At the Alt-Collner Schankstuben restaurant Pam Schlueter took one of the small tables on the sidewalk and ordered a Martini & Rossi red vermouth with an orange peel. It was the signal that she’d come in clear, which just now was a great puzzle to her. One of several she was faced with.
About a month ago she’d noticed that someone was following her, and it didn’t take long to figure out that her minders—there were three on single shifts—were almost certainly BND officers. It was a BND officer who’d followed Dieter to Florida and gunned him down on the beach outside the UDT/SEAL museum. And Friedrich Heiser had had to lose another BND officer before he made the hit on the Ridder SEAL and his family.
And as of yesterday she was still being followed. But all of a sudden this afternoon, when she’d taken a test run to the Marx-Engels Plaza in preparation for tonight’s meeting, she realized that her minders were gone.
For a couple of hours she wandered all over the city, sometimes on foot, sometimes by bus or taxi but no one was behind her. She’d even become so obvious as to suddenly stop and reverse direction or walk into a shop and go out the back way. But still nothing. Nor had there been anyone in front of the apartment she was using for the past several weeks or anyone to follow her here tonight.
Only a few diners were in the pub, and the small table next to hers had a reserved sign on it. Naisir came around the corner and sat down at the reserved table. “You had no trouble this evening?” he asked conversationally.
“No. But what the hell are you doing here?” Pam demanded, keeping her voice low. His calling her for this meeting was another of the puzzles.
A waiter came out and Naisir ordered a grilled ham sandwich and a beer.
“I can’t eat like this in Islamabad,” the ISI officer said. “I’ve come to warn you that I arranged to have Mr. McGarvey taken out but the idiots who were to have done the job failed. In fact, McGarvey actually killed two of them.”
Pam had seen the back-page newspaper article about a disturbance in a parking garage just off the Ku’damm. The police had called it a robbery attempt, which was common these days. “I had the contract, I was waiting for you to tell me where he could be found, and now you’re saying that he was here in Berlin?”
“Yes. It was thought to save you the trouble so that you could concentrate on your primary assignment. How are you progressing?”
“I still have Heiser and four other operators in the States, all of them in the Norfolk area.”
Naisir frowned. “If they’re working together, they’re bound to be noticed.”
“For now none of them knows of the existence of the others. They’re each working independently. In fact, one of the DEVGRU operators and his family have already been eliminated.”
“Yes, I’d assumed that was your work. What about the others? There’s been nothing in the news over the past twenty-four hours. You’ve not run into any trouble you’re not telling me about?”
When Pam had realized that she was no longer being tailed by the BND she had debated keeping Naisir in the dark. But she depended upon him for up-to-the-minute intelligence, and of course for the money—one million euros up front, plus five hundred thousand for each SEAL assaulter taken down, plus an additional bonus if all twenty-four of them were eliminated.
“The BND is no longer following me,” she said.
“They’re very good. You can’t be certain.”
“But I am,” she said, and she told him about her activities this afternoon and evening.
Naisir’s sandwich and beer came, and Pam ordered another vermouth. When her drink came and the waiter left, Naisir was actually smiling.
“Perhaps it’s better that we let Mr. McGarvey return home unharmed after all,” he said.
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t you see, my dear, the man has actually helped us—you in particular.”
“No, I don’t see.”
“Why he became involved no longer matters. But he is, and his first step was to come here to talk to the BND officer who took your Herr Zimmer out. But the meeting took place at the private residence of Weisse’s control officer, not at headquarters. Afterwards, the team tailing you was ordered to stand down. The same thing is happening at this moment in the United States. Only the local police are involved in the murders, but not the FBI or the CIA.”
“I’m still not following you,” Pam said.
“Mr. McGarvey has convinced the German intelligence service as well as his own CIA that the attacks on the SEAL Team Six assaulters is being orchestrated by us. By the government of Pakistan. To exact retribution.”
“Which is the truth.”
“Of course it is. But neither Berlin nor Washington could ever admit to something so monstrous. We provide the United States, and to a lesser extent the coalition forces, including Germany, with the right to do battle with the Taliban and al-Qaeda leadership. Of course we condemn the attacks publically, but we allow them.”
“Including the raid on bin Laden’s compound?”
“Especially that one,” Naisir said. “And in return we are given money to help fund and equip our military.”
Pam understood perfectly. “India is a friend of the United States. So we’re talking about a delicate balance.”
“An extremely delicate balance, one that neither Washington nor Berlin wishes to upset.”
“Stupid that they would allow their war heroes to be assassinated.”
“The actual reason for the balance is to prevent a nuclear war between us and India—a war that would almost certainly spread, perhaps to something totally out of control.”
“It’s still stupid,” Pam said. Even through her deep hatred she could see it—a country not protecting the soldiers who served it.
“I agree. But they have McGarvey. He won’t get any official help, but he’s bound to come after your assassins and eventually you.”
“I thought you said that he’s helped us.”
“Yes, he has. But just remember he will come after you, and when he does, you’d best be prepared to deal with him.”
“Unlike your clumsy effort.”
“I agree,” Naisir said. “Even I underestimated the man. Don’t you make the same mistake.”
“When the time comes he will be eliminated for an additional fee.”
“Yes, one million.”
“Two million.”
“Agreed,” Naisir said without hesitation.
“Then the next step is to kill the remaining twenty-two SEALS.”