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Chapters (88)
  1. Titles by Mark Greaney
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. CONTENTS
  7. Epigraph
  8. CHARACTERS
  9. PROLOGUE
  10. 1
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. 5
  15. 6
  16. 7
  17. 8
  18. 9
  19. 10
  20. 11
  21. 12
  22. 13
  23. 14
  24. 15
  25. 16
  26. 17
  27. 18
  28. 19
  29. 20
  30. 21
  31. 22
  32. 23
  33. 24
  34. 25
  35. 26
  36. 27
  37. 28
  38. 29
  39. 30
  40. 31
  41. 32
  42. 33
  43. 34
  44. 35
  45. 36
  46. 37
  47. 38
  48. 39
  49. 40
  50. 41
  51. 42
  52. 43
  53. 44
  54. 45
  55. 46
  56. 47
  57. 48
  58. 49
  59. 50
  60. 51
  61. 52
  62. 53
  63. 54
  64. 55
  65. 56
  66. 57
  67. 58
  68. 59
  69. 60
  70. 61
  71. 62
  72. 63
  73. 64
  74. 65
  75. 66
  76. 67
  77. 68
  78. 69
  79. 70
  80. 71
  81. 72
  82. 73
  83. 74
  84. 75
  85. 76
  86. 77
  87. 78
  88. EPILOGUE

Matt Hanley wore a wide Cheshire cat grin, but to his credit, he didn’t try to hug his former employee. The two men just shook hands. Matt sat down in the chair in front of Court, then he produced a flask from inside his coat, along with two shot glasses.

“You bring those all the way from Langley?”

Hanley shook his head. “Stole them off the plane. Actually, it’s an Air Branch aircraft, so as long as I give them back or expense them, I can do whatever I want with them.”

He poured two shots of neat scotch and passed one to Court, and they drank them together.

Hanley said, “You’ve been up in the mountains two weeks?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit. How much did that suck?”

“It beat D.C.”

Hanley chuckled, but moved on. “Been digging into NCS files. Old code word programs and ops. I’ll be unraveling this shit for months, years maybe, but the short version is this: Carmichael was in some sort of a dysfunctional three-way relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel. He fed both sides intel pulled from the other, kept both in the dark about where he was getting information.”

“What could possibly go wrong?” Court quipped. He took Hanley’s flask and poured himself another drink.

Hanley continued, “Al-Kazaz figured out Denny’s game early on. This meant the Saudis had a disinformation conduit into the Mossad. Kaz gave up some legit operations to solidify Denny’s trust, and he gave up even more to make Denny look good to the Mossad. It was like setting up an IV, and putting good drugs through it.

“But after a while, Kaz started pushing poison through the line.

“Then came Operation BACK BLAST. Kaz knew about the Israeli infiltration agent in al Qaeda, but he couldn’t remove him, because it would tip CIA and Mossad off to the fact that they had a breach. So he concocted the perfect scheme. He organized the meeting between the cells in Italy, and he got Hawthorn to attend. He convinced Denny someone was going to kill him at the meeting, and that he had nowhere to turn. Denny sends his best assassin to rescue him. Kaz survives, the Mossad agent dies, and no one knows Saudi intel is the puppet master of the entire debacle.

“But it got even better for Kaz a year later, when he decided to create a rift between CIA and Mossad by leaking proof the CIA killed Hawthorn. Just imagine how much fun that must have been for al-Kazaz. Aurbach learns CIA schwacked his best man, Carmichael is put on the spot. Carmichael is pissed at al-Kazaz, but he is convinced the Saudis made an honest mistake with the bad intel; he doesn’t suspect he’s been tricked.”

“Why not?”