chapter 20
BAGRAM AIR BASE, AFGHANISTAN
RAPP lay on his bunk and stared up at the ceiling. They'd taken away his uniform and given him an orange jumpsuit just like the ones worn by the other prisoners. He took it all in stride. He'd been in far worse situations. It would do him no good to start ranting and raving and demanding that he be treated with more dignity. The truth was that he found it humorous that they had chosen to put him in the very same facility that housed Haggani and al-Haq. Rapp figured this was the only place they had where they could keep him isolated until Washington weighed in on the unique situation. The main prison was filled with hundreds of combatants and terrorists. Putting Rapp in with that group was almost unimaginable, but that dimwitted captain had actually suggested they do just that. Fortunately, General Garrison seemed to have a decent amount of common sense and intervened.
This thing was going to get kicked up to the highest levels in Washington, and his allies on the Hill would be indignant that they had treated Rapp no better than a common terrorist. His stint at the prison was at two days and running. He knew because he still had his watch. They'd ordered him to hand it over, but he declined. After a brief discussion the four guards who were processing him decided it wasn't worth the fight. They'd already seen what he'd done to one of the prisoners as well as Captain Leland, and since they liked neither the spitting terrorist nor Captain Leland they decided to cut him some slack. He'd been brought six meals and expected his seventh any minute. The food was nothing great, but it wasn't bad. It sure the hell was better than anything these guys were eating up in the mountains.
So far the only real surprise was that no one had shown up to bail him out. He figured it must have been the time change and the fact that it had happened over the weekend. Whatever the case, Rapp knew they would be coming soon. He'd be dragged back to Washington, and then the real show would start. The solitude had given him plenty of time to figure it out. To think about each person, what they would say and how he would meet it all head-on. It was time. They had been running from this fight for far too long. The amount of time, energy, and money they spent trying to hide what they were doing from their own government was ridiculous.
Rapp heard the metallic click of the lock on the door being released and sat up, thinking his next meal had arrived. When the door opened he saw the familiar face of Rob Ridley. The deputy director of the National Clandestine Service looked at Rapp with a combination of amusement and concern.
"You've really done it this time, my friend."
"Could you have taken any longer?" Rapp asked in return.
Ridley held up his camera phone and said, "Don't move. I need to record this moment for my personal archives."
Rapp made an obscene gesture and said, "I'm glad you can find some humor in it."
Ridley dragged a chair into the small cell and closed the door. "It's not every day I get to see my idol in prison orange."
All Rapp could do was smile at Ridley and shake his head. It was good to see him, but he wasn't about to tell him that. "Seriously, where in the hell have you been?"
Ridley sat and let out a long sigh. "This is a complicated situation, Mitch."
Rapp took the fact that his friend closed the door as a bad sign. "So some prick wants to keep me in here and show me a lesson?"
"Kind of. Here, I brought something for you." Ridley handed Rapp a paper bag.
Rapp took it and looked inside. He pulled out a worn leather baseball glove, a baseball, and a copy of Mein Kampf. "What the hell is this?"
Ridley was known as one of the biggest pranksters in the agency, which had endeared him to many. He flashed Rapp his signature boyish grin and said, "I just thought I'd help put you in the mood. You know, The Great Escape with Steve McQueen. You, stuck here in the cooler... playing catch against the wall... reading Adolf Hitler's autobiography. I just thought I'd help get you in the right frame of mind, since you might be here for a while."
"You're a dandy." Rapp laughed while he put on the glove and began pounding the ball into the old mitt. "Great movie, by the way."
"One of the best." Ridley held up his phone for Rapp to see and then gave him a wink.
Good, Rapp thought. He carried the same phone. It would emit a ten-foot umbrella of white noise and render the cell's listening devices useless. The cells were wired to record everything. It would stand to reason that since he was a U.S. citizen anything he said would not be admissible in court, but that was a pretty low threshold, considering what they were about to discuss.
"Seriously," Rapp said, "what took so long?"
"There've been some complications."
"Such as?"
"Such as you hitting a United States Air Force officer and almost breaking his wrist."
"You can't be serious," Rapp groaned.
"Did you have to hit him?"
"I didn't hit him."
"Really," Ridley said in a tone of disbelief. "How did he get the shiner?"
"He fell."
"Come on."
"Seriously... he tried to pull his gun on me."
"And?"
Rapp stopped pounding the ball into the mitt. Stopped moving entirely. "You can't be serious."
"I'm very serious. Some of this we have a shot at fixing, but you striking this guy has caused quite a stir."
"I didn't strike him. He went to draw his gun." Rapp shrugged. "I felt it was excessive force."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"It wasn't the only reason, but I sure as hell don't like guns being pointed at me. Especially by some snot-nosed little prick like that."
"Fair enough. That's basically what I told them, but this captain is making a big stink out of it. Any other reasons why you may have done it? Just between you and me."
"Of course... he was getting ready to call the MPs in and send them to arrest the others. I needed to buy a little more time for the others to get away, and I didn't hit him. He was bringing his gun around on me, I grabbed it, twisted it free, and in the process, he fell and hit his head on a chair."
"I had a chance to talk to the base commander in private."
"General Garrison."
"Yeah... he pretty much corroborates what you just said, but this captain is..." Ridley stopped and rolled his eyes.
"A little puss, is what he is. I should have broken his f*cking jaw."
Ridley moaned. "That type of attitude is not going to help." Ridley leaned forward and placed his hands on his knees. "I think if you make a heartfelt apology to the captain we could probably get him to drop this whole thing."
"Hell no."
"Don't be unreasonable."
"I'm willing to face the music. I told you that before I came over here. It's time to force this issue."
"That's fine, and Irene agrees, but this stuff about you hitting an officer isn't going to play well with the very people we need to support you."
"Yeah... well, have you met him yet?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"I can see where he might bug some people."
Rapp frowned. "The guy is a prick with a capital P."
"And he has a huge shiner and is wearing a sling, and if he ends up in front of one of the committees wearing his service dress uniform, he is going to garner a boatload of sympathy from the exact people we are counting on for support."
Rapp drove the ball into the mitt a few more times and then asked, "So what do you want me to do?"
"You know what I want you to do."
"Crap."
"It's not that hard. Just shake his hand and say you're sorry. We've explained to him that you have a very colorful history and even intimated that the president owes you a few favors. That he would more than likely look favorably on someone who was willing to help him out in such a delicate situation."
"Who's the we?"
"Stephen Roemer, special assistant to the secretary of defense."
Rapp thought about his options for a moment and then swore. "If this kid cops an attitude..."
"I'll make sure he doesn't. The important thing is that we get you out of here so we can get moving on the other stuff. There's still going to be an investigation and hearings and God only knows what else. Now, if you don't want to apologize... you can sit in this cell for the next month or so while a bunch of lawyers decide your fate."
"Hell no."
"Then do it."
"Fine."
"Make it sincere, Mitch. We need you back in D.C."
"I said fine," Rapp growled.
Ridley reached into the bag next to the chair and pulled out a khaki flight suit. "As much as I'd love to see you have to walk around in your prison garb, I think it might send the wrong message."
"I thought you said I might have to stay in here for a while?"
"That was before you agreed to play nice. Now, hurry up and put those on. You have to apologize, and then we have a plane to catch."