Brad Thor - The First Commandment

Because the trip to Jordan had been not only personal, but also highly sensitive, he had left his DHS credentials, his government-issued BlackBerry, and his weapon with Ron Parker back at Elk Mountain.

While the taxi waited, Harvath located his black Chevy Trail-blazer. From the hitch vault under the rear bumper he retrieved a spare set of keys, a rubber-band-wrapped wad of tens and twenties, a preloaded debit card, and a duplicate driver’s license to replace the personal effects Rick Morrell had taken from him when they off-loaded him from Tim Finney’s plane.

After exiting the extended parking lot, he paid the cab driver and headed toward D. C. As he drove, he removed one of the throwaway cell phones he kept in his bugout bag and dialed his boss, Gary Lawlor.

“I’ve been trying to reach you for the last two days,” said Lawlor when he answered. “Where the hell are you?”

“Never mind where I am,” said Harvath. “I need you to listen.”

Lawlor was quiet as Harvath spent the next several minutes filling him in on everything that had happened and everything he had learned since they last spoke.

When he was finished, Lawlor said, “Jesus, Scot, if what you’re telling me is true, you’ve been killing the people the president promised to protect! You’re undermining our word and making the president look like a liar. It’s only a matter of time before these people decide we’ve screwed them and they keep their promise about going after more kids.”

This was not exactly the kind of support Harvath had been hoping for when he brought his boss up to speed. “Look,” he replied, “one of those men released from Gitmo is killing innocent Americans. The president promised to leave them alone based on their past actions, not current ones. But did anyone stop to think that this may be precisely why the terrorists negotiated the deal in the first place? So they could have blanket immunity while they carried out new acts of terror?

“Sorry, Gary, it was a bad bargain. I didn’t make this mess, but I guess I’m going to be the one to clean it up.”

“Good,” stated Lawlor. “I want you to nail the son of a bitch.”

Harvath could tell by the tone of his voice that he had misread him. Something else had happened. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Emily.”

Harvath didn’t need to be given a last name to know who Gary was talking about. Emily Hawkins had been Gary ’s assistant and right arm while he’d been at the FBI. She’d been like a second mother to Harvath since he’d moved to D. C., and he had left the puppy with her after Tracy had been shot.

“What happened?”

“He got to her. Her and the dog.”

Lawlor was not an overly emotional man, and Harvath could tell it was taking everything he had to keep it together. He was completely choked up. “Tell me what happened.”

“He was hiding in her barn out near Haymarket. He beat both her and the puppy severely. They’ve each got multiple broken bones and contusions. He did a real number on them, but that was just for starters. This sick bastard had brought along two body bags, one for an adult and one for a child. He placed her in one and the dog in the other, but before he zipped them up, he tossed in something to keep them company.”

Harvath’s stomach started to churn. He knew that body bags were nonporous. It was a horrible way to die. Harvath was definitely going to kill this guy. He pulled over to the side of the road and asked, “What did he throw in there?”

“He filled Emily’s bag with horseflies. She was bitten over two hundred times.”

Horseflies? That didn’t make sense. The next plague was supposed to be boils. “ Gary, you’re sure that’s all there was? Just flies?”

“The EMTs that showed up said he put over a thousand fleas in with the puppy.”

“So fleas and flies? That’s all?”

“No, that’s not all. He strung them both upside down from one of the rafters. If Emily’s neighbor hadn’t shown up when he did, they’d be dead.

“Wait a second,” said Harvath. “They’re alive? Emily and the dog?”

“Yes, but only barely. I’m on my way to the hospital in Manassas now.”

“When you get there, make sure the doctor and the vet monitor them both for boils and any sort of plaguelike illness. In fact, you should recommend that they start courses of antibiotics right away. This guy has been combining scenarios from the ten plagues of Egypt. The flies and the fleas were the third and the fourth, or in this guy’s case, the seventh and eighth. Just tell them to be on the lookout.”

When Lawlor said, “Scot, there’s something else I need to tell you,” dread seized him.

“Who else?” was all Harvath could manage.

“Carolyn Leonard and Kate Palmer. They were infected with some kind of staphylococcus aureus-bubonic plague hybrid.”

The knife had been shoved into Harvath’s heart the minute he found Tracy lying in a pool of blood on his doorstep; now it felt as if acid were being poured down the blade. The pain of having it twisted for Emily and the dog was one thing, but with Kate and Carolyn added to the mix, it was almost too much to bear.

“Where did it happen?” he asked.

“At Tysons Galleria,” replied Lawlor.

“The shopping center? In public?”

“Some guy was offering perfume samples. We think he had the hybrid aerosolized. Kate gave the Bureau guys a description. Macy’s sent over pictures of all their employees, contracted or otherwise, and none of them are a match.”

“Are they looking at CCTV footage?”

“The tapes have already been pulled and both Kate and Carolyn are working with sketch artists.”

“Will they be okay?” asked Harvath.

“This bug is very fast-acting. They showed symptoms in less than twelve hours, which is pretty much unheard of with either staphylococcus aureus or bubonic plague.”

“If I remember my medical training right, staphylococcus aureus causes some pretty nasty boils.”

“And can be a real bear to treat because of resistance to most antibiotics,” said Lawlor. “The best thing they have going for them is the fact that it was caught early. Even so, the medical people are pretty concerned about how fast-moving it is. They’ve both been quarantined.”

“There’s no question in my mind that we’re dealing with the same guy,” stated Harvath.

“Nor in anyone else’s. They found a card in Carolyn Leonard’s purse, the kind perfume samples are sprayed onto. It had the name of some bogus perfume and a tagline written in Italian.”

“Let me guess,” said Harvath. “ That which has been taken in blood, can only be answered in blood? ”

“Exactly,” stated Lawlor.

“Does the president know?”

“Yes, he knows.”

“And?” asked Harvath.

“And it doesn’t change anything. He still expects you to turn yourself in.”

“Well, he’s going to have to wait until I’m finished.”

THE WHITE HOUSE

Jack Rutledge prided himself on his ability to read his people. When Charles Anderson was shown into the residence, the president knew he hadn’t arrived bearing good news.

“We’ve got a problem, sir,” said Anderson, confirming the president’s suspicions.

Rutledge closed the report he’d been skimming and motioned for his chief of staff to take a seat. “What is it?”

“I just heard from Director Vaile. His team managed to take Harvath into custody.”

“That should be good news. What’s the problem?”

“Harvath escaped.”

“He what?” demanded Rutledge. “How the hell did that happen?”

“It’ll all be in the DCI’s briefing,” replied Anderson, “but there’s more.”