THE CONTRACTOR

by R. SAINT HILAIRE

  “Okay, Nick, that is what we thought. We have most of the details. We know who was paying who. We also observed the altercation with the Iranians via drone. It didn’t go the way we had planned, but the outcome was the same.”

  I was literally made of questions.

  “So you knew all about that? And what do you mean it didn’t go as planned?”

  Goldman put his sunglasses on. They were classic aviators, but they fit his style.

  “I mean, we needed that specific activity stopped, and it was. Enough said. We were a bit concerned after the whole private jet incident, but we had faith in your abilities to get out of any situation and to get shit done.”

  Now I was completely confused and starting to feel used—and pissed about it.

  “Mr. Goldman, were you…using me?”

  “Using has a negative connotation. We were utilizing your unique skill set.”

  “For what, exactly?”

  “To make sure we didn’t have World War Three.”

  “I see,” was all I could say. I wondered for a moment how many other people work for the CIA and don’t even know it.

  “Let’s take a walk over to the rail. There’s a fantastic view of the mosque,” Goldman said with a somewhat serious face.

  We walked silently to the terrace rail. We were several stories up, and the view was fantastic. We looked down at the grounds of the ancient church, which had become a mosque and was now a museum.

  “So what is your next opportunity, Nick?”

  I chuckled, “Well, I was just fired. It wasn’t a bad firing—it’s just that the company felt I wasn’t Executive Protection material. More action-oriented than they felt comfortable with.”

  “That’s a good way to put it. We’ve noticed the same attributes. Plus, you think on your feet, are very resourceful, and aren’t afraid to get into the shit. Is that an accurate assessment?”

  I could have added a few things to the list like handsome, strong, badass…

  “I think so. That’s why I’ll probably go back to my previous employer and see if there are any available high-risk jobs. I seem to do better in that environment.”

  “Nick, that is exactly what I was thinking. How about you come and work for us?”

  I absolutely knew that was where Goldman had been going with this. I already have trust issues, so working for an establishment that bases its entire foundation on lies did not seem like the best choice.

  “Wow, Michael, I really appreciate that. Very considerate. But I’m not sure that would be the best fit for me. I’m not much of an intel gatherer, and I don’t think of myself as a hitman, either.”

  Goldman laughed and slapped me on the shoulder. “Son, the Company has a plethora of jobs. It’s not all secrets and spies. We support all kinds of initiatives to protect our country, both domestic and abroad. You get a basic government services salary and pension, but you are also paid for successful missions from other funds. It can be lucrative.”

  “I would like some time to think about that. I am guessing you already have everything you need to know about my background and specific skills.”

  Goldman nodded.

  “Maybe we can catch up again when I’m back in the States, and we can talk about some options.”

  “I know how to get in touch with you,” Goldman replied.

  Okay—that’s just creepy.

  CHAPTER TWELVE – Blindside

  The eight-story atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington DC is dominated by the Mountains and Cloud sculpture by Alexander Calder. It is an immense, open space.

  Chris Richards walked across the open atrium, glancing up at the incredible modern art piece. Though where he was stationed in Baghdad was the center of tactical power, the decisions were made here, in the nation's capital. This is where he needed to be if he were to begin to develop the influence necessary to move into his target role.

  Senator John Kerry, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had formed a Select Committee to deal with the current state of affairs in the Mideast, primarily Iran and Iraq. The committee had many dignitaries and government officials involved but also had been formed with those who held intimate strategic and tactical knowledge of what was happening on the ground in the Mideast. That is why Richards had been invited to Washington DC.

  The Hart Senate Office Building has several subterranean floors, where a month or more of sub-committee meetings would be held. Richards took the elevator two floors down.

  Although the atrium of the building was incredibly modern, as soon as Richards exited the elevator, he remembered that the Hart Building had been built in the 1980s. The height of the ceilings, the color of the carpet, the paneling, and even the types of doors reflected exactly when this building had been built. On the lower floors, there was a slight musty smell. As he walked down the hall, he peered into any open doors that he passed. These offices were probably reserved for the lower administrative staff and were certainly not much to look at. Sub-committees often met in the smaller conference rooms on the lower levels. Even though the accommodations weren't as luxurious as the upper floor conference rooms, they had a certain sense of security. He knew the conference room he would be in today had been soundproofed and probably swept for listening devices.

  Richards also realized he was somewhat out of his element. Few of these people were warriors, although they supported the war effort. They were responsible for funding military activities, arms deals with foreign countries, and other activities that senators were working on both domestically and abroad. Richards was wearing the appropriate attire yet still felt out of place. He didn't recognize anyone who passed him in the hallway. He doubted more than a few would recognize him though he had led the CIA in the past. But if all went according to his plan, they would know his face and name soon enough.

  The game plan? To gain ultimate control of both command and funding for military activities in the Mideast. Richards knew he had the support of many of the military leaders in that area, who sometimes felt they were ignored by the civilian management in Washington DC. Now he needed to find more friends in high places.

  There was only one person in his way: Leon Panetta. Panetta was the current Director of the CIA and knew as much as Richards did about what was happening in Iraq and Iran. But there were two big differences between the two men. Panetta was in support of troop reductions and had the ear of the President. Richards had an opposing viewpoint; he wanted more troops on the ground and had only sporadic interactions with the Commander in Chief. What they had in common is they both wanted the SecDef role.

  The only way the Station Chief was going to overcome that obstacle was by providing the most compelling case to this sub-committee. Compelling enough, and it would rise to the attention of the Committee for Foreign Relations and become an agenda item. If that happened, he and others would testify as to the financial, humanitarian, and military need. Become the expert in their eyes, and you had a seat at the table. Use that opportunity to make your competition look incompetent, and you took it all.

  Finding the conference room, Richards puffed up his chest, touched the top and sides of his crew cut, and strode into the room.

  “Good morning, gentlemen and ladies.”

  The few committee members who were already in the room looked up and smiled. He could tell they had no idea who he was. That wasn’t unusual in sub-committees. Subject-Matter Experts were brought in from all over, and many had never met before.

  Richards worked the room, moving from one member to the next, introducing himself.

  “Good Morning—Chris Richards, Baghdad Station Chief.”

  Everyone was polite.

  One member said, “I recognize you. You are the former CIA Director who resigned and went to Iraq.”

  “That’s me,” Richards said with a big smile.

  “That was a ballsy move. I am not sure I would have given up the power. Was it really your choice?”

  “I know that se
ems odd, but I needed to get my boots on the ground and take control of what was happening there. It’s really quite different when you see it for yourself. You make very different decisions. Anyone who is making decisions for our country about the Mideast needs to spend time there.”

  “That makes a lot of sense,” the man said to Richards. “I am glad you can bring that thought leadership to this group.”

  The committee members milled around a few more minutes, getting coffee from large coffee urns and loading up saucers with various petite pastries.

  There were men and women from several states and American expats from Yemen, Turkey, and Libya.

  The committee chair was a State Representative from California. Her name was Marianna James—born in Argentina, educated in DC, and now a power player from one of the largest states in the country. She was short, animated, still had an accent, and took control of the room quickly.

  She brought the room to attention. “All, let’s take our seats.”

  After a minute or two of shuffling, all sat with their attention on her. After bringing the meeting to order, she started a presentation that went over the committee Code of Conduct, Meeting Conduct, meeting rules, and the expected work product from the team. With those clear, she moved on to setting the context by reviewing the current state of affairs in Iraq and Iran. It went something like this:

  Iraq. As of February of this year, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced a withdrawal of troops called Operation New Dawn. This operation was aimed to shift military and policing duties to the Iraqi military and police force and to pull U.S. troops out of the area. This was all essentially to fulfill various political promises that had been made both to American and to Iraqi officials. There was a lot of political rhetoric about how hostilities had significantly decreased and thus it was time to reallocate funding and bring home our troops. It was a feel-good move.

  However, the hostilities were far from over. US and Iraqi troops just recently killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, as well as his henchman al-Baghdadi. Also, in June, Iraq’s Central Bank was bombed, and Iraq’s Bank of Trade building was attacked. Al-Qaeda or another Iraqi terrorist organization was alive and well despite the deaths of many such leaders.

  In just the past few months, there were many car bombings that resulted in hundreds of deaths. All coincided with the U.S.’ plan to withdraw troops. Taking the opportunity to use the United States’ political moves to their advantage, the new powers in Iraq were showing us who was really in charge. Religious and political terrorists were still alive and well.

  We continued to use Panetta’s “enhanced interrogation techniques” to glean intel on these factions. And even though U.S. political powers continued to push for the military drawdown, State Department Spokesman P. J. Crowley stated: "We are not ending our work in Iraq; We have a long-term commitment to Iraq.” Seemed like mixed messages. And perhaps that was the point.

  Next came the slides for Iran.

  Iran. In January of this year, Masoud Alimohammadi, an Iranian nuclear physics professor, was killed in a bomb attack in Tehran. There was a ton of pressure for nuclear inspectors to find evidence that nuclear materials were crossing the border into Iran and being used to create nuclear weapons. Iran’s media accused both Israel and the U.S. of involvement in the scientist’s murder.

  Later, Iran was offered a deal by the International Atomic Energy Agency to exchange low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel in hopes of reducing Iran’s chance at making a nuclear bomb. Iran insisted it was using nuclear materials for power generation only. This was a lie. The country rejected the offer, and the Iranian president ordered his atomic agency to begin enriching uranium to a higher level. It was a defiant move. Iran wanted a seat at the table and was using the threat of nuclear proliferation as leverage.

  In March, a scientist in Iran's nuclear program defected to the United States and started talking to the CIA. We now had a direct source to help us understand exactly what Iran was doing.

  And to top it all off, there had just been an earthquake in Iran that destroyed towns across several provinces.

  It seemed the area was teetering on instability.

  With all this in mind, the sub-committee has been tasked with coming up with recommendations to 1) maintain stability, 2) reduce our military footprint in Iraq, 3) keep the intelligence flowing, and 4) present a five-year financial recommendation for our interactions with these two countries. These recommendations would become part of a larger package that would go to the Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs. The committee had thirty days to produce a draft for review, and then another thirty days to present the final to the Senate Committee.

  Richards was hoping it would be complete faster than that. He had much bigger fish to fry.

  Days turned into weeks. Drafts were created and discarded multiple times. Varying opinions of the realities of the political and military positions of the countries were presented, debated, validated, or negated. Multiple financial models were created, torn apart, and reassembled. Each work product had several versions of what was “true.” Which truth depended on what story you were trying to tell—or sell.

  The biggest conflict was ultimately between Richards and Ms. James.

  Richards felt she was ignoring the real situation on the ground, which in his opinion demanded more funding, more intelligence officers, and more military presence—not less. Ms. James reminded him and the rest of the committee that their job was to provide facts and recommendations that supported the current administration’s approach. In turn, Richards tried to convince the group that doing so would be a very short-sighted vision for Iraq and Iran. He told the group they would be back in the conference room doing the same thing in five years if they didn’t recognize the realities of the situation.

  The committee seemed torn. Both James and Richards were correct in their assessments of need; the question was just whether a short-term win was worth a long-term problem.

  Richards was about to lose his shit. He had been as patient as humanly possible. He was struggling to influence decisions in a relatively unfamiliar, collaborative way. He was used to giving orders and having them followed. And he was used to collaboration, but between parties that saw a single, clear direction. The present situation was allowing neither.

  “Excuse me, Madam Chairwoman. May I please take a minute of the committee’s time to give a clearer perspective as to what I see as an issue with the approach we are currently taking?”

  Richards hadn’t had to be that polite and well-spoken in quite a long time. He was amazed he got the whole thought out of his mouth without it being punctuated by a four-letter word.

  “I am good with it. Any objections from the committee?” the Chairwoman asked the room.

  None being raised, Richard stood and handed a small thumb drive to James. “I have a couple supporting slides, if you don’t mind.”

  The Chairwoman plugged it into the USB port and opened the presentation. She then changed her laptop to output, and the projector which hung down from a pole in the ceiling came to life to illuminate the white wall at the back of the room.

  “Thank you,” Richards started.

  A photo of a destroyed street filled the wall. Shards of metal, parts of cars, burnt vehicles, blown-out windows, and an Iraqi soldier in the foreground looking over the scene.

  “This was May of this year in Basra. Suicide bomber. Over one hundred civilians killed.”

  The next photo was of the rubble of a building, with rescue crews sifting through the concrete and metal to look for bodies.

  “March, in Mosul. This was after an airstrike during a fight between the Iraqi security forces and Islamic state terrorists.”

  Richards clicked the page down button on the laptop and moved to the next slide. In front of the committee appeared the remains of a car, blown to bits next to a bus.

  “That was this month, in Kirkuk. Fifty civilians died. Even more died that day all over Ir
aq—including many from the Police Force and Security Forces. Why? Because insurgents, whom we had been keeping at bay through intelligence gathering and military response, have used the pullback of American forces as an opportunity to attack.”

  There were murmurs throughout the room.

  “Let me show you one more thing that might change our approach into a more long-term play.”

  Next, a gray and white video began to play. It had obviously been taken from a spy plane, drone, or satellite. Vehicles and humans showed up as bright white objects against the gray background. The committee members could see this was an operation taking place in a valley between mountains or large hills. First, two large tanker trucks entered a valley. Then they came under fire. Then, two smaller vehicles made an assault on the first truck. Tracer rounds could be seen flying back and forth across the valley to opponents on either side. Then, a large weapon sent a round that slammed into the cab of the first truck. Smoke poured out of the destroyed cab. There was more exchange of fire, and then the second truck turned around at high speed and began to escape the ambush. The two smaller trucks raced towards it but were stopped by rifle fire. The second tanker seemed to escape. The video stopped.

  “What you just saw here wasn’t an assault on a supply convoy in Iraq. This was a top-secret mission to stop the smuggling of nuclear materials. It was filmed just last month in Iran. Nuclear materials are getting across the border, and, as you saw, even with attempts to stop it, one of the trucks got away. This is exactly why we need continued intel and use of force in Iraq and Iran.”

  The room was silent for a moment.

  “That is quite compelling, Mr. Richards,” one of the men at the table said.

  “I am not sure this is going to change hearts and minds in the Administration, though. Some decisions have already been made,” James added to the conversation.