A Hostile State Adrian Magson (reading e books txt) 📖

‘And the asset was OK with that?’ Breakman, from Special Activities, asked. ‘It would have been risky for him.’

‘It was,’ said Callahan, ‘but considered worthwhile. We’ve used him on several assignments before and he’s very experienced in high-risk situations. He was operating alone and wouldn’t have agreed if he thought the odds were stacked against him.’

‘Is he local?’

‘No.’

Breakman asked, ‘How long had he been on the ground in-country?’

‘About twenty hours. The assignment was estimated to take less than twenty-four, all going well.’

‘So he hadn’t been there long enough to have picked up tails, then,’ Cardew surmised.

Callahan nodded. ‘Correct. His end of the mission had been put together at very short notice. Tango had advised that he was nervous about being under surveillance and insisted on a change of RV for the handover.’

‘Was this Tango person trustworthy?’ asked Sewell. ‘He couldn’t have been burned and turned or had a change of heart?’

Jackson interjected. ‘We don’t think so. He passed the code tests we’d set him to make sure he wasn’t being controlled or coerced to communicate under duress. He was due to be pulled out in the next few weeks and relocated with his family to a place of safety so he had everything to lose by switching sides. As for the asset, nobody was supposed to know he was there, much less what he looked like.’

‘Yet two shooters were waiting for him. And Russians at that.’ This from Breakman and the room went still again.

‘Do we know when the photo carried by the attacker was taken?’ Groll, the NSA representative, was heavyset with dark, wavy hair and an intense look. Callahan knew him for having a keen eye for detail and an analytical approach to problems.

‘We do. As far as I’m aware it’s the only photo of Watchman in existence. It was recorded by the security cameras at our New York front office about four years ago.’

‘What was he doing there?’ Carly Ledhoffen hadn’t said anything so far, watching and listening as each person spoke. She waved a hand laden with a gold bracelet and the emphasis laid on the last word carried no small hint of surprise. ‘And don’t we carry photos of all such external personnel? It could have come from anywhere.’

‘To answer your first question, he was there to be interviewed by me for an assignment – a short-term contract. As for the second, it’s not CIA practice to have a bragging wall of contractors past or present for everyone to see.’

‘So this person is an American? Does he have a name?’

‘I can’t reveal that,’ Callahan replied, adding quickly as Ledhoffen’s mouth opened, ‘nor his nationality.’ His instincts were against relaying any other information if he didn’t have to. It might come out sooner or later because there were others on the code-circulation list, but that was down to others to control.

‘But he’s a contractor?’

‘Correct.’

‘Ex-military?’ She glanced towards Breakman with a faint hint of distaste as if classifying his kind as some sort of unwelcome outsider. The Special Activities officer scowled in return but said nothing.

‘I think with the kind of work we ask him to do, that speaks for itself.’

She continued, ‘If he’s not a trained field operative, but gets around a lot, might he not have been spotted on his way there or when he arrived in-country?’

The question received a few nods around the table, but Callahan ignored them. It was a valid question but would lead the discussion nowhere fast. ‘Your point being?’

‘From the few I’ve seen these contractors tend to stand out in a normal crowd. Couldn’t local security have read this Watchman for what he is, or maybe someone recognized him from some previous activity?’

Callahan was beaten to the punch by Sewell, who said firmly, ‘Not this one. It was his first time in Lebanon. It’s possible he might have been spotted by chance by someone from outside the country, but it’s a long shot. The short time frame involved setting it up makes it very unlikely.’

‘How so?’

‘To spot him coming in, acquire a photo ID from whatever records were available, get a two-man team together and on his tail armed and ready to take him out all within twenty-four hours … that happens in films, not real life.’

Cardew leaned forward and added, ‘Correct. And neither the Lebanese government nor Hezbollah, who are the real strength in the country, has the resources to do that. The worrying thing is this photo must have been accessed from our records. Can we find out when?’

‘We already know the answer to that.’ Callahan wasn’t keen to add anything further for general discussion, but if what he knew came out later, there might be some questions asked about why he’d remained silent. ‘That photo was originally found in the possession of a Russian security operative in Ukraine a few years ago. We believe it was sourced by someone with inside access, but we have no way of tracing that original source.’

‘Let us move on, please,’ said Sewell. ‘Any further questions about where we go from here?’

Callahan closed his mouth, relieved to see that line of discussion shut down. He noticed the dark look Ledhoffen threw at him and decided to ignore her. The last thing he wanted to do was to get into a pissing contest on specifics with any of these people, especially one like Ledhoffen who was rumoured to have friends in high places. In any case she appeared to be less than well-informed about the kind of work they did out in the field, which might excuse her manner as a case of eagerness overcoming tact.

‘Is there a political aspect tied to this … collection of information?’ queried Gina Patel. She was a slim woman in her late twenties or early thirties and spoke softly with a faint accent.

‘That’s a good question,’ Sewell interjected smoothly, no doubt also relieved at the change of direction. ‘There’s always the potential for a political angle