Although the part about getting Ben released from the cartel sounded good, I wasn’t sure about the rest of it.
* * * *
The DDO began sketching out a bare bones outline of Phase II. It was literally a bare bones outline. There was no meat on it whatsoever.
In fact, Phase II turned out to be more of a concept than a fully developed Plan of Action.
The concept itself was pretty simple.
As soon as the Senator received word from Los Zetas to book his flight to San Andros Island, he would email them back and ask their permission to send a surrogate instead.
To explain the reason for his request, the Senator would point out he was a well-known government official whose face was instantly recognizable and whose daily activities were closely monitored by the press.
The DDO felt confident once the cartel heard this, they would see the wisdom in avoiding any unwanted publicity and would acquiesce to the Senator’s request to send his senior legislative assistant to San Andros in his place.
I wasn’t convinced Los Zetas would see the wisdom in any of this, nor did I believe the word acquiesce was even in Los Zetas’ vocabulary. However, I was absolutely certain the cartel wouldn’t pass up the chance to put millions of dollars in their coffers, and, more than likely, they would be willing to hand Ben over to anyone, as long as they were confident they would get their money.
“Of course, I could take care of this business myself,” the Senator said, when the DDO had finished summarizing Phase II, “but Deputy Ira seems to think otherwise.”
“I can’t allow a United States Senator to expose himself to the likes of Franco Cabello or some other lieutenant in the Los Zetas organization,” the DDO said. “There are too many variables in that scenario.”
I was pretty sure the DDO was more concerned about losing his job than he was about the number of variables in the scenario. That was understandable. If something were to happen to Senator Mitchell while he was on San Andros Island, it would reflect badly on the DDO and any plans the deputy had for career advancement would immediately come to a screeching halt.
“What happens if we get some new intel about Ben’s location later today?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that make Phase II unnecessary?”
The DDO said, “Are you referring to Keith Gabriel’s meeting with Reina Lorenzo at the Meliã?”
I nodded. “That’s right.”
He glanced down at his watch. “That’s happening as we speak, but even if we learn where the cartel’s holding Ben, I’m not optimistic there would be enough time to put together a rescue operation before Los Zetas contacts the Senator again with their final instructions.”
Carlton spoke up. “Actually, I’ve already developed some initial protocols for reinserting Titus and Juliana back into Santiago. If Reina Lorenzo gives us some viable intel about Ben’s location, I’m certain my operations team could come up with a workable POA within twenty-four hours.”
“I like the sound of that,” the Senator said.
This was music to my ears as well.
I just hoped the trumpet player wouldn’t hit any sour notes.
Chapter 27
The DDO didn’t seem the least bit interested in discussing the possibility of Juliana and me returning to Santiago. Instead, he spent the next thirty minutes going over various aspects of how he envisioned Phase II playing out should the cartel allow the Senator to send his legislative assistant to San Andros in his place.
To his credit, the DDO admitted it would be Carlton’s responsibility to develop the protocols, but the deputy still offered his opinion on the number of surveillance teams needed and the types of signals intelligence required to initiate the operation.
In the middle of a discussion about how the ransom money would be handled, the DDO’s phone vibrated. Once he saw the identity of the caller, he immediately answered it.
His conversation lasted less than a minute.
After he hung up, he said, “That was Coach Thompson. Alex Nelson just notified him he has an operational update from Santiago.” He pointed over to the video monitor. “He’s sending us the feed.”
By the time the DDO had closed the lid on his computer, an image had appeared on the right half of the video screen. The familiar décor of one of the Meliã’s guest rooms was in the background, and, in the foreground, was Alex Nelson.
Alex appeared to be sitting on a king-size bed with his back up against the headboard. He was balancing a laptop on his knees, and, whenever he shifted his weight, the video bounced around for a few seconds. On the left half of the screen was RTM Center E where Coach Thompson could be seen at the center console. He was not bouncing around.
When Coach informed Alex his feed was being sent over to The Gray where Deputy Ira and Carlton were briefing Juliana and me, Alex greeted everyone in the room, and then he recorded the official tagline for the update.
“Alex Patrick Nelson, Level 1 Covert Intelligence Officer, initiating the OFU on Operation Peaceful Retrieval, Code 57213.”
The DDO said, “I understand you and Keith worked out a plan for you to meet with Reina Lorenzo when she showed up at the Meliã today.”
Alex nodded. “Around noon today, Keith got a phone call from Queen Bee . . . ah . . . Reina. When she said she was coming by the hotel to buy some of his CD’s, he suggested she meet him at Café Tropical.”
“Is that one of the restaurants at the hotel?”
“That’s right. Keith and I thought it would be an ideal location for me to run into her, because the restaurant is on the second floor and that’s also where my room is located.”
“How did you protect Keith from being associated with you?” the DDO asked.
“Keith had a surveillance team shadowing Reina, and the moment they told him she was in the elevator on the way up to Café Tropical, he sent her a text message. He told her he was running late, and it would be twenty minutes before he could join her.
“After she got off the elevator, we nearly ran into each other outside the restaurant. Although she seemed surprised to see me, when I suggested I’d like to have a chat with her, she didn’t offer any resistance other than to say she was meeting someone for lunch. When I told her my hotel room was just around the corner, she agreed to come with me. Then, when we got here to my room—”
“Sorry to interrupt your narrative, Alex,” I said, “but I just wanted to make sure you had a black box in your room when you had your conversation with Reina. That hotel is as buggy as they come.”
“Keith loaned me his,” he said, reaching over and picking up the APS alarm clock. “Naturally, I didn’t show Reina the black box, but I did assure her the room wasn’t bugged, and she could talk freely with me.
“The first thing she asked me was if I’d made any progress on getting her a permanent visa so she could come to the U.S. I told her we were working on it, but I needed to know more about the American she said was being held up at El Cobre. She insisted she couldn’t describe him. She’d only seen him from a distance one night when Rafael received an urgent phone call about a disturbance at Club Nocturno.
“When Rafael left the house to go out to the garage, she watched him from an upstairs window. A few minutes later, she saw a man being dragged out of a van and put in her husband’s Mercedes. She said she was afraid to talk to Rafael about what she’d seen, but when Emilio—he’s Rafael’s driver—was taking her to the airport the next day to fly to Havana, she asked him who the man was.”
Carlton said, “If she was afraid to ask her husband about what she’d seen, why was she willing to ask his driver about it?”
Alex said, “By reading between the lines, I got the feeling she and Emilio have a very intimate relationship, one she doesn’t share with her husband.”
Carlton nodded. “Okay. That makes sense.”
“Emilio told her the man she’d seen was an American who had caused a disturbance at Club Nocturno. He said he’d been ordered to take the American up to El Cobre until
he’d learned his lesson. When Reina asked Emilio where he’d taken him, all he would tell her was that he’d dropped him off at a farm up there.”
“She didn’t elaborate on the location?” the DDO asked.
Alex shook his head. “I really don’t believe she knows where Ben was taken.”
“So that’s it? You didn’t get any new intel from her?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that.”
There was a note of irritation in the Senator’s voice. “Just tell me if you have any new information about my son.”
“Yes, Alex,” the DDO said, “get on with it.”
Alex quickened the pace of his narrative, “I reminded Reina the last time we’d met she’d told me she was concerned about her husband’s ties to terrorism. I emphasized it would go a long way toward getting her visa expedited if she would tell me what she meant by that.
“At first, she gave me a vague answer about Rafael supplying small arms to a rebel group in Syria, but when I expressed skepticism about why this would alarm her, she admitted that wasn’t the whole story. She said what frightened her were the ties Los Zetas had with Hezbollah.”
“You think she knows the cartel had an agreement with Hezbollah to transport sarin gas into the United States?” the DDO asked.
Alex nodded. “I imagine she knows a lot more about her husband’s activities than he thinks she does. Most of that information probably comes from Emilio. Reina said when Franco Cabello came for a visit a couple of weeks ago, she overheard a conversation between Franco and Rafael. She said that’s what made her decide to contact the embassy when she was in Havana.”
I said, “I’m guessing she found out her husband was harboring his own personal supply of sarin gas in a bedroom in her guesthouse.”
“That’s right,” Alex said. “Originally, he’d told her the guesthouse was off limits because he was storing weapons there. However, he didn’t tell her those were chemical weapons. But, when Franco showed up, she heard them discussing the gas canisters in the guesthouse, and she realized what was happening.
“She said Franco told Rafael he was worried because he’d been contacted by someone in the Hezbollah organization who knew the cartel had kept ten of the gas canisters for themselves and had failed to deliver all two hundred canisters as promised.”
“Did Reina tell you the name of the person in the Hezbollah organization who’d contacted Franco?” Carlton asked.
“She thought his name was Kamal or maybe Kamala.”
“It was probably Isam Kamal,” I said. “When I was in Damascus a few weeks ago, I was running an asset who was a member of Hezbollah’s security council. He mentioned Isam Kamal was their enforcer.”
Alex said, “That makes sense because Franco claimed Kamal was threatening to kill him unless he returned the canisters.”
“Los Zetas will never return those canisters,” Carlton said. “Just look what’s happened since they’ve gotten their hands on them. Suddenly they’re able to demand a ransom of ten million dollars instead of just a measly one or two million.”
The DDO said, “All the more reason for us to send a Special Ops Team into Lorenzo’s compound to retrieve those weapons.”
The Senator suddenly stood to his feet. “I came here today to talk about getting my son back. If you’re not going to discuss that, then I’ll be forced to go directly to the President.”
Alex said, “Franco did mention your son, Senator. I was just getting to that.”
After hesitating a moment, the Senator resumed his seat.
* * * *
Alex said when Reina had finished describing what she’d learned about the chemical weapons, he asked her if there was anything else she wanted to tell him about her husband’s activities.
“She told me there was one other thing that bothered her in the conversation she’d overheard between her husband and Franco. That was when Rafael had asked Franco if he thought a U.S. Senator’s son was worth a ransom payment of ten million dollars.
“She said this disturbed her because even though she knew the cartel occasionally kidnapped people, she had no idea they were willing to take a small child away from his parents and hold him for ransom.”
“She thought Rafael was talking about a kid?” the DDO asked.
Alex nodded. “I asked her where she thought Rafael might be holding the child. At first, she said she didn’t have a clue, but then she suggested he could be at one of Rafael’s safe houses. She said she knew he had a couple of them in the area.”
“That could mean a farm up in El Cobre, right?” the Senator asked.
“Yes,” the DDO said, “except, according to our analysts, Lorenzo doesn’t own any property in El Cobre.”
“Did Reina say anything else?” I asked.
“No,” Alex said, “after she told me about the kidnapping, she said she needed to leave or she’d be late for her lunch appointment. Before she left, we made arrangements for her to contact me when she comes to Havana in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I assured her I’d be working on her visa.”
The DDO asked, “Have you heard anything from Keith yet?”
“No,” Alex said. “He and Reina are probably still having lunch. He said he had several things he wanted to discuss with her.”
I had a feeling that would be a long lunch.
* * * *
After Alex had logged out of the OFU, the DDO opened up his laptop and returned to the screen displaying the map of San Andros Island.
“I believe everyone in this room will agree Reina Lorenzo had no new information about where the cartel is holding Ben,” he said. “That means, as soon as Senator Mitchell hears back from the cartel, we’ll proceed with Phase II of Peaceful Retrieval.”
The Senator nodded. “I don’t see any other option.”
“I’ll start developing the protocols for the operation,” Carlton said, looking over at the DDO. “I should be able to have them on your desk as soon as Senator Mitchell hears from the cartel.”
The DDO said, “In that case, what I—”
“We didn’t learn anything new about Ben’s location from Reina,” I said, “but we did learn something new about what happened to Ben after he was kidnapped.”
“What was that?” the DDO asked.
“We learned Ben never spent any time in Lorenzo’s guesthouse. Reina said the night he was kidnapped, he was taken directly from the van over to the Mercedes. That means he never saw the gas canisters.”
No one said anything for a moment.
Finally, Carlton spoke up. “Are you saying Ben wasn’t signaling us about the ten canisters in the photograph?”
I nodded. “If he was trying to convey the number ten by the way he was holding the newspaper, we know he wasn’t warning us about the canisters. He was trying to communicate something else.”
“Like what?” the Senator asked.
“I wish I knew.”
* * * *
As the DDO was about to conclude the meeting, he warned Juliana and me our operational status was still active. Basically, he was letting us know we were on call 24/7, and our time was not our own.
“You’ll have your first briefing on Phase II as soon as the Senator hears back from the cartel,” he said. “With ten million dollars at stake, I expect he’ll hear from them sooner rather than later. More than likely, your time here at Langley will be short.”
Juliana, who had been unusually quiet during the meeting, said, “I know Titus will be going to San Andros as the Senator’s legislative assistant, but you haven’t told me what my assignment will be.”
“Legends is still developing your cover story,” the DDO said, “but as I understand it, you and Titus will be staying at the Los Tavios Resort as a newly married couple on their honeymoon. Legends has been working with the Senator to make sure this would be a plausible story for one of his staff members. Is that right, Senator?”
“That’s right,” the Senator said. “When I email the cartel back and explain
how much publicity my presence on the island would generate, I’ll ask them if I could send a surrogate in my place. I’ll tell them my assistant and another staff member are getting married, and for a wedding present, I could send them to Los Tavios on their honeymoon. I’ll emphasize I have complete confidence in my assistant, and I know he will follow my instructions to the letter.”
“Oh, you can be sure of that,” I said.
* * * *
After the meeting was over, I saw the DDO head over to the beverage cart, so I picked up my empty glass and headed over there myself.
“Martha makes a great chocolate chip cookie,” I said.
“Yes, she does,” the DDO said, grabbing two of Martha’s cookies. “She makes them for me every time I come out here.”
As I poured myself another glass of lemonade, I said, “I’ve been thinking about what you said about our mission in Santiago being a failure, and I—”
“There’s no way you can dispute that,” he said, flicking cookie crumbs off his tie. “You didn’t achieve the objective of the mission.”
“I was about to say I agreed with you, but even though our mission was a failure, there might be some members of Congress, especially those who are on the Intelligence Oversight Committee, who might see it another way.”
The deputy paused as he put another cookie up to his mouth. “What other way would they see it?”
“They might see it as a success. At great risk to our lives, Juliana and I entered Lorenzo’s compound and located the chemical weapons. We found what the FBI and every one of our other intelligence agencies hadn’t been able to find.”
His eyes lit up. “Yes. Yes, you did.”
“I expect the brass at the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency in Aberdeen would also see it that way.”
The DDO stared at me as he thought about the implications of what I’d said. “When you look at it that way, Titus, your mission was much more of a success than it was a failure.”
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