“The FBI is looking for him, and Justice is considering bringing him up for treason,” Remington said. “So definitely mention his name. It’s something that guys like Marston understand.”
“It’s late here, I’ll call him in the morning.”
“Call him now. He needs to hear about this from us, not the Iraqi police.”
“You’re right.”
“I’ll get there as soon as I can. But keep in touch.”
“Will do,” Townsend said and he rang off.
Remington broke the connection and lowered the phone.
“Talk to me, Gordo,” Colleen said, keeping her voice low.
“Bit of a muckup over in B-town,” Remington said. “Roland and a couple of his people have been shot to death.”
“Good Lord,” Colleen said, but then he could see in her eyes that she understood the consequences as well as he did. “Do you actually have to go over there?”
“We’ll see,” Remington said, and he dialed Robert Foster’s private number, which would be rolled over to wherever the man was. Anywhere in the world.
On the third ring it was answered by a voice mail message. “Leave your name and number after the tone.” But before Remington could leave a message, Foster came on.
“Good afternoon, Gordon. Is something bothering you that you called this number?”
The waiter came over to take their order, but Remington waved him off and waited until he was out of earshot.
“I just received word that Roland was assassinated in Baghdad about an hour ago. His bodyguards were taken out, as was Baghdad’s chief of police.”
“That’s certainly a stunning development. Do you know who was behind this and why?”
“It was McGarvey,” Remington said. “Our operations over there are facing a potential meltdown. I’m flying over tonight to straighten it out.”
Foster’s reply was immediate. “No. I want you to remain here in Washington. Business as usual. Do you have any idea where Mr. McGarvey is at this moment? Certainly not still in Baghdad?”
“I’m not sure, but I believe he’ll try to get out of the country, probably either through Kuwait, the way he got in, or perhaps across the border into Turkey.”
“Is he receiving help from the CIA?”
“Unknown, but I’d say it’s fairly unlikely considering the charges Justice is preparing to file against him.”
“I was under the impression that you had arranged for some of your people to take him out.”
“Apparently they failed.”
“Are they dead?”
“I don’t know, they haven’t surfaced yet. Last I heard they had reached Baghdad.”
Foster was silent for a moment. “This is what we’re going to do. I’m going to arrange for your contract over there to go to Decision Infinity. They can use the money. I need all of your attention devoted to the McGarvey problem.”
“That would put Admin in a bind,” Remington protested, even though he had to agree with what was coming next. “We’re carrying a large salary and training budget.”
“We’ll take care of your company,” Foster said. “Your main objective now is to kill Mr. McGarvey as soon as possible. I don’t care where or how, just get the job done, Gordon, and you will be a busy man, because we have the main issue to contend with.”
“I wasn’t in on that loop,” Remington said. “Roland never discussed it with me.”
“Conclude the McGarvey business, and you will be brought into the loop, as you call it.”
“I’ll do my best,” Remington said, but he was talking to a broken connection.
FIFTY
The sky to the east was just beginning to lighten when Hadid slowed down and pulled off the highway a few miles outside of Az Zubayr, a small city just north of the border with Kuwait and barely twenty miles from Basra.
“It’s too dangerous to cross the border now,” Hadid said. “It’s what the authorities will expect Mr. Tony to do. We’ll stay here until nightfall, when Mr. James will spring into existence.”
The battery in McGarvey’s sat phone had worn down, and the Range Rover’s cigarette lighter receptacle didn’t work, but Hadid had promised that when they finally stopped, the phone’s charger could be directly connected to the battery under the hood.
They followed a dirt track for a few miles out into the desert until they came to what at one time in the past might have been a farm or more likely a small sheep station. A main stone building in absolutely horrible condition, a gaping hole in one of the walls, and half the roof missing, sat at the edge of a small dried-up stream. Several other, much smaller buildings in even worse condition made up what would have been a small compound,