“how far back Reed and Carl went. All the way back to the Cold War.”
“Yes, they not only conducted multiple ops together, they were also good friends.”
“Do you know how they met?”
The Norwegian nodded. “While training the CIA-initiated ‘stay behind’ teams meant to conduct guerrilla warfare if the Soviets ever invaded Norway. According to Carl, part of his inspiration for Strategy Section came from his conversations with Reed.”
“I’m not surprised,” Hayes replied. “Having known them both, I can say those two were cut from the same cloth. They had similar views of where the world had been and where it was headed. And while many in Oslo and D.C. were looking in their rearview mirrors, expecting the next war to look like the last, these two were trying to wake people up and get them prepared. They were real visionaries.”
“Agreed. So what else did they have in common? What would have gotten both of them killed? And why does Harvath seem to be next on someone’s list?”
“We’re not sure they’re connected,” the CIA operative replied.
“Come on, Holidae. I know Carl was up to something with Harvath. He told me.”
“What, specifically, did he tell you?”
“A couple of months ago, when an anti-NATO terrorist group was carrying out attacks in Europe, Harvath had tracked a cell to Norway. Along with a Norwegian Police Security Service assault team, backed up by Norwegian Special Forces, he had gone in to take them down, but there had been an ambush. Several officers and soldiers were killed, and many more were gravely injured.
“Following a firefight, Harvath had chased down the surviving cell member. There had been another gunfight, Harvath had killed the guy, and had recovered valuable intelligence from the backpack he had been carrying. That intelligence had then been used to unravel a larger plot sponsored by the Russians.”
Hayes’s brow furrowed slightly, but only for a fraction of a second. “Was this in Carl’s reports?” she asked. “Or did he tell you privately?”
“He told me privately,” said Sølvi, who had noticed the change in her companion’s expression. “There’s not much in his reports—and I’ve read all of them. That means that whatever they were doing, he had been keeping most, if not all of it off-book. Normally when he did that, it was so that if anything went sideways, Russia couldn’t draw a straight line back to Norway.”
“A sound policy.”
“Carl was always three steps ahead.”
An awkward silence fell over the table. Hayes knew she owed her friend more and remained quiet as she debated what she had been authorized to reveal.
Per her training, Sølvi knew to wait and not to fill such pauses with talk.
Finally, Hayes broke the stalemate. “Suppose,” the CIA operative offered, “I do know what Carl had been up to with Harvath. If I gave you that information, what would you do with it?”
“What do you think I’d do with it? I’d use it to get to the bottom of who murdered him.”
“And once you got to the bottom? Then what?”
“I’d do my job.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means,” replied Sølvi, playing to Hayes’s rule-following nature, “that I’d turn it over to my superiors.”
The CIA operative leaned back in her chair, raised her champagne glass, and said, “Then I can’t help you,” as she took a long sip.
“Wait. What?” The Norwegian was confused.
“Sølvi, I know you. You want to avenge your mentor. My government wants to protect a valuable intelligence officer. Our goals are aligned.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Once Carl’s killer has been identified, the United States wants that intelligence first. If you hand it over to NIS, they’re going to sit on it. I know it and you know it. We have a mandate from the White House to put the pedal to the metal right now.”
“Why now? Why all of a sudden?”
“It’s complicated,” said Hayes.
“Is it ever not complicated in our business? Try me.”
“We no longer have the confidence that if a hostile nation moved on Norway, our citizens, much less our politicians, would support honoring our commitments under Article 5 of the NATO treaty. Americans are tired of war.”
Sølvi was stunned. “You’re saying that if we were invaded, the United States might stand back and do nothing? No ‘an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all NATO members’?”
“Believe me, I find it distasteful, but it’s possible.”
“It’s also pretty damn hypocritical,” she said, growing angry. “Since NATO’s founding in 1949, the Article 5 mutual defense pact has only been triggered once. One fucking time.”
“I know,” Hayes replied.
“By whom?” Sølvi