James Huston - Fallout

“Yes.”

“What’s she doing?”

“Making sure there’s no one else around.”

“Who else would be around?”

“You might be seen as someone who knows the most about these Pakistanis. They might not like you talking to people. Don’t worry about it, Mr. Henry. It’s just a habit.”

Luke stood back and pulled the door open wide. They came in and looked around the dark house. Luke then noticed two other people sitting in cars in the driveway. “How many people are with you?”

“Six,” the man said, and Helen stepped onto the porch to follow them into the house.

“I think we’d better make some coffee, Mr. Henry,” Helen said. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

Luke headed toward the kitchen, with them following him. He opened the freezer and took out the ground coffee and quickly set up the filter to make a pot as he watched them make themselves comfortable. “Is your wife here?” Morrissey asked.

Luke looked at him for any hint of any meaning or problem other than the obvious. “Why?”

“We don’t want to discuss this with her. Just you.”

He felt a chill. “Discuss what?”

“The reason we’re here,” Morrissey said.

“Vladimir!” the voice yelled over the phone.

“Da. Yes?” Vlad answered.

The tone was sinister. “Did you really think you could send a fat Colonel and two stupid men into the woods at my dacha to murder me like some kind of animal?”

“What? What are you talking about?” He had never heard Gorgov so furious.

“Your Colonel Stoyanovich was at my dacha waiting for me. He and two other men, there to do your work. Rather than do what I ask, you try to kill me?”

“No! I had no idea! What are you talking about? Is this a joke?” Vlad’s heart was pounding as his mind raced.

“You betrayed me. I am on my way to get your sister. I wanted to tell you, so you would know. I will send you pictures.”

“No! There has been some terrible mistake!”

“Your beloved Colonel is lying in the woods attracting insects. How did you think you would get away with this?”

“Gorgov, I have done everything you asked.”

Gorgov abruptly turned off his rage. “That is a lie. But I was to give you another chance. Now you will have no chances—”

“No. You must not do this. I will do what you have asked.”

“You are willing?”

“Yes. Whatever you want.”

“If you do not…”

“I will. You have my word.”

There was a long pause before Gorgov spoke again. “It is about to happen. If you fail, your world will be more horrible than you can imagine.”

“I understand. I will not fail.”

The line went dead. Vlad sat in the dark, completely motionless. He finally took a long drink from the quart bottle of vodka by his elbow.

Morrissey put his briefcase on the dining room table and opened it, leaving it open with the top toward Luke. Luke couldn’t see what was inside. Helen sat on a stool at the counter watching him pour the coffee.

“So what’s this about?” Luke asked.

“We’ve been talking to some people,” Morrissey said. “Thank you,” he added as Luke handed him his cup. “Pakistan continues to deny any participation. They would. They have their ISI stir up all kinds of things, then deny involvement. It’s a very interesting—and probably effective—way to avoid retaliation. And believe me, there are a lot of people in our government who want some retaliation big time. But Pakistan claims to be horrified and outraged. They say they’ve been had as badly as we have, and although we’ve suffered terrible damage physically, their injury is worse, because they have an international black eye. They look like vicious murderers, liars, and cheats to the whole world. So they cry and beg for consideration of their terrible condition. Pretty well done. You’ve seen the politicians on TV…”

Luke nodded.

“So that’s fine, unless,” he said, raising his voice, “unless it’s all bullshit and they set the whole thing up. See, then all you have to do is have your pilots disappear—three of them being dead—and simply claim they were out of control, aligned with some radical group or other. A very effective way to attack another country, if you have the balls.” He looked at Helen. “Sorry.”

“You think that’s what happened?” Luke asked.

“I don’t know. We’ve been talking to India. They said they’ve known about this Khan fellow for months. They knew he was up to something but assumed they were the target. They say he’s tied in with a new superradical group that’s supported by the Taliban in Afghanistan.” He smiled. “Which, of course, is supported by Pakistani intelligence. You see how tricky this can be.” Luke nodded. “Anyway, there are a lot of very smart people looking at this from a lot of angles. But the one angle I’m pursuing is getting the man who did this. I will not bore you with the details, but if anyone is going to get this guy other than the military…”

Luke replied, not sure what to say, “So what are you doing here? And why is she here?”

“Helen and I are working in parallel. And… well… a proposal has come our way. A proposal to do something we could not generally do.”

“What?”

“The man who works for you. Or maybe this MAPS outfit. Who’s subcontracting for you…”

“Vlad?”

The man nodded. “He is apparently very well connected back in Russia. He knows many people who seem to know much of what goes on in India.”

“Sure, Russia sells arms to India.”

“Exactly. Russia wants India to do well, but it doesn’t want a war. Others are happy to stimulate a war between Pakistan and India. Russia’s not interested. They’re scared to death of a huge Islamic state right at their belly. They’d rather keep the ‘Stans separate.”

“I don’t get why Pakistan would go about it so indirectly if they’re trying to start war. Why wouldn’t they just go at it?”

“The international community would hold it against them. You can’t just go attacking another country. But if India—or someone else—responds incorrectly or improperly to some uncontrolled stimulus, such as an Air Force pilot who’s out of control, then Pakistan would of course have to respond to that attack by India, thereby achieving their objective indirectly.”

“Must take a lot of training to learn to think like that,” Luke said. “Is this about Kashmir?”

“Kashmir is only part of it. India and Pakistan have been at each other’s throats for forty years now. Pakistan in particular has been looking for an excuse to start fighting again. This may be it.”

“An attack on the United States? How does that do it?”

“That might have been the first step. To punish the United States for the way it treated Pakistan, the refusal to deliver arms—”

“Where do they think they got their F-16s?”

Morrissey nodded sympathetically. “Yes, but where do you think New Zealand got the forty F-16s that they’re leasing from the United States?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“Those were intended to go to Pakistan. But we were annoyed with them, so we blocked that sale, and the planes went to New Zealand. We cut them off for a long time. It was only when Clinton went back and visited Pakistan that we began to reestablish military ties. It’s still nowhere near where it was, and the Pakistani military has been bitter about it for a very long time.”

Luke rubbed his forehead. “Where does all this take us?”

“Khan is affiliated with an extremely radical group within Pakistan, based in Peshawar, that is intent on stimulating war between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. They think they can beat India and that India doesn’t have the will to fight over Kashmir. It will be the first step to a regional Islamic state.”