The Leveling

Mark didn’t respond.

“You may have to sit in on a few conference calls,” said Holtz. “That’s all. And before you start threatening to tell the Kazakhs about CAIN’s surveillance op up at Atyrau, you might want to think about who hired me to gather that information. Go on, take a guess.”

Mark still didn’t respond.

“Try the US military,” said Holtz. “I fell for your BS blackmail the first time, but then I got to thinking, and I’m not falling for it again. You want to expose your own government? Because that’s what you’d be doing.”

Holtz pushed the contract toward Mark. “I didn’t think so. You get one dollar a year for each of the five years. But if you actually want to go to work and bring in any new business, I’ll give you twenty-five percent of the profits from it. It’s a fair deal. The contract is clear. If you want to do jack squat, you get jack squat but I still get to say you’re part of CAIN. If you want to do more—”

“Hundred thousand yearly retainer for the use of my name, fifty percent of profits from business I bring in.”

“Fuck you.”

Mark glanced at Daria. She looked appalled by the whole exchange.

“I’m also gonna need a little preview on what you have on Decker.”

“I can tell you who he was with when he disappeared, what he was doing, and where he was going. I can’t tell you where he is.”

“Is he alive?”

“I have no idea.”

“Hundred thousand, fifty percent. Keep in mind, I’ve got a good sense of what you’re raking in by bilking State and DoD. I know you can afford it.”

“Fine,” said Holtz. “I accept your terms.”

“I guess that means I should have asked for more.”

“You’re making a mistake, dealing with this asshole,” Daria said to Mark.

Holtz pulled another set of papers out of his inner coat pocket. “One more thing. Noncompete agreements.” To Mark he said, “When you’re working for CAIN, you’re not two-timing me on the side.” To Daria he said, “Yours is the noncompete I should have had you sign when you were working for me. Translator, my ass. I did a little asking around. You were a fucking CIA NOC that went bad. The only reason you were working for me was to gather intel from my operation so that you could start up your own operation and cash in.”

“You can’t enforce a noncompete over here,” said Mark. “What’s the point?”

“Step one foot in the States and they’re enforceable. You guys won’t be hanging out over here forever. Eventually you’ll go back.”

Mark sighed. He figured that, if he put his mind to it, he could find a way to get Holtz to back down. But that would take effort. And besides, he was pretty psyched about the hundred-thousand-dollars-a-year-for-sitting-on-his-butt deal.

Daria said, “This is a joke.”

“Those are my terms if you want to know what I know about Decker. Take them or leave them.”

Mark looked at Daria.

“I don’t care,” she said, clearly disgusted. “Let’s just get it done.”





27


Washington, DC



“I TALKED TO the Israeli defense minister an hour ago. At minimum they’re talking about targeting the reactor at Bushehr, the uranium enrichment sites at Natanz and Fordo, and the nuclear-related sites in Arak, Tehran, Ardakan, Darkovin, and Esfahan,” said the secretary of defense.

It was well after midnight. The president was seated in his cramped study just off the Oval Office, cradling his head in his hand. On his desk was a crystal tumbler that held his nightly two fingers of single-malt Scotch—Lagavulin, his favorite. But tonight the Scotch had gone untouched for hours.

The Iranians had pushed too far this time. While the attack on Khorasani’s daughter was appalling, the Israelis probably didn’t even have anything to do with it. And even if they had, what Khorasani planned to do in retaliation was insane. He had to be stopped. It was just a question of whether the Israelis stopped him on their own, or with the help of the United States.

“They should be able to hit those targets on their own,” continued the secretary of defense. “Whether they can actually destroy them all—”

“They can’t.”

“—is another matter.”

“Can we?”

“You’ve read the latest assessment from CENTCOM.”

“I’m asking you.”

“Assuming our targeting intel is good, I agree with CIA and DIA that the odds would be in our favor. But destroying Fordo and confirming that the two nukes we believe are there have been taken out will require a ground team.”

“And your personal view on whether the Israelis can pull off that kind of insertion on their own?” asked the president.