56

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

“Thank you for coming in on such short notice.”

CIA director Richard Stephens entered the conference room adjacent to his office and took his seat at the head of the table. Martha Dell, sitting to his right, slid him a three-ring binder containing bios, photographs, and service records for each person seated around the table. Stephens, however, never opened it. He knew them all and had hand-chosen them for this mission.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’re here,” Stephens continued. “Let me cut to the chase. We’ve got a new war underway that threatens to engulf the whole of the Middle East. We’ve got Americans held by enemy forces who show no desire for negotiations. And we have a commander in chief who has tasked this agency with getting them back—quickly and unharmed.”

Stephens looked each man and woman in the eye.

“Over at the Pentagon, General Meyers and the other Joint Chiefs are developing options. But you know as well as I do that the United States is not about to invade Lebanon. We’re not doing regime change. We’re not engaging in a war of liberation. I see no scenario in which the Joint Chiefs are going to get the green light from the president for a military operation. That’s why POTUS asked me to develop options for getting our people out quietly. Very quietly. No American fingerprints. No American casualties. That’s why I’ve asked you to come in. If you sign on to this team, you’ll have the full resources of the entirety of the American intelligence community. They won’t know you’re there, but trust me when I tell you they will be giving you their full support. Now let’s get into some specifics.”

Stephens directed their attention to wall monitors at the far end of the room. He put up a graphic that one of his analysts had made, comprising screen-captured images from CNN, MSNBC, Fox, BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, and Al-Sawt stating that Hezbollah had kidnapped three Americans.

“The first thing I need you to do is forget everything you’ve heard on the news,” he explained. “We’re not missing three Americans. That’s fake news, though admittedly it’s fake news of our own making. The truth is, two Americans and one Israeli have been captured, though for reasons you’ll see very quickly, we want Hezbollah and the world to think that all the hostages are American.”

Using a remote, Stephens put up a photo of the Israeli.

“As you heard in Sheikh al-Hussaini’s speech, he stated that he is holding a DSS agent named Daniel Case. In fact, there is no such person. This is an alias. Unfortunately, it belongs to a young man named Yigal Mizrachi. In the briefing books that Dr. Dell is about to hand out, you’ll get all the information you’ll need on Mr. Mizrachi and our two Americans. But here’s the thing you need to know right now. Mr. Mizrachi is the nephew of Israeli prime minister Reuven Eitan.”

There were audible gasps around the room.

“Exactly—this is an incredibly dangerous situation whose implications go from very bad to very much worse if Hezbollah realizes who they have. The good news, however, is that we know several things from the Sheikh’s speech. We know that Mr. Mizrachi is alive. We know he’s successfully using the alias. We know his American colleagues are alive and backing up his story. And we know that neither the Sheikh nor his men realize that they have an Israeli, nor who he’s related to. That’s somewhat of a silver lining in an otherwise-horrific situation, though as we all know, it may not last. That’s one of the reasons we need to move very, very quickly.”

Stephens posted another photo on the screens.

“The one accurate thing the Sheikh said was that they are holding a DSS special agent named Kailea Curtis. Unfortunately, that is true. And she, like the others, needs not only the prayers of the American people but your best efforts to get her back. Now I need to draw your attention to the second American being held.”

Everyone looked to the screens, but Stephens did not yet post a new picture.

“The Sheikh said he was holding another DSS special agent by the name of Thomas Millner. That is also fake news. There is no such person. Millner is a code name, another alias. Unfortunately, it’s someone we all know.”

Stephens punched a button, and a photo of Marcus Ryker went up on the screens. The director waited several moments for the nascent team to process the information.

“Again, the good news is that we can be certain Agent Ryker is alive and coherent, because he’s using that alias. And Agent Curtis and Lieutenant Mizrachi are confirming to Hezbollah that that’s his name. That’s good. It buys us time, but again, not much. It’s bad enough that Ryker and Curtis are being held by enemy combatants. But there’s something else you need to know. We have reason to believe the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has put a $10 million bounty on Ryker’s head. The details are in the briefing book. The point is this: at the moment, neither Hezbollah nor the Iranians realize they have Ryker. If they did, they’d be using his real name. But again, whatever comfort that may give us, the clock is ticking. They’re going to figure out who Ryker is and probably a lot faster than figuring out who Mizrachi is. That’s why I need you people to go into harm’s way, find these three, and bring them home. Before that, however, I’m sending you to Tel Aviv. A Gulfstream is fueling up at Andrews as we speak. You’ll link up with Mossad director Asher Gilad and Shin Bet deputy director Tomer Ben Ami. They’ll brief you on all the latest intelligence they have, including their interrogations of a Hezbollah operative they captured. But first I need to know, are you in or out?”