The Third Option

chapter 27
The Ritz-Carlton on Massachusetts Avenue NW was one of the nicest hotels in Washington. Foreign dignitaries from almost every country had stayed there, as had many of America's greatest industrialists. Mitch Rapp and Scott Coleman were parked across the street in a loading zone. Rapp was in the passenger seat of Coleman's Ford Explorer, eyeing the front entrance to the hotel. He was looking for Michael Gould, the hotel's concierge. They had found his name in Gus Villaume's file. Gould was the contact Villaume used to talk to his employers. Rapp had done his homework on Gould. He was French and had dual citizenship. He was fluent in four languages, which helped greatly with his job. The CIA's file on the man said that he had no official affiliation with any intelligence services, but Rapp was skeptical. He had dealt with these types often. They were sellers of information. They respected money; and they feared brute force. If enough money was waved in front of their faces, there was little they wouldn't tell. Rapp hadn't yet decided if he would use money or his fists to get the information he needed.

He had spoken to Gould more than an hour ago. His message to the Frenchman was simple: "I need to speak to Monsieur Villaume, and I need to speak to him immediately." Rapp had given Gould the number to his mobile phone, and he and Coleman had driven to the hotel on the off chance that Villaume might show his face. That was, if he was still alive. With Mario Lukas dead, it wasn't hard to imagine the same fate befalling Villaume. Rapp desperately wanted Villaume breathing. He was the only link to the person who had ordered the hit in Colorado and, Rapp assumed, the same person who had ordered the hit on him in Germany. If Villaume was dead, Rapp was skeptical that he would ever find out who was behind it all.

Neither Rapp nor Coleman was big on conversation, so the stakeout had proceeded in near silence. The rain had subsided just after lunch, but the sky was still gray. Rapp had decided they would wait, keep an eye on the hotel for another hour, and after that they would go take a look at Gould's apartment. At a bare minimum, the man had to have a way to contact ViIlaume and a way to receive payments. The longer Rapp waited to hear back from Gould, the more he was leaning toward getting the information out of the little Frenchman through less than pleasant means.

It was almost two in the afternoon when Rapp's phone I finally rang. Rapp pressed the talk button.

"Hello."

"Is this the Man of Iron?"

"It is. Is this the Frog?"

"I'm afraid it is."

Rapp wasn't sure how to play it. He had worked with Villaume and Lukas on three separate occasions, all of them in France, and he had been impressed by both men. They were proficient and dependable. They had helped Rapp hunt Rafique Aziz, a Palestinian terrorist who was one of the men responsible for the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Villaume and Lukas had been there on a night when Rapp had come within inches of losing his life. In fact, if Lukas hadn't arrived when he had, Rapp probably would be dead.

"I'm sorry to hear about Mario. He was a good man."

"I appreciate that." There was a pause. "Mario liked you. He believed you were honest."

"He was, too. Very dependable."

Slightly overcome with emotion at the loss of his old friend, Villaume said nothing for a while. "I hope you will forgive me, but in light of Mario's incident the other day, I'm a little skittish."

"I don't blame you, but we need to talk."

"In person?"

"That would help."

"I'm afraid that's out of the question."

Villaume's position did not surprise Rapp. He would do the same. "That's too bad, but I understand."

The NSA captured literally every cellular and digital call made in the metro area. The cellular calls were analyzed almost instantly. The digital calls took more time because they had to be deciphered. The massive computers out at Fort Meade sifted through them searching for key words such as gun, bomb, assassinate, and thousands more. If the computers came across a word that was flagged, they would kick the call up to the next level of programmed analysis. If a call contained enough flagged words, it eventually garnered the attention of a real person. Conversations that took place in Arabic, Chinese, or Russian received extra attention. The easiest way to defeat the system was to talk like a normal businessperson.

Rapp formulated his next sentence carefully. "I think we might have a common problem."

"What would that be?"

"I was across the pond on business last week, with your friends from Colorado. Do you know the ones I'm talking about?"

"I think so."

"They screwed me on a deal."

"How do you mean?"

"They were supposed to be working with me, and they, ended up working for someone else."

"I'm not sure I follow."

Rapp's voice took on an angry tone. "They double-crossed me and tried to send me into permanent retirement."

"Oh... I see. Were they following company orders?"

"I can assure you they were not. I went to the top to find out, and they were in the dark as much as me."

"I'm not sure where I fit into all of this."

"Someone hired you to make that trip to Colorado. I have a pretty strong idea that same person interfered with my business deal across the pond." Rapp waited for a second and added, "I would also bet that same person had something to do with Mario's accident the other day."

There was a long pause, and then Villaume asked, "How did you know I had business in Colorado?"

Rapp looked at Coleman. "There were some people there watching you."

"Were they with the company?"

"No... but they were sent by the company."

"I'm not sure I believe you."

Rapp switched the phone from his left ear to his right. "Listen, I know you're in a tough spot. I was there just a few days ago myself. If you can't meet, I understand. But I need to know who hired you." Rapp sat there and waited for a response. He knew how Villaume felt. He could trust no one. After five seconds of tense silence, Rapp added, "Mario saved my life. I owe him. Give me the goods on whoever hired you, and I'll make sure the guy pays for what he did to Mario."

Villaume was tempted. Iron Man would be a powerful ally. The Professor would shit his pants if someone like Iron Man was onto him. It would be the easiest form of revenge he could dream up. Maybe too easy. The timing was a little too convenient. Villaume needed to think about it.

"We've been on the line too long. Let me think about this and get back to you."

"Hey... I understand your reluctance. If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't want to meet, either. All I need is for you to point me in the right direction."

"I'll think about it."

Rapp started to speak, but the line went dead. Looking over at Coleman, he said. "F*ck! I sure hope he stays alive long enough to tell us what he knows."

KENNEDY WAS ALONE in her office, thinking about Rapp and the traitor in their midst who had almost gotten him killed. Marcus Dumond was keeping her informed on the progress he was making with Rapp and Coleman. The deputy director of Central Intelligence had stopped by to pepper her with questions about her testimony to the House Intelligence Committee. It was surprisingly easy to lie to Jonathan Brown, despite the fact that he was a former federal judge. Stansfield had taught her well. Once you learned to control your emotions, it was nearly impossible for an adversary to discern if you were telling the truth. As with a great poker player, the name of the game was to keep a straight face whether you were holding a royal flush or a pair of twos. Under Stansfield's tutelage, Kennedy had mastered the skill. The only person in the world who could consistently get a reaction out of her was her son, Tommy. Not even her ex-husband had been able to do it. He sure as hell had tried, but he had failed miserably; Kennedy didn't harbor any ill will toward him. When she looked back on the marriage, it was easy to see it was destined for failure from the moment she took the job as the director of the Counterterrorism Center. There weren't enough hours left over after running the CTC to be both a good mother and a good wife.

The phone on her desk emitted a soft tone, and then a voice came over the intercom. "Irene, Congressman O'Rourke is here to see you."

Without looking up, Kennedy said, "Show him in, please."

O'Rourke entered Kennedy's office with a slightly troubled look on his face.

"Hello, Irene." O'Rourke sat down in one of two chairs across from Kennedy's desk. He was wearing a three-button brown suit with a white shirt and tie.

"Good afternoon, Michael."

Never one to waste time or words, O'Rourke said, "I'm sorry about this morning. Chairman Rudin is a real ass."

"I hope you'll forgive me if I don't expand on that."

"No... I understand." O'Rourke crossed and then uncrossed his legs. "About that name I brought up this morning?"

Kennedy wasn't going to make this easy. She stared back at O'Rourke with her brown eyes, waiting for him to expand.

"You do remember the name I mentioned?"

"Yes."

"Well, what can you tell me about him?"

"Absolutely nothing."

O'Rourke leaned forward. "Come on, Irene. I deserve an answer." Kennedy continued to sit calmly behind her desk. "Can you at least tell me if you know him?"

Kennedy had thought this through thoroughly. "Michael, let me ask you something. If someone, let's say one of your colleagues, were to come to me and ask if I knew your grandfather, how would you want me to answer them?"

O'Rourke began fidgeting with his wedding ring. He knew Kennedy would bring this up, and that was why he had dreaded coming here. He had hoped to get a quick answer from her while they were on his home turf, but he should have known better. The story was long, twisted, and bloody. When O'Rourke left the Marine Corps, he went to work for Senator Erik Olson. His best friend, roommate, and fellow staffer during those wild years had been Mark Coleman, the younger brother of Scott Coleman. Mark had been tragically killed just two blocks from the Capitol one night on his way home from work. His assailant was a strung-out crack addict who had been released from the D.C. jail because of overcrowding. The effect it had on O'Rourke was devastating. It was during this time of grieving that O'Rourke had learned of a cover-up involving a prominent senator and a blown covert operation that had cost a dozen SEALs their lives. The commander of those SEALs was none other than Scott Coleman, the older brother of Mark. Michael had labored over telling Coleman that it was Senator Fitzgerald who had blown his operation in northern Libya. It was O'Rourke's grandfather Seamus who had convinced him he should tell Coleman. The reasoning was simple: if Michael were still in the Corps, and it was his men who had been killed, he would want to know.

O'Rourke rated his decision to tell Coleman the identity of his betrayer as one of the worst in his life. Roughly a year after telling him about Senator Fitzgerald's role in the disaster, O'Rourke awoke to the startling news that Fitzgerald had been assassinated along with two other prominent Washington politicians. In the bloodbath that played itself out over the next week, more people were killed, including Senator Olson and the president's national security advisor. The most damaging piece of information was that O'Rourke's grandfather had been directly involved with Coleman and his team of disgruntled former Navy SEALs. He had funded their mini-revolution and helped them plan it.

Congressman O'Rourke had been assured by Director Stansfield that the involvement of Scott Coleman and Seamus O'Rourke would never be made public. Not even President Hayes or his predecessor, President Stevens, knew the whole story.

O'Rourke decided that the best way to handle Kennedy's question was to ignore it and try a different approach. "Do you know who Anna Rielly is?"

"Of course."

"Do you know that she dates Mitch Rapp?"

"If you say so."

"Come on, Irene. Don't play these games with me. I need an answer."

"I'm not playing games with you, Michael. You refused to answer my question."

"What question?" asked O'Rourke with a frown.

Calmly, Kennedy asked it again. "If someone came to me and asked if I knew your grandfather, how would you want me to answer them?"

"I don't see what Mitch Rapp has to do with my grandfather."

Kennedy looked him straight in the eye and replied, "Yes, you do. I know you are fully capable of grasping the principle at hand. It's a very important one in this line of work, in fact it is our cornerstone. It's called secrecy."

"Yeah... yeah... I know. I've heard it all before, but this is different. You can trust me."

"Can I?" asked Kennedy with a raised eyebrow.

"You know you can. You have a gun to my head. If you wanted to, you could end my career tomorrow."

"Something tells me you wouldn't mind that, Michael."

"Yeah, well, you might be right, but you're still the one holding the gun. Maybe you should put me out of my misery. It'd give me a good excuse to get out of this town."

"Don't say that. I have no desire to cause you any harm. We need more people like you on the Hill."

O'Rourke ignored the compliment, not sure if it was sincere or self-serving. "Here's my problem, Irene. My wife's best friend is Anna Rielly. They went to the University of Michigan together. Anna is in head over heels with this Mitch Rapp fellow. My wife tells me they are going to get married. I like the guy. We spend a fair amount of time with them going out to dinner, taking in an occasional ball game, stuff like that. We've even been to his house on the bay. I've noticed some thing about him." O'Rourke stopped to get a read from Kennedy, but she gave him nothing. "I'd swear the guy has had some military training at some point. You can see it in the way he carries himself, except he's a little more refined, not..." O'Rourke searched for the right word. "Not as mechanical. I could give you a list a mile long on little stuff that I've noticed. Last Saturday, my wife gets an e-mail from this guy. He wants us to do him a favor. Go out to his house and pick up Anna. In the e-mail he assures us that he is all right but that he wants us to take care of Anna until he tells us things have settled down." O'Rourke paused a little, still unnerved by the next piece of information. "At me end of the note, he wrote, I know all about Seamus, Michael and Scott C. Now, as far as I'm concerned, that entitles me to know just who in me hell this Mitch Rapp is." O'Rourke sat back and folded his arms across his chest, waiting for a reply.

Kennedy was surprised, but she didn't show it. Rapp had said nothing about sending Liz O'Rourke an e-mail, but it was obvious by me congressman's tone mat he wasn't making it up. Even with this new information, Kennedy was not inclined to tell O'Rourke anything about Rapp. As far as she was concerned, Rapp, his identity, and what he had done for the CIA were the Holy Grail of secrets.

"Michael, all I can tell you is that your secret is safe with me."

"The hell it is," replied O'Rourke with a bit of an edge to his voice. "How did Mitch Rapp find out about it, then?"

"I can look into that if you'd like."

"Come on, Irene." O'Rourke was mad. "You can better than that, and if you can't, you're not going to like my next move."

"And what would that be?"

"I'll call my contacts at me FBI, the NSA, and Pentagon, and I'll have them do a little digging. I'll call your deputy director of Admin and have him rattle some cages. Hell, I might even call a very unconventional asset Israel and ask him to see what he can come up with."

Kennedy didn't like me sound of any of this. The thing she needed right now was to draw an ounce more attention to Rapp and possibly herself. She carefully considered how much to reveal and then said, "The only thing I can tell you about me person in question is that he is extremely good at what he does, and he's on our side."

"That's not good enough."

"I'm afraid it's going to have to be."

"No, it isn't." O'Rourke leaned forward. "I want to know how in the hell he knows about Seamus, Scott, and myself."

Kennedy eyed him coolly, and after a long moment of thoughtful calculation, she told him the truth. "I told him."