There was a lot that Nicholas wanted to ask, but for Harvath’s sake, he had to keep things as short and to the point as possible. “Have you eaten with us before?”
“Twice.”
Harvath was being professional, delivering the coded information calmly, but Nicholas could sense a distinct underlying tension in his voice.
“Are you free to take a quick survey about that experience?”
“Negative,” said Harvath. “A lot of people want to use this phone.”
“We’ll get this order placed right away for you.”
Nicholas was about to add, “So good to hear your voice,” when the call went dead.
“Hello?” the little man said. “Hello? Can you hear me?”
Confirming that the call had indeed been terminated, he hopped down from the desk, just as the SPEHA hurried back over.
“What did he say?”
Nicholas ran through everything Harvath had relayed in their brief conversation.
“Do we know who is chasing him?” Rogers asked. “Russian military? Russian law enforcement? Both?”
“He didn’t say.”
“How about the identity of the woman? Do we know who she is?”
“We don’t know that either, but if I had to guess, it’s the doctor we saw the Instagram post from.”
“What about how he’s traveling? Is he on foot?”
Nicholas shook his head. “No, definitely not on foot.”
“By vehicle then?”
“I think so.”
“Do we know what kind? Is it a car? A truck?”
Once again, Nicholas shook his head. “He could have given me a code, but he didn’t. All we know is that whatever it is, he and the woman are traveling separately.”
“Why? What purpose do you think that would serve?”
“Maybe there are checkpoints and one has to act as a decoy or something. I don’t know. He didn’t say.”
Rogers could tell Nicholas was getting frustrated with him. “I’m just trying to help. Don’t worry. We’ll get to work on what we have. Did he say when he’d be back in touch?”
“No. The call went dead.”
The SPEHA put his hand on the little man’s shoulder. “I’ve never met him, but based on what everyone has told me, he’s going to make it.”
Nicholas agreed. If anyone could beat the odds, it was Harvath. But if there was one thing he had learned in their business, it was that if you weren’t cheating, you weren’t trying.
They needed to make sure that they were doing everything to stack the deck in Harvath’s favor. It was time to go all in.
CHAPTER 59
* * *
* * *
MURMANSK OBLAST
Tell him that I’m freezing my balls off out here and that if he doesn’t open the door and let us in, I’m going to burn his fucking house down,” said Haney. “With him in it.”
The Jaeger soldier, whom the Finns had reluctantly sent along, relayed the message in perfect Russian, though with just a little added tact.
“Fine,” the asset agreed, “but make sure they hide their equipment around back. I don’t want anyone to know they’re here.”
The Finn translated, and while Haney and Staelin stood guard in front, the rest of the team went around back and shrugged off their gear.
Once they had all deposited their equipment, Barton and Gage offered to take first watch.
Haney had been instructed to get right to the point. And once inside, he did just that.
He spoke slowly so the Jaeger soldier could translate and, because the subject matter was somber, he made sure to adopt a respectful tone.
“United States President Paul Porter extends his deepest condolences to you and your family. He hopes you will accept my country’s sympathies for what happened to your brother during the Soviet-Afghan War. We deeply regret that it was an American weapon, provided by the United States to the mujahideen, which caused his death.”
Haney, along with the rest of The Carlton Group team, studied the older man’s visage, searching for any hint of softening, or of forgiveness.
He was a stone-faced, flinty bastard, well into his seventies if he was a day. His hate for the United States oozed from every pore. The only country he hated as much was Russia, which was why he had agreed to work against it, in the service of the Finns.
His codename was Pavel. That was all the Jaeger commander was comfortable sharing. Haney was fine with that. He wasn’t here to make friends. He was here to rescue one.
Both the United States President and the Secretary of State had given Haney permission to make the in-person apology. “Just don’t gild the lily,” the Secretary of State had warned him.
Haney didn’t care. He would have told Pavel that the U.S. had faked the moon landing