The Last Man

Chapter 24
INTER-SERVICES INTELLIGENCE HQ, ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

ASHAN had been summoned to the director general's office, and he thought he knew why. His people had informed him of the developments across the border. Not only was Rickman gone, but another operative in Jalalabad had gone missing and there had been an attempt on Mitch Rapp's life. As the deputy general of the Foreign Relations Wing, the only thing that surprised Ashan was that he hadn't heard directly from the Americans. Even so, he had directed his people in both Jalalabad and Kabul to aid their counterparts from the CIA.

The ISI was an extremely controversial yet influential part of the Pakistani government. In recent years there had been pressure to make the intelligence agency more accountable. Parliament had decided that the best way to avoid future scandal would be to make sure the head of the spy agency wasn't anyone too special. In other words, they wanted someone they could control. They found just the person in Air Force General Ahmed Taj. Taj's career in the Air Force had been spent almost entirely in supply and logistics. He had both a fondness and an aptitude for moving men and equipment from point A to point B.

Ashan had noticed this some time ago, as it seemed that nearly every time he was called to Taj's office he was ordered to get on a plane and go somewhere. When he'd been informed of the meeting, he called his wife and asked her to pack a bag for him just in case. The office of the director general was decadent. The space was nearly as big as a tennis court. The walls and ceiling were covered in a deep brown rosewood paneling and there were three granite fireplaces. Most of the walls were covered with bookcases, but there had been updates that included several large flat-screen monitors tastefully concealed behind tapestries.

Ashan was five minutes early and was irritated to find his friend General Durrani seated and sharing tea with their boss. It was just like Durrani to arrive early in an attempt to reform and dictate the agenda. The room was divided into three parts. To the far left was the director general's mammoth desk, a map table, and four chairs. The middle of the room was dominated by a conference table for sixteen. The most Ashan had ever seen at the table were six people. To the right was a sitting area. A massive leather couch that could seat six was centered on the fireplace. Two more couches framed the area around a large glass coffee table.

Taj greeted Ashan and asked him if he'd like some tea. Ashan graciously accepted and sat by himself on one of the shorter couches. He accepted his tea and saucer with both hands and placed it on the glass tabletop. He would very much like to know what the two men had been discussing, but would never want to seem so desperate. Besides, there was a good chance it would be revealed during the course of their conversation.

"How are things in Foreign Relations?" Taj asked.

Ashan was pleased to see that in a break from his predecessors, Taj was dressed in a light gray suit as opposed to his military uniform. "We're getting along."

"Good. So," said Taj, picking up his cup of tea and taking a sip, "I assume you've been following the recent developments in Afghanistan."

"I have."

"Any thoughts?" Taj was less than average in height, and sitting by himself in the middle of the massive couch gave him kind of a childlike appearance.

Ashan hated such open-ended questions. Especially when there was likely an agenda or at least a formed opinion behind it. His job was to offer his insights to the director general, so he took in a short breath and pushed ahead. "It appears, at least from a timing standpoint, that someone has decided to launch an operation against our American friends."

"Any idea who?"

This was where it always got tricky. Ashan decided to start out cautiously. "Beyond the usual suspects, no, sir."

"As for the usual suspects . . . I'd like to hear your list."

"The Taliban is the obvious choice, although I doubt that they have the organization to be able to conduct such a complicated operation."

"Explain, please."

"Two different targets, all individuals, which means it's very hard to predict where they will be in advance. From everything we know, the Taliban by themselves don't have the assets to pull something like this off."

"By themselves?"

"They are," Ashan started, and then stopped. There was a safer way to go about this. "All we need to do, sir, is look at a map. Afghanistan is landlocked." Ashan ticked off the neighbors. "Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, China, and us."

"Don't leave out the Americans," Durrani interjected.

Ashan was struck by the stupidity of the statement. "You think the CIA is doing this to itself?"

"I don't pretend to know the American mind. I'm simply saying they are highly invested in maintaining their influence over the region."

Ashan decided to let the stupidity of his colleague's statement stand on its own. "Historically, the Stans have had no relationship with the Taliban. If anything, they have been pulled into America's orbit. It is, however, possible that Russia could be involved."

"Do you have any evidence?"

"No," Ashan said with a quick shake of his head. "Although they seem to be taking great joy in poking the Americans as of late, so we should at least consider them. Iran is growing in influence, and we all know they have ample hatred to attempt something so brazen. China, so far, has shown almost no interest in the region. As to why, that is fairly obvious. There are no natural resources other than the opium trade. As we've discussed, if Afghanistan had oil, China would be very interested."

The director general rubbed his fingers along his mustache while he considered the analysis. "So we think it is likely that it is either the Iranians or the Russians."

"There is one more possibility, sir. You forgot about us." It was immediately obvious that Durrani had been waiting for this.

"I told you he would try to pull us into this sordid mess."

"I am trying to do no such thing," Ashan answered in a voice bereft of tension. "The director general asked for my analysis and I gave it to him."

Durrani ignored his old friend and looked directly at Taj. "I warned you. This is dangerous. He has absolutely no evidence, yet he is willing to implicate us. How long do you think it will take until the Americans get word of this? They have spies all over this building." Shifting his butt so he could face Ashan directly, he asked, "How many people have you told of this?"

Ashan would have burst out laughing if the entire thing wasn't so serious. "Akhtar, you must not be listening. Let me phrase this a different way. If you were the Americans, where would you start looking?"

"I don't give a damn about the Americans. This is not our problem. It is theirs, and we should keep it that way. Not help them try to implicate us."

Ashan sat back and threw up his hands. "Director General, I do not understand his animosity. There is no place for it here."

Taj looked as if he wished the entire matter would simply go away, but with these two strong-willed subordinates the chances of that were remote. "I think you both have valid points." Looking meekly at Durrani, he added, "You really should take a less aggressive approach when it comes to the Americans."

"I assume that when we are in your office you would like us to speak freely." Durrani acted hurt by his boss's admonition.

"Unless," Ashan added quickly, "the subject involves your department's unseemly relationship with the Taliban. Then we're not allowed to speak freely."

Durrani realized he had set himself up for the rebuttal and could see that his anger was pushing the director general toward Ashan's position. Rather than speak and risk alienating the director further, he clamped his mouth shut and began a lengthy internal indictment of his friend.

Taj took a last sip of his tea, placed it on the saucer, and pushed it a few inches away. After leaning back and throwing his arm over the back of the couch, he announced, "I think we need to show the Americans our support. Nadeem, I spoke with Director Kennedy earlier. She's at the Bagram Air Base. I'd like you to fly up there and offer our assistance."

Durrani practically leaped to his feet. "Surely you can't be serious. I don't trust him. Not at all. How do you know he won't say to her what he just said to us?"

The last time Ashan had seen his friend this upset was after the bin Laden raid. "You've met Director Kennedy before." The woman's intellect within the intelligence community was well known. "You don't think she's already thought of this herself? You don't think the entire bin Laden fiasco isn't seared into her brain?"

"Why do you keep bringing that up?"

"Because it's relevant." Ashan couldn't believe he had to keep pointing out something so obvious. "The more I think about it, if I were them, the first place I'd look is the External Wing."

Durrani was on his feet this time, stabbing the air with his finger, threating Ashan that his career was over. "There is no room for Anglo lovers in our world anymore. We are a sovereign nation. Not their trained dogs. If I were - "

"You are not me, and I must tell you, Akhtar, you are behaving like a man who has something to hide."

"I will not stand here and take this," Durrani proclaimed, looking at the director for support.

Taj made a calming motion with his hands. "Sit. Everyone needs to calm down."

Ashan felt like pointing out that only one person needed to calm himself, but Taj was smart enough to know that. Bringing it up would only serve to irritate Durrani.

"Akhtar, if you do not trust Nadeem, then I think you should accompany him to Bagram." Taj paused for a long beat and then held up a cautionary finger. "Your lack of emotional control, however, worries me. If you cannot conduct yourself in a civil, helpful way with our American friends, then I do not want you to go anywhere near them. Are we clear?"

Durrani looked like someone had just force-fed him a shit sandwich. He didn't want to leave, especially not now. He needed to keep an eye on things, but at the same time it pained him to think of Ashan licking the boots of the Americans. Ultimately, the only rational choice was to stay in Islamabad. If Ashan was right, and he usually was about these things, the Americans would already have his department under their watchful eye. Ashan could go play nice with the Americans. Durrani would stay where he was and make sure there was nothing to raise their ire.