Foreign Influence

CHAPTER 71

Drop your weapon!” Harvath yelled. “Drop it now!”

Abdul Rashid straightened his trigger finger and allowed the pistol to roll upside down and hang from it.

Harvath repeated the command in Arabic.

“I’m going to bend down and set it on the ground,” Rashid replied in English.

“Slowly,” said Harvath, his vision and hearing coming back. “Very, very slowly.”

“I’m setting it down.”

Once the weapon was on the ground, Harvath said, “Back up five steps and kiss the ground.”

Rashid did as he was told, and while Rhodes helped tend to Ericsson, Harvath and the rest of the team cautiously advanced.

Harvath kept his weapon trained on Rashid while Casey and Cooper cleared the two rooms on either side of the hallway. Once they were done, he checked the two men Rashid had shot. They were both dead.

“Where’s Jarrah?”

“There’s another room at the far end of the basement. He’s barricaded in there.”

“How many other people in the building?” demanded Harvath.

“There’s nobody else. This is it. Listen, you can’t shoot him. I need Jarrah alive.”

Harvath looked at Casey and Cooper. “Go get him.” Looking down at Rashid, he removed a pair of EZ Cuffs and said, “Put your hands behind your back.”

“My name’s Sean Chase. I’m with the CIA. Ground Branch.”

“Shut up and put your hands behind your back,” Harvath repeated.

Before Chase could respond, Alex Cooper yelled, “Gun!” and all eyes turned to the end of the hallway where Marwan Jarrah had just stepped from around the corner with an AK47 and begun firing.

CHAPTER 72

Marwan Jarrah never had a chance. As the bullets popped and zinged all around her, Alex Cooper stood her ground and returned fire.

Though she wanted to kill him on the spot by putting two rounds right into his head, she focused on his chest and didn’t lay off of her trigger until he laid off of his.

The Iraqi fell back against the wall and left a trail of blood as he slid down into a sitting position. His AK clattered to the ground next to him and Cooper kicked it away.

Chase tried to get up, but Harvath kept his knee in his back as he zipped his cuffs.

“I don’t know who the hell you are,” shouted Chase, “but if he dies, you’re in a lot of trouble.”

Harvath stood up, yanked Chase to his feet, and handed him to Casey. “Let him ask any questions he wants, but watch him.” Harvath then took Cooper to clear the rest of the basement.

“You lied to me,” murmured Jarrah as Chase kneeled next to him.

“Tell me how I can reach Aleem,” he said, knowing full well it was pointless. Marwan wasn’t going to give him up.

The Iraqi laughed and then produced a wet cough as he spat up blood. “I treated you like a son.” His eyelids were drooping and his breath was coming in sharp gasps.

He whispered something further but Chase couldn’t hear it and so leaned in closer. “What did you say?”

“I have something to tell you,” the Iraqi rasped, before his body was racked once more with bloody coughs.

“What is it?”

“I have a secret.”

Chase was inches away from his face. “What is it, Marwan? Tell me.”

As his final breath escaped his body, Jarrah looked at his beloved protégé and said, “I lied to you too.”

After clearing the basement, Harvath came back to interrogate the man claiming to be from the CIA.

“Listen, there’s going to be an attack downtown in two hours.”

“Let’s start with who the hell you are,” said Harvath.

“I told you, my name is Sean Chase. Call Langley and ask to be co

Harvath nodded at Cooper, who removed her cell phone and headed for the stairs.

“Jarrah’s got eight suicide bombers,” continued Chase, “but you don’t need to worry about them. What you need to be worried about-”

“Wait a second,” interrupted Harvath. “Why shouldn’t we be worried about eight suicide bombers?”

“Because their vests don’t work. I made sure.”

Casey looked at him. “How?”

“The circuit’s not complete. The detonators can’t get any electricity.”

“Just like the vests in Nasiri’s apartment.”

“Where are the bombers now?” asked Harvath.

“That’s not important,” replied Chase. “Jarrah has three two-man teams of Mumbai-style shooters that are going to hit a bunch of hotels unless we stop them. We need to get going.”

“Until we get confirmation on who you are, you’re not going anywhere. Why was there a camera in Nasiri’s apartment?”

“So I could have an excuse to get away from Jarrah. I wanted him to think I was going to detonate the vests on the hostages myself. If I could get away from him, then I could try to stop the shooters.”

“Why not call the cops? Why go to all this trouble?”

“Because this isn’t the end of it. There’s somebody else above Jarrah, a man named Aleem.”

“Aazim Aleem?” Harvath replied.

“That’s him. The guy with the hooks. Jarrah told me that he has networks in at least two other cities. Supposedly, he’s already left for Los Angeles and I was supposed to coordinate an attack in New York. But-” Rashid’s voice trailed off.

“But what?”

“I think he was lying to me.”

“About what?” asked Harvath. “The location of the attacks or the fact that you were supposed to coordinate the one in New York?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I wanted Jarrah alive. He was the only one who knew how to get to Aleem.”

Harvath pressed him with more questions. “Why’d you torture those cops?”

“You’re wasting time,” said Chase.

“Answer me.”

“For fuck’s sake. I’m the only reason they’re still alive. Jarrah wanted to kill them.”

“But you shot one of them.”

“It was clean. Through and through. If I’d wanted to kill him, trust me, he’d be dead.”

Harvath was about to ask another question when Cooper hailed him over the radio and told him someone at Langley wanted to talk to him.

CHAPTER 73

After Harvath had spoken to Kip Houghton, he hung up and called Reed Carlton, who contacted Bruce Selleck, director of the National Clandestine Service at CIA. Once they had both vouched for Chase and his deep-cover operation, Harvath had been instructed to remove his restraints and allow him to come along.

Chase was part of a small contingent of faux John Walker Lindhs whom the Agency had recruited from various walks of life, trained, and then set adrift in a handful of madrassas across the Islamic world hoping that they might get picked up by al-Qaeda. Several of them had, but no one had gotten as far as Sean Chase.

Trained to operate completely on his own, Chase went for long stretches without contact. The assignment and his cover always came first. His handler was used to the irregularity with which he reported in. But as well as the operation had worked, everyone was now extremely concerned that maybe they had let this go too far and that more i

Over two hours had passed and Harvath was developing a very bad feeling as Casey’s voice came over his earpiece. “Negative,” she replied to his request for a sitrep. “There’s no sign of any of them. We’re still all clear at the InterContinental.”

Across the street at the Marriott hotel, Harvath looked at Chase. “According to your timetable, they should have been here by now.”

“I don’t know where the hell they are.”

“You’re positive these were the hotels?”

“Yes,” replied the CIA operative, who was equally frustrated.

“I’m getting ready to pack it in,” said Harvath.