I will make my enemies destroy each other from within, the president quickly considered. That was their ploy. “And what makes you think I’m going to take you at face value?” he asked, his voice once again taking on an edge. “You may still detonate that device after we comply with your demand.”
“Then we negotiate,” he simply said. “For now I will give you a single target — a female, approximately thirty-eight years of age and a high-ranking member of the Lohamah Psichlogit, who is passing herself off to your government as an Israeli attaché when, in fact, she is working covertly for the LP Division to garner certain information from your intelligence base for Mossad’s personal interest. Interesting how allies spy on each other for their own benefit, don’t you think?”
President Burroughs turned to his CIA Director Doug Craner who shrugged and appeared nonplussed. How could an insurgent know about a possible Mossad agent conducting a covert operation under the noses of its American liaison? That is, if Hakam was telling the truth.
“She’s been an attaché for years with the Israeli embassy,” Craner told Hakam, “and nothing more.”
“Then you know who I’m talking about,” Hakam returned. “For years Imelda Rokach has been gathering information for her country. So I believe her termination will also prove to be a benefit to you as well. It’s amazing how good Mossad really is? How they toy and play with your intelligence.”
Another dig.
“And how do you know this? How do you know Rokach is who you say she is?”
“Simple,” he said. “The death of an attaché is of no importance to the cause of my group; therefore, it would not benefit our situation. Her death, however, would. Otherwise, why would I have the American government assassinate somebody of no importance when I’m in the position to dictate to you as to who I want dispatched and when?”
“And what would her death achieve?”
“She’s a piece of the puzzle,” Hakam answered. “The five members I’m talking about control sensitive knowledge not logged into archives for fear of appropriation. Wipe them out, then you immediately render these Divisions in Mossad impotent until they are able to gather themselves and reconnoiter their position. Once Rokach is out of the way, then the second in command will usurp the position of the first. And that takes time.”
Everybody at the table was quickly mulling this over. The effect it would have over them, this country, and the American people.
“If we do this,” stated the president, “what do you place on the table as a bargaining chip?”
Hakam held up the BlackBerry device. “From here I will disable one of the weapons,” he said.
“And how will I know this?” he asked. “Since you’re thirty thousand feet in the air?”
“Once disabled, then we will make a mid-air transfer. Commit this one assassination, then I will proffer you the disabled weapon as a gesture of good faith. Kill the other four… then I will inform you of the location of the second for disarmament.”
“If I kill the other four, which completes the clan of five, then I have no way of knowing if you will keep your word. And why should you? The five people you requested to be killed will be a done deal, which obligates your primary goal. And you’ll still have an active bomb on board, which you may detonate anyway. Not good enough, Hakam. I don’t like the terms of this negotiation. It’s too one sided.”
“If you don’t agree to the terms, Mr. President, then consider the alternative. Which is I will detonate the second weapon and make a part of Los Angeles a scorched landscape.”
“You’re bluffing,” he said. “I don’t think you have that second weapon on the ground at all. I think they’re both on board because your initial intent was to detonate them over D.C.”
“Is that a challenge?”
Careful, thought Thornton.
“Negotiations are to be even handed,” said Burroughs, his voice lifting to heightened anger. “All I’m saying to you is if we perform to your demands, then you have to come up with an alternative to make me believe that you’ll keep your end of the bargain — that you will disable that second weapon.”
“And how do you propose we settle this, Mr. President? We both know if I disable and give you the second weapon, then there’s no way your government will obligate the undertaking of committing the assassinations. The advantage of having the upper hand,” he said, “is just that. It’s an advantage. But if you want me to propose a solution, then here it is. Destroy all five targets, then you shall have my word as a soldier that I will disable the second weapon and hand it over to your government.”
“That’s it? That’s all you’re giving me? Your word?”
“That’s it, Mr. President. Take it or suffer the consequences.”
The president hesitated. “Give me ten minutes.”
“You have five.” And then the monitor winked off.
“Son of a bitch!” hollered the president, raking his hands wildly through his hair. “Doug, is he right about Rokach? Is she Lohamah Psichlogit?”
He shrugged.
“How the hell does someone like you hold a top position in the CIA not knowing something like this when a terrorist does?”
“Nothing of this is confirmed, Mr. President.”
“Then tell me this: Why would Hakam have someone like her dispatched, if it wouldn’t benefit their cause like he said?”
Craner appeared uneasy, his voice beginning to shake as he spoke. “I’ll look into it, Mr. President.”
“You damn well better,” he said. “It just makes me wonder how many other spies we have running around in our departments!”
“We have agents in Mossad as well.”
The president glared at him. “So what’s your point, Doug? Because we have spies there they probably have them here. Is that your justification?”
Craner’s face twitched nervously as he looked away and to the papers on the tabletop in front of him. “No, sir.”
“Then get on it. If what Hakam says to be true, then I’m holding you personally responsible. So stop sitting on your thumb and start cleaning house.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
Burroughs stood and appeared clearly agitated. “All right,” he said, “let’s take what he said into consideration. What were Hakam’s key points?”
Thornton read from a page of scribbled notes. “Mr. President, at one point Hakam made mention that Rokach was a piece of the puzzle of five. And if all five members within Mossad are wiped out, then Mossad would be rendered impotent until it was able to gather itself and reconnoiter its position, which could take time.”
“And what does that mean to you, Al?”
“On the surface, I believe from what Hakam was saying is that these five people are the minds of Mossad who literally possess enough information to start a World War… Or more likely, to keep one from happening. If we were to take these five out simultaneously, then gates of opportunity would open up for terrorist groups all over the world. We may be able to staunch some of the bleeding, but there’s no way we’d be able to stop the hemorrhaging. Just imagine what would happen if five integral pieces of the intelligence network was taken out. It would be like a communication grid going down at once and leaving us in the dark until everything was back online again. But during the interim while the network is crippled, allows an advantage for terrorist cells to advance their causes due to lack of scrutiny… We’d be left wide open and the devastation would be incredible.”
“Are you saying that five people on this planet hold the key to possible worldwide ruin?”
“Maybe not worldwide ruin, Mr. President, but enough to open up the national floodgates allowing insurgency groups to run wild on American soil. After Nine-Eleven we had nobody in the Middle East except Israel. And to this day we depend upon them greatly for our information. Without Mossad we never would have achieved what we have thus far for national security.”