the Dharavi slum. We did a deep dive of everything we could find, both on the open web
and using reachback for classified intelligence from the Taskforce. During the flight, the blue marble had moved to a hotel
next to a convention center, but by the time we’d landed, it had returned to the slum location, and we knew everything we
could without being on the ground there.
Jennifer continued her debrief as we taxied to the FBO hard stand, and I read her initial notes while waiting for the aircraft
to stop. We parked in our designated slot and I let her continue, immediately sending Knuckles and Brett to get a rental car
and conduct the recce. Not long after they’d left, Jennifer came up and said, “We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Chin had two meetings that night at the Amber Palace. The second meeting was supposedly to meet his MSS chief, but was a
setup to kill him. He thinks you’re partially right. Part of it was the cleanup of loose ends, but part was punishment for
screwing up so royally with the terrorists.”
“And the first meeting?”
“Remember we saw those guys who attacked us at Agra leaving the palace?”
“Yeah?”
“That was the first meeting. He gave the information about the Garmin watch to what he called a Condor team. It sounds like
they’re our counterpart in the MSS, except they specialize in killing as opposed to solving problems. They’re on the hunt
for the terrorists too, to prevent them from getting captured and talking about CCP ties.”
“And they have the same information as Knuckles and Brett?”
“Yes, and their mandate is to kill anyone who can implicate China, to include the hostages.”
Shit . I said, “Call Knuckles and give him everything you know. I need to talk to Kerry.”
“Kerry? Not George Wolffe?”
“Woffe isn’t on the ground with the Black Cats. I need to know what they’re doing before we execute anything.”
“So you’ll call Wolffe after?”
I said, “Probably not. I’m not sure we have the time to wait around for the Oversight Council’s hand-wringing. We’re probably
going to have to go operational before they’ll make a decision.”
She said, “I’m not sure that’s smart.”
I said, “Call Knuckles. Don’t worry, I’m going to blame Kerry for anything that goes wrong.”
She went to get her phone and I dialed up Veep. He answered on the first ring, and I said, “Hey, we’re in Mumbai and I have
a lead for one of the terrorists. I need to talk to Kerry.”
He said, “He’s in a meeting right now, but it was already supposed to be over. He should be out at any minute. What’s the
lead?”
“The Chinese guy spilled his guts. He has a location in the Dharavi slum that might have one of the bad guys.”
“Not at the residence?”
“No. Where are you at now?”
“A National Security Guard compound on the outskirts of Mumbai. After the 2008 massacre they made seven hubs around the country,
and we’re at the Mumbai one. It’s pretty cutting edge, with climbing walls and an indoor shoot-house. These guys are the real
deal.”
I’m sure the Black Cats were qualified for all manner of operations, but being the “real deal” only went as far as the orders
they were given. I said, “What’s the current state of play?”
“They’re in full assault mode. They have the blueprints for the building, and snipers have identified the floor where the
hostages are being held. It’s near the top, a primary living room with a gigantic outdoor balcony. The roof of the building
has three helipads, so they’re going with an air assault using all three. Meanwhile a ground force will lock down the bottom
and start clearing up.”
“And the hostages?”
“Not really a focus. They’re still planning on going in full bore, with success defined as dead terrorists, not live hostages.”
“This whole thing stinks. Jaiden isn’t stupid. He knows that building inside out, and has military experience. He must have
a plan for that.”
“You may be right. They received a proof of life with Nadia, and the RAW thinks she was trying to tell us something. She said
she hopes the government gets them out of the ‘explosive situation.’ As soon as she said it, Jaiden jerked the camera away
from her. They think she was saying the place is rigged.”
“What do the Black Cats say?”
“Well, that’s the issue. In order to protect Nadia, the RAW has kept it under wraps that she’s an agent. They don’t even know that we know. Because of it, the Black Cats think she’s just a civilian who spouted that off the top of her head. They’re not putting too much stock into that threat analysis and are focusing on a hard ballistic assault.”
“When are they looking at going?”
“I don’t know, that’s what the meeting is about right now.”
“Are we having any luck focusing them on the rescue instead of search and destroy?”
“Hang on. Kerry’s back.”
He passed the phone and I heard, “Pike, sorry about not getting back to you sooner about the extradition of the Chinese, but
you’re going to have to babysit a little longer. I haven’t had time to sort it out.”
I said, “Sir, the Chinese—Mr.Chin—talked. My theory was right on the money. The MSS hired these guys to kill Thakkar to stop
or slow the rare earth element mine. They lost control of them and now they’re tying up loose ends to protect the CCP. Chin
was one of the targets because of his fuckup, along with the bodyguard and now the terrorists.”
“Well, good luck on them beating the Black Cats to the inside of Thakkar’s residence. There’s only room for three helicopters
on the roof.”
“He had intelligence about the location of one of the terrorists, and it’s not at Thakkar’s residence.” I then gave him a
rundown of what I knew and what I was doing, ending with, “I think this needs to be checked out.”
“Meaning you?”
“Well, of course meaning me. Look, who else is going to do it? The government is preoccupied with Thakkar’s residence. You
give this intel to them and they’re going to flood the slum with uniforms and whistles blowing. The guy will get away for
sure. The Oversight Council said that the residence assault was no longer a Taskforce issue but that we could pursue the Chinese
angle. This is the Chinese angle.”
“You know I’m going to have to take this to the Oversight Council. In fact, why are you calling me instead of George Wolffe? I’m a member of the Council, not your chain of command.”
“Because you’re on the ground and he’s in DC. Trust me, if you tell me no, I’m going straight to him like a kid playing mommy
off daddy. We don’t have time to wait for the Council to deliberate. Mr.Chin told me there’s a Chinese team hunting this
same intel to eliminate the threat of CCP exposure, and I need to beat them to the punch. With the time zone difference between
here and DC, you won’t be able to get any kind of decision out of them until midnight at the earliest. By then I’ll have him
in the bag.”
“Those are the rules we play by.”
“What’s the assault timeline?”
“They’re looking at going in at dawn tomorrow.”
“Well, there you go. Waiting on the Oversight Council for a decision is asking for no decision, because once that assault
goes down, he’s gone for good.”
“It’s not a given at this point. We’re still pushing for more fidelity on the intelligence to facilitate a rescue, and the
fact that they have an American hostage is the only thing holding the Black Cats back.”
“I heard we had proof of life for both the women, what about him? Is he there?”
“Yes, and no. Yes, we have a video of him for proof of life, but no consensus as to whether he’s in the building.”
“Huh? I thought Thakkar was vetting all these videos?”
“This one was a little different. Both of the women were done live, over FaceTime, using Thakkar’s Wi-Fi node and in a setting
he definitely confirmed. His was sent over Thakkar’s Wi-Fi, but it was a recorded video, and it was from the exercise room.”
“So? Is it his exercise room?”
“He can’t say. Apparently, he’s never used it. He says it could be his, but can’t positively say it is. There was nothing in the video that he could confirm.”
“Veep said you had snipers ID the floor the hostages are on. Did they see Sledge at any time?”
“No. Only the two females, but they can’t see the exercise room, and according to the terrorist, Sledge was sent there because
he was being unruly. At this point we don’t know if it’s bullshit or not.”
“Veep also said Nadia tried to warn us about explosives in the building?”
“Yeah, I tend to believe the RAW on this and that she was giving us a hint, but we don’t know if that’s bullshit or not either.”
“Give me Omega authority for my intel, and maybe I can solve both problems.”
“Pike, I can’t give you Omega authority.”
“Let me rephrase that: I have Omega authority from the Oversight Council for the Chinese option. Give me cover with the Oversight
Council if I have to go apeshit to continue exploring the Chinese option.”
I heard him laugh, then he said, “Okay, Pike, I’ll cover your ass. But don’t go apeshit if you can avoid it.”
“Only if you promise not to go apeshit on an assault before I can execute.”
“I can’t promise that. Sledge being in that building is the only thing holding them back. If they decide that video was faked,
they’re going in.”