Separation of Power

"Sir," interjected Ke

Hayes could tell by the tone of her voice that it was serious. He leaned back in his chair and formed a steeple with his hands. "Let's hear it."

"We know who killed Peter Cameron."

The President bounced forward immediately. "Who?"

"Her name is Donatella Rahn. She used to work for Mossad, and now she's what we refer to as an independent contractor."

The President cocked his head to the side. "You said she used to work for Mossad."

"That's correct, sir."

"What in the hell is she doing killing former employees of the CIA and American citizens?"

Rapp spoke up. "She didn't know who he was, sir. She was simply hired, wired a sum of money and given the basic information on her target. Nowhere in the information did it say that Cameron used to work for the CIA."

"Who hired her to kill Cameron?"

Rapp didn't feel it was his place to answer the question so he turned to his boss. Ke

"Who?"

"Donatella's handler is Ben Freidman."

"What?" the question spat from the President's mouth as if it had a bad taste to it.

"Somebody, we do not know who, contacted Ben Freidman and took out a hit on Peter Cameron. It was a rush job and it paid well. Freidman in turn gave the job to Donatella."

"And she succeeded! "The President stood and started pacing. "How in the hell did we get this information?"

"Mitch has worked with Donatella before."

The President stopped and spun around. Looking at Rapp he said, "You've worked with this woman. What in the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"When she was with Mossad, sir, we conducted several operations against Hezbollah." Rapp was not the type to be u

Rapp's words caused the President to back off a bit. Turning to Ke

"I'm not sure, sir."

Before she finished her answer Hayes had resumed his pacing. "Why is it that I get this horrible feeling that Israel has been meddling in the affairs of this country?"

"I'm not so sure, sir." Ke

"What do you mean, debriefed? We have her?"

"Yes. She's here in the U. S. Mitch brought her back from Italy. That's where she lives."

What? "The President was beet red with anger.

Rapp thought it was time to weigh in. "Sir, we had a suspicion that Donatella may have been involved in Cameron's death, so I went to Italy to talk to her. While I was visiting her there was an attempt on her life. It would appear that she had outgrown her usefulness to Colonel Freidman."

Hayes stopped pacing and stabbed his index fingers onto the surface of the table. "Irene, does the attempt on Mitch's life in Germany and the assassination of Peter Cameron have anything to do with this crap going on in Baghdad?"

After hesitating, Ke

Now Hayes's face was really red. "Well, what do you say I pick up the phone and call Prime Minister Goldberg?"

Ke

"Well, I do," snapped Hayes. "I don't like it when our allies are involved in the assassination of Americans." Hayes pointed and added, "Especially when it happens less than a mile from the White House."

Ke

"Then who in the hell did?"

"I don't know, sir." Hayes threw up his arms in frustration. "Great. Do you have any ideas on how to find out?"

"Yes, I do. When the time is right we're going to ask Ben Freidman."

"And you expect him to give us a straight answer?"

"Yes, I do, sir. And I expect quite a bit more from him as well." Hayes eyed her for a second. What she had just said reminded him of Thomas Stansfield. "Would you like to let me in on your plan?"

"No." Ke

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Saturday morning

Early the next morning Rapp boarded a CIA Learjet for the relatively short hop from D. C. down to Fayetteville, North Carolina. In his possession were two large duffels and a garment bag. The duffels contained various weapons and ammunition that he might need for the mission, plus a few necessities. He did not plan on returning to D. C. until the mission was over. In the garment bag was a surprise. It involved something he'd been perfecting for years.

As the plane took off, Rapp looked out the small window and allowed himself to think of A

His hopes, his dreams for a normal life were in tatters. He'd been a fool for ever thinking he could have that life. He was a killer. Men like him didn't marry someone like A

That's how Rapp came to grips with his dashed dreams. A