The Forgotten Soldier: A Pike Logan Thriller (35 page)

70

C
arly hung in the back next to Haider, watching Secretary Billings thank his hosts and receive a small token of appreciation. He shook a few more hands, then signaled for his vehicles. As they pulled around, he motioned for Carly to come to him.

He said, “Look, I want to talk to Mr. al-Attiya alone for a minute. You and my security will ride in the second car.”

Mildly aggravated, she said, “Sir, that’s not the plan. I’m here for a reason.”

He showed displeasure, saying, “You’re
here
to support me. Period. I’m just talking about the ride to the restaurant. Twenty minutes.”

She said, “Sir, we can’t all fit into the second car. There’s not enough room.”

Billings waved Haider over, saying, “Go with his people. Someone needs to make sure they know where we’re stopping anyway.”

Now alarmed at the breakdown of the plan, she said, “Sir, that’s not a good idea.”

With Haider approaching, he hissed, “Don’t question me on what’s good or not. I’m doing it.” He pointed at his personal assistant chatting with a Greek. “Would you prefer I sent Leslie with them to give you room? She doesn’t know what we’re doing.”

Haider arrived and she remained silent. Billings said, “Where’s your car? Carly here is going to make sure it knows where to meet us.”

Haider pointed, and Carly saw a late-model Audi, two men standing by the trunk.

—

Pike said, “Don’t do it, Guy. I’m not lying to you. I would
never
lie to you. Carly is working it with your man, but we
do
have permission. You’re going to hurt her. Come back over and let’s attack this together. Do it right.”

Guy stared at the group by the convoy, the Greeks moving back up the stairs and waving, the car doors opening. He said, “I know Carly’s here. I see her.”

The security men went to the second car, cramming in all five. The lead car had only Secretary Billings, Haider, and Carly. He felt his breath increase, knowing he was within seconds of initiation.

Go. End the meeting. Get this over with.

Secretary Billings held out his hand, and Haider entered the car. Guy snapped upright, not believing what he was seeing.

Shit
.

Carly began walking toward the Audi, looking back at the secretary’s car. The convoy began moving, leaving the parking lot.

No, no, no, no.

Pike was still shouting in the phone, but Guy was no longer listening. He watched Carly move at a slow pace, stopping at the back of the Audi and talking to the two men there. His two targets.

She shook their hands, then moved to the passenger door, snapping Guy out of his trance. He was almost a hundred meters away, with no time to reach her.

He cut into the diatribe on the phone, saying, “Pike, forgive me. Find the key.”

And started his car.

*   *   *

Carly portrayed calm on the outside, but felt the anxiety she always did on a source meet, where she never really knew the motivations of the men she was courting. The driver appeared normal enough, but the other passenger—introduced as Khalid—was a bundle of energy with piercing eyes, like a bird of prey constantly scanning, constantly on the hunt.

She said, “We’ll be following about a minute behind. You remember that town about fifteen kilometers back on Highway 48? We’ll be stopping at a restaurant there.”

Khalid said, “Okay. You ride up front. Show him the way.”

She moved to the passenger’s door, keeping one eye on him. She opened it, then saw him turn. She focused on his line of sight and saw a small Fiat screaming across the parking lot. She was about to sit down when she recognized the man behind the wheel.

Guy George.

There could be only one reason he was coming:
Targets.

She screamed, “Get in the car, get in the car!”

His door half-open, Khalid whirled around, facing the vehicle. The other Arab jumped up on the curb, moving toward the stairs. Carly slid into the seat, slamming the door. Guy exploded from the car, disregarding the Arabs and running right at her, shouting at her to get out.

His eyes were bloodshot and wild, and she realized Pike was right. He’d crossed over. She locked the door. Khalid jumped on Guy’s back as he came by, but he ignored the attack, staggering forward. Guy bashed the window with his elbow, spraying Carly with glass.

She raised her arms and Guy ripped at the door locks, screaming, “Get the fuck out of the car! It’s going to blow!”

Khalid wrapped his arms around Guy’s neck, and Guy whirled backward, slamming Khalid into the body of the Audi and causing him to drop.

His words sank in. Carly frantically fought the door handle,
managing to get it to pop open. Guy kicked the edge, swinging it wide, grabbing her by the hair and shirt and jerking her forcefully out, flinging her body to the ground.

Khalid stood up, arms raised, snarling, but Guy ignored him, instead jumping onto the passenger seat until his body covered it. Khalid charged, and the seat exploded in a blinding flash, throwing Khalid backward.

Carly covered her head, pieces of glass and bits of metal raining around her. She heard nothing but ringing in her ears. She rolled over and saw Guy slide out of the car, his body black and red. He hit the pavement and she saw his arm rise up.

He was alive.

She crawled to him, surveying the carnage, not knowing where to even begin because of his massive wounds. Blood was everywhere. His jaw was askew, white bone lancing out of red flesh. His abdomen was ripped open, internal organs spilling out onto the pavement.

He grabbed her hand, his eyes fluttering.

Seconds later, she saw his soul flee his body.

71

T
he mood inside the Oval Office was somber and hushed, without the usual back-and-forth talking among the principals committee of the Oversight Council. All waited on Colonel Kurt Hale to continue.

He clicked a slide, showing the Audi twisted open like a tuna can. “Sergeant Major Guy George died of his wounds. Pike arrived shortly after the explosion and provided immediate damage control. Due to the sensitive and urgent nature of the discussions between Haider al-Attiya and Secretary Billings, I had briefed Pike on the current meeting with Secretary Billings and deployed him immediately to do what he could. He knew about CIA case officer involvement, and he evacuated Carly Ramirez for cover purposes.”

Kerry Bostwick, the director of the CIA, said, “I appreciate that. Her being there would have only complicated things with the authorities.”

Alexander Palmer said, “Other injuries? Was Sergeant Major George the only one hit?”

“Haider’s friend, a man introduced as Khalid, apparently received a slight cut to his forehead, but he and the other man fled the scene, refusing treatment.”

President Warren said, “And our exposure?”

Kurt knew that question was coming and had spent the majority
of the last twenty-four hours mitigating disaster. “So far, we are okay, but it’s tenuous. The press is calling it an attack against the United States secretary of state, since he’d left there seconds before. The problem is that the IED was embedded in an Audi rented by Haider al-Attiya.”

“So he’s going to be linked? Charged with this?”

“Not with some luck. I had the Taskforce computer network operations cell manipulate the rental data for that car—basically erase it. And we did it messily, so they’d know it was hacked, trying to make it look like it was preplanned. The strike wasn’t a suicide attack, so we hope it’ll look like someone covering his tracks. The rental agency is a high-end one, not like a Hertz. You arrange your car, and it’s delivered to you. This vehicle was delivered to the Athenaeum Hotel as a two-package deal for two different customers, with both given to the valet. There is a risk that someone in the chain will remember who that car was for, but Haider al-Attiya was never physically seen or contacted, and there are now no physical or virtual records. The only man the valet saw was the driver that Carly met, after the car was delivered. It’s not perfect, but there’s enough smoke to diffuse things.”

President Warren said, “That
does
sound a bit tenuous.”

“Best we can do, but we expect the Greeks will have a preconceived notion of where to look for villains, and it’ll probably be along local lines. It won’t be with the Qatar Investment Authority if they want to keep the money flowing. There are a couple of loose points, though.”

“What?”

Kurt said, “Carly, for one. She’s not a risk, but I took the liberty to have Pike read her onto the program. She’s made a bunch of leaps in her head, I’m sure, and most probably aren’t correct. She’s damn near become a member of the Taskforce anyway with her help, and honestly she’s pretty good at what she does.”

In a small bit of humor, Kerry said, “Always cherry-picking my talent. I can see where this is going.”

Kurt said, “Just trying to plug the holes.”

Kerry looked at President Warren. “Sir?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Read her on, but also have her sign the usual nondisclosures.”

“The read-on’s complete. The nondisclosures will have to wait. Pike doesn’t travel with them.”

The president waved his hand, indicating that was minutia. “What else?”

“Haider al-Attiya and his cohorts. They need to be told to shut the hell up and get out of the country. I’m assuming Billings has control of them, correct?”

Palmer said, “Yeah, he didn’t even realize the attack had occurred until way later. His meeting went according to plan. Haider’s agreed to go to Oslo and has the timeline. There were some issues with visas, but Billings says he can handle it.”

Kurt said, “Okay, then, let him press about how he’s going out on a limb to protect them, then put a gag on them. Cover their tracks and get them out of Greece. I don’t care what they think they know, Billings needs to shut them down.”

He paused for effect, then said, “Unless you want to throw Haider and his guys to the wolves. That would save me some Alpha mission work with Pike. We could let the Greek authorities tear those assholes apart. They’ll find the terrorist connections and use Guy George’s attack to hang ’em as an assault against the secretary of state. But I doubt Billings will go along with that.”

Palmer said, “You still think they’ve got something to do with Guy’s brother’s death? After how crazy Guy acted?”

“I can’t prove anything at this stage, but yes. I actually think it’s more than that. What I know is that a man who was one of the most highly trained terrorist hunters on the planet believed it, even if he
went rogue to prove it, and—besides that new driver—all of those assholes are on a target package from Afghanistan.”

Palmer said, “Well, we’ll go with your first option. We can’t have them talking about rogue American super ninjas trying to kill them under a Greek interrogation.”

Kurt said, “Why would they talk about that? They have no idea. I mean, Billings never said anything about Guy to his friends, right?”

President Warren raised his hand and said, “We’re not going to revisit that. I talked to Billings and he denied telling Haider anything. That’s enough for me. And that means it’s enough for you. Understood?”

Kurt bit back a retort, only saying, “Yes, sir.”

Alexander Palmer said, “And we need to discuss the Alpha authority Pike was given. With Guy George dead, there’s no reason to continue pursuing it.”

Kurt said, “What are you talking about? Nothing’s changed with Haider al-Attiya. Yeah, Billings can run his little ego boost in Oslo, but our exploration is based on evidence of future planning. Not on bringing in Guy George.”

He went from face to face, and felt a sickening realization. He said, “Right?” He looked at the president and said, “Right, sir? You didn’t give me Alpha as a ploy, did you? Tell me you didn’t make me lie to Pike.”

President Warren said, “No, of course not, but all operations are predicated on the environment. We’re going to need to evaluate the current atmosphere within Greece and perhaps revisit Alpha at a later date. Those Arabs are not an imminent threat worth forcing potential compromise. We’ve done enough in Greece.”

“Sir, that’s not true. Pike has nothing at all to do with any of this. He’s not involved in the attack or any of Billings’s meetings. He’s not tied into anything, and not a risk of compromise.”

“Kurt, enough. We’ll make a decision at the Oversight Council
meeting in two days. I’m not going to use this forum for something that should be an Oversight Council discussion.”

Kurt remained quiet, understanding the intent, but not wanting it voiced out loud. Saving himself an out.

President Warren continued, “But speaking of Guy, where do we stand with him?”

“Innocent bystander caught in the blast. Nothing more. We’re getting him home using the alias he had in Greece. Turned out to be a Ranger Battalion buddy that died in Iraq. When he gets here, we’ll switch him back. His parents will learn of the death as a training accident.”

President Warren said, “How many other siblings did he have?”

“None. Both sons are dead.”

President Warren looked at the secretary of defense and said, “I want something done for the family from you. Something personal. They’ve lost two sons in the span of a month. We can’t tell them about Guy’s contributions, but I want his death to mean something.”

Kurt Hale appreciated the sentiment, but not in the way President Warren intended.

Guy’s death will most definitely mean something.