The First Commandment

Chapter 64

When the door to his room opened, Harvath was surprised to see who was on the other side of it.

Before he could open his mouth, the man raised his Taser and pointed it at Harvath’s chest. He threw a pair of handcuffs at him and said, “Your right wrist to the bed frame, now.”

When Harvath hesitated, the man yelled, “Now!”

Harvath did as he was told.

With his prisoner secure, the man holstered his weapon, turned to the guard at the door, and nodded.

Once the guard had closed the door and the man with the Taser heard the click of the lock, he threw Harvath the keys to the handcuffs. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes of talk time while the surveillance servers are rebooted.”

“What the hell is going on here?” asked Harvath as he removed the handcuff from around his wrist and threw the keys back to Rick Morrell.

Morrell was a CIA paramilitary operative whom Harvath had worked with on several occasions in the past. After a considerably rocky start to their relationship, they had developed a professional respect for each other and even a friendship. Harvath didn’t know if his being here was a good thing or a bad thing. In the intelligence world, friendships were all too often subverted for matters of national security. Harvath hadn’t forgotten that President Rutledge wanted him for treason. He’d have to tread very carefully.

“You are in a shitload of trouble. You know that?” replied Morrell.

Harvath did know it and he didn’t need Rick Morrell or anyone else reminding him of it. “You’d have done the same thing in my situation.”

Morrell nodded. “That still doesn’t make my job any easier.”

Harvath didn’t like the sound of that. “Exactly what is your job?”

“By order of the president, I have been charged with stopping you from taking any further steps in relation to the attacks on Tracy Hastings, your mother, and the U. S. Ski Team.”

“So, the president does believe the ski team attack was by the same person?”

“Yes, he does,” said Morrell. “They found a note at the scene matching ones from the other two attacks.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that the president wants you out of the picture.”

“I’ve got every right to-” began Harvath, but Morrell interrupted him.

“You don’t have any rights. Jack Rutledge is the president of the United States. When he tells you to do something, you do it.”

“That’s not good enough.”

“Well, it’s going to have to be,” said Morrell.

Harvath looked at him with disbelief. “Jesus, you are an asshole. You know that? A minute ago you agreed that you would have done the same thing in my position.”

“And I meant it.”

“So what’s your fucking problem?”

“My problem is that I and the other five members of my Omega Team on the other side of that door have been ordered to take you out if you refuse to cooperate.”

The response took Harvath by surprise.

“Dead or alive,” said Morrell as he read the expression on Harvath’s face.

Harvath had felt betrayed when the president had first turned on him, but now there were no words to describe what he was feeling. “And for an extra twist of the knife, you were chosen to head the hit team up. Should I call you Brutus or is Judas a better fit?”

“Rutledge didn’t choose me, Director Vaile did.”

“What’s the difference? You still accepted the assignment.”

“I accepted it all right. The DCI laid out a very compelling case.”

“I’m sure he did,” replied Harvath, the contempt evident in his voice. “I always liked Vaile, but apparently he never thought that much of me. Hell of a poker player. He had me fooled.”

“For the record,” said Morrell, “Vaile sucks at cards. And just so you know, he’s a decent guy. He’s probably one of the best directors the Agency has ever had. He’s a patriot who puts our country above everything else, even his own welfare.”

“What are you talking about?”

Morrell waved his arm around the room. “He’s the reason you’ve been brought here instead of some federal lockup. He’s the reason I’m here heading this team.”

“I don’t get it,” replied Harvath.

“Vaile has a lot of respect for you. While he may not think going head to head with the president of the United States is a great career move, he understands why you’re doing it. At the same time, he understands why the president is doing what he’s doing. The bottom line is that Vaile knows you’re not a traitor.”

“So then why am I here?” asked Harvath. “Why are we even having this conversation?”

Though all the monitoring devices were supposedly offline, Morrell leaned closer to Harvath, his voice barely above a whisper, though no less intense than it had been, and he said, “Because Director Vaile feels partly responsible for what has happened-Tracy, your mother, the ski team, all of it. He wants you to know why it’s going down.”

Chapter 65

Their time was short, so Morrell spoke quickly. “It is the stated policy of the United States government never to negotiate with terrorists. We all know it’s the nation’s first and most important commandment in the war on terror-Thou shalt not negotiate with terrorists.”

Harvath was well aware of the commandment. “But somebody broke it,” he guessed as he thought about the five prisoners released from Guantanamo.

Morrell nodded. “There is an exception to every rule.”

“Was the president directly involved in the prisoner release?”

Morrell looked toward the door and then back at Harvath. “Yes.”

Harvath had suspected all along that the president had been involved, but now he had confirmation.

“What I am about to tell you,” continued Morrell, “stays in this room. Your current status as a fugitive notwithstanding, you are still bound by your oath and the National Security nondisclosure agreements you signed before going to work at both the White House and DHS. Is that clear?”

“ Crystal,” replied Harvath.

Morrell took a deep breath. “There is only one instance where the United States will break its own rule of not negotiating with terrorists.”

In all Harvath’s experience he had never seen the First Commandment broken. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what would qualify as an exception.

Harvath had seen many horrible things in his career as a counterterrorism operative. A part of him questioned whether he truly wanted to know what would warrant such an exception, but he needed to know why the president was holding him back from protecting the people he cared about. He needed to know why some sick terrorist had been granted blanket immunity to do whatever he wanted to i

“The exception,” said Morrell, “is when a terrorist or terrorist organization has targeted children.”

“You mean whoever has been carrying out these attacks targeted kids as well?”

“No. The five released from Guantanamo were still there when the attack in question took place. The group that brokered their release used the attack as leverage to get them out. I know you have been through a lot, but if it’s any consolation, the president had absolutely no choice in this.”

Harvath wasn’t ready to give Rutledge a pass just yet. He needed to hear more and signaled for Morrell to continue.

“Two days before the Gitmo five were released, a school bus filled with children as young as five years old went missing in Charleston, South Carolina. The terrorists threatened to begin killing a child every half hour until their demands were met.

“An immediate news blackout was ordered and federal authorities went into overdrive to find the bus. Satellites were retasked, the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team was activated, and members of Delta Force, SEAL Team Six, SEAL Team Eight, and even elements of the CIA were brought in. This was a direct attack upon our nation, the psychological impact of which could have been extremely severe. The president stopped at nothing.