Shoshana shook her head and said, “You Americans are so convinced that nothing bad will ever happen to you. That you’re always going to win, so when you’re told to stay within your mission, you do so. If something wicked happens because you followed the rules, it’s not your fault, even if action would have stopped it. Someone else can clean up the mess.”
Jennifer said, “Shoshana, we can’t. We can’t even take down the Ghost tonight until we get approval.”
Huh?I whipped my head to her, saying, “If we got PID of the Ghost, I’m hitting that room tonight.”
Shoshana said, “You don’t need positive identification of the Ghost. Any of them will do.”
Jennifer locked eyes with me and said, “The Oversight Council ordered Alpha only. Remember? We have to go back for Omega. Alexander Palmer stressed that, and the president didn’t counter his statement.”
I said, “I’m going to use in extremis authority. We always have that for a fleeting opportunity. We’re allowed to flex if we meet the mission intent.”
She said, “Pike, in extremis authority for a fleeting target means we see him on the side of a deserted road with a flat tire, not planting bugs and pre-mission planning for a hit in a resort hotel.”
Shoshana rolled her eyes, saying, “This is exactly what I mean.”
I said, “Wait, wait, Shoshana, be quiet. Jennifer, this is the definition of fleeting target. If we don’t take him tonight, we might lose him.”
“Fleeting target means you don’t have time to call. We’re still developingthis target. It’s not fleeting. At least call Wolffe. If this goes to hell, we’ll want his backing.”
She had a point about that. It would be hard to explain emplacing Pit Vipers a full twelve hours before hit time and calling it fleeting.
I said, “Okay, okay, I’ll call Wolffe, but I really don’t want to wait on the Oversight Council to quit biting their nails long enough to give us Omega.”
Shoshana shook her head, saying, “Get Omega for whoever is breathing over there. Not just the Ghost.”
I ignored her, saying to Jennifer, “Get an update from the team. I’ll call Wolffe.”
She went to her task and Shoshana eyed me. I said, “Aaron, can you get her far enough away from the phone so Wolffe doesn’t hear her frothing at the mouth?”
He grinned and Shoshana glowered, but she allowed him to pull her into another room. I dialed my phone, mentally running through what I was going to say. I hated begging—and really preferred asking for forgiveness instead of permission—but Jennifer, as usual, had a good point.
I heard Wolffe answer with a little bit of trepidation in his voice, wondering if I was about to hand him a shit sandwich. “Pike? What’s up?”
“Hey, sir, I’m just calling because I’ve got a handle on the Ghost, and I need authority to take him down.”
“You’re actually calling me first? That’s a record.”
“Well, thank Jennifer. I’d have taken him off the board and brought him to you in a bow, but she remembered what that limp dick Palmer said, so I’m calling.”
I gave him everything we had, to include teaming up with the Israelis and their PID of the Ghost, ending with the plan we had in place.
He said, “So you’ve got positive identification? Your team saw the Ghost?”
“Well, no. The Israelis got eyes on him, but they’re solid.”
“But you know he’s in the hotel? You know the room?”
“Not yet, but we will.”
He said nothing for a moment, and I felt the mission approval slippingaway. I said, “Sir, we’re closer than we’ve ever been here, and the Israelis think the Ghost is on the warpath. It’s no longer just rolling him up to keep the egg off our face.”
“What’s that mean?”
I exhaled, wondering if bringing in Shoshana was more harm than good. I said, “The Israelis are here following a threat vector from Iran and Hezbollah. I just mean it’s no coincidence that the Ghost escaped and ran down here. He needs to be stopped.”
He said nothing for a moment, and I let his wheels turn. Finally, he came back, saying, “I’ll take this to the Council tomorrow. Give me a complete roll-up before then. If you can get him tonight, go ahead and do so, but only if you have PID from your team.”
I said, “Roger that, sir.”
