Extreme Measures

CHAPTER 16

WASHINGTON, D.C.

THERE hadn’t been many dates and no real relationships to speak of. The ones with any sense simply stayed away and the ones who pursued her made her nervous for the simple fact that they should have had more sense. Then there was the very real fear that she would be set up by a foreign intelligence service. It had been done before, using a woman’s heart, or in a man’s case something else, to put them in a compromising situation. So there were background checks, surveillance by Langley’s counterespionage gang and probably the FBI as well. She questioned none of it. To do so would have been reckless.

Irene Ke

It would have been another story if he’d been the breadwi

Still, she never regretted the marriage, for the simple fact that it had given her a son whom she adored. Ke

Ke

Rapp preferred the simple, direct approach, which usually involved firing a bullet into the back of someone’s head. That was the stark truth, and Ke

Ke

Never was there a hint that beneath the disarming, pleasant smile lurked a woman whose patience was gone. A woman who now, on an almost weekly basis, gave men like Rapp and Nash the approval to break laws, to lie to congressmen and senators, to kidnap and torture, and, yes, to kill. It was never cavalier or done for the perverse pleasure of doing it simply because she could. The decisions were made with great care and consideration, but nonetheless they were made, and Ke

They’d come up with plenty of words to help them cope with their less-than-noble deeds; detainee, as opposed to prisoner, opened up the door for extreme interrogations, which, of course, had a much nicer ring than torture. A suspect underwent rendition, as opposed to simply being kidnapped. All of the political speak drove Rapp nuts. He blamed it all on the lawyers, and he was probably right. The truth was they were in a dirty business that was populated by some less-than-reputable people. Rapp liked to remind everyone, “We’re not cops. We’re not soldiers. We’re spies, and spies do nasty shit to nasty people.”

Nowhere in their charter was there anything about fighting fair. The enemy certainly didn’t, and their people treated them like heroes. In America you were forced to sit through meetings like the one she’d just finished at the Justice Department. Meetings with people who didn’t know the first thing about the silent war that was being waged. Your reward for your sacrifice was to be hounded by some politically appointed prick like this Wade Kline. At a bare minimum your reputation got trashed in the press, or worse, you ended up indicted and drowning under a mountain of legal bills. Ke