The remainder of the team coalesced around the screen while Aaron came over to me. He whispered, “What is the story of the Misfits?”
I said, “It’s a children’s show calledRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
He shook his head and said, “I’ll have to look that up later.”
“If you do, don’t let Shoshana see it.”
He smiled and said, “I understand. She’s not good with the teasing.”
I said, “So true, but I meant what I said about your skill. There’s no wayI would let Knuckles leave if I didn’t have absolute trust in Shoshana and yourself.”
He patted my shoulder and said, “I know, I know. Trust me, she feels the same way. There’s no way she would have invited you into our safe house in Iguazú if it weren’t true.”
Shoshana turned from the screen and said something in Hebrew. Aaron answered, then rushed over to the screen. I knew what they were reading. I’d toyed with keeping the part about Palestine out of sight from the Israelis, but decided that starting to act duplicitously with an ally would just lead to bad outcomes. Now wasn’t the time to play hide-the-intel.
They both returned to me, Shoshana saying, “Pike, you didn’t say anything about an attack in Israel. They have a third one planned for what they’re calling Palestine.”
I said, “I literally learned that five seconds before you walked in the door. Creed finally cracked the computer.”
She said, “This changes everything. Wemustjoin the Kidon team. I know I told you we would help you, but we cannot do that any longer.”
I said, “You leave now and we’ll both miss the target here. You think that Kidon team that landed an hour ago is going to be able to get up to speed on this? The only reason you know about it is precisely because you and I worked together today.”
Shoshana said, “Pike, I’m sorry, we can’t stay with you. We need to let my command know about this.”
I said, “My command will let your command know. Nothing is going to be hidden, and there’s nothing you can do for Israel from here. Well, there is one thing: you can stop them here, and maybe get the intel to stop them there. You leave now and you may not do either.”
She looked torn, glancing at Aaron for guidance. He said, “I believe Pike is right. The path to Israel runs through the terrorists here. If we leave, we start over.”
She glanced back at me and I said, “You implied I don’t respect your skills, but you don’t have to ask me if it’s true or not. Read me right now.Tell me I’m against you, because the truth is I needyoumore than you need me. But if you leave my team right now, we’re both going to lose.”
She floated her weird gaze over me like she had a dozen times before. Each time it had been disconcerting, like she was penetrating my soul, but I took it. She nodded and said, “Okay, Pike. I will stay for the time being, but if something changes with my command, we’re leaving. What now?”
Behind me, Jennifer said, “Pike, George Wolffe is on the screen. He wants to talk.”
I thought,Great. Just in time for more fighting. This is turning into a crisis circus.
I held a finger up to the Israelis and went to the computer, taking a seat.
Wolffe said, “Have you seen the raw intel we got off of that computer?”
“Yes, sir. I have the whole team here discussing it. Well, the whole team minus Brett and Knuckles.”
“Where are they? Do you have a lead on your target?”
“No. I sent them to you because we have a lead onyourtarget.”
“Pike, we talked about that already. We’ve got it under control here.”
I needed to sell him on Knuckles coming, but didn’t mention the Sheriff Marley angle, because I knew he’d realize I had an emotional interest in the target set. I said, “Do you? Is that why you’re calling me at midnight? It sounds like you could use the help, and I have the Israelis here.” I turned to Shoshana and Aaron and said, “They’re part of the team now, so I could spare the manpower.”
“Pike, the Taskforce isn’t authorized to operate on US soil. It’s awasteof manpower.”
I’d thought about that problem since our last discussion, and had a half-baked answer. “Look, all Knuckles is going to do is an exercise, just like we did in Charleston. He’ll test some kit with Creed, and if he gets lucky, he’ll solve your problem. That’s all you need to tell the Oversight Council. Let him operate.”
“If he isn’t going to execute a target, what’s he going to do that we can’t? I don’t need a gunslinger that isn’t allowed to shoot taking up space here.”
I said, “Look, sir, we know four things more than we did an hour ago:one, the terrorist is Iranian because they’re speaking in Farsi. Two, the target set is in Washington, DC, three, it involves a truck, and four, the Iranian is working with Americans who don’t know what they’ve been hired to do.”
