Avery started to respond through gritted teeth, but Culler saw the expression on Avery’s face, knew where this was headed, and intervened.
“So what does the Bunker have as far actionable intelligence, Vince? Avery’s not totally wrong. You’ve gotta give us something to work with here. Any lead at all we can run down.”
As if on cue, Abigail Benning called out.
Rangel smiled smugly. “Well, let’s find out.”
They made their way back over to the NSA analyst’s station, where they were joined by Daniel.
“What’s the good word, Abby?” Rangel asked.
“Like I said, I’ve been searching the databases. Most of the names associated with the Viper belong to dead people. Then there’s a few who have long since completely dropped off the radar and are simply beyond reach; like Carlo Ibarra, a Spanish fugitive. He’s known to be a close confidant of Arianna Moreno, but there’s been no sighting of him in over two years. Now, I realize this isn’t exactly cause for optimism, however there is one known Viper operative, Cesar Rivero, presently incarcerated by the Colombian government at Bellavista Prison.”
“Rivero,” Rangel scoffed. “I know that name.”
“Why hasn’t anyone mentioned this guy before?” Avery directed this question to Daniel. “We could have been on him four days ago.”
“Well, you see, there’s a catch,” Benning replied. “ANIC has Rivero categorized as an unreliable source that generated unproductive leads, misinformation, and outright fabrications.”
“The bottom line is Rivero’s a dead end,” Rangel said. “A former member of the Medellin cartel’s terrorist cell and a known associate of Aarón Moreno. He was arrested — what was it, Daniel, over a year ago? — in connection with the bombing of that courthouse in Medellin.”
“Correct,” Daniel said. “Rivero was a member of the support cell responsible for construction and placement of the bomb. Communication intercepts indicated this was a Viper operation, though the captured members of the cell, including Rivero, claimed ignorance of her involvement.”
“Still sounds like a possible lead,” Avery said, “so why are we just discussing this now?”
“You think we don’t know how to do our job, Avery?” Rangel said. “Cesar Rivero is completely worthless as an intelligence source, and I think even Daniel will back me up on that.”
“Indeed,” the Colombian said. “Our best interrogators, with assistance from our Israeli and British partners, spent several months with him, employing physical and psychological stress techniques and enhanced interrogation methods. He never uttered a word about the Viper, and claimed to have never even spoken with her.”
“Even his original interrogators became doubtful,” Rangel added. “The Medellin courthouse operation was highly compartmentalized, and it’s possible that Rivero had no idea the bomb he prepared was in fact for the Viper. We can’t even establish that he ever had direct contact with her. Like I said, it’s a dead end.”
“Then you obviously haven’t tried everything. Maybe we need to push Rivero harder,” Avery suggested.
“My agency is well versed in breaking terrorists, and we pushed Rivero hard, by any definition of the word, using all legal means at our disposal,” Daniel said, choosing his words carefully. “I will be blunt, to give you an idea of the interrogation tactics we utilized. Rivero was specifically mentioned in an Amnesty International report concerning my government’s treatment of prisoners. That same report was subsequently cited by some of your legislators and diplomats as reason to cut off military and security aid to my country.”
“Amnesty International isn’t here, and I’m not telling congress shit,” Avery said. “I’m also confident we can get Rivero to talk.”
But Rangel shook his head. “Forget about Rivero. Daniel’s people can do what they want with him, but I’m not about to become complicit in torturing prisoners in Latin America. That’s the last thing the Agency needs right now. Give it a couple days, and I’m confident the Bunker will pull in something worthwhile.”
“We might not have a couple days,” Avery persisted. “We’ve already lost one plane. And sitting around hoping the Viper makes a phone call or that some soldier in Peru spots her isn’t going to get us anywhere.” He paused. “Fine, if we can’t find the Viper, let’s go after her supplier.”
Rangel frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“The details are classified,” Culler answered before Avery could say anything. “But we have reason to believe Iran is FARC’s source for SA-24. Or at least the middleman appears to be an Iranian Revolutionary Guards officer covered as a diplomat in Caracas.”
“He might also be our best link to the Viper at the moment,” Avery said.
“Completely out of the question,” Rangel exclaimed in disbelief. “You’re just full of brilliant ideas, Avery, aren’t you? Let me be clear. We’re not torturing, and we are not making a move against an accredited Iranian diplomat on Venezuelan soil. Langley will never authorize it. They had enough of your bullshit after Panama City.” He paused to stare down Avery, trying to intimidate him, and failing. “I know all about Panama. The station chief there is a good friend of mine, and they’re still trying to identify that mysterious American shooter down there. Asked me if I knew anything about it.”
Avery didn’t even blink. “Good luck with that, Rangel. I’ve been at Palanquero the past two weeks, and I’m not sure I see any relevance here to what happened in Panama. But I do know that Vahid Kashani isn’t a diplomat. The Iranians were the biggest troublemaker in Iraq, pulling shit like this all the time, and we called them out on it. POTUS designated the Qods Force a terrorist organization, and gave us free reign to go after them.”
“Forget it. This isn’t Iraq, and we have a different commander-in-chief now. You’re talking about a flagrant act of war against two sovereign states.”
Avery understood, and wasn’t surprised. The White House needed to maintain good terms with Tehran if the president was going to achieve a “deal” on the nuclear issue before he left office.
“Benning’s people will continue monitoring FARC chatter and follow the intelligence flow coming in from across the country. The second we get something actionable, we will act on it. I don’t know what else you expect.” Rangel sighed. “And I need to get some sleep. I’ve been here way too goddamned long.”
He started to walk away, and then stopped to add, “Oh, and Culler? You better keep this fucking guy in line.”
He shot Avery one last look before heading for the door.
When he was gone, Culler turned to Avery and said, “You’ve been here less than thirty minutes, and you’ve already managed to piss off the chief of station.”
“Yeah, well, I told you earlier that you shouldn’t have brought me here,” Avery said. “What was that bullshit about Panama?”
“Hey, it didn’t come from me,” Culler said, “and Rangel never mentioned anything about it to me. Don’t worry. His bark is worse than his bite.”
Avery wasn’t worried about it. He knew Rangel couldn’t do shit. If he did, it would just create a public scandal after CIA’s internal Office of Security and General Counsel, the Justice Department, and congress started looking into the CIA’s ops in Colombia and Panama, and the invariable leaks were made to the media, and that would immediately put Rangel in the Seventh Floor’s crosshairs for disturbing the waters. Innocent people died in Panama City. Nobody on the Seventh Floor wanted word of CIA involvement getting out.
“Hey, Daniel,” Avery said. “Think you can arrange a meeting with Rivero?”
“What are you planning?” Culler asked Avery before the Colombian could answer.