The Bourne Deception - By Robert Ludlum & Eric van Lustbader Page 0,17

concrete eight feet thick, the president of the United States was in a high-level security meeting with Secretary of Defense Halliday; DCI Veronica Hart; Jon Mueller, head of the Department of Homeland Security; and Jaime Hernandez, the new intelligence czar, who had taken over the NSA in the wake of the illegal waterboarding scandal that brought down his predecessor.

Halliday, a ruddy-cheeked man with dark blond hair combed straight back, a politician’s sly eyes, and a perfect Crest smile, seemed as if he were reading from a script he might have prepared for a Senate subcommittee. “After months of arduous prep work, judicious bribes, and discreet probing,” he said, “Black River has at last made first contact with a group of dissident, pro-Western Iranis.” Ever the showman, he paused, looked around the highly polished table, making eye contact with each person in turn. “This is blockbuster news,” he added unnecessarily, and, with a nod to the president, “something this administration has been searching for for years, because the only known Iranian dissident group has so far proved impotent.”

Halliday was at his most eloquent, and Hart thought she knew why. Though his stock had risen because of the death of Jason Bourne, for which he had agitated and for which he’d taken credit, Hart knew Halliday needed another victory, one that was more wide ranging, that could be exploited by the president himself for political capital.

“At last a group we can work with,” Halliday continued with unbridled enthusiasm as he handed around the fact sheet prepared by Black River detailing dates and places of meeting, along with transcripts of clandestinely recorded conversations between Black River operatives and leading members of the dissident group, whose names had been redacted for security reasons. All the conversations, Hart saw, underscored both their militancy and their commitment to accept aid from the West.

“They’re unquestionably pro-Western,” the secretary of defense said, as if his audience required a verbal guide through the densely worded pages. “Moreover, they’re preparing for an armed revolution and are eager for whatever support we can supply.”

“What are their real capabilities?” Jon Mueller asked. Mueller had that typical ex-NSA mien of a soldier with a thousand-yard stare. He looked like a man who could break a body with the same nonchalant ease he’d crack a wooden matchstick in two.

“Excellent question, Jon. If you turn to page thirty-eight, you’ll see Black River’s detailed assessment of the training preparedness and arms expertise of this particular group, which both rate eight out of ten on their proprietary rating scale.”

“You seem to be relying a great deal on Black River, Mr. Secretary,” Hart said drily.

Halliday didn’t even look at her; it was her people—Soraya Moore and Tyrone Elkins—who had brought his man, Luther LaValle, down. He hated her guts, but Hart knew he was too canny a politician to let his animosity show in front of the president, who now held her in high esteem.

Halliday nodded sagely, his voice carefully neutral. “I wish it were otherwise, Director. It’s no secret that our own resources are already at their limits due to the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now that Iran is on our radar as a clear and present danger, we’re obliged to outsource more and more of our far-flung intelligence gathering.”

“You mean the NSA is. CI created Typhon last year specifically to handle more of the Middle East field intelligence,” Hart pointed out. “Every Typhon field agent is fluent in the various dialects of Arabic and Farsi. Tell me, Mr. Secretary, how many NSA agents are similarly trained?”

Hart could see the color rising up Halliday’s throat into his cheeks, and she leaned forward, further inflaming an intemperate outburst from him. Unluckily for her, the meeting was interrupted by the burr of the blue telephone at the president’s right elbow. The entire room fell into a tense silence so absolute that the discreet sound had the resonance of a pneumatic jackhammer. The blue telephone brought bad news, they all knew that.

With a grim expression, the president pressed the receiver to his ear, listened to the voice of General Leland over at the Pentagon who briefed him, even while he told his commander in chief that a more detailed document would be on its way to the White House by special courier within the hour.

The president took all this in with his usual equanimity. He was not a man to panic or to take precipitous action. As he cradled the receiver, he said, “There has been an