Near Dark (Scot Harvath #20) - Brad Thor Page 0,67
I’ll go on record and say that I’m completely certain.”
Resting her case, Jasinski leaned back in her chair, raised her mug, and took a sip of coffee.
Admiral Proctor didn’t waste the moment. Looking at Harvath, he said, “You asked for our best person. Now you know why I sent Monika.”
Harvath never doubted that she was their best person. He had known it from the beginning. He also knew that she was trustworthy. So was Proctor.
“Supposedly, there’s a contract out on me. A big one,” he confessed. “One hundred million dollars. To make it even more interesting, it wasn’t just given to one assassin. It was offered to a pool. Whoever gets to me first, gets the prize money.”
“And I thought my week was off to a bad start.”
Jasinski not only had the natural talent for their line of work, but she also had the requisite sense of humor.
“So let me get this straight,” said the Admiral. “You don’t know who killed Carl. You don’t know who tried to kill you. And behind all of this, there’s allegedly a one-hundred-million-dollar contract. Does that about sum it up?”
“That about sums it up,” said Harvath, nodding.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you in a bunker somewhere? They can’t kill you if they can’t find you. Isn’t there anyone else who can get to the bottom of this?”
It was the argument Gary Lawlor had made. That he was only making it easier on the people out there who were competing to kill him. And this was a key point upon which he had disagreed. The hardest target to hit was a moving target. It was the guy who sat still, the stationary target, who would be easier to pick off.
“I was the architect of everything that led up to Carl’s murder,” Harvath admitted. “That makes me responsible for what happened to him.”
Proctor shook his head. “The person who killed him is responsible. Not you.”
“With all due respect, Admiral, he was tortured by someone trying to get to me. The way I see it, if it hadn’t been for me, he’d still be alive. That’s why I’m here. I know every detail of what we did together. There isn’t someone else we could have put in the field who would have been able to process and sort the information the way I can.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable argument. In fact, based on everything the Admiral knew about him, Harvath probably was the best person for the job. That didn’t mean, though, that he wasn’t concerned for him. If there really was a one-hundred-million-dollar bounty on his head people would be selling out their own family members to get to him.
“So,” Proctor relented, “how can we help?”
“For right now, you’ve already done it. By clearing me to land here, arranging my flight to Lithuania, and having a car waiting—that’s all the help I need.”
“I did that, though, because I had orders from the SecDef. I didn’t know ‘Brenner’ was actually you.”
“And as long as we keep that a secret amongst us, everything else will be fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“I may need even more help, but it’ll depend on how everything unfolds.”
The Admiral smiled. “If it involves violating Russian airspace, providing close air support, or repositioning highly specialized aircraft to get you out, you know who to call.”
“I do,” said Harvath. “And by the way, I remain very grateful.”
“Why the hell would you go back to Lithuania?” Jasinski asked, changing the subject. “What thread could be that important?”
“It was our launching point for Kaliningrad—and was the last place Carl and I ever saw each other. There are a couple of leads there I want to run down. If I’m right, I’ll be on top of Carl’s killer in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
Harvath looked at her. “Then we should say our goodbyes here, because that means he’s going to be on top of me.”
CHAPTER 25
OUTSIDE VILNIUS, LITHUANIA
After wrapping up his meeting, Harvath had Williams drive him to the Chièvres PX to pick up food for his flight to Šiauliai. Proctor and Jasinski had offered to take him out for a meal, but he declined. He wasn’t in the mood to be social. His head was in the game, and that’s where it needed to stay.
When the C-130 Hercules was ready for takeoff, Williams pulled up as close as he could to the enormous aircraft and helped Harvath transfer his gear.
Once everything was stowed, they shook hands, Harvath thanked him, and they wished each other