Divide and conquer - Tom Clancy [51]
"Go on," Hood said quietly. He was getting impatient. Not at Bob Herbert; the intelligence chief was simply a convenient target. Hood wanted Orlov to call him back. He wanted to hear that everything was all right at the hospital. He wanted some good news for a change.
"Sorry," Herbert said.
"So the Harpooner somehow lets it be known that he's going to Baku. He has some kind of operation planned. He knows there are CIA personnel attached to the embassy. He also knows that the CIA might not want to expose those people since police from the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Security are probably keeping an eye on embassy personnel, watching for foreign intelligence operations. So the CIA brings someone in from Moscow."
"Battat," said Hood.
"Yes," Herbert said. He seemed a little uneasy.
"David Battat was the head of the CIA's New York City field office. He was the man who hired Annabelle Hampton."
"The junior officer we busted during the UN siege?" Rodgers said.
Herbert nodded.
"Battat was in Moscow at the time. We checked him. He's clean. One of our CIA contacts told me he was sent to Baku to do penance for the New York screw up." Hood nodded.
"All right. You've got Battat in Baku."
"Battat goes out to a target area to watch for the Harpooner and gets taken down," Herbert said.
"Not taken out, which the Harpooner could have done with no problem.
Battat was apparently infected with a virus or chemical designed to drop him at a specific time. Something serious enough so that he'd be taken to the hospital."
"Under guard from his fellow CIA operatives," Hood said.
"Exactly," Herbert replied.
"Pretty maids all in a row."
"Which leaves the Harpooner free of CIA interference to do whatever he's planning," Hood said.
"That's what it looks like," Herbert said.
"No one but the United States, Russia, and probably Iran has any kind of intelligence presence in Baku."
"Because of the Caspian oil?" Rodgers asked. Herbert nodded.
"If the Harpooner also hit operatives from Moscow and Teheran, we haven't heard about it." Hood thought about that.
"Iran," he said softly.
"Excuse me?" Herbert said.
"That's the second time we've been talking about Iran today," Hood said.
"But not for the same-" Herbert said, then stopped.
"Not for the same reason?" Hood asked.
"Aw, no," Herbert said after a moment.
"No."
"Hold on," Rodgers said.
"What am I missing?"
"You're thinking the game of telephone could go from the Harpooner to Teheran to Jack Fenwick to the NSA to the CIA," Herbert said.
"It's possible," Hood said.
"That would put Fenwick in bed with them on something involving the Harpooner," Herbert said.
"Something he would not want the president to know about," Hood pointed out. Herbert was shaking his head.
"I don't want this to be happening," he said.
"I don't want us working with the sonofabitch who killed my wife."
"Bob, I need you to calm down," Hood said. Herbert was glaring at Hood's desk.
"If the Harpooner is up to something in Baku, we might still be able to get him," Hood said.
"But only if we stay focused." Herbert did not respond.
"Bob?"
"I hear you," Herbert said.
"I'm focused." Hood looked at Rodgers. A minute ago. Hood wanted to lash out. Now that one of his friends was hurting, the desire had subsided. All he wanted to do was help Herbert. Why did he never feel that way about Sharon when she was angry?
"Mike," Hood said, "we really need to pin down what Fenwick's been up to and who, if anyone, he's been working with."
"I'll get that information," Rodgers said.
"But I can tell you this much. I found two e-mails in my computer files from six months ago. They were written by Jack Fenwick and Burt Gable."
"What were the memos about?" Hood asked.