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In Washington, D.C., Pepper called the President to update her on the status of his missing agent, Kara Ramey.
Everything he needed to tell the POTUS was embarrassing to the Agency. He already felt humiliated after informing her that Kara, who had been assigned as a CIA asset to Hail, had gone rogue. With an international incident brewing on the outskirts of Pakistan, he felt the situation required prompt and full disclosure.
“Yes, Madam President, I have some disturbing news. It appears that Kara Ramey has kidnapped the children of one of our Top Ten Terrorists who resides in Pakistan. It appears she is holding them in trade for their father, Zain Shallah.”
There was absolute silence. Pepper sensed it wasn’t a good kind of silence. He was confident the President wasn’t basking in the joy of knowing that a CIA agent had ventured way off the reservation and was making decisions that might place the presidency in jeopardy.
The President asked in a measured tone, “I assume you have mobilized your assets in that region and will solve the problem?”
Pepper hated to say the next words, “Marshall Hail is sending in a team and they’ll make a surgical strike on the safe house compound. He is confident he will be able to extract Ramey from the country before this thing turns into a—into a—.” But Pepper felt he had said enough. He left the President to fill in the remainder of his sentence.
“Turn into a cluster—? Is that what you were thinking?” she asked.
“Yes, Madam President,” Pepper said contritely. “I mean I could send in my people but it could get very messy. It’s reported that Shallah has a small army surrounding the property.”
The President let out a soft groan and said, “Jarret, I don’t think this situation could get any worse. Let me summarize. We have a rogue CIA agent in a foreign country who has kidnapped the children of a terrorist. Really? What kind of show are you running?”
It was a rhetorical question so Pepper didn’t bother answering. Instead, he said, “I think this is the main reason Ramey joined the CIA in the first place. It’s my contention she always intended to avenge her parents’ deaths by finding the terrorist responsible for shooting down that plane. This was her opportunity. Hidden agendas such as these don’t typically expose themselves during the interviewing or vetting process. She struck us as a smart, highly motivated, and good-looking woman with the ability to speak dozens of languages fluently. We knew her parents had been killed in The Five, but that tragedy emboldened thousands to apply in the name of patriotism. Kara happened to be one of those candidates who was fast-tracked into service.”
Pepper had, in so many words, told the President the situation couldn’t have been avoided, especially given the climate during which Kara applied and joined the CIA.
The President was not one to focus on the past. Being President, she knew the bad days would probably outnumber the good days. But holy smokes, this just happened to be a real bad day.
“Are you confident Marshall Hail can fly in and get Ramey out of the country quietly?”
That was a good question. Pepper had no way of knowing how Hail was planning to pull this mission off successfully. He didn’t know how much attention Hail’s operation would garner. Would it make the papers in Peshawar? Possibly. Would it make the newswire in Pakistan? That was a good possibility as well. There were many ways to be loud in terms of making headlines. There was being loud, as in a mass bombing, leaving hundreds of dead bodies at the targeted site. There was being loud by sending in a large contingent of men and leaving dead bodies from small arms fire. Both versions of loud were unacceptable to both the President and the CIA. Hail had to go in and be very, very quiet. In a perfect scenario, Hail and his team would perform a little magic like they performed on the mission in North Korea. They could not leave any trace they had been in Peshawar.
Pepper turned the question around on the President. He countered, “I have as much confidence in Hail as you.”
The President laughed mockingly and said, “Then we are really screwed, Jarret.”