Dead or Alive

possible, maybe, but just because it might have been possible didn’t mean it would have worked. Stuff like this, you wanted multiple backups, because random chance could not be depended on to do anything but screw things up. Hell, carefully planned stuff could not be depended on, even with ample manpower composed of trained professionals. The enemy didn’t even have to be professionals for random events to screw up the best-laid plans. Might be a good idea, he thought, to walk through the European missions with the twins, just to see how good their fieldcraft was. They looked good, but looking good was something fashion models could do. It came down to training and experience. Heavy on experience. You grew your own training out in the field, and experience was something he’d tried hard to teach new CIA officers down at The Farm in the Virginia Tidewater. He’d never learned how well that had gone. Some came back and quaffed beers with him and Chavez. But what about the kids who had not come back? What lessons were to be learned from them? You rarely heard those stories, because not coming back meant never coming back, a gold star on the right-side wall in the CIA atrium, and usually a blank spot in the book.

Improve intrateam communications, for starters, he thought. If they didn’t have the experience to read minds, they damned well should have solid comm protocols. Hiring more troops would be a good idea, but that wasn’t going to happen. The Campus was supposed to run small and smart. Maybe they had the ability to do that, but damned sure there were times when a lot of people could solve a lot of problems. But that wasn’t going to happen.

Clark’s plane landed softly at Baltimore-Washington International Airport. It took five minutes to taxi to gate D-3, allowing Clark to walk off quickly. He made a head call and walked down the concourse, hoping that someone would be waiting for him. It turned out to be Jack, who waved.

“I know what you look like,” Clark said. “You don’t have to let other people know that you know me.”

“Hey, I mean-”

“I know what you mean. You never break fieldcraft until it’s over your first beer at home, kid. Don’t ever forget that.”

“Got it. What did you learn?”

“He flew on to Vegas, and he’s probably there now. Mainly I learned that we don’t have enough troops to do anything important at The Campus,” he concluded crossly.

“Yeah, well, we can’t do what we do if we have government oversight, can we?”

“I suppose not, but there are advantages to being part of a larger organization, y’know?”

“Yeah. I guess we’re kinda parasites on the body politic.”

“I suppose. Was there any attempt to track the bird to where he went?”

Jack shook his head as they walked out of the concourse. “Nope.”

“I’d bet he kept on going-maybe two or three more stops, but there’s no telling.”

“Why?”

“Complexity. Make it as hard for your adversary as possible. That’s a basic principle in this life.”

Outside McCarran International, Hadi was saying exactly the same thing to Tariq, who said, “We’ve discussed this at length. There is no danger that we know of. Our communications are as secure as money can buy, and no one has penetrated us, else we would not be here, would we?”

“What about Uda bin Sali and the others?” Hadi demanded.

“He died of a heart attack. We have all reviewed the official autopsy report.”

“And the others?”

“Men die every day from heart trouble, even the elect of Allah,” Tariq pointed out.

“Perhaps the Jews killed him, but the doctors in Rome said he died from a heart attack.”

“Perhaps there is a way-a drug, perhaps-to make it appear that way.”

“Perhaps.” Tariq turned left to go into town. “But in that case, we need not fear the Israelis here.”

“Perhaps,” Hadi conceded. He was too tired from his long travel day for a serious disagreement. Too much time in the air, too much wine, and too little decent sleep for him to summon the intellectual energy. “Your car is clean?”

“We wash the car every three days. When we do that, we search it for listening devices of every sort.”

“So how is he?”

“You will see for yourself in a few minutes. You will find him healthy and quite well, physically speaking. But you will also find it difficult to recognize him. The Swiss surgeons worked a miracle with his appearance. He could, if he wished, walk the streets here without fear of recognition.”

Hadi took the opportunity to look out of the car. “Why here?” he asked tiredly.

“No one ever admits to living here, except for the thieves who own the hotel/casinos. The city is notably corrupt, rather as Beirut once was-or so my father liked to tell me. Much gambling, but his highness doesn’t gamble with money.”

“I know, just his life. More dangerous in its way, but all men die, don’t they?”

“The local infidels act as though they have no fear of that. It is strange how many Christian churches there are here. People like to get married in this city-I do not understand why this is so, but it is. The Emir selected this city because of its anonymity. I think he was wise to do so. So many people come here to gamble and to sin against Allah. There is enough crime of the sort that keeps the local police concerned.”

Tariq made a right-hand turn for the final approach to the Emir’s country home, and Tariq thought of it. It was far more comfortable than the caves of Western Pakistan, much to Tariq’s personal pleasure, and that of the remainder of the staff, Allah be praised. He slowed and flipped his turn signal to turn left. He and his colleagues obeyed every law that they knew of in America.

“This is it?”

“Yes,” Tariq confirmed.

He’d chosen well, Hadi didn’t say. The Emir might have chosen a better-defended dwelling, but that might well have attracted the interest of his neighbors, and been counterproductive in this age of helicopters and bomb-laden aircraft. On the approach to Las Vegas, the pilot had called attention to a large U.S. Air Force base just north of the city. Another clever move on his friend’s part, to settle close to a major American military installation-on the face of it, not a good idea, but brilliant for that very reason. His desire to live in the Infidel West but writ large, Hadi thought in admiration. How long had he planned it? How had he arranged it? Well, that was why he’d come to lead the organization: his ability to see that which others could not see. He’d earned his place in the world, and in that place he had the ability-the right-to have his way with men… and women, according to the man behind the wheel. All men have their needs, and their weaknesses, Hadi told himself. That one wasn’t particularly disabling. For his part, Hadi had partaken in some of the joys of Rome. Often enough that he felt no guilt for it. So his friend did the same. No surprise there.

The car pulled into the garage. One space was empty, he noted. So did he have another servant? He got out of his car, fetched his bag from the trunk, and walked toward the door.

“Hadi!” boomed the voice from the door to the house. The garage doors were already coming down.

“Effendi,” Hadi called in return. The men embraced and kissed in the manner of their culture.

“How was your flight?”

“All four were fine but tiring.” Hadi took the time to look him in the face. The voice made him more recognizable. The face did not. Saif Rahman Yasin was transformed. The nose, the hair, even the eyes somewhat- Or were they? he asked himself. Only the expression in them. Clearly he was pleased to see his childhood friend, and the mirth they contained was so different from his formal face seen on TV and in the newspapers. “You are well, my friend,” Hadi said.

“It is a gentle, comfortable life I live here,” the Emir explained with a rare smile. “Praise Allah, we have no hills to climb. There is much happiness in living under their noses, as they say.”

“When I learned of this, I thought you mad, but now I can see your wisdom.”

“Thank you.” The Emir pulled him into the house. “You choose to travel as a Jew, do you not? That is well. There are many of them here.”

“Is this city as corrupt as they say?”

“Much more so. The population is very transient. People here do not recognize anyone, except perhaps their closest friends; it is as Lebanon used to be.”