Targets of Opportunity (6 page)

“Not quite. It’s bad enough that you’re responsible for the deaths of hundreds of my countrymen and allies, but I believe you and my old friend Vincent Traiman also had my men killed in Bahrain. Then you tried to have me murdered, which makes this personal.” Sandor leaned forward as he added, “Just so you really know where we stand.”

“This is war, Mr. Sandor.”

“War? Is that what you claim this is? Tell me, Ahmad, where are your soldiers? What uniform do they wear? What country do they represent?”

Jaber responded with a blank stare.

“This isn’t war, and you’re not in any army. You’re just a gang of murderers from countries without the guts to admit their involvement, and that’s only because we’d kick your Arab asses up and down the Gobi Desert if you did. So instead you send suicide bombers into crowded plazas and claim they’re on a holy mission for Allah. I’ve got news for you, pal: if Allah stops by anytime soon he’ll tell you that you’re not even close to what he had in mind.”

“Are you done, Mr. Sandor?”

Sandor sat back, but said nothing.

“Good, because it may have occurred to you that I, as your enemy, must have had some compelling reason to request that you join this discussion. You must have realized I am aware of your hatred for me. It is obvious. Is it not?”

“It is to me.”

“Excellent. In that case, what I have to tell you will be all the more effective, since you and I have what you might want to call a history.”

Sandor nodded slowly as he studied the Iranian. The sonuvabitch was a cool customer, he would give him that much. “History, is that what we have? All right, I’m listening. But I have to warn you, I tend to have a short attention span.”

Now Jaber leaned forward slightly. “It is no secret that the governments of our nations are enemies. I make the distinction between government and people because, as you are well aware, under prior regimes the people and governments of Iran and the United States were closely allied. In fact, Iranians are more Western than any other country in the Middle East.”

“Except Israel.”

“You will forgive me if I postpone a discussion of Israel to another time. As far as I am concerned, the Israelis are nothing more than a filthy herd of desert-dwelling, land-grabbing goatherders. My countrymen are far more civilized and far more European in their ways than your Israeli friends can ever hope to be.”

“Glad you don’t want to discuss that right now.”

“My point is that the governments of Iran and the United States are very much at odds, even if our people are not.”

“Your man Ahmadinejad would call that statement treason.”

“He might, which may be part of the reason I am here. There are many within my country who fear the consequences of the ongoing nuclear program, the incursion of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into Iraq, and the general hostilities between your nation and ours. Iran has problems within the region that it must address, some of which originated centuries ago. As you have suggested, it may not choose to face annihilation by the United States for actions in which it actually has no real part.”

“Are you trying to sell me the idea that your defection is part of some unofficial peace initiative?”

“No, not at all. My defection is quite a personal matter. What I have to offer, however, is information about coming attacks that will neither serve my country nor yours.”

“From the IRGC?”

“No.”

“Al Qaeda?”

“No. In this instance, I believe your enemy will only appear to be from among these groups. No, this threat is actually from the East.”

Sandor looked to Byrnes. The Deputy Director said nothing.

Jaber continued. “I will have to admit that I am lacking certain details, but I think it will become clear that an offensive is being launched by North Korea.” For the time being, he had decided not to mention what Seyed had told him about the involvement of the South Americans. There was an old saying in the desert about never displaying all your wares until the very end of the trade.

Sandor shook his head in disgust. “You want us to believe that we’re going to be attacked by North Korea, but it’s going to be made to look as if it came from Iran?”

“Not Iran, necessarily. From what your media calls Islamic extremists.”

“And how would you have come into possession of this information?”

“An excellent question. In order for their plan to succeed they would obviously need to involve certain personnel, to have it appear the source of the attack was Islamic and not Asian. They have been extremely careful in their planning, but nothing is beyond detection or betrayal in the modern world, as you gentlemen know only too well. Thus far I only have fragments of information, but it is enough for me to piece together a large part of this puzzle.”

Byrnes said, “If you’ve already discovered this, presumably others would also have access to the information inside Iran. The plot could be easily exposed, if and when the time comes.”

Jaber showed his white teeth in a grim smile. “That may be a false presumption. I am fairly certain that the man who provided this information, Seyed Asghari, has been removed, and I was the only one to whom he reported.”

Byrnes and Sandor shared another quick glance. “Removed by you?” Sandor asked.

“Of course not. I would have been happy to learn more from him as things moved forward but, unfortunately, time became extremely limited. Given the events that followed our meeting, I am certain Seyed is gone.”

Byrnes gave one of his thin-lipped looks of disapproval. “Before he was liquidated, what makes you think they didn’t force him to reveal the name of the person to whom he was passing information?”

Jaber grinned again. “Naturally, Mr. Byrnes, I have proceeded on the supposition that he was coerced into divulging precisely that. Which is why an attempt on my life was made and which is why, as a result of the ensuing explosion at my home, I am presumed dead by one and all. At least for the time being.”

“Which is also why,” Sandor continued the thought, “you are here.”

“As I said earlier, I have a personal reason for this defection. The motive, simply put, is that as long as I am believed dead and given a new identity, I can live out my years without fear of reprisal. If, however, it is learned that I am still alive, well, as you can imagine, that would be remarkably inconvenient for at least two governments.”

“Not to mention the IRGC.”

“Precisely.”

“And the members of your family still in Iran.”

Jaber conceded that point with a slow nod of his head. “Their safety is only secured at the moment by the belief that I am dead.”

“All of which means you are not really a defector.”

“Alas, in the technical sense, I must confess this is true. I concede that I have not suffered a change of heart or a shift in my allegiances.” Jaber smiled pleasantly. “Think of me instead as someone with information he is willing to trade in exchange for safe harbor.”

CHAPTER SIX

AN ESTATE OUTSIDE LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

S
ANDOR AND
B
YRNES
returned to the sanctuary of the smaller room for a private discussion. Although the entire mansion was regularly swept for audio bugs and surveillance devices, these soundproof spaces provided an additional measure of security.

“He’s a liar,” Sandor said as soon as the Deputy Director shut the door behind them.

Byrnes turned. They were standing face-to-face. “To what end?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet.”

“You don’t really believe he surrendered to us, put himself in our hands, merely to send us on some wild-goose chase.”

“I’m not sure.”

“Intelligence reports and satellite photos have confirmed the explosion in his neighborhood in Tehran. It was his house.”

“What about his story about the informant, this Seyed who reported to him?”

“Nothing on him yet. We have only the sketchiest intel on Seyed Asghari. A bit player. Nothing to indicate that he’s dead or that he’s involved in plans for an attack.”

Sandor shook his head. “Something about this just doesn’t feel right. He’s lying. Or at the very least he’s holding out on us.”

“I completely agree, at least with the latter view,” the DD replied calmly, “but if what he says is even half true, we need to track this lead as far as it takes us.”

“I know,” Sandor grudgingly admitted.

“If Iran is working with North Korea, it takes things to an entirely different level. The worst-kept secret in the Middle East has been Kim’s attempt to clone their Yongbyon nuclear reactor in the Syrian desert. If they’re getting in bed with Iran, we’re no longer discussing the militant subcultures of Al Qaeda or the IRGC.”

“Come on,” Sandor said. “You want to discuss poorly kept secrets, how about the fact that the IRGC is really state sponsored.”

“Of course. But in the past few years we’ve avoided a worldwide catastrophe by battling terrorist groups, even when we knew they were being covertly funded by unfriendly regimes. Now we’re confronting the possibility that paramilitary actions are being officially sanctioned by foreign governments.”

Sandor could not suppress a grin. “In other words, if you’ll allow me some of your Washington lingo, we’re talking about acts of war by sovereign nations.”

“Yes,” the DD conceded in what was little more than a whisper. “That is exactly what I’m saying.”

“So, whether it turns out to be bullshit or not…”

“We need to find out.” Byrnes finished the thought.

“I take it there’s more.”

Byrnes motioned to the armchairs and the two men sat. “We have independent sources confirming that there has been significant intelligence traffic between Iran and North Korea.” He went on to explain that SIGINT, or Signals Intelligence, had developed the information at the National Security Agency. Formerly working out of Fort Meade, and now located in new high-tech headquarters in Laurel, Maryland, the NSA had processed recent data convincing them, in Byrnes’s words, “that something is going on.” The stakes were raised when one of South Korea’s KCIA agents disappeared after reporting this activity.

“We have a highly placed source in North Korea,” Byrnes went on. “He’s deeply imbedded, but this is important enough that we’ll have to use him.”

“You mean risk his exposure.”

Byrnes nodded.

“So where do I start?”

“We need you to go there. Communications are difficult, but we have reason to believe our man on the inside can get you to the people in Kim’s administration most likely to be leading this sort of initiative.”

Sandor smiled again at the choice of words, then ran his hand through his hair. “Initiative,” he repeated.

“We’re going to set up a team of four agents. We’ve already chosen the others; you’ll lead.”

“A team? In North Korea? What happened to the old maxim about traveling swiftest who travels alone?”

“Not this time, Jordan. It’s too complicated and it’s too risky.”

“In other words, you want to quadruple your chances of someone actually making it through and making it out?”

“In a word, yes.”

“It’s good to feel loved.” Sandor sat back in the comfortable club chair. “North Korea? How the hell do we get inside? Better than that, how do we get home?”

“Getting in should not be a problem. The DPRK is allowing trade missions into the country to see the Arirang Festival.” When Sandor responded with a puzzled look, Byrnes said, “I’ll explain that later. The point is, you’ll go through China, on Canadian passports. You’ll be briefed, then you can meet with your team at the Farm.”

“But the idea of four of us entering the country at the same time?”

“I know, bad form. We just don’t have time to arrange it any better than this.”

“And if their immigration forces smell a rat and detain us when we enter Pyongyang?”

“Then we’re screwed.”

“Is that the royal ‘we’?”

Byrnes gave him a look that was all the response he was going to get.

“You haven’t answered my question about coming home.”

“We expect it to get a bit messy once you get inside and reach our source.”

“Which means we’re not getting out the way we go in, is that the bottom line?”

“Frankly, yes. We don’t anticipate you being able to acquire the information we need without some, uh…”

“Persuasion?”

The DD nodded. “Our man in Pyongyang has an escape route and some contingency plans. And you’ll likely need to improvise.”

“I’ll bet,” Sandor said, although he could not disguise the fact that he would be pleased to be back in action. “I take it Director Walsh has signed off on this.”

“I’ve spoken with the Director as well as the President’s National Security Advisor. With our findings on movements between North Korea and Tehran, the consensus is that the operation is worth the risk.”

“The risk for whom?” Sandor asked with a wry smile.

“You in particular,” Byrnes replied with no humor in his tone or manner. “You were the number one choice for the mission.”

“And that comes from…”

“The top.”

For the moment, Sandor was silent.

“Timing here is crucial,” the DD said. “We have no idea how quickly this terrorist assault is moving, and we have limiting parameters on the movements of Kim’s man.”

“In plain English, please.”

“We have to get to Kim’s delegation as soon as possible, and in the most vulnerable setting.”

“So we aren’t going to march into the palace and ask for an appointment.”

Byrnes replied with another of his classic frowns. “No, you are not.”

“So how quickly are we going to move?”

“Immediately,” Byrnes said as he rose to his feet. “There’s a car waiting for you. You’ll meet with your men this afternoon.”

“And what about Jaber? Why do you think he asked to see me?”

Byrnes had already given that some thought. “He wanted to goad you, I think.”

“For sport?”

“No, probably because he believes you’re the best man for the job, and he actually wants you to succeed here.”

“Well that certainly is a bit of sad irony.” Sandor stood. “Jaber has been involved in killing a lot of our people. Marines, diplomats, civilians, my team in Bahrain. When he talks about retiring into the sunset on our dime, I want to gag.”