She saw Pike come flying out of the apartment. He glanced down into the alley, then across at her. Jennifer was shocked, standing with her hands gripping the parapet until her knuckles were white.

He turned to Shoshana, glaring at her. Knowing what she’d done.

All innocent, the dark angel long gone, she said, “What? I told him to give up and he pointed his weapon at me. It was self-defense.”

42

Yes, it didn’t end like we intended.” Kurt inwardly winced at his own words. He was becoming more and more like the politicians he hated, now parsing his statements like the best of spin doctors. To his front were eight of the thirteen members of the Oversight Council, including President Warren. To his back was a damaging PowerPoint slide outlining the failed attempt to capture both Hussein and al-Britani.

“Didn’t end like you intended? Seriously? It sounds to me like it ended on the opposite side of the universe from what you intended. That comment is like Noah saying, We had a little rain.”

This from the secretary of defense, usually an ally in Oversight Council meetings. If Kurt had lost him, he was in serious trouble.

Kurt said, “Sir, you know you can’t predict what will happen in an operation. The enemy gets a vote. This time—”

Secretary of State Jonathan Billings said, “That’s absolutely right. You can’t predict where every operation will go, but you can predict which operations you’ll do, because we give you that authority. You had none here. And I, for one, would never have given authority. You’ve just proven why this body exists, along with why Pike Logan can’t be trusted. I knew bringing him back in was a mistake. We’re looking at a major international incident.”

Kurt said, “It wasn’t Pike’s call. It was Lieutenant Colonel Blaine Alexander’s, the Omega ground force commander. And he made the call based on inherent in-extremis authority in our charter. We had strong indications of an imminent attack, and he decided to intervene. That’s what we pay him to do. He was within his authority.”

Alexander Palmer, the national security adviser, said, “The attack wasn’t imminent until you intervened. And what the hell were you thinking by using the Israeli Mossad?”

Not wanting to derail his next steps with a debate on the Mossad, Kurt stuck with Pike’s excuse. “Al-Britani was their target. It wasn’t a question of using them. They were in the heart of the mission, and they were a known quantity.” He turned to President Warren. “Sir, you personally gave both of them awards for their help in our operation in Brazil last year. We’ve worked with them before.”

He’d deal with Pike’s little team-building exercise later, but he wanted—needed—to get a favorable opinion on Aaron and Shoshana, because they were crucial to what he wanted to do next. To that end, he’d left out Pike’s suspicions about Shoshana’s culpability in the death of al-Britani, calling it self-defense.

President Warren said, “I have no issue with using those two, specifically, but I do have a concern with the Mossad. What’s their stance? How was this left?”

“The team isn’t working directly for the Mossad anymore. They’re more freelancers now. Basically, they both ‘retired’ and now get hired through whatever shell companies and cutouts Mossad owns to do missions that are deniable. In this case, to operate in Jordan without the repercussions they’ve had in the past with active agents.”

“Sounds familiar.”

Kurt smiled and said, “Maybe on the surface, but there’s a distinct difference. We use the Taskforce because it’s offensively the best way to go about the mission, not defensively because we’re afraid of using something else. Pike thinks it’s simply a way for the Israeli government to cut them away if they get caught. Unlike the Taskforce.”

Kurt wanted to ensure that nobody in the room confused the Taskforce’s operational limits with the Israelis’, and was gently reminding the Council that their teams weren’t throwaway, no matter what happened with Mossad.

President Warren smiled at the mild rebuke. “Point noted, but you didn’t answer the question. What’s the damage with Israel? What do they know?”

“Nothing. They had a one-off contract, and the contract was fulfilled. Actually capturing al-Britani would have caused bigger issues with Israel than his death. Aaron and Shoshana reported success, and are off the leash. Mentioning us would have just caused complications they don’t need. You know what happens when intel organizations get stray voltage. They start spinning, and that might have impacted payment to the team.”

He glanced at Kerry Bostwick, the director of the CIA, and said, “No offense.”

Kerry said, “None taken, as long as you don’t hide similar things from me. What about the Jordanians? Nothing’s spiked from my guys at the station. All they’re reporting is a terrorist shootout with police and a roll-up of a bunch of thugs in Ma’an, apparently part of the Islamic State plot. What’s Pike seeing from the ground?”

“The same. Your liaison connection was a little slow, but they conveniently arrived right after the shootout. The only thing it impacted was the site exploitation. We got a computer, but had to leave before fully exploiting the apartment. Anyway, we should be clean. No compromise.”

Palmer said, “So where do we go from here? Anything that can help us with the Lost Boys?”

“We do have a new thread, but it’s not from the Lost Boys. We are no longer confident they’re a cohesive group.”

President Warren said, “That contradicts the CIA assessment. What leads you to that conclusion?”

Kurt said, “Actually, Kerry and I have talked, and I’ll defer to his judgment. He’s leaning that way, and, at this point, I tend to agree. Kerry?”

Kerry put his elbows on the table and said, “Sir, nothing is a given, but all we had before was the brief report from BOBCAT. We never got to debrief him, and Hussein being called a Lost Boy contradicts the original assessment of a group of United States citizens with no ties to the Middle East being prepped for an attack. Hussein had ties to Jordan, and that’s exactly what they used him for. If he was a member of a dedicated group, he doesn’t fit the very profile we’re afraid of. He was killed in Jordan, facilitating an attack with other Arabic men. This leads me to believe that it’s just a term they use. Something they call a type of jihadist. Maybe it’s for Westerners, or maybe just Americans, but at this time we don’t assess it as from a specific, credible group targeting the United States.”

Palmer said, “What about the White House comment on the beheading video?”

“It’s just a comment. It could be something they use to engender support. He could have easily said ‘for the crusaders’ or something else. We can’t use that to say they’re targeting the White House.”

President Warren said, “But the man in the video was a Caucasian.”

Kurt said, “Yes, sir. Using BOBCAT’s reporting, we now assess that there are several previously unknown Americans—without any Arabic heritage—now working for the Islamic State. It’s still a threat, and something for the CIA to watch, but we don’t assess they’re working as a team, targeting outside the conflict in Syria and Iraq. They may still come home, and we need to identify them, but we don’t assess it as a collective, deliberate targeting process.”

Secretary of State Billings leaned back and said, “Thank heavens for that.”

President Warren said, “That may be, but I don’t want to be caught flat-footed, like we were on 9/11. We missed indicators then, and as far as I’m concerned, this is an indicator. Stick with it. Find out who they are.”

Kerry said, “Yes, sir.”

Warren turned back to Kurt and said, “You mentioned another thread? What did you find from this operation if it wasn’t about the Lost Boys?”