“Here’s the thing, though, Tariq. I don’t want to go to Cairo. That’s too long for me to wait to get the answers I need. Too many Americans have died for me to risk a single life more. So you and I are going to have a very intimate conversation. Right here. And you’re going to tell me every single thing, no matter how small or unimportant you think it may be, and you’re going to tell me right now.”
Tariq Sarhan had his answer ready. Once again he attempted to spit at Harvath and missed.
“Bad choice,” said Harvath as he nodded to the SEAL operating the winch to tighten the cable up even further.
For the next three hours, Harvath worked on Sarhan. After the third time the terrorist passed out, Harvath had him taken down. Sarhan knew very little beyond his own operation. There were bits and pieces that Harvath would include with his debrief, but he doubted they’d be of much help. This network had been very careful to keep things as compartmentalized as possible. Sarhan had no idea how many other attacks were planned, who was involved, when they would happen, or how to stop them.
Harvath was beginning to believe that it would take a major mistake by the terrorists before they could be completely taken down. He hoped that mistake, though, had already been made and that it was Robert Ashford.
No sooner had Harvath gotten Yaroslav Yatsko out of the trunk and prepped for his interrogation than one of the Marines informed him that the crew, who, per orders, had remained in the cockpit for the duration of the flight, was ready to make their approach into Dulles.
Harvath and the SEALs quickly outfitted the two prisoners with black goggles, sensory deprivation headsets, surgical masks to prevent them from picking up olfactory cues, and blackout hoods, then shackled their wrists and ankles and covered their hands with heavy canvas mittens.
They were then laid back in the trunk of Harvath’s car on their stomachs and had their ankle shackles connected to their wrist shackles via a short chain.
When the L-100 landed it taxied to the cargo services area of the airport, where Reed Carlton had two teams waiting.
When the cargo ramp was lowered, one of the teams boarded the plane and traded keys with Harvath. The car with the two trunked prisoners was backed down the ramp and was met on the tarmac by a heavily armored black Suburban. The Carlton Group kept a fortified safe house in Maryland. As the two vehicles disappeared from the airport, Harvath figured that was where they were most likely headed.
After thanking the SEALs, he walked down the ramp and disappeared himself. He found the car that had been left for him and climbed in. He wanted to get Yatsko’s hard drive to the office as quickly as possible so the IT team could get to work on it. He also wanted to go over his plans with the Old Man in person. Carlton had been friends with Robert Ashford for many years, but Harvath had to know if Ashford had been the one who had compromised the Yemen operation. He needed to look the Old Man in the face and see for himself that he was all in and willing to do whatever needed to be done.
Starting the car, he rolled down the windows and shifted into drive. America was reeling from yet another attack. People across the nation were mad as hell, but they were also terrified. They had no idea where or when the next attack would come. All they knew was that they wanted it stopped.
After it was stopped, they would want revenge. Harvath was already one step ahead.
CHAPTER 59
Across the country, families, friends, and neighbors huddled around television sets. They watched over and over the repeated horrors of the last two days. Many asked Why? Many more asked Could it have been prevented? Even more asked Would it happen again? For all its strength, for all its greatness, much of America was paralyzed. Much, but not all.
As Harvath passed through security and into the Carlton Group offices, they were alive with an activity he had never seen before. Shifts and hours had been tossed out the window. All hands were on deck. The entire twenty- fifth floor was teeming with activity.
Harvath made his way to Digital Ops, punched his code into the door that guarded Nicholas’s domain, and when the lock released, slid the door open and stepped in.
His tiny friend looked like hell, but before Harvath could even comment, he was preempted. “There’s some body spray around here somewhere,” he said. “If I need it, let me know. Other than that, I don’t want to hear about how I look, okay? I haven’t been out of the SCIF much in the last seventy-two hours. Carlton has had someone walking the dogs for me.”
There were times when Harvath was stunned by the man’s ability to practically read his mind. Bending over to quickly scratch both of the dogs behind the ears, he replied, “Everyone’s stretched to the max.”
“True,” said Nicholas, who snapped his fingers and held out his hand. “Drive.”
Harvath removed the device from his pocket and handed it to him.
Nicholas studied it for several minutes and then connected one of the many hydra-headed cables near his work station to it.
“What did the Russian say the password was?” he asked.
Harvath repeated it to him and Nicholas rolled his chair over to another keyboard and punched it in.
“Do you mind?” asked Harvath, gesturing at the minifridge.
“Help yourself.”
Opening the door, he reached inside and withdrew an energy drink. Popping the top, he grabbed a chair and sat down. “How many other airport attacks were there?”
“Based on LAX, they were able to prevent attacks at Denver, Miami, JFK, DFW, Boston, and San Francisco. The FAA and the White House have shut down the entire commercial air system. United, Delta, Southwest, American, none of the airlines will be flying tomorrow. Not until a new set of security procedures is developed.”
Harvath had long been worried about how vulnerable Americans were in airports. They were incredibly soft targets. It was only a matter of time before the terrorists zeroed in on them. In fact, they already had, and the one thing everyone in the antiterrorism communities knew was that today’s terrorists learned from yesterday’s mistakes. No one responsible for airport security could claim they didn’t see this coming. There had been more than enough warnings.
The 1972 attack by the Japanese Red Army at the airport in Tel Aviv had killed two dozen people and wounded seventy-eight others. That should have been the wakeup call. The only people who woke up were the Israelis. The rest of the world stayed asleep.
Then came the Rome and Vienna airport attacks by Muslim terrorists in 1985. In 2002, an Egyptian-born, green-card-carrying gunman, employed as a limousine driver, and living in the United States for ten years, opened fire at the El Al ticket counter at LAX. In 2007, a Muslim doctor and a Muslim engineer tried to drive a bomb-laden Jeep Cherokee into one of the terminals at Glasgow International Airport. Would America wake up now?
Harvath had no idea. What he did know was that when Muslim doctors, Muslim engineers, as well as Muslim green card holders in the most prosperous nation in the history of the world committed acts of terrorism, it wasn’t because of economics. It was because of ideology.
What Harvath also knew was that airline travel was going to become even more of an aggravation than it already was. With each terrorist attack on U.S. soil, Americans gave up more of their rights. Harvath was reminded of the line, paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin, that those who trade some of their liberty for a little temporary security deserve neither and will lose both. The wisdom of the founders never ceased to amaze him.
Nicholas pointed to a stack of reports on the foiled attacks and Harvath wheeled himself over to them.
As he sifted through them, he asked, “Any progress with Mansoor in Iceland yet?”
Nicholas shook his head. “He’s not bouncing back as fast as they would have liked. Riley’s last report says they’re afraid that they may have to take him back into surgery, or that he does have some low-level brain damage that they can’t nail down. It’s been very slow going.”
“We’re also going to need to look into James Standing, the hedge fund guy. When you’re done with the drive, put him in that TIP program along with Ashford and see what you can find, okay?”
