Act of War - Brad Thor Page 0,44
two seconds to unfuck yourself. Put your weapon down.”
Tang continued to eyeball Johnson and ignore Fordyce.
Johnson smiled. He could see something Tang couldn’t. “You got him, Tuck?”
“I do,” said Tucker, who had snatched up his own weapon and now had it pointed right at Tang’s head.
“I’m giving you one last chance, Billy,” Fordyce commanded. “Put that fucking weapon down, right now.”
“We’re not killing this kid,” said Tang.
“That’s not your call. Put your weapon down. Do it now.”
“This kid has a sister,” Tang stated as he continued to converse with the little boy.
“I told you to stop talking to him,” Fordyce said. “It’s only going to make it harder. This is the last time I’m going to tell you to put your weapon down, Billy. I will order Tucker to shoot you. Do you understand me?”
“I thought SEALs were honorable.”
“Shoot him,” Johnson said to Tucker.
“Shut up, Les,” Fordyce commanded. “I’m in charge here. I give the orders.” Focusing on Tang he said, “Billy, I’m going to count to three. If you do not put your weapon down, you’re going to leave me no choice. One—”
The little boy, who seemed to know what was at stake, rushed off a string of sentences, intelligible only to himself and Tang. The boy was so emphatic, Fordyce paused his countdown.
As soon as the boy stopped speaking, Tang laid his pistol down. Johnson looked as if he was about to butt-stroke the CIA man with his rifle, but Fordyce raised his hand and signaled him to back off.
The look on Tang’s face had them all wondering what the boy had just said. “What the hell did he say?” Fordyce asked.
“He says he knows why we’re here.”
“Bullshit,” Johnson quipped.
Fordyce motioned for him to shut up. Looking at Tang, he said, “How the hell could he possibly know why we’re here?”
“He’s pretty bright,” the CIA operative replied. “He figures we’re here because of the Chinese.”
“So?”
“So, he says that if we help his sister back in the camp, he’ll tell us anything we want to know.”
“Don’t do it, LT,” Johnson said. “We’re just here to take pictures.”
Fordyce looked at Tucker, who replied, “I’m with Les. This kid is going to get us all killed.”
“You ever shot a kid before?”
Tucker shook his head.
Fordyce looked at Johnson. “What about you?”
Johnson looked away.
“I’ll do it,” Tang stated.
All eyes were now on him.
“If he has zero value, I’ll do it,” the CIA man reasserted.
“Billy, we don’t have the time,” Fordyce replied.
“Start scrubbing the trail.”
“And then what?”
“Then,” Tang stated, “I’ll either get you some intel, or I’ll bring you the body of a dead little boy.”
CHAPTER 21
* * *
* * *
WASHINGTON, D.C.
While most government workers were fighting Beltway traffic on their way home or out of town for the weekend, President Porter had reconvened his national security team in the Situation Room.
“Let’s start with the CIA,” he said.
There were certain people in the room who didn’t need to know who Harvath was, so CIA Director Bob McGee referred to him by his call-sign. “As previously discussed, Norseman succeeded in locating Khuram Pervez Hanjour. During the interrogation, Hanjour gave up the names of six engineering students he had recruited on behalf of Ahmad Yaqub.”
“Do we know where these six engineering students are now?”
“The FBI is working on that.”
The President looked at FBI Director Edward Erickson and raised his eyebrows.
“We have confirmation that they did in fact enter the country,” Erickson replied. “They flew from Dubai to Houston via Emirates airlines.”
“What do we know about the NASA internship program they were in?”
The FBI Director knew the President wasn’t going to like the answer, but there was no getting around it. “It was started under the previous administration and it really wasn’t an internship as much as it was a goodwill summit.”
“Meaning?”
“Muslim students would go through a bunch of feel-good exercises and leave with the impression that without Islamic contributions to science, there would be no U.S. space program.”
“In other words,” said President Porter, “it was a boondoggle.”
The FBI Director shrugged. “From what I understand, there are legitimate Islamic contributions to science. Also, these were college and grad students and this was a summer program. It wasn’t supposed to be difficult.”
“Of course not. And in addition, I suppose everyone left with a certificate or a trophy of some sort?”
“Yes, sir.”
Porter shook his head. “Do I even want to know what this cost the American taxpayers?”
“No, sir. You don’t.”
“What about the six students? Are they still at NASA?”
“No, sir,” the FBI Director replied.
“Were they ever at NASA?”
“Yes, sir.