Extreme Measures

Karim was a

“I have read some of the same books. They all talk of the need to keep yourself aloof so your judgment isn’t affected. I suppose in the regular army it makes sense, but everything I have read about their Special Forces says otherwise. The enlisted men participate in the pla

“Your point?”

“I think you need to stop keeping secrets from us. You need to trust us. In a few days you will have no choice.”

Karim didn’t like hearing the words, but a part of him knew they were accurate. “Fair enough. When we reach our next destination I will tell the men of my plan.”

Farid smiled, “Thank you, Amir.”

“Just remember, this is not a democracy.”

“You do not have to worry about that. The men have too much respect for you, and more than a little fear.” Farid slithered backward on his belly and then disappeared into the brush.

CHAPTER 23

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

THE assistant told Nash they were expecting him. He glanced at the two bodyguards standing post outside the CIA director’s office and opened the heavy soundproof door. Irene Ke

Two men were sitting on the couch opposite Ke

Nash had two separate CIA-issued phones that he was expected to carry on his person at all times. As soon as he heard the female TV anchor talking about the Washington Post article, he knew what had happened. When he returned from Afghanistan, Maggie had met him at the door wearing a thin robe and a lustful expression. She handed him a glass of wine, informed him that the kids were in bed, and suggested he go upstairs and take a shower. He stopped in the den first and plugged in both phones. After he had gone upstairs to shower, Maggie had turned off both phones. She wasn’t crazy about his working for the CIA, and she had a serious problem with the fact that the higher-ups at Langley demanded her husband be plugged in twenty-four hours a day every day of the year. She was right, they were right, and as usual he was stuck in the middle trying to keep everyone happy.

Nash glanced at an empty chair but chose to remain standing. Some might have thought it an old habit from the Marine Corps, but they would be wrong. Nash didn’t like the seventh floor. Didn’t really like headquarters at all. The discomfort had nothing to do with Ke

The top floor of the headquarters building was filled with bureaucrats. Nash would be shocked if one in ten had any real field experience. That did not make them bad people, but it spoke to their narrow perspective. Most were good husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. They were active in their kids’ lives and their communities. They were people who had sacrificed and were willing to sacrifice more. They were patriots, but they had been browbeaten by the media and henpecked by the politicians. They were like children who were punished for the wild ways of an older brother. Mike and his fellow operators in the Clandestine Service were the wild sibling in the relationship. In many ways the bureaucrats’ distrust of men like Nash and Rapp was inevitable.

“No, Mr. President,” Ke

Nash stood in the middle of the spacious office and did his best to look bored and unfazed by the revelation that the president was already involved.

Ke

Nash didn’t know how to respond so he simply nodded.

Ke

“I would agree.”

“Please tell me it is a complete fabrication.”

“It is a complete fabrication.”

The man sitting next to Nash’s boss scoffed in disbelief.

Nash turned and looked with contempt at Glen Adams, the CIA’s inspector general. The man had been hounding him for fourteen months and counting. Mike could think of nothing more satisfying than putting him in a headlock and pounding the snot out of him.

Ke

“I’ve been warning you for months,” Adams said in an I-told-you-so voice. “He’s a loose ca

Nash felt his headache returning. He closed his eyes for a second and then looked at Adams. The Washington Post article flashed across his mind and he wondered if Adams might be one of the u

“That’s not my job, but I have no doubt, based on this article, that the Justice Department and the FBI are already in the process of doing just that.”

“Yeah, I wonder if anyone in this building gave them a head start.”

“Don’t make this about me,” Adams said in a sad voice.

“Fuck you.”

“Mike,” Ke

“This is bullshit,” Nash said directly to Ke

“This isn’t about me, Mr. Nash.” Adams shook his head and casually flicked a piece of lint from his pants leg.

“No, it sure the hell isn’t, because I can’t think of a single thing that you’ve done to protect the American people from another attack.”

“We all have our role to play,” said Adams.

“Some more important than others.”

Adams sighed as if he was bored. “I’m not going to allow you to bait me into a fight when I have nothing to do with this.”

“The hell you don’t.” Turning back to Ke

Before Ke

“What about my rights?”

“You surrendered them the day you walked through the front door.”

“What about you? Who investigates you?”

Adams laughed. “That’s fu

“Spoken like a true sociopath.”

“Let’s just calm down,” Ke

Nash’s headache got worse. He looked at the woman he’d always respected and suddenly lost his patience. “Fuck this.”

“Excuse me?” Ke

“This is all a bunch of bullshit. You’re telling me to calm down. I saw the front page of the Post. It’s all a bunch of lies, but it doesn’t matter. The politicians are going to want to burn someone at the stake and this little smug prick here is trying to offer me up.”