What’s next? wondered Mike, his gaze lost over the horizon. Authorities in Dubai had found the remains of Steve Shamrock and his driver. Their official conclusion was that criminals had attacked them before burning their bodies. Mike thought otherwise and suspected the Sheik had put an end to his longtime relationship with his US ally. The Sheik had disappeared for the time being, but Mapother had promised Mike that IMSI wouldn’t rest until they had him in custody. The vital intelligence they had collected on the Sheik’s yacht had allowed IMSI to gather enough of the puzzle’s pieces to determine the locations of the next attacks and to recover close to sixty-five of the seventy million dollars stolen from the CIA. But no clues were found regarding his father’s location.
IMSI had sent a detailed report to DNI Phillips that included a full analysis of the Sheik’s network and options on how to stop him. Phillips had then disseminated the information to the proper agencies for follow-up action. Mike was confident he and Lisa would be called upon to go hunting for the Sheik in the near future. But for now, he would enjoy the sun and his wife’s company.
He hadn’t closed his eyes for more than a minute when five sharp knocks had him on his feet. Lisa looked at him, wondering who it could be. Mike approached the door with one hand on the butt of the pistol tucked inside his jeans. Looking through the peephole, he relaxed immediately.
“Hey, brother,” said Sanchez as he entered the suite. They shook hands heartily. “Great room.”
“Thanks, man.”
“Nice to see you, Jonathan,” said Lisa, stepping into the room from the glass door leading to the balcony.
Sanchez came forward and gave her a hug. “Nice to see you too, Lisa.”
“You want a beer?” asked Mike.
“That’s why I’m here, bro.”
Mike opened the fridge door and grabbed three ice-cold Coronas before cutting three lime wedges. He then walked to the balcony, where Lisa and Sanchez were enjoying the view.
“So, what brings you here?” asked Mike once they each had a beer in hand. “Except for the beer, of course.”
“Zima Bernbaum.”
“How is she?” asked Lisa.
“Her eardrums should heal by themselves within a couple of months. Thanks to the ERT guy who covered her with his body, the rest of her injuries were superficial.”
“Yeah,” said Mike, remembering his time with ERT. “I knew Shane. He was one hell of an operator.”
“So was Jasmine,” Sanchez said, his voice breaking.
Shit! Did he fall under her spell? I’m so sorry, brother.
“To Shane and Jasmine then,” said Mike, raising his Corona.
“To Shane and Jasmine,” replied Sanchez and Lisa together before drinking a long pull of their beers.
Out at sea, boats of all sizes were cruising the calm ocean waters while children played in the heated pool just below them, their parents keeping an eye on them from the lounge chairs a few feet away. Close to the beach, swimmers were taking advantage of the serene surf to snorkel near tiny underwater reefs.
They were well into their third Corona when Sanchez said, “I think Zima will be joining us in New York.”
“I thought she refused Mike’s offer,” said Lisa. “What changed her mind?”
“I don’t know what changed her mind, Lisa,” replied Sanchez. “All I know is that she sent me a text message three days ago wondering if our offer was still valid.”
“What did you say?” asked Mike, finishing the last of his beer.
“I didn’t reply yet. And I’m wondering who gave her my cell number,” Sanchez replied. “Is she pretty?”
Mike and Lisa looked at each other and laughed. “You could say that, my friend,” Mike replied once he had stopped laughing. “What did you say to her?”
“I wanted to talk to you about it before I even approached Mapother with this.”
Mike and Sanchez followed Lisa to the kitchen, where she proceeded to open a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. She poured three glasses and said, “I know Charles thinks she would be a formidable asset. He told me so.”
“I agree she would be a great asset, but I’m worried about her commitment,” said Mike.
“How can you say that after all she’s been through?” asked Sanchez.
Mike swirled his wine and sniffed its aroma before answering. “Zima is a good agent, but I fear she might not be ready for what’s coming next. I have a feeling that within a month or two, we’ll be going hard after the Sheik, leaving a trail of bodies behind us. I doubt that’s her cup of tea.”
“You think she isn’t strong enough mentally?” challenged Lisa. “Charles will put her through the same training we had. That should settle it if she passes.”
“I agree,” said Sanchez in support of his friend’s wife. “That would settle it.”
“You guys are really pushing for her,” Mike observed.
“You said it yourself, Mike,” said Sanchez. “The next few months will be busy, and we’ll need good people who can be trusted.”
Mike thought about it and wondered what had triggered the change in Zima’s mind since he’d last seen her. What happened that was so decisive that she wanted to join an organization she knew so little about?
Another way to look at it was to ask himself: What had changed his mind? Why did he become a hunter? The answers were simple. Melissa. Chloe. His parents. His in-laws.
So, why did he care about Zima’s reasons? They were hers and hers only.
“All right,” Mike said, reaching in his pocket to retrieve his vibrating cell phone. “Let’s bring her in.”
Lisa and Sanchez smiled and toasted each other.
Looking at the display, Mike saw the call was from Mapother. “Don’t tell me you already have a lead on the Sheik, Charles?” Mike asked.
“No, no lead on the Sheik, yet,” came Mapother’s reply. “But we do have one on your father.”
Notes
1 During an intense scene in which ambassador Ray Powell’s armored SUV is ambushed, Eric, the ambassador’s driver, tried to get out of the hot zone by performing a high-speed J-turn.
The J-turn is one of the techniques we employ to get out of a sticky situation when we feel the threat is in front of us. This technique allows us to disengage rapidly from a possible dangerous situation.
If there’s a security vehicle (S2) attached to the armored vehicle, it is the duty of the bodyguard seated in the passenger seat of the armored vehicle to announce the potential danger via radio. Once the information has been transmitted, S2 will accelerate and position itself in front of the armored vehicle to engage the threat while the armored vehicle will perform a J-Turn (or any other techniques the situation dictates). Once the armored vehicle transporting the VIP is out of danger, S2 will disengage and retake its position behind the VIP’s vehicle.
2 What is the Canadian Security Intelligence Service? Is it like the CIA? Or the British MI-6? Yes and no. Let me explain.
An Act of Parliament created CSIS in 1984 after allegations that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Service (RCMP SS) had been involved in illegal activities. Since then, CSIS is Canada’s primary intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting and analyzing intelligence on threats to Canada’s national security. To do this, CSIS conducts covert and overt operations in Canada and abroad.
Before September 11, 2001, CSIS’s main mandate was to combat foreign intelligence agencies engaged in espionage operations within Canada. It was forbidden to directly seek overseas intelligence about Canadians or other threats. Following the 9/11 tragedies, CSIS’s role evolved into investigating more of the threats posed by terrorism activities when it was given a legislated loophole:
CSIS Act Section 12 allows agents to travel anywhere in order to collect intelligence pertaining to individuals or organizations suspected of engaging in activities
that may threaten the security of Canada (espionage, sabotage, terrorism, and clandestine activities by foreign governments).
However, contrary to the American CIA and British MI-6, CSIS’s mandate is to collect only “security intelligence.” The distinction between “security intelligence” and “foreign intelligence” is clear. “Security intelligence” usually pertains to domestic threats, like espionage or terrorism, while “foreign intelligence” relates to the acquisition of political and economical information from a foreign state and military analysis of foreign powers.
A debate is actually raging in Ottawa. Following the attack on Parliament Hill in October 2014, many politicians are now demanding that CSIS’s mandate be expanded to include the collection of foreign intelligence. Presently, Canada is the only G7 country without a dedicated foreign intelligence service. While some agree that expanding CSIS might be a good idea, some experts are totally against it. Such experts think that these two types of intelligence gathering require very different skill sets and oversight. That is why Great Britain has MI-5 (domestic) and MI-6 (foreign). The United States has the FBI and the CIA, while France, as I mentioned in The Thin Black Line, has the DCRI (domestic) and DGSE (foreign).
3 In this chapter, I talk about how Major Jackson Taylor and the Sheik financed their activities. It is a well-known fact within the law enforcement and counterterrorism communities that terrorist organizations are using the trade of conflict diamonds (also known as blood diamonds) to finance their actions. For your information, conflict diamonds are diamonds used to fuel or finance violent conflicts. In The Thin Black Line, I chose Sierra Leone as the home of Major Jackson Taylor. I picked it because Sierra Leone is one of the countries that has been the most affected by the trade of blood diamonds because its diamond fields were controlled by the Revolutionary United Front. In the book, Major Jackson Taylor is part of the RUF. When I described the RUF as merciless, I didn’t exaggerate. The RUF was responsible for many atrocities, including cutting off the arms and legs of civilians (including children) and the abduction of thousands of children who were then forced to fight for them.
In 1998, following the al-Qa’aida attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Clinton administration froze over 200 million dollars in assets belonging to the Taliban. Unaware that the United States had the legal authority to seize this money, the Taliban and al-Qa’aida were caught by surprise. After this debacle, al-Qa’aida leadership began a systematic withdrawal of their funds from the formal banking sector. They decided to put their money into something that wasn’t as vulnerable or as traceable: diamonds. Unfortunately, the logistical infrastructure needed to acquire blood diamonds wasn’t difficult to build or to maintain since they were available in countries (like Sierra Leone) that exercised little or no control over their territory.
Growing international pressure from NGOs played a crucial role in forcing the diamond industry to take action and to remove conflict diamonds from international trade. In 2003, the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was established. Its goal was to ensure that conflict diamonds wouldn’t make it to the international market. But even with this scheme, terrorist organizations had been able to finance themselves through the trade of conflict diamonds. In 2011, Global Witness, a London-based NGO and key member of the KPCS, abandoned the scheme, claiming it had failed to provide the assurance that conflict diamonds weren’t entering the market.
4 In chapter 21, CSIS agent Zima Bernbaum is tasked with an important mission. She must find evidence linking General Claudel to the Sheik’s terror network. To do so, she’ll need to gain access to his residence and search it while the general is away.
In real life, is an agent allowed to initiate this kind of operation on his or her own? Absolutely not. The decision to either open a clandestine investigation or not is the responsibility of the Target Approval and Review Committee (TARC). The Director of CSIS and senior CSIS officers as well as representatives from the Department of Justice chair the committee. The Solicitor General of Canada must also be consulted before a TARC certificate is issued.
There are three levels of investigation:
Level 1 allows agents to conduct a short-term investigation. It includes collecting information from open sources and communicating with foreign police or intelligence agencies in order to obtain additional information on a subject.
Level 2 is where agents receive the green light to conduct physical surveillance of the subject.
Level 3 means that agents are allowed to use intrusive measures to obtain the intelligence needed. In The Thin Black Line, Zima is given the equivalent of a level 3 authorization.
Every year, there is an annual audit of all CSIS investigative activities to make sure that it had reasonable grounds to suspect a threat to the security of Canada and that the level of intrusiveness of the investigation was appropriate.
5 In chapter 26, my two main protagonists take on Abbud Rasshid, a suicide bomber. In my opinion, these men and women who are ready to sacrifice themselves for their cause are the most difficult terrorists to stop. It is so because the terrorist knows that his success depends on his willingness to die. Even if the terrorist is stopped before he reaches his intended target, he can still activate his bomb and injure or kill the first responders brave enough to take action.
When I was working with my organization’s counterterrorism unit, I received extensive training on how to engage a suicide bomber. Fortunately, I never had to use this training in real life, but I’ve gone through dozens of training scenarios. A good friend of mine with whom I’ve worked counterterrorism for years is now an instructor. I asked him if they were still teaching how to handle suicide bombers during the initial phase of training. “Of course,” he said. “We always will.”
I consider suicide bombers to be precision weapons, as they are difficult to detect. I think terrorist organizations like using suicide bombers because of the simplicity of such an attack. There is no need for extraction or escape and nobody will be left standing to be interrogated. In The Thin Black Line, Abbud Raashid is using a pressure-release-type detonation device that he’s holding in his hand. That means that the explosive payload will detonate as soon as the pressure is released and will explode even if the terrorist is killed. There are only two ways to defeat this scary situation, and both involve the use of deadly force. There’s simply no way around it.
The first way is to be used only if the suicide bomber is far away from civilians. It also requires the intervening operator to be armed, as the technique is to shoot the bomber from a protected position from as far away as possible.
The second way is to do exactly as Lisa did in the book. However, this method is much more effective if there are two operators working together. The first operator’s only focus should be to secure the trigger mechanism while the second operator is responsible for killing the terrorist. Once the terrorist is dead, the operator who secured the trigger will remain in position until the arrival of a bomb technician. Usually, the second operator will tape his colleague’s hands together with the dead terrorist’s hands to make sure there is no movement.
In conclusion, dealing with a suicide bomber is one of the toughest situations an operator can face. In mere seconds he must not only identify the threat and assess the situation, he must also act decisively. There will be no time to wait for orders or to exhibit self-doubt. As I am writing this, I have shivers just thinking about the intense scenarios I had to go through during training. I can only imagine the terror and stress a real situation would entail.
6 In chapter 48, Omar Al-Nashwan tries to engage three different targets simultaneously. To do this, he’s using a Chinese-made QSZ-92. Within seconds, two targets are down. The first one fell with two bullets in the chest while the second one got his heart pierced by Al-Nashwan’s third round. When Al-Nashwan pulled the trigger for a fourth time, he heard what we call “the click of death.”
&
nbsp; Someone wiser than me once said, “There are two things you don’t want to hear from a pistol. The first is a click when it was supposed to be a bang, and the second is a bang when you thought it would go click.” During my career as an infantry officer and then as a federal agent, I fired thousands and thousands of live rounds, and I can count on two hands the number of times that happened. Luckily for me, it never went bang when I thought it would go click…
There are different categories of malfunctions, but this particular one is called a “failure to fire.” This occurs when the trigger is pressed and the hammer is released. The firing pin then hits the cartridge but does not fire. That usually, but not always, means that the round was a dud or that the cartridge was not properly transferred from the magazine to the chamber. The best way to clear this malfunction is called the Tap-Rack-Fire drill.
Tap: With your support hand, give a good slam to the bottom of the magazine. It will ensure it is seated properly.
Rack: This means to cycle the slide of the pistol rearward. It will clear the misfired round and will chamber the next one.
Fire: This is when you’ll press the trigger again to reengage your target.
This drill is something all police officers practice repeatedly, especially the ones who are part of a specialized unit. The Tap-Rack-Fire drill needs to become second nature. Of course, this drill doesn’t clear all malfunctions, but it did work for Al-Nashwan.
7 Mike, Lisa, and Jasmine Carson are conducting physical surveillance on the Sheik’s moneyman, Abdullah Ahmad Ghazi. To write this chapter, I used my experience as a countersurveillance specialist. Specialist is a strong word and in this instance didn’t mean I was the best or the more experienced officer either. Surveillance is an art that demands a special set of skills that takes years to acquire and refine. I was a “specialist” because from 2012 to 2014, it was my assignment and I was doing surveillance and countersurveillance fifty hours a week.
The Thin Black Line Page 39