“A member of the nanny state follows me here,” he said as shook his head. “Just great.”
“I only asked you a question. A simple yes or no would suffice.”
“Okay, then. The answer is yes. Yesterday, I saw Hassan Garaar, the chemist who works for Al-Shabaab.”
“Is he a close personal friend of yours?”
Turning back around, McGinn furrowed his brow and stared at Hawk. “I’m beginning to wonder if this whole mission isn’t some type of a set up to bring me down.”
“I can assure you that it’s no such thing,” Hawk countered. “I’m here to assist you; nothing more, nothing less.”
“Right now, you sound quite accusatory.”
“Pardon my tone, but I was simply asking you a question. There needs to be a level of trust among us if Alex and I are going to help make this mission a successful one.”
“Fine. I’ll lay all my cards on the table right now so you won’t have any issues tomorrow night—and I trust you’ll do the same. Agreed?”
Hawk nodded. “Continue.”
“Garaar trusts me, evidenced by the fact that he asked me to provide security for the exchange.”
Hawk’s eyebrows rose slowly. “He freely told you about the exchange?”
“Not exactly. He told me that he had a business deal going down that could potentially give him some trouble. He asked me to make sure his place at the docks was locked down tight.”
“Wait? He asked you to do that while another arm of his organization is trying to simultaneously kill you?”
“Yeah, lucky me, eh?” McGinn said before rescuing the eggs from the pan and sliding them onto a plate. He walked across the room and placed it on the table in front of Hawk.
“Seems a bit ham-fisted, don’t you think?” Hawk asked.
McGinn nodded. “Al-Sabaab isn’t the most organized bunch. I doubt Garaar has much contact with their leadership who would know about such an operation going on.”
“Are you sure that Al-Shabaab was responsible for the attack on us at the compound?”
“I’d bet my life on it. Besides, we heard from other soldiers who said it was them. I’m confident that’s who it was.”
Alex mumbled something that was barely audible.
“What’s that, princess?” McGinn asked, directing his comments toward Alex.
“I said it would’ve been nice to know all of this up front.”
McGinn shrugged. “I’m sure it would have, but I didn’t exactly have time to send you two my entire dossier before this operation went live. I figured we could just trust each other. Am I still right?”
Hawk nodded slowly. “At this point, what choice do we have?”
“Not exactly a strong affirmation there.”
“This business is give and take. Right now, you’re just asking me to give after you hid some very important information that is pertinent to this mission.”
“Fine. You want to know everything? I’ll tell it to you. I’ve been working on gaining Garaar’s trust for several months now. I knew what he was up to with Al-Shabaab, and I knew the only way for him to trust me was for me to act as if I was a dirty CIA operative who could be bought.”
Hawk tapped his finger against the side of his mug. He stared at McGinn for a few moments before responding. “Did you tell him that we were coming? Was that all part of gaining his trust?”
McGinn turned around and scooped the potatoes out of the pan before plating them. He took another sip of his coffee, lingering with his back to Hawk.
Hawk pounded his fist on the table. “Well, did you or not?”
McGinn sighed and turned around. “Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Alex stood up and walked across the room. “Not when it could get your partners killed.”
“I knew they wouldn’t kill you.”
Hawk watched as Alex became fully awake—and angry.
“But what about all those other soldiers who were killed? What about those innocent people, too?” Alex asked.
McGinn slowly shook his head. “This is Somalia, Alex. There are no innocent people here.”
“Maybe not, but they didn’t deserve to die because you set them up. Was this really necessary?” she asked.
“To win his trust?” McGinn asked rhetorically. “Yes, it was. It was necessary because thousands of truly innocent people are going to die in America or Europe if those nut jobs at Al Hasib get ahold of the Sarin. I can promise you, nobody in the world will care about a bunch of militia men in training getting riddled with bullets. But if Sarin gas is unleashed in a populated area, the world will take note and strike back with a vengeance—and Al Hasib will have accomplished exactly what they wanted to: incite violence.”
“This isn’t a game,” Hawk said.
“No, it’s not,” McGinn said. “There is a real possibility of Al Hasib getting their hands on this gas, and it can’t happen. It’s a serious threat, and it needs to be dealt with properly.”
Hawk exhaled slowly. “You better know what you’re doing with Garaar. Thousands of lives may be at stake, and Alex and I are willing to risk our lives to stop any potential threat. But your plan better not be giving us up, because I will hunt you down and kill you if I make it out alive.”
McGinn held up his mug as if he were giving a mock toast.
“To trust,” he said.
Hawk shot a glance at Alex. He could tell she wasn’t buying McGinn’s story either no matter how plausible it sounded.
CHAPTER 24
ARAV KATARI NAVIGATED THE AJAGAR through the Gulf of Aden and toward the Berbera harbor. He was still fifty kilometers away from his destination, which made him scan the horizon more closely for pirates. The closer he cruised toward the coast of Somalia, the greater the chance he would become a mark for the thieves roaming the sea.
The last time he was in this location, Katari knew he would get boarded. The elaborate deception he pulled that day was why he enjoyed a new car and air conditioning for the homes of everyone in his extended family.
