One Rough Man

“Well, everyone on the bus died, but nobody died from the crash.” He handed the press report to Standish. “Apparently, they all died of some strange illness.”

Standish read the news report and smiled. The weapon’s real. “Ken, I want you to destroy any mention of these two intercepts about Operation Badr. Figure out who else got them, and erase them. Do it without their knowledge. Those reports never existed. Understand?”

Ken, a sycophant cut from Standish’s mold, didn’t question the directive. “Easy enough. I’ll do it as soon as I get back to my office.”

“Good. In addition, I got a cable from Belize today. Rescind that cable as well. Ensure it also doesn’t exist.” He gave the intelligence officer the cable cite number.

Ken asked, “What about the station in Belize? Won’t they ask why it was rescinded?”

“I’ll handle the station when they come in to work tomorrow. Just get rid of the cable right now.”

“Okay — I’m on it.”

Standish reflected on what he knew. On the one hand, it was a golden opportunity to accomplish exactly what he believed was necessary. On the other, while not out of control yet, it was an opportunity that had quite a few leaks. He had managed to stop the raw intel from being spread but couldn’t be sure about the Prometheus cable. If that thing’s not rescinded in time, I’ll never be able to deny I knew about it. Luckily, it had come from Belize. CTC would probably shunt that cable to the back of the pack, focusing on Pakistan, Iran, and whatever else was brewing right now. They won’t give a shit one way or another about a rescinded cable from Central America.

His primary problem was the Taskforce. They would get the Prometheus alert and would act on it. He had to shut them down right away. There was no love lost between himself and the unit, but they would listen to him, since they were still on shaky ground and couldn’t afford an enemy of his stature. He could bring them down with a well-placed leak, and they knew it.

He called the Taskforce duty officer, went secure on his STE telephone, identified himself, and asked if the unit was planning any new movement in the next twenty-four hours.

On the other end, the duty officer Mike, knowing who it was, stated no. He didn’t literally lie, as his bosses were traveling true-name as part of their true affiliation — Kurt as a member of J3 SOD, and George as a TDY member of the Office of Southern Hemispheric Relations — thus they weren’t traveling under any of the covers used by the Taskforce. His answer was technically correct — there was no Taskforce movement. Standish next asked to speak to the commander and was told that he was out.

Standish hung up after leaving a message for Kurt to call first thing in the morning. He was satisfied that he was good for the time being. The cap was in place.

55

I woke up to the phone ringing, answered and perked up, replying quickly and ending the call. I saw that Jennifer was awake and leaning on an elbow, wearing a cheap tourist T-shirt with her hair sticking out all over the place, making me grin. Rubbing her eyes, she asked who was on the phone.

“It was the embassy. They want to see us at ten o’clock. The cable must have worked, because we’ve been invited behind the green curtain. We get to talk to the wizard.”

Waking up fast, Jennifer tried to brush her hair in place, asking, “What’s that mean? Who’d you talk to?”

“That was the asshole Eric.” Shit… Be nice… “Sorry. That was the nice man from the embassy, Eric. He asked us to come back.”

“That’s good news, isn’t it? Do we need to do anything before we go?”

“No. I’m not sure what the cable caused. We’ll just see how it goes. Either way, we got some action, so that’s good.”

She looked at me like I was hiding something, and I was, but she let it go. “Okay, Jason Bourne, I’ll follow your lead.”

When we got to the embassy, even I was surprised at who was waiting.

* * *

Standish called the Taskforce first thing in the morning, early enough to get Mike before his twenty-four-hour shift as the duty officer was over. Going secure on his STE, Standish asked to speak to Colonel Hale.

“Sir, he’s gone TDY this morning.”

“What? I thought you told me last night that he was out with his wife. Where is he?”

“Sir, he was out with his wife last night. Today he left.”

Who does he think he’s talking to? “Tell me where he is right this minute.”

“Sir, I can’t give you that information on this phone.”

Standish was on the verge of frothing at the mouth. “I’m on a fucking secure line. You will tell me where he is, right this minute. Do you understand me? Is that clear?”

“Sir, I’m not trying to be difficult, but I must follow security procedures. Colonel Hale’s location is top secret. Your phone is only certified up to secret message traffic. I’m not allowed to tell you his location on this line. Not my rule.”

Standish realized he was done. The STE secure phone was only certified by the NSA to pass information up to the secret level. He couldn’t order the man to break classification rules, since he would be on record violating the safeguard of national secrets. He also knew that he was being stiff-armed on purpose by the duty officer, but couldn’t fight it. At least not right now. You mess with the bull, you get the horns.

“Listen to me Mr. Duty Officer. Pick up a fucking pen. Write this down. I want Kurt Hale and George Wolffe in my office within twenty-four hours or I will go to the president and have all unit operations canceled pending an investigation of improper actions. Is that understood?”

“Yes, sir. I have it.”

“Don’t test me on this. If you value your mission, you won’t push me. I will see Hale and Wolffe or you’ll cease operations.”

Standish slammed the phone down. When I get control of that unit, he’ll be out greeting people at Walmart.

Done with the Taskforce, he turned his attention to the next problem: dealing with the CIA station in Belize. He couldn’t call the station directly because they weren’t in his chain of command and wouldn’t have a clue who he was. He would have to do it through the Latin America Division in the headquarters at Langley. Luckily, he knew the chief of LA and could use him to clamp down on Belize. All he had to do was control the conversation correctly. Satisfied with his strategy, he picked up the phone and dialed the chief of LA on his gray line, a direct secure connection into the CIA.

56

“Holy shit! What’re you doing down here?” I said.

After giving me a handshake and an embrace, Kurt verbally poked me, saying, “Well, I’ve got nothing better to do than chase phantom Prometheus cables. It’s what I do on my off-time.”

I got out, “Sir—” before he cut me off with a hand.

“Just kidding. How’re you doing?”

I figured the question held more than it seemed, and that he wasn’t asking how I was doing this morning. I answered truthfully, “Well, honestly, sir, I’m doing better now than I was a week ago.”

“Still blocking punches with your face, huh?”

I smiled and touched the cut above my eye. “Long story, sir.” Turning to Jennifer, I continued. “This is