The Forgotten Soldier: A Pike Logan Thriller (25 page)

49

K
urt said, “Tell me what?”

“The Taliban and the government of Afghanistan are holding covert peace talks. Not the ones you read about in the press in Pakistan or with China overseeing. Real talks, held in secret in Oslo, Norway, without the pressure of public results or posturing on Twitter. Since the announcement of Mullah Omar’s death, things have sputtered, with the Islamic State working the fractures inside the Taliban. We can’t allow them a foothold. Haider al-Attiya is our go-between with the government of Qatar. Billings thinks he’s crucial to the outcome because of the weight Qatar carries.”

Kurt said, “Seriously? Who gives a shit what Billings thinks? We’re talking about a potential attack, and he’s kissing the ass of a terrorist? I’d exclude him from the discussion because he’s no longer impartial.”

President Warren bristled and said, “I’ll remind you he’s the secretary of state.
I
care what he thinks.”

Kurt backpedaled. “Sir, sorry. There’s just something else that’s been nagging, and Billings is at the heart of it. The assault on Guy in the café was extremely complex, and involved local players. It has to be tied into what Guy was doing, but there’s no way a group from Qatar would have known they were being hunted in enough time to establish such an elaborate plan. The first man, in Key West, is held as an unsolved murder, and the second was still warm by the time of the assault.”

“What are you implying?”

“Someone had to tell the Qataris they were being hunted. I think it’s Billings.”

Palmer exhaled and said, “Preposterous. He was given a direct order not to.”

“Like I said to Billings at the last Council meeting, I’m not making up the facts. There is no way that attack on Guy could have been planned and executed without forewarning.”

President Warren rubbed his face, saying, “I don’t know if it’s preposterous. After his outburst, I could see him doing that. Thinking he was in the right. He has a strong moral streak and a disdain for the use of force. It’s why I like his voice on the Council.”

Palmer said, “What do you want to do about it?”

“I’ll handle Billings. These talks could be the beginning of the end of combat in Afghanistan. It is crucial for them to continue.”

Kurt said, “At the very least, don’t let him meet with Haider by himself anymore. Make him take a CIA case officer. Someone who can judge what’s going on from both sides. Billings doesn’t have the experience for that.”

Palmer said, “That’s not a bad idea.”

President Warren said, “Okay, Palmer, talk to Kerry at CIA.” He looked at Kurt and said, “You mourn the loss of Guy’s brother, but I have to look to the future. Intercepting Haider right now may mean the death of more people down the road because these talks fail. They may not be American lives, but they deserve a chance at peace. I don’t like it any more than you do, but I have a greater responsibility.”

“Sir, I’m not asking for Omega. Just Alpha authority. Let me explore with Pike’s team. It may be a way to bring in Guy. He came looking for help, and when Pike ignored him, he went on his own. If he thinks we’re onboard, maybe he’ll come in.”

Palmer said, “Just tell him that. Tell Pike he’s got Alpha, then, when he pulls in Guy, call him off.”

“You want me to lie to Pike?”

“What’s a lie matter when we’ve got this calamity on our hands? You lie on a daily basis about everything you do.”

“Sir, you order me to do that, and you’ll destroy the Taskforce. We’ve been talking around this issue since I came in here today. We need good men like Blaine. Men we trust to do the right thing on the ground, but that’s a two-way street. Guy feels like he’s been betrayed, but he’s mistaken. If I lie to Pike, it
will
be a betrayal. No matter the greater good you envision, it will be corrosive to the unit. Nobody will trust anything I say, thinking they’re being played, and in our world—in a world where we
do
lie for the greater good—it will destroy the essence of who we are.”

President Warren held up his hand, stopping the argument. “I get it. I understand completely. I’m not asking you to lie to Pike, but if you want Alpha authority, it’ll have to go to the Council. Which means Billings.”

“Can’t you cut him out? Hell, he misses half the meetings anyway.”

“Not with your target deck. We have trust at our level as well, and with him dealing personally with Haider, he needs to be informed.”

“You sure that trust at your level is working?”

Kurt saw the president’s face grow dark and held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, sir. Just tell him we’ll only explore. We won’t do any Omega operation until after the peace talks, but it’s our best chance to bring in Guy. If the Council says no, I still have that problem.”

Palmer said, “And? You have all the authority you need for that right now. The Council has already voted, and he needs to be stopped. Permanently.”

Kurt leaned forward and said, “We here in DC use words like ‘stop him’ and ‘permanently’ without spelling out what that means. Stopping him may include DOA approval. It may mean pulling the trigger from a distance, and I don’t have the authority to order that. Shit, I’m
not even sure I have the
courage
to order that, and I don’t know if any team I own will execute.”

Alexander Palmer seemed shocked at having it spelled out. Kurt continued. “Guy told Pike that if he saw him again, he’d start shooting first, in self-defense, and Pike believes him. I want the Council to make that call. I want them to think about it. I want them to understand what happens based on their words.”

President Warren said, “You expect them to say no?”

Kurt turned away from Palmer and looked squarely at the president of the United States. “I want them to understand that if they say no to an Alpha mission, they are ordering the execution of a United States soldier, and it’s not just the man who pulls the trigger who has blood on his hands.”

He stood and said, “We all do.”

50

I
lay in bed staring at the wall, blessed sleep hiding just beyond my reach. I’d made the call not to attempt to follow Guy, and we’d left the ferry, moving straight to a hotel. Since we’d all been awake for close to two days, I’d ordered the team to rack out, then had reported in to Kurt.

It had not been a good conversation.

After finishing, I’d closed the computer, then simply stared at Jennifer’s slumbering form, reflecting where I’d gone wrong. Wondering what I was going to have to do to accomplish the mission. I wanted to wake her and talk, but we needed the rest. I thought about going to Knuckles’s room, and discarded that as well. The biggest impact on crisis decision-making was lack of sleep, and I’d seen the effects when lives mattered.

I’d crawled into bed beside her and closed my eyes, waiting on the sleep to come. It would not.

Guy’s words on the ferry were eating at me. Forcing me to choose between my duty to the Taskforce and my own past. After some uncomfortable back-and-forth, with Kurt alluding to what I might be asked to do, he’d said he would bring my information higher, asking for permission to go after Guy’s target—and in so doing, hopefully rein in Guy’s thirst for blood—but I understood the implications if they failed to act. I was going to be ordered to take out Guy.

Take out. Right.

Euphemisms abounded in our world. “Eliminate the threat.” “Reduce the risk.” “Execute kinetic options.” “Clear the target.” “Limit collateral damage.”
Take out Guy.

Like I was removing the trash.

All of the words were tidy, clinical descriptions of what in reality was anything but. They involved killing, pure and simple. And I wasn’t sure I could do that.

I stared at the wall, then felt Jennifer roll over, her leg rubbing against mine. It reminded me of where I was in my life, and that following through on an order to remove Guy might destroy everything I’d worked so hard to build.

Guy’s words rang true to me, touching a core that I didn’t want to reflect on. Did I use the power of the Oversight Council approval as absolution for the deaths I’d caused? When I’d ignored them in Istanbul, was I right? Or a murderer like Guy?

I’d done some seriously bad things in the name of protecting others, but it had always been for what was right.

Hadn’t it?

I wasn’t a particularly religious man, but I believed in a higher being. I believed that if I did what was just, I’d be measured on it in the end, the scales of my actions deciding my fate. Had I died a few years ago, when I was in the abyss like Guy, I’d have been found wanting, but now, I was back in the land of the living. Doing what was right and protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves. And this mission could alter the balance. Could alter me. I’d been where Guy was, and I’d learned in Istanbul, once you touched the abyss, it was always a part of you. Waiting to take over.

Out of nowhere, Jennifer’s voice split the quiet, startling me. “Pike, you awake?”

I rolled over, saying, “Yeah. I am.”

She pulled her hair out of her eyes and I saw they were red. She hadn’t slept either.

I said, “Jenn, you need to get some rest. We have a pretty bad mission coming up, and for some reason, Guy has a connection to you. I need you one hundred percent.”

She said, “That’s what I want to talk about.”

She started to speak again, then thought better of it. I said, “What?”

“I can’t do it. I can’t use his emotions to kill him. I won’t.”

She bored into me for a moment, then said, “And I don’t want you to, either. This is bad. Evil. There is no goodness in any of this. It’s bad what he’s doing, and it’s bad what we’re planning. It’s evil all the way around. I feel like I’m swimming in raw sewage.”

That caused a grin to slip out. “Swimming in raw sewage. Eloquent.”

She took my hand and said, “I’m serious. I saw you with Guy. I saw what his statements were doing to you, and that was just a talk. You go through with this, and it’ll be permanent. To all of us.”

I flopped on my back, and said, “He’s not like me. He’s not . . .”

She said, “He’s
just
like you. Nobody but me saw you at your rock bottom. He
is
you. And, like you, he doesn’t deserve to die. This is bigger than him. I don’t want to lose what we have.”

I propped up on an elbow and said, “What’s that mean?”

She looked at me for a moment, then said, “In Rome you worked magic. There might be a total of three men on Earth who could have done what you did with this team. Maybe even fewer. The Taskforce is pure. It’s real. It’s concrete. But it’s only as good as the men in it. I came into the Taskforce because you asked, but I stayed because of the good we do. It’s about saving lives. We execute this mission, and it’s going to be about death. I can’t do that.”

I was taken aback at the words. I had pushed her reluctantly into the Taskforce because I saw an innate skill, and she’d fought it the whole way, only staying because I asked. Or so I thought. It was the first time she’d ever talked about the mission in the absence of our relationship.

She said, “You
are
the Taskforce.”

I lay back down, thinking about the mission and my place in it. Thinking about the growing decision I’d have to make.

I heard a knock on the door.
Jesus. Don’t the maids read the “Do Not Disturb” sign?

I glanced at Jennifer. She shrugged. I padded to the front barefoot, looked out the peephole, and saw Nick.
Shit
. I thought about ordering Jennifer back to her connecting room, but just didn’t have the energy. I opened the door.

He said, “Hey, can we talk for a minute?”

“You need to get some sleep. I want you on your toes. We can talk in four hours.”

“No, we can’t. I can’t sleep.”

I swung the door wide and he entered. He did a double take on Jennifer in the bed, wearing nothing but an oversize T-shirt. I said, “Yeah, yeah, it’s Jennifer. Fucking get over it. What’s on your mind?”

He went from her to me, saying nothing. I said, “Spit it out. You’re cutting into my sleep. Is the Internet not working in your room?”

Hesitantly, he said, “I want to talk about the mission. About Guy. I’m not sure I can do this.”

I started to respond, when someone else knocked on the door. I held up a finger and went back to the peephole, seeing Brett.

What the hell.

I opened the door and said, “What is it about you guys not wanting to sleep?”

His face was as serious as I’d ever seen it. Usually jovial, with an easy vibe, he was all business. He said, “I need to talk to you about what happened on the ferry.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “Come on in.”