CIA Station
Istanbul, Turkey
September
FREDDY AND REECE WENT over the pitch several times to ensure that they’d covered all the angles. Freddy knew the internal politics of the Agency well enough to realize that their concept had a better chance of gaining approval coming from him rather than Reece. To many back at Langley, Reece was a murderous loose cannon whose only use was his relationship with Mo. This needed to be about the operation.
Reece excused himself from the room when the time arrived for Freddy’s video teleconference with his superiors back in Northern Virginia. Victor Rodriguez, a former Army Special Forces officer and current head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Special Operations Group, appeared on the screen, joined by the Agency’s deputy director of the National Clandestine Service, Janice Motley. The tailored blue suits worn by both Rodriguez and Motley and the frosted-glass interior of the Langley SCIF were in sharp contrast to the shaggy-haired and polo-clad SEAL in the spartan conference room in Istanbul. At least he’d taken off his ball cap.
Despite climbing the ranks at the Agency, Rodriguez hadn’t forgotten where he’d come from and could be counted on to watch the backs of his men in the field. Motley was an unknown quantity among the spies and trigger-pullers whom she oversaw in her new role. Her background as the lead staff attorney for the Senate Intelligence Committee didn’t exactly fill the operatives with hope when it came to her view of paramilitary work.
“Mr. Strain, good to hear from you. Nice work in XXXXXX,” Rodriguez began. “Let me introduce you to Deputy Director Janice Motley.”
“Pleasure to meet you, ma’am. I appreciate both of you making time on such short notice. We have some extremely time-sensitive intel that needs attention,” Freddy said, putting on his most charming smile as he transitioned from covert operator to salesman.
“Please go on, Mr. Strain.” Motley clearly wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.
“Yes, ma’am. As you both know, we successfully recruited James Reece and brought him in to attempt to make contact with Mohammed Farooq, a former Iraqi special operations commander who worked with Commander Reece back during OIF.”
“We are well aware of that, Mr. Strain, and you should know that decision was made over my objection,” Motley added.
“Understood, ma’am. Earlier today, James Reece made contact with Farooq, who acknowledged his role in planning the attacks on the Colchester Garrison in England and the assassination of General Alexander in Brussels. He denied any role in the Christmas attack in Kingston but did say that Amin Nawaz operates multiple independent cells that do not have visibility of the others’ missions for operational security purposes.”
“Did Reece make any arrangements with him relative to Nawaz?” Rodriguez interjected.
“No, sir, there was an unforeseen twist in Mohammed’s story. He claims to have been directed to carry out these attacks by a former Agency contractor named Jules Landry, who has been running Mohammed under the auspices of a legitimate CIA operation. Landry has been missing since 2013 and we have recently discovered that he may have entered the Agency’s employ under fraudulent circumstances.”
“Is Farooq’s story credible?” Motley asked.
“We believe it is.”
“So, you’re saying that we have a green-badger who has gone rogue and is running terrorist networks under the guise of an official United States government paramilitary operation?”
“Yes, ma’am, that is our assessment.”
“To what end?”
“We don’t know at this point. As I said, we just became aware of this a few hours ago. My gut instinct is that Landry is running Mohammed at the behest of another entity, either a rogue state, terrorist organization, or what’s termed a super-empowered individual or entity.”
“I’m not interested in what your gut tells you, Mr. Strain, and I know the term.”
“What I believe Mr. Strain is trying to say, Janice, is that there isn’t evidence that Landry’s defection was ideologically driven,” Rodriguez interjected.
“So, what are you proposing we do with this information?” Motley continued without addressing Victor’s comment.
Strain exhaled before responding, “Ma’am, are you familiar with the pseudoterrorist operations carried out by the Rhodesian Selous Scouts in the 1970s?”
Strain could see his boss’s eyes widen at the mention of Rhodesia; Motley was African American and the racial implications of the Bush War made Rodriguez immediately uncomfortable.
Motley showed no reaction. “I am not, Mr. Strain.”
“Well, they were arguably the most effective counterinsurgency unit in history. They used ‘pseudoterrorists’ who were either undercover Rhodesian soldiers or actual former insurgents to infiltrate enemy networks so that they could be targeted by conventional forces. We feel that we have a unique opportunity to utilize Mohammed Farooq in a similar role and not only take out Amin Nawaz but also infiltrate additional networks to include ISIS.”
“You are proposing that, instead of incarcerating Mohammed Farooq for planning the murder of a U.S. general as well as killing and maiming numerous allied troops, we bring him in to work for us?”
“Yes, ma’am. As horrible as it is to have a rogue CIA agent running an asset against our allies, it also gives us a unique opportunity. As much as I hate to say it, we can take over from Landry and have a highly placed, and legitimate, asset in a leadership position of a major terrorist organization. Not unsimilar to how the DEA infiltrates the cartels.”
After a pregnant pause, Motley continued: “How exactly would this happen, Mr. Strain?”
• • •
“What did they say?” Reece asked, his impatience evident.
“Well, they didn’t shoot it down. They said they need to think about it. Vic seemed on board. I’m just not sure how to read Motley.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“You had a long day of getting kidnapped, so I say we call it.”
“And then?”
“Let’s plan as if we’re going to get the go-ahead.”
By noon the following day, the two operatives had come up with a basic concept of operations that involved a direct-action mission to capture/kill Amin Nawaz, and the apprehension and rendition of Jules Landry. Either one of these tasks would be tricky to accomplish individually, let alone simultaneously.
With multiple unknowns this was a tough sell, and would be even harder to pull off once Murphy’s law inevitably came into play; they didn’t know the location of either Landry or Nawaz and wouldn’t be sure of the latter until hours before the operation had to be executed. The entire plan revolved around their absolute trust in Mo, something that both of them hoped was not a naïve sentiment. They had plenty of leverage to motivate him but it was possible, perhaps even likely, he might disappear. Mo had been used by what he now knew to be a rogue CIA operative and had committed atrocities for reasons yet unknown. Reece and Freddy were counting on him wanting to find out why. A military chain of command would never greenlight such a harebrained operation, but the Agency wasn’t the U.S. military.
By the following morning, Freddy received word from Vic Rodriguez that the plan was tentatively approved on several conditions: that the hit look like it was done by another Islamic entity, that the United States Department of Justice would formally charge Mo with terror-related crimes both to cover asses in Washington and to bolster his bona fides as an international terrorist, and, finally, that Landry would not enter U.S. custody at any point during the operation so that his civil rights would not be violated by any U.S. agency or asset, well, any agency other than the CIA. With those boundaries in place, Reece and Freddy dug into the details of their tactical planning. They were going back to war.