Vince Flynn - Consent To Kill

Ross was the first to speak. He was wearing another one of his perfectly tailored Brooks Brothers suits. It was dark blue, almost black, and made out of a light wool. He had on a white shirt with some type of special weave, the kind that costs more than some people's monthly rent. His silver tie complemented his silver and black hair. Just two weeks ago Kennedy remembered thinking the man was handsome. Now all she saw was a man obsessed with his own vanity.

Ross shifted his position on the couch and straightened up a bit. He looked at Kennedy with a no-nonsense glare and asked, "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Kennedy shook her head. She wanted to draw them out.

"Well, let me tell you how my day went," Ross said in an irritated tone. "Shortly before lunch I got a call from Secretary of State Berg. She wanted to know if I knew you were in Switzerland." Ross glanced at the president and then back at Kennedy. "Do you think it's acceptable to leave the country and not inform me?"

"You're a busy man, Mark. I didn't want to bother you."

"Not a good move."

Kennedy shrugged.

Ross was visibly irritated by her casual attitude. "Do you have any idea the problems you've caused today? The Swiss foreign minister called Beatrice this morning," Ross pointed to the Secretary of State, "and raised holy hell over your unannounced visit."

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to know what in the hell you were doing in his country meeting privately with five of his top bankers."

Attorney General Stokes leaned forward. "I have a major case pending in front of the Swiss courts right now. We have been working on it for years. So help me God, if you've screwed it up, you and I are going to have some big problems."

Stokes was clearly upset. Kennedy figured he and Ross had been feeding off of each other's anger. They were the two career politicians, and next to the vice president the two men who would more than likely run for president at some point. Kennedy found it interesting that Secretary of State Berg was sitting out the first round.

"Do you know what happened in Riyadh today?" Ross asked.

"Yes."

"Do you know anything about it?"

"That's a pretty open-ended question."

"Do you know who was responsible?"

"Maybe."

"Would you care to share?"

"No."

"Dammit, Irene," Ross snapped, "do you think this is some game?" Ross flipped open a folder he had on the coffee table. There was a black and white, eight-by-ten surveillance photo inside. "This was sent to me by Prince Muhammad."

Ross spun the photo around so Kennedy could see it. There was a man dressed in traditional Saudi garb walking down a street. Someone had drawn a red circle around him. His arm was extended and he was flipping the surveillance camera the bird. The photo was pretty grainy. Kennedy studied it. He was about the right size, but other than that it was impossible to tell who it was.

"Any idea who that is?"

Kennedy shook her head.

Ross angrily tossed another photo her way. This one showed two men about to embrace. "The man on the left is Waheed Ahmed Abdullah. I assume you know who he is, at least?"

Kennedy nodded.

"Why did we tell the Saudi government that he was dead six months ago?"

"Is this the same Waheed Ahmed Abdullah who was a top lieutenant for al-Qaeda?" Kennedy's tone was one of false confusion. "The same Waheed Ahmed Abdullah that helped finance and plan a terrorist attack earlier this year? An attack that involved smuggling two nuclear weapons into this country?" She studied the photo. "The same Waheed Ahmed Abdullah who wanted to vaporize Washington, DC, and New York City?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"And you didn't answer mine. Have you read the file on Waheed?"

"I don't need to. I want to know why we're lying to one of our staunchest allies."

"If you think Saudi Arabia is one of our staunchest allies, I humbly suggest that you offer your resignation to the president immediately."

Ross's face flushed with anger. "And I suggest you watch your step, Dr. Kennedy. You are on very thin ice." Ross glanced at the president once again, as if to say, I told you so. He looked back at Kennedy and asked, "Where is Mitch Rapp?"

"I don't know."

"You're lying," barked Ross as he stabbed his finger at the first surveillance photo. "That's him right there. What did we tell you? There was a right way to handle this and a wrong way. Having a vigilante on the loose setting off bombs in Saudi Arabia is most definitely the wrong way."

Kennedy grabbed the third and last surveillance photo. She held it up for Ross and the others. "Who is this man right here? The one Waheed is about to hug?"

"That is Saeed Ahmed Abdullah," Ross answered angrily. "Waheed's father and one of Prince Muhammad bin Rashid's closest friends."

"Really," Kennedy said with feigned surprise. Ross had just put his nuts on the chopping block. She opened her own folder and displayed a series of financial transactions. "Is this the same Saeed Ahmed Abdullah who earlier this month paid a former East German Stasi officer twenty million dollars to have Mitch Rapp killed?" Kennedy let the multiple sheets spill forth onto the coffee table. "I'm pretty sure we're talking about the same guy."

Ross, Berg, and Stokes all leaned forward to take a page.

Kennedy looked to the president. "The bankers were actually quite cooperative. Several of them told me in the future they would prefer to handle things this way rather than waging these public battles in the courts." Kennedy turned to Attorney General Stokes. "Battles that take a lot of time, resources, and money. By the time we get the information we're after, the money has all been moved and the information is so old it is all but useless."

Stokes was about to offer a lame protest, but Kennedy cut him off. "The information I was given today is generating other results. My cyber people have begun looking into other Swiss accounts used by Saeed Ahmed Abdullah. In just eight hours' time we have identified over one hundred million dollars that he has given to al-Qaeda and other terrorist accounts in the past year alone."

"One hundred million dollars," was all Attorney General Stokes could think to say.

"Beatrice," Kennedy said to Secretary of State Berg, "the next time you talk to the Swiss foreign minister tell him that I will pass on his complaint to Mitch Rapp. Tell him that Mitch would be more than happy to fly to Bern and sit down with any Swiss official and listen to them explain why they feel it is so important to protect the confidentiality of terrorists like Waheed and his father."

"And, Mark," Kennedy said to Ross, "when you had breakfast with Prince Muhammad bin Rashid the other day, did you happen to mention that Mitch Rapp was still alive?"

Ross started shaking his head before he had time to think about the question.

"You didn't say anything about him convalescing at a CIA safe house?" Kennedy acted like she had some proof, but in truth she was operating off of a hunch.

"I didn't talk to him about anything like that."

"Well, when you speak with him again, ask him if he knew his closest friend took out a twenty-million-dollar bounty on my top counterterrorism official. And while you're at it, ask him how he feels about Saeed Ahmed Abdullah giving over a hundred million dollars to terrorist organizations in the last year."

"Are you trying to say he's involved in this?"

Kennedy shook her head and stood. "Not yet, but trust me, the man is rotten. He is no ally of ours." Kennedy picked up her folder. "The next time you talk to him, tell him that I have a feeling he had a hand in this somehow, and that if I can prove it, he can expect a visit from Mitch Rapp." Kennedy started for the door.

"Wait a second." Ross shot up out of his chair. "We're not finished here."