way it had to be. "Good luck." Rapp turned and headed for the door next to the big steel gate. A sergeant in his tan combat utility uniform and decked out in body armor intercepted him. Rapp pulled out a set of fake State Department credentials.
The sergeant took the credentials and said, "Wait here." He walked over to the closest guard booth and slid the identification through the metal box. A few moments later he returned with Rapp's fake creds and a badge. "Are you armed, Mr. Cox?"
Rapp shook his head and said, "Nope," even though he was carrying two pistols and a knife. He followed the sergeant to the small door and stepped through. On the other side a familiar face was waiting for him. Rapp was neither pleased nor bothered to see Mike Nash. "Irene decided to send over reinforcements."
Nash had been attached to Rapp's team for almost five years and had recently been promoted to deputy director of the Counterterrorism Center at Langley. "I'm only the first wave. She's pulling in clandestine boys from all over the place."
Rapp grimaced. He didn't have the time or the patience to manage all of these people. It quickly dawned on him that he wouldn't have to. That was why Nash was here. Still, he needed to have a say in what these people would be doing or they'd end up falling all over each other. "And what are we going to do with everyone?"
Nash shrugged. "They're gonna beat the bushes until we find something more specific."
Normally Rapp would have been drastically against drawing too much attention to what they were doing, but this little disaster was a unique problem. Beating the bushes was as a good a start as any for the moment. "Any orders?" Rapp asked, knowing there would be.
"Yeah," Nash said as he jerked his head toward a tree-lined walkway, signaling Rapp to follow him. The two men looked enough alike to be confused as brothers. Rapp was five years older and an inch taller. His hair was black with a touch of gray where Nash's was dark brown. The main similarities were in their square jaws and overall demeanor. When they were a good distance away from the gate Nash found a spot under a towering cypress tree. "What'd you find out in Jalalabad?"
"Four dead bodyguards, safe's empty, his laptop is gone, and God only knows what else. It's a fucking disaster."
"Any leads?"
"Not really." Rapp shook his head. "Although I met some asshole named Zahir. He used to be a terrorist, but now he's supposedly our friend." Rapp's tone made it obvious that he didn't buy the last part.
"Abdul Siraj Zahir. I'm familiar with his work. I warned both Rick and Sickles that we didn't want to get in bed with him, but they ignored me."
"Well, the asshole showed up at the safe house and tried to throw his weight around."
"And I'm sure you employed all of your diplomatic skill to defuse the situation."
"You're a smart man. He took a shit all over Hubbard, and when I couldn't take it anymore I stuck a gun in his face and threatened to blow his head off."
Nash laughed. He thought briefly about telling Rapp how dangerous Zahir could be, but he'd be wasting his breath. Mitch knew his type all too well. "Not the most subtle approach."
"Listen . . . I'd love to be all sneaky and clever about this, but we don't have the time. We either get him back in the next few days or all hell is going to break loose."
Nash concurred. "Irene agrees. We all know the score and know what has to be done."
Rapp was suspicious that the higher-ups in D.C. were of a single mind. "Listen, I've seen this movie before. They say all kinds of shit, talk tough, and demand results, and then we run off and start kicking in doors and knocking heads and then a year from now, if things start to leak, they'll act all shocked and demand we swing from the mast."
"I don't disagree, but at least this time, Irene says DOD, State, and the White House are all on board."
Rapp still wasn't buying it. "That's what they say now, but I'm telling you . . . down the road they'll bail on our asses so fast it'll make your head spin."
"You're probably right, but what in the hell are we going to do about it? We either play by the book and watch it all fall apart