Foreign Influence_ A Thriller - Brad Thor [149]
“What the hell would you know about it?”
“I know,” said Harvath. “Trust me.”
“So, are we going to cuddle up and read chapter two from Miss Manners or are you going to give me the intel you supposedly uncovered on Aleem?”
Harvath motioned for the waiter to bring another chai for his guest. Then, turning to Chase, he said, “I’ve got good news for you, Sean.”
“I bet you do. What is it?”
“Aleem’s close.”
“How close?”
Harvath pulled a set of car keys from his pocket and dropped them on the table. “See that white Corolla over there?”
Chase looked at the car and then back at Harvath. “You’ve got Aleem in there? In the trunk?”
Harvath nodded.
“Holy shit. Where’d you find him?”
“We followed the same leads you did here to Yemen.”
“Let me guess. Age and wisdom over youth and inexperience. Is that what you’re going to tell me?”
“From what I understand,” said Harvath, “you’ve already got more experience than a lot of people twice your age.”
“So what? You’re trying to tell me you’re just that good?”
Harvath smiled. “You’re going to learn, Sean, that it’s often better to be lucky than good.”
Chase rolled his eyes. “What’s the catch? What do you want?”
“Personally, I’d like you to sit and have a glass of tea with me and then you can drive me to the airport.”
“That’s it? That’s all you want?”
“I said that’s what I wanted personally. Professionally, we expect you to share everything with us you can download out of Aleem.”
“But you could do that yourself,” said Chase. “Why give him to me?”
“Because we want to. You worked harder than anyone to get close to this guy and take his network apart. A lot of people have been killed because of him and it’s going to make America look good that we captured him. My group doesn’t want any publicity. The Agency on the other hand needs the good press. Just make sure management doesn’t try to grab all the credit.”
“Thank you,” said Chase as the waiter set down his glass.
Harvath’s phone vibrated. It was an unknown number and he was tempted not to answer it, but for some stupid reason he thought maybe Carlton had given in and passed his number along to Riley in Paris.
The moment he heard the modulated voice on the other end, he knew he had made a mistake. “You owe my boss some money, Nicholas. And he wants it from you in person,” said Harvath.
“I’ve got something else the Old Man’s going to want a lot more,” replied the Troll.
“Then call him and tell him yourself,” he said as he reached for more chai. “I’m going on vacation.”
“I found something on Adda Sterk’s thumb drive.”
“What thumb drive?”
“The one I found in Geneva after you dumped her purse out looking for her inhaler.”
“That’s U.S. government property, Nicholas.”
Wherever in the world he was, the Troll laughed. “I’m doing you a favor. I really think you should see this.”
“Not interested,” said Harvath.
“Aazim Aleem has a nephew who works at Harrods.”
“So what?”
“So, his nephew was a digital courier for him. Real smart when it came to transmitting information without leaving a trail. Except he made one mistake, and I found it.”
“On the thumb drive.”
“Yes.”
Chase was listening intently. Harvath decided the conversation was over. Clinking the tiny spoon he had against his glass he said, “You know what sound that is, Nicholas? That’s the bell signaling the commencement of the local cocktail hour. I’m off the clock. I’m sure you can track down my boss if you try hard enough.”
That’s when the Troll let the other shoe fall. “A piece of data was transmitted to Sterk that never should have been. It was highly encrypted and even if she had noticed it buried in another file, I don’t think she could have decrypted it. I think that’s why it was left on her thumb drive, hidden in plain sight.”
“Okay, I give. What is it?”
The Troll took a deep breath and let it out. “Site 243 wasn’t just about a string of Islamic terrorist attacks. The attacks are a small wave preceding a giant tsunami meant to crush the United States.”
On a rooftop two blocks away, as a man listened to his employer, he