I blew the air out of my cheeks and said, “Sir, I have to let him go back into the apartment, but I’m telling you, he’s on our side now. He’s worried about his father, and seems to be in over his head. He wants to resolve this as much as we do. He’s not going to run.”

He only heard one thing. “You’re going to let him out of your control?”

“Yes. I have to. I have to. Sir, come on. You mentioned Ireland, but you forget the end state of that operation. We saved everyone. Everyone. Because of your call. Do the same thing here.”

Which was a little bit of a stretch, but not much. He’d made a hard call that had saved the husband of the governor of Texas, but then had balked at saving the one hostage that mattered to me. I’d had to take matters into my own hands then, and I didn’t want to here. The personal stakes then had been much higher, and if he told me to back off here, I would. People might die, but they would be faceless strangers.

The thought came unbidden to my mind, and I was a little shocked at it. I never would have considered walking away from a threat like this in the past, and wondered if I wasn’t becoming part of the bureaucracy. Or maybe I’d been slapped down enough times that I was afraid of the repercussions, like a puppy spanked for something it doesn’t understand.

Crusty old warriors in the Army tell a story that there are plenty of soldiers who would jump on a grenade in a valiant act of heroism in battle, but very few who would sacrifice their careers for what they knew was right. And I was disturbed to learn I was now falling out of that very few.

Take away what a man values most, and he’ll heel. They’d taken my ability to operate within the Taskforce once before, and it had scared me to the core of my being. I didn’t like the thought, but I knew I’d comply. My actions in Nigeria had been pushing the edge, but I’d had the authority and known I could spin the results, no matter the outcome. Here, I’d be disobeying a direct order.

Blaine said, “How sure are you of the information? How do you know he’s not stringing you for release?”

I looked at Shoshana, wanting to believe, because I wasn’t sure at all. She caught my eye and knew the stakes in play. She’d heard my end of the conversation. She studied me for a moment, then nodded her head again. Telling me she knew it was true. And, after what I’d seen from her in the past, I believed it.

“Sir, I have a trained interrogator here who says it’s accurate.”

“Trained interrogator? Who?”

Shit. I’d failed to mention the Mossad participation in our mission planning earlier, knowing he’d blow a gasket. Of course, I’d duly reported the busted surveillance and the presence of the ex-Samson team, but only as it pertained to that specific mission. I’d conveniently left out that I was going to use them today, figuring I could cover it with them chasing their target and me chasing mine, whereupon we had to deconflict the battle space and coordinate for operational reasons. Nothing official. They just happened to be here.

It seems contradictory, since I was unwilling to continue without official Taskforce sanction from Blaine, but I’ve always had a healthy talent for stretching the orders I’m given. Before, that extended to outright disobedience if I deemed it necessary, but no longer. I wondered if that trait would continue shrinking like a balloon letting out air, until I was nothing more than a robot rigidly executing actions dictated by a plan that no longer applied.

I fumbled for a bit, grasping for an answer, and Showboat put two and two together. He knew Shoshana’s skills, and he’d always been smart. We’d just done too many operations together. He said, “Are the Israelis with you? Is that who’s doing the interrogating? Shoshana?”

I’d wanted to control the release of that information, but the cat was out of the bag now. I said, “Sir . . . al-Britani is their target. I’m not using them. . . . More like an intersection of events.”

I heard nothing for a moment, but saw Shoshana grinning from ear to ear. I scowled at her, and she puckered her lips in an air kiss, which didn’t help.

I heard, “Okay, Pike. We’ll deal with your little subterfuge later. What’s your course of action? How is letting him out going to do anything?”

Whew. “All I’m trying to do at this stage is keep their plan in motion. Apparently the ringleader is staying with him. Keeping him in check. Hussein’s not fully trusted and doesn’t even know where the rest of the terrorists are located. First call is to just get him home on time. From there, Hussein will learn what he can, then meet us at a predetermined location. We’ll get a debrief and go from there.”

I heard silence on the line for a moment, then, “He’s meeting the ringleader?”

“Yes. That’s the guy who doesn’t trust him.”

“Can he get him to dinner or something? Do they eat out?”

His words sank in and my first thought was, Holy Shit. He can’t be serious. The adrenaline started to rise as my mind began creating a plan of its own volition. But before jumping that hurdle, I needed to make sure we were thinking the same thing.

“Sir, we have no Omega for a second takedown.”

“If what you say is true, this falls into in-extremis authority. I have the ability to make the call. Do you have the ability to execute?”

“Yes, yes. I can execute. Same template. Same location. We’ll just stage exactly like we did. If he can’t get him down, then we’ll follow through with what I said earlier. Get Jordanian liaison involved through CIA after a debrief. Let them clean up the mess.”

I got another moment of silence and slammed my fist into my thigh, wishing I hadn’t said those words. Jennifer gave me a quizzical look and I just shook my head at her, but I knew what was going to come out of Blaine’s mouth next.

And sure enough, it did. “Maybe we should just do that anyway. Go with your plan. I’ll go through the Taskforce to get the CIA operational, they can talk to the Jords, and we let them handle the assault. We go away with our guy, they get theirs.”

“Sir, no, no. Way too many links in the chain. Getting them on alert with extra security for the Grand Hyatt is one thing, but spurring them into conducting a tactical hit is something else entirely. They’ll never action the target without the corresponding credible intelligence, and we don’t have it without giving them Hussein, which is the damn reason I’m here in the first place. To keep them from knowing about Hussein.”

And Shoshana will kill me if I let her target escape into the hands of the Jordanians. Of course, I left that unsaid.

I could almost hear the hair being pulled out by the roots three miles away. I heard, “Okay, Pike. My call. Let Hussein go inside, and I’ll start prepping the battlefield for the fallout. I’ll start working the liaison services, get them oriented on the hotel. You snag the leader and we’ll have the intelligence that we can provide the Jords, but we’re going to let them handle the attack. You fucking bring me Hipster. You got that?”

I said, “Roger all, sir. Thanks.”

34

Hussein felt the transmitter in the small of his back like a hot coal. Something he desperately wanted to rip out and throw away. The line to the miniature microphone traced under his arm, and he felt it against his skin, rubbing back and forth as he walked, making him wonder if it could be seen through his shirt. Reminding him at every step of what would happen if it was discovered.

He saw the end of the alley, feeling a cold drip of sweat run down his back. He wasn’t cut out for this. He should have told the CIA from the beginning that he could never do something like this. Even as a child, he was the one who always crumbled.