The Persona Protocol - By Andy McDermott Page 0,129

and companion aircraft,’ said one of the American pilots through Adam’s headphones. ‘This is Raptor One. You are now free and clear to reach US airspace. Once we’re sure these guys have gone, we’ll escort you to Elmendorf.’ A pause, then, pointedly: ‘Whatever you were doing, I hope it was worth it. There’s gonna be diplomatic hell to pay once you’re on the ground.’

‘Thanks for your assistance, Raptor One,’ Adam replied. He looked back into the cabin, seeing the RTG still secured to the deck, Bianca near it with the PERSONA cases – and Qasid, bound and under guard. ‘We got what we came for.’

35

Double Jeopardy

Washington, DC

The atmosphere in the meeting room was caustic, to say the least.

Gordon Harper sat at one end of the table, glaring at the STS personnel around it with utter contempt. ‘So. I bust my ass and call in a lot of political favours to give you the chance to follow up on what you found out in Macau. And in return, I get’ – he jumped to his feet, banging both hands down on the table as his voice rose to a roar – ‘a colossal cluster-fuck!’ Holly Jo flinched.

‘With respect, Admiral,’ said Morgan hesitantly, ‘the operation wasn’t a complete failure.’

‘You want to call it a success?’

‘We stopped al-Qaeda from getting the RTG,’ said Tony, more firmly. ‘And we have a recording of al-Rais’s persona. The information we get from that—’

‘Will be utterly useless!’ Harper bellowed. ‘Because you let him get away! The Russians haven’t caught him, so he’s still out there somewhere – and now he knows we’re on to him, so whatever plans al-Qaeda had in the works, they’ll change.’

‘It’ll still be valuable,’ Tony insisted. ‘Al-Rais knows names, contacts. With that information we can attack al-Qaeda from the top down, go after the captains rather than the foot-soldiers.’

Harper couldn’t deny that he had a point, so switched to another angle of attack. ‘And speaking of the Russians, do you have any idea of the size of the swirling shitstorm you’ve started at State?’

‘Awesome alliteration,’ said Bianca quietly.

Not quietly enough. Harper’s searing gaze turned upon her. ‘I don’t think you appreciate how serious this is, Dr Childs.’ He was somehow more threatening now that his voice had returned to a normal volume. ‘Not only are three members of the Persona Project dead and two more injured,’ he nodded towards Tony, who had a dressing over his head wound, ‘as a result of the failure of this operation, but it’s caused a major diplomatic incident. The Russians have raised their military alert status in response to what they call an aggressive invasion of their sovereign territory, so we’ve been forced to do the same. The United States is now at DEFCON 3 – and the last time it was that high was on September eleventh, 2001. Now do you see how serious this is?’

She nodded, abashed. ‘Yes.’

‘Good. Now, the State Department has brought out its chopping block, and it wants to see heads on it. Specifically, all of yours. Convince me not to hand them over.’

Adam spoke up. ‘We still have the other prisoner, sir – Qasid. I learned from al-Rais’s persona that he knows the identity of a mole who gave away the Secretary of State’s route in the Islamabad bombing.’

That produced surprise around the table. Harper flicked through some papers. ‘Qasid? According to everything we have on him, he’s just some low-level thug.’

‘Al-Rais didn’t think so. He considered him one of his most reliable people.’

The Admiral didn’t appear convinced, but before he could say anything the telephone in front of Morgan rang. He picked it up. ‘Morgan . . . Okay, thank you.’ He ended the call and turned to Harper. ‘Mr Sternberg is ready at the White House.’

Harper looked less impressed than ever. ‘Put him through.’

Morgan used a remote to activate the big screen. The National Security Adviser appeared on it. The camera shooting him was positioned below his eyeline, increasing the impression that he was looming over everyone seated around the conference table. ‘Good afternoon, Gordon, Martin,’ he said, apparently not considering anyone else worthy of a greeting. ‘I won’t mince words – the President is furious about this situation.’

Harper went straight on the attack. ‘A situation that you recommended to him.’

‘At your insistence,’ Sternberg countered smoothly. ‘But at this stage, I’m not here to apportion blame. I just want to know what you’re doing about it. Have we got any actionable intelligence?’

‘Not immediately actionable,’ Morgan replied. ‘Agent Gray was