Private Wars

Putnam, Beale, and, at Duty Ops, William Teagle shrugged in unison.

“You’re all useless,” Crocker told them.

“Yes, sir,” Beale agreed cheerfully. Bill Teagle snorted.

Crocker scowled, then moved to the coffeemaker. The coffee was foul, had probably been sitting on the burner since the shift had begun, seven hours earlier. He crossed back to Communications, took the headset Putnam offered, settling it over his ears just as the call came through.

“Crocker.”

“Hello, Dad,” Chace said. “There are birds in the air and they make big droppings, so I have to be brief.”

“Understood.”

“Long-lost brother has been found, but he’s not the big bad we’ve been led to believe. He misses his family and has been trying to get his sister’s attention enough to talk about arranging a reunion. He assures me he has no interest in moving back home. In fact, he’d like to move to a different neighborhood altogether, one much farther west.”

“You believe him?”

“I do, yes, I think it’s all about his little boy. And the fact is, he’s staying with some overprotective relations. It’s limited our options.”

“You still have company?”

“Baby brother is with me, yes.”

“What do you want to do?”

“The long-lost is only one part of it. The other concerns the four candles.”

The reference was oblique enough that Crocker needed a second to translate. Then he said, “You know where the missing one is?”

“According to our host, the set was sold intact. Which means the man who bought the first three still has the fourth.”

“You trust your host’s information?”

“Apparently our host was interested in buying the candles himself at one point.”

“Go on.”

“I’m wondering if a reunion between long-lost and his son couldn’t be engineered to somehow bring that last candle out of its box.”

“It’s no use to us if it gets lit.”

“No, it’s a delicate situation. But I think it’s doable. Grandmother might be able to get a message across to big sister.”

“I’m not certain our cousins are going to care for this,” Crocker said. “It’s not the definitive solution they wanted.”

“If we can convince big sister, she can talk to the cousins. And I’m sure the cousins want all of the candles blown out as much as we do. Might be a way to make everyone happy.”

“I’ll talk to Grandmother. If we can arrange the reunion, we’ll set it up through our house there—”

Chace cut him off. “Long-lost has been very clear on one point, Dad. I’m to babysit. Seems he’s reluctant to trust anyone else, especially after last time.”

“That complicates things.”

“It does. I have your permission to proceed?”

“All right,” Crocker said. “You’ll be traveling north?”

“Soon as I can.”

“I’ll contact the family in Tashkent, let them know you’re coming.”

“Very good, sir. Have to go, I can hear the birds in the trees.”

“Take care,” Crocker said, but the line had already gone dead. He removed the headset, handing it back to Putnam absently, thinking for several seconds before saying, “Mike? Signal Tashkent, let them know Minder One is on her way there and should arrive in the next twenty-four to forty-eight as part of Sundown. Stress to Fincher that it’s a Special Op, and that he’s to follow her instructions. I’ll want confirmation of receipt of signal.”

“Very good, sir.”

“Ask the Deputy Chief to meet me in C’s office, Bill.”

“Right away, sir.”

Crocker headed upstairs.

“I’m not sure I like this,” Alison Gordon-Palmer said.

“It gives the Americans what they want, just not in the manner they requested it. And if Chace is right, it’ll bring us that missing Starstreak.”

“Which would delight me to no end, Paul, if I felt there was the remotest chance that Kostum’s intelligence on its whereabouts was in the least bit reliable.”

“Chace reported that Kostum had been interested in buying the Starstreaks himself. It’s plausible that he tracked their sale in the hopes of acquiring them at a later point. And if there had been four available, I can’t imagine that Zahidov would have only purchased three of them.”

“Plausible is not proof.” She frowned, thinking. “We know that, as of February, Zahidov had three of the four missiles. Is it reasonable to think he’s been holding the fourth?”

“Chace thinks so.”

“I’m asking you, Paul.”

“I trust her assessment.”

“And all of this is contingent on whether or not Ruslan Malikov can be trusted to begin with. Simon?”

Rayburn, seated beside Crocker, closed his eyes for several seconds before opening them once more. “I think Malikov may be on the level, ma’am.”

“Why do you say that?”

“There was never any intelligence to indicate that Ruslan had ambition to become President of Uzbekistan. It was only after the murder of his wife that he contacted the Americans to express interest. My understanding is that, prior to that time, it had been Dina Malikov who made contact with the U.S. Mission. So if he was running for President, he’d have been making a very late start, to say the least. I think Ruslan’s overtures read more as an insurance policy for himself and his son than a legitimate grab for power.”

C frowned at him, then at Crocker, weighing the decision. “And you want me to contact the Foreign Office, have them communicate with our Ambassador and pass along the message to Sevara Malikov?”

“It seems the best way to arrange things,” Crocker said.

She nodded, reached for her phone, tapping the intercom to her outer office. “Danny?”

“Ma’am?”

“Contact PUS at the FCO, ask if he’s available for a meeting soonest. I’ll come to him.”

“Very good, ma’am.”

She tapped the intercom again, then looked back to Crocker. “What’s Chace going to do in the meanwhile?”

“She’ll proceed to Tashkent, then stand by for word as to where and how to collect the boy. Assuming it all goes through, she’ll deliver Stepan to his father, then she’ll arrange transport for both of them out of Central Asia to the West.”

“Here?”

“It’s unclear. But Ruslan’s informed Chace that he has no desire to remain in the region.”

“Have you spoken to Seale?”

“Not yet.”

Rayburn nodded, already ahead of the conversation, and apparently in agreement with what C was about to say. “Probably best you let the CIA know Chace will be in Tashkent, and our suspicions about the fourth Starstreak. You don’t want their COS getting jumpy.”

“I’ll speak to Seale right away,” Crocker said.