He said, “I mean it, Pike. Don’t hit anything on Israeli intelligence. It’s your team, or no mission.”
“Sir, I got it. I understand.”
He said, “Nothing against them, but I don’t know their agenda. If they’re working with you, that’s fine, but if they’re using you, back off.”
I hung up the phone and Shoshana came back into the room. She said, “You got permission to hit the Iranians?”
At the words, I wondered if Wolffe himself didn’t share some abilities with Shoshana, because he sure as shit got the willies whenever she was around.
Chapter 37
Knuckles heard a soft knock on his door, then the electronic lock spring free. He turned from his laptop, seeing Veep enter holding the Flipper Max, Brett right behind him. On the screen, Pike said, “You think this’ll work?”
Knuckles said, “Worth a try. Better than flipping the fire alarm, that’s for sure.”
Knuckles and the rest of the team had hustled back to the hotel and had managed to place a small Wi-Fi camera in the corner at the end of the hall, but it had done no good. The man in the single room had never left, and the rest of the suspected Iranians had never returned. At 10 p.m. they’d held a virtual planning session on next steps, tossing out ideas to force the man out of his room. One course of action had been tripping the fire alarm, which would most definitely get the man out and moving, but Pike rejected the idea.
Shoshana had said, “Why the necessity of seeing him first? Just go get him. I promise he’s bad either way. If he’s not the Ghost, he’ll know where he is.”
Pike had said, “Carrie, I’ve already told you my left and right limits.”
Shoshana sulked a bit, then said, “Look, the Iranians are here together, and the Ghost came separately. Since only one person has returned, it’s more than likely your man. If three had come back, and one was missing, I’d think the opposite.”
That had pulled them off topic, with everyone discussing the odds ofthe mysterious Pit Viper life-form being the Ghost. Eventually, they’d returned to the topic at hand, arguing the merits of patience versus forcing his appearance.
Pike had said, “The fact that the others haven’t returned concerns me. If itisthe Ghost, the others haven’t left him on his own. I’m afraid that whoever it is, tonight will be his last night at the hotel.”
For once, Shoshana had agreed, saying, “Don’t paralyze yourself by wanting perfect. Perfect is the enemy of good enough. You wait until tomorrow, and you’ll miss your opportunity.”
Finally, Jennifer had said, “Why don’t you just knock on the door? Pretend you’re housekeeping or just a lost guest? All you need to do is get him to open the door.”
Knuckles had looked at Brett and Veep, who’d just shrugged. He’d returned to the computer screen and Jennifer had said, “Maybe we’re just overthinking the problem.”
After attacking the idea from all different angles, it had survived long enough to become the plan. They’d decided to execute the operation at 2 a.m., and now Knuckles was conducting final mission preparations with Pike.
Pike said, “You have everything you need to get him over the side?”
“Yea. Full climbing harness for the target, waist harnesses for us. I’ll go over first, Veep and Brett will belay him to me. More importantly, did you find the greenhouse I was talking about?”
Knuckles had conducted a reconnaissance of the exfil route, an old nature trail that had fallen into disrepair. It meandered through the edge of the property and was littered with decrepit signs, some staked into the ground, others fallen over, all describing the various plants and trees along the trail. In the center was what once had been a thriving greenhouse but was now a crumbling shed littered with shattered pots and cracked glass.
“Yeah, I found it. Aaron and I will meet you there. Jennifer and Shoshana will stay with the vehicle for exfil. You have the right dosage?”
“Yeah. Should put him out no more than thirty minutes. That’ll give us enough time to search the room, get him to you and back into the safehouse before he starts to stir, but not too long that we’ll be dragging around an unconscious body if we need to jump.”
Pike said, “Okay, you have control. Give me a call when you’re about to breach.”
Knuckles watched his men preparing for the hit, a gnawing restlessness eating away at his subconscious. He turned back to the screen and said, “Pike, what if it’s not him? Do you really want to back off?”
“It’s not a question of what I want. It’s what I’m allowed to do. Why?”
“Well, it seems to me we’re here chasing the Ghost and he’s led us to something that’s right in our mission set. If that guy who rented the rooms is the commander of Unit 840, he’s here for something bad. Getting the Ghost will stop it, but if he’s not in the hotel—if he’s in the wind—getting whoever is in that room is second best.”
“I hear you. I’m going to do a complete data dump on Wolffe tomorrow, with everything we know from both the Israelis and us. He’ll have to take that to the Council for us to continue.”
Knuckles paused, knowing Pike’s heart, but also knowing the pressure and restraints Pike was under. He said, “That’s not what I meant. If this guy is here with the Iranians, it might very well be a fleeting target. It shouldn’t matter if it was the Ghost that got us here or some other Taskforce intelligence. We’re here, and we can stop whatever they have planned.”
He saw Pike exhale, and knew his next words pained him to say. “I have my orders.”
