going to flood the zone. We’ll use a very light footprint.” She paused for a moment, trying to choose the right words to make the Agency’s case. “I can’t force you to do anything. I’ve been told this is your operation. We just want to make sure that as you’re going after Hanjour, nobody’s going after you. Make sense?”
It did make sense, but it didn’t make it easier for him to accept. He preferred to operate alone, or at the very least with professionals he knew. He didn’t know any of these CIA people.
He knew he could roll Hanjour up on his own, but if anything went wrong, it would be on his head. And a lot could go wrong. Karachi was a perfect case in point. They had been successful, but only because they had involved other people. Rule number one if heading into a gunfight was to bring a gun, preferably two, and all of your friends who had guns. Harvath didn’t know what he was headed into, but he knew that he didn’t want to be taken by surprise again.
It was not an easy decision, but he made what he hoped would be the right choice. “All right,” he relented. “Let’s go over how we’re going to handle this, including if anything goes bad.”
CHAPTER 13
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* * *
SECOND DEPARTMENT, BEIJING
Colonel Shi knew who was at his door even before he heard the knock. General Yi Ming Wu’s cigarette smoke usually arrived before he did. “Come in,” Shi said.
Wu opened the door and stepped inside. He was a large man in his early sixties with a round face, nicotine-stained fingers, and a growing spare tire around his middle. Wedging himself into one of the narrow chairs in front of Shi’s desk, he removed a pack of cigarettes and offered one. The colonel shook his head.
The general took it between his lips and used his old cigarette to light it. After taking a deep drag, he crushed the old cigarette into the ashtray Shi kept on the corner of his desk. “You should go back to smoking,” he said. “It’ll help your mind work better.”
Shi was now running five times a week and feeling healthier than he had in years. As much as he respected the general and his directorship of the Second Department, the man was one of the last people who should be dispensing health advice.
Shi had been waiting several hours for his boss to return from his meeting and was eager for the man to get to the point. “How did it go?”
The general exhaled two tendrils of smoke from his nostrils that twirled up toward the yellowed ceiling tiles above the desk. “Not good.”
The colonel had expected that. “Not good, how?”
“The general secretary is still particularly upset that you have lost one of your assets.”
Shi shook his head. “You of course explained that I didn’t lose the Somali?”
Wu shrugged. Semantics. “It’s your operation. You’re responsible.”
“Fine. I’m responsible. I’m responsible for the Emirati engineering students, as well as the Somali accomplices we teamed them with. Now what was the Standing Committee’s decision?”
“They discussed many issues. In anticipation of America’s collapse and the global economic shockwaves, China has been quietly stockpiling food, fuel, and medicine.”
“It has also not-so-quietly,” Shi added, “been stockpiling gold.”
The general dismissed the concern with a wave of his hand. “Gold goes up in price, gold goes down. Everyone is buying. There’s too much debt everywhere and no one trusts paper currency anymore. Some countries have even begun repatriating their gold from third-party vaults abroad because they want it closer to home. Our gold purchases are not that unusual.”
Shi believed that China was buying too much, too fast. He had expressed his concern, but it had fallen on deaf ears. None of that mattered at this point. “What did they end up deciding?”
“You know, there are some who think you orchestrated this problem.”
“Me?” the colonel replied, taken aback. “That’s ridiculous.”
“The timing is quite coincidental, wouldn’t you say?”
“Do you think I wanted a cell member to go missing so the operation and our national security could be thrown into jeopardy?”
“No,” Wu replied, “but I know you. What I’m telling you is what they think. They wanted the attack to take place over Chinese New Year. You argued for September. Suddenly, they’re being forced to accept your position. Wouldn’t you be suspicious?”
“I’m paid to be suspicious,” Shi said. “They’re paid to be politicians.”