Nelson Demille - The Panther

Chet let the silence drag on, then asked, “Questions?”

Kate asked, “Don’t you think The Panther will smell a trap?”

Chet replied, “The Panther, as a devout Muslim, would not believe that the sheik, also a devout Muslim, would betray him to the Americans, who are, of course, infidels.”

I commented, “That’s a good assumption, making me wonder why Musa would set up a fellow Muslim to be whacked by the infidels.”

Chet replied, “The short answer is the five million bucks. But also Musa and al-Darwish don’t have much else in common beyond their religion. Musa is a royalist and Al Qaeda is anti-royalist. Musa is a Bedouin, and the non-Bedouin Arabs, like al-Darwish, look down on the tribesmen. Plus, most of the tribes in Yemen want Al Qaeda out of their tribal lands.” Chet added, “Also, I think Sheik Musa may not consider Mr. al-Darwish a true Yemeni. In fact, he probably thinks of him as an American intruder.”

Everyone in this room is an American intruder.

Brenner observed, “You’re making a good case for why Musa would betray The Panther, but not a good case for why The Panther would trust Musa and come to this meeting.”

Chet nodded, then said, “The Panther needs a win after the Hunt Oil fiasco, and the recent failed ambush of our convoy, so the opportunity to get five Americans-not tourists, but intelligence operatives, including Mr. and Mrs. Corey, who are on Al Qaeda’s kill list-will be so tempting that he’ll talk himself into taking the risk.” Chet added, “The Panther may not trust Musa, but he won’t want to appear fearful and not go to the meeting.” He also told us, “We have a psychological profile on al-Darwish that I’ll show you on the way to Marib. Bottom line on Bulus ibn al-Darwish is that he’s a megalomaniac.” He looked at us and said, “Delusions of grandeur. Extreme egotism and narcissism.”

Like everyone else in this room. Well… the guys. Kate was mostly normal.

Chet continued, “We can discuss this analysis on the plane. But to answer Mr. Brenner’s question and Ms. Mayfield’s concern, the worst-case scenario would be that The Panther just refuses to show up at the meeting to negotiate, buy, pay for, and take custody of the Americans.”

Actually, I could think of a few even worse scenarios, but I saw Chet’s point. If The Panther didn’t show, then we’d just fly back to Aden and try another approach.

Brenner said to Chet, “The plan sounds okay in theory, and I see it’s been well thought out and that you’ve done a lot of groundwork with Sheik Musa. But I don’t trust the Yemenis, and this plan depends entirely on the assumption that everyone from Tariq to Musa is on our side.” He added, “Our lives and this mission are in their hands, and not in our own hands.” Brenner continued, “The only operations that really work are those that are completely run and executed by Americans-or by trusted Western allies. Not paid allies.”

Spoken like a true soldier. And he was right.

Chet replied, “I agree, but that’s not possible in Yemen.” He added, “Ironically, this plan should work precisely because it depends on including some Yemenis in the operation. We’ve never done that before, so The Panther will not think we’re now trusting a Yemeni to help us kill him.”

Chet seemed to have an answer for everything. And they were good answers. And to give Chet some credit, he was putting his own ass out there on the front line. So I guess he believed in this plan.

Buck spoke up. “The plan is not foolproof, but it’s not as dangerous as it sounds.”

“Sure it is,” I assured him.

Buck explained, “The downside for Sheik Musa if he betrays us is so severe-Hellfires and the wrath of the Saudi royal family-that I’m very confident of his loyalty.” He added, “The sheik may switch loyalties next week or next year, but for now the deal is made and he will live up to his end of the bargain.”

Chet agreed and added, “If Musa has changed his mind, he will just tell Tariq to wave us off, and we return to Aden.”

I observed, “Musa may be trustworthy, but all it would take to get us killed is for one of his tribesmen to be working for Al Qaeda.”

Neither Chet nor Buck responded to that, and Chet seemed a bit impatient and got down to the question of our participation in this plan. He looked at me, then at Kate and asked, “Are you all right with this?”

I glanced at Kate, who nodded. I said to Chet, “If you like it, Chet, then we love it.”

“I love it,” Chet assured us. “In fact, I conceived of it.”

Wonderful. It takes an egotist to catch an egotist.

Chet looked at Brenner.

Brenner had probably been betrayed by the natives here and in Southeast Asia one time too many. Nevertheless, he was going to give it another shot and he said, “I’m in.”

“Good,” said Chet. “The A-team is ready to kill The Panther.” He added, “And about a dozen of his jihadists.”

As I said, the bait never likes the plan, but at least Kate and I weren’t the only ones with skin in the game.

Chet, to further incentivize us, said, “I believe, based on what we know of the structure of Al Qaeda in Yemen, that if we kill The Panther and his top lieutenants, and destroy their training camp, then the Al Qaeda attack on the Sheraton won’t happen.”

Buck seconded that and said, “If the Marib operation is successful, Al Qaeda in Yemen will be in disarray and they won’t risk an attack on the Sheraton, which could end in another failure.” He added, “And that is also true for the suspected attack on the embassy.”

Okay. I got it. Captain Mac would be disappointed if he couldn’t kill jihadists attacking the hotel. Same for the Marines in the embassy. But for everyone else in the embassy and the hotel, they would be happy if the attacks didn’t happen-or were at least postponed.

Chet said to us, “We’ll meet in the lobby at midnight. Two DSS vehicles will take us to the airport, where the Otter will be waiting to fly us to Marib.”

This is where the coach gives the team the pep talk, and Buck, our leader and life coach, said to us, “I believe we have assembled an excellent team for this mission, and I thank you for volunteering. There may not be any public glory in this, but somewhere your names will be recorded and known to future generations. You are risking your lives for a cause greater than yourselves, knowing that the success of this mission will make America safer and bring us closer to victory over those who wish us harm.”

Sounds good. Buck had lived long enough to see the end of the Cold War-but none of us would live long enough to see the end of this war.

Chet Morgan got down to specifics and said, “Bulus ibn al-Darwish, al-Numair, The Panther, head of Al Qaeda in Yemen, is a traitor to his country of birth, a mass murderer of innocent civilians and seventeen American seamen, and a sworn enemy of America.” He assured us, “We should have no moral qualms about ending his life and the lives of his jihadists on the field of battle.”

That’s much better than me trying to read him his rights in Arabic.

Chet concluded, “I know someone is watching over us to ensure our success and our safe return home.”

Correct. The Predator drones.

We all stood, shook hands, and left the SCIF tent. Chet went to the balcony to fuel up on whatever, and the rest of us went into the bright light of the hallway.

Buck, obviously not wanting to engage in a post-coital chat, said, “See you later in the lobby,” and walked toward his room.

Kate, Brenner, and I went to the elevator and rode down to our rooms on the third floor.

As I was taught, and as I’d learned over the years, if the goal is simple-like whacking someone-the plan should be simple. When the plan is complex, then something else is going on.