Chapter 10 #2
“Oh, I’m afraid it is, but it’s not ours.
” He turned and set the image on the desk before re-facing the team and locked his arms tight across his chest. “I guess this would be a good time to tell you what the hell is going on.” He surveyed the team, then his focus stopped and remained on Owen.
“Every time a new president takes over, we’re briefed on critical and highly classified operations that have previously taken place.
Particularly, ops that could impact future relations with other nations.
And, unfortunately, based on this photo”—he took a moment to swallow, as if the news was too unsettling to share—“I believe we have confirmation the mission relating to your brother’s death is, in fact, connected to our missing guys. ”
The truth. Was he going to hear the truth about what happened to his brother from the commander in chief himself?
The thumping of his heart slowed, and everything damn near went calm inside of him so he could focus on what the president was about to say.
The president’s face hardened. “Ten years ago, the CIA intercepted intel suggesting a Ukrainian militia group, led by Pavlo Teteruk, was planning some sort of attack against Russia. We couldn’t risk tensions heightening, nor could we mobilize troops.
It could risk tipping off the Russians.” He shook his head.
“So, four Tier One operatives, who were fluent in Ukrainian, were chosen to escort Canton into Kiev. The goal was to confirm the intel to decide on the best course of action.”
Owen staggered back a step, his mind now reeling.
“While in Kiev,” the president continued, “our people discovered Pavlo Teteruk was also responsible for the kidnapping of a Russian nuclear scientist who’d recently gone missing.
Our former president relied heavily on the advice of his Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Mike Douglas, and the general proposed the recon mission turn into a rescue op. ”
“What happened?” Owen’s body grew even tenser at the news.
He pinched the bridge of his nose as if gathering his thoughts.
“The team entered Pavlo Teteruk’s compound, and our men nearly got away with the scientist. But, outside the gates, a sniper spotted them and opened fire.
Shaw, Robins, and Canton surrendered, and President Jones had to negotiate a deal to get them out alive and to keep everything under wraps. ”
The blood rushed to Owen’s face. His brother should never have been there that day. It’d been a bad fucking call. “What kind of deal?” Owen couldn’t stop the question from rolling off his tongue.
“Arms, funding, a show of support for continued independence from Russia,” the president answered in a low voice.
“And they accepted?” Owen couldn’t square up everything in his mind.
The president nodded. “The president had General Douglas’s attorney coordinate the deal and ensure the money funneled to Teteruk was kept off the books.”
“How could we make a goddamn deal with the man who killed Brad and Jason?” He needed to stand down. This was the president, and it hadn’t been his call ten years ago, but how the hell had that happened?
“We don’t negotiate, not normally,” the president answered.
“But, if we didn’t, they’d have killed three more of our men, not to mention the blowback from Russia when they learned what happened over there.
The Russians would’ve used this event to try and justify an invasion.
President Jones weighed the risks, and chose to make a deal with Teteruk instead. ”
Owen turned his back, worried he’d lose his temper and break something in the Oval.
Black dots appeared before his eyes as rage filled him.
“What about the scientist?” Jess asked. “Even if our people survived, what would the U.S. have done with the Russian? They wouldn’t be able to let her go home, right?”
The president simply shook his head, as if pained by it all, even though it hadn’t been his call back then.
Owen took a labored breath. “And how exactly did we cover all of this up?” He faced the room again. Who the hell transported his brother’s and Brad’s bodies to Iraq . . . to have them blown the fuck up?
“Shaw, Robins, and Canton relocated York, Thompson, and the scientist to an old al-Qaeda stronghold. According to President Jones’s records, Shaw and Robins faked an explosion in Ramadi and blamed al-Qaeda.
The Russian authorities were then alerted our men died trying to rescue her when they’d discovered she was being held captive. ”
Lies. So many damn lies.
No one wanted war with Russia, not even another Cold War, but still . . .
“That’s why Shaw retired, isn’t it?” Owen came to the realization. “He couldn’t handle what went down.” Robins had come to the funeral, but Shaw—he couldn’t look Owen in the eyes knowing what happened to Jason.
The president didn’t respond, but he didn’t have to. Owen knew the truth. The hard fucking truth.
“This will be a shit storm if Russia finds out.” Asher’s deep voice throttled the sudden silence in the room.
“What made our government think Pavlo Teteruk wouldn’t tell the Russians what had happened that day, anyway?” Luke asked.
The president dropped his focus to the rug beneath his polished shoes.
“I’m pretty sure Teteruk didn’t want Russia to launch a full-scale attack.
And, the way I see it, I think he had all of this planned from the get-go.
He knew the U.S. would come.” He retrieved the photo from his desk and pointed at it.
“He knew NATO would reject the Ukrainian bid for entry in 2008, and so he wanted to ensure the U.S. backed the country one way or another. He had people watching our men the second their boots touched the ground. I think he let them into the compound, just to take half of them out on their way out.”
“That photo is Teteruk’s?” Knox asked.
“One of many, I’m afraid.” The president arched his shoulders back and cocked his head, the vein throbbing at the base of his neck.
“We’re not still supporting this son of—” Owen cut himself off, nearly forgetting who he was talking to.
“He left Ukraine last year. We think he had a falling out with his group. We ended the funding to the party with his departure.”
“You said party.” Owen’s eyes locked onto the president, his pulse spiking despite efforts to keep his nostrils from flaring. “Does that mean we’re still paying off this cocksucker?”
“Owen,” Luke warned.
The president held up his hand to Luke. “It’s fine.” He looked back at Owen. “We’ve been regularly monitoring his activity by way of drones since he left Ukraine, and he’s kept to his compound in Georgia.”
President Rydell had dodged Owen’s question, but before he could bring it up again, Liam said with a hint of his normal casual posture, “I’m assuming we’re talking about the country and not the state?”
Owen sure as hell wished the asshole was nearby so he could get to him quicker. Although, a little distance wouldn’t stop Owen when the time came.
Owen tipped his head toward the photo in the president’s hand. “That’s why we didn’t kill the prick? He has goddamn images stashed somewhere, and if anything ever happens to him, he’ll let Russia know what the U.S. did? We’re still channeling funds—just to him, instead of his party, right?”
Sometimes, the truth was ugly. And sometimes, the truth was so ugly it couldn’t ever be exposed.
“Photos can be doctored,” Jess began, “but the U.S. couldn’t give Russia any reason to doubt the story about Iraq, right?”
The president’s eyes journeyed over to her, and he gave a hard nod.
“Does that mean he’s behind all of this? No hacking?” Luke asked.
“But why now?” Jess rubbed her temples before narrowing her eyes on Owen. “Why come after our men? He wouldn’t need to pump them for intel; he knows what happened.”
“And I don’t think he’d want the truth out, anyway. He wouldn’t want anything happening to his country, especially at the hands of Russia,” the president noted.
“But clearly someone got their hands on his blackmail photos.” Asher looked over at Owen and dragged his palms down his face.
“Before you got here today, I commissioned a SEAL Team to infiltrate Teteruk’s place in Georgia. They’ll be dropping in by helo at zero seven hundred tomorrow. We couldn’t take the risk that someone would get to him if JSOC was hacked.”
“Were we planning to protect this guy, or use him as bait?” Owen raised his brows, his pulse still spiking.
“Looks like we won’t be doing either.” Luke’s words drew the attention of everyone in the room. “Clearly, he’s already been taken or killed.” He pointed to the photo in the president’s hand. “How else would someone get ahold of that image?”
“Our guys will still go to Georgia as planned,” the president announced. “We have to be certain.”
Owen gripped the nape of his neck as he considered the possibility someone else beat him to the punch of killing the murdering SOB.
“Let’s assume Cheng hacked JSOC, what kind of intel could he have downloaded and sold?” Luke asked. “And who would know the value of that specific intel?”
The president circled his desk, set the photo down and grabbed a USB off the top of a stack of files. “Teteruk’s name wasn’t in any files, but the longitude and latitude coordinates of his military compound our men infiltrated in Ukraine were listed.”
“If that’s the file Cheng got ahold of, what else could Cheng have learned from it?” Jess asked, as if trying to put the pieces together.
“The names of our fallen guys were in there.”
“Cheng could do a quick search and discover Jason and Brad died in Iraq, and so, why the hell would their names be connected to a location in Ukraine.” Luke eyed Owen, his lids becoming heavier.
“Cheng realized he was sitting on a gold mine that could fuck the U.S.,” Knox said with a shake of the head.
“And if I were Cheng, I’d assume the Russians would be the most interested in buying that kind of intel,” Liam added. “And given the threat Samantha got this morning . . .”
“We need to find out who the hell has our men, and what they plan on doing with the intel. We have to contain the situation before it gets leaked any further.” The president clutched the USB tight in his hand.
“We’re assuming the Russian government didn’t already buy the files from Cheng?” Asher asked.
“No, they can’t be the buyer.” The president shook his head. “Believe me, if they knew the truth, I would’ve heard about it already, and there’s been zero chatter about this.”
“Besides,” Jess began, “with Cheng hacking the Russian servers before, I doubt he’d be speed-dialing Putin for a deal.”
“Whoever bought the intel from Cheng, they’re using it to try and thwart the McCarthys’ plans,” Owen said as Luke accepted the USB from the president and nodded.
“I have every bit of confidence in your team that you’ll figure this out. The event the McCarthys are co-hosting with the Sven Group in Russia is Wednesday, right?” The president went back around behind his desk.
“Yes, sir,” Owen answered. “But we’re not still considering moving forward with it, are we?”
He sat in his seat and leaned back in his chair, eying Owen as he strode closer to his desk.
“I’ll need to think about it and assess the risks.
I’m not a fan of being bullied into making political decisions or being blackmailed.
” His jaw strained with tension. “I don’t want to give these people exactly what they want, do you? ”
“I also don’t want Samantha or her father in danger.” No damn way could he let Samantha get on a plane for Russia. “Something could happen to her over there.”
The president looked at his watch. “Then you’re running out of time.”
Owen fought the curse that tried to slip from his lips.
“We set up a secure location, which has all of the equipment you may need to get the job done.” The president pointed to the USB in Luke’s hand. “All the operational details from ten years ago are on that USB. The files are clean. Nothing redacted. Destroy it once you’ve looked at it. Understand?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Luke replied.
“I’ll have some papers drawn up for Samantha McCarthy to sign.
We can’t let this information spread further.
Please tell me she didn’t share the photo with anyone other than your team.
” He scratched at his chin, dark stubble beneath his fingertips.
“We’re lucky she came to you guys with this instead of the Feds. ”
“Yes, but she did consult an FBI agent about the photo before coming to us,” Jess spoke up.
“I’ll need to have him brought here immediately. Too many people already know about this. The situation needs to be contained.”
Contained? Like his brother’s death was contained ten years ago? His hands instinctively tightened at his sides.
“We pulled an image off the security cameras at Samantha’s office, but it was a shit angle.
We’re going to go through the footage tonight from both her apartment and office to see if we can get a better hit.
The guy who gave her the photo is our best lead right now.
” Jess handed the president a new image after she’d retrieved it from her bag. “You recognize him?”
“Afraid not.”
“What about Samantha’s father?” Owen asked a moment later. “We don’t believe he knows anything, but—”
“Everyone involved in the op ten years ago was already notified and given extra security, but before this meeting, we hadn’t confirmed the extent of the threat.
” His nostrils flared a little, and he gave Jess back the security photo.
“I’ll make sure they’re on board with what I need from them this afternoon. ”
“And what do you need from them?” Luke asked, but they all already knew the answer: bait.
“The former president, General Douglas . . .” Jess bowed her head. “How can we use them as bait?”
But before the president could answer, Owen asked, “How’d you know to alert Samantha’s father already?”
The president’s mouth tightened as he angled his head and looked straight into Owen’s eyes. “Because he was General Douglas’s attorney at the time. Samantha’s father orchestrated the Teteruk deal.”