Chapter 45
Safe House
The Medina
Tangier, Morocco
“Just a little recon?” Ding asked.
“Negative,” Clark replied. “Nobody leaves the house.”
Task Force 99’s newest safe house was on the third floor of a minor apartment building in the heart of Tangier’s old medina. There were three bedrooms, a living area, and the basic necessities of life. If all went to plan, it would be a very short stay.
When their G650 had landed the previous evening, two vehicles had been waiting on a quiet corner of the airport. The larger was a rented Mercedes Sprinter van driven by a trusted CIA contractor. The other was an unmarked sedan of the Moroccan DGST, the country’s main domestic intelligence agency.
It was all precisely what Clark had expected.
At the request of the U.S. State Department, the DGST had expedited the entry process for an aircraft carrying what was obviously an American paramilitary unit.
As a sensible alternative to entering Morocco by surreptitious means, a diplomatic favor had been called in by Foggy Bottom; the members of Task Force 99 suffered no passport checks, no questions about what they would be doing in Morocco, or even where they planned to stay.
Clark was naturally suspicious about how long a leash they would actually be given, yet so far, he’d seen no signs of local surveillance.
The arrangement, however, did come at a cost. The team’s heavier weapons had remained on board the Gulfstream, which was concealed in a hangar under tight security.
This was probably for the best; they’d come to Tangier to find and extract one valuable intelligence asset.
If they couldn’t do it with pistols and comm gear, bigger guns probably weren’t the answer.
The pilots, Hooper and Sesniak, had stayed with the jet.
Ding and Clark were in the main room. Wu, Bauer, and Charlie were also present, lounging on twin sofas. Hyori and Toussiant had racked out in one of the bedrooms. The team had covered a lot of ground in the last week, and everyone was striving to adjust.
Wu asked Clark, “What’s the plan for finding our man?”
“There’s no way the seven of us can find Klaus in a city this size. We have to hope he’ll find some way to reestablish contact with the CIA, or that ODNI will track him down by digital means. Our job is to be ready to respond when he does turn up.”
“A quick reaction force?” Charlie mused.
“Some quicker than others,” Bauer replied. He had a reputation as the best pure athlete in the unit; a topflight decathlete, he’d once made alternate on the German Olympic team.
“Is ODNI going to give us local backup?” Ding inquired.
“Not in terms of boots on the ground. North Africa has gone cold in the intel world, and the assets we have are spread thin. But we are getting the highest priority from Cyber Cell 6.”
Evidence of this was already avalanching in.
Two encrypted laptops had downloaded a mind-numbing array of surveillance images from around the city.
On Clark’s orders, everyone had been poring over maps of the city’s districts, getting a feel for their urban battle space: prominent points, police stations, transit nodes, escape channels.
“Looks like the Russians are going in the other direction,” Charlie commented as she perused a new incoming message. “ODNI has identified a large contingent of Russians entering the country in the last twelve hours. Mostly through airports, but also the ferry terminals.”
“And how did they arrive at this conclusion?” Clark asked.
“There’s an explanation of their methodology.
CC6 somehow acquired passport information from all Moroccan ports of entry—not sure how they managed that, but they seem confident.
Russian passports have been arriving in unusually high numbers.
A few of these inbounds are known GRU, and the analytic model combines that fact with known or apparent traveling companions.
Best guess is between forty and eighty individuals.
That doesn’t count those already in country. ”
Wu whistled. “The Orcs are taking Route 1. They’re trying to flood the zone to flush Klaus out.”
“Easier said than done,” Clark said doubtfully. “I find myself wondering who we’re up against. Malenkov has supposedly gone private. A mass call-up like this sounds more like the GRU.”
“Maybe they’re working together. Klaus could have dirt on them both.”
“True.”
Charlie said, “The last time Klaus talked to his handler, he mentioned that time was critical. That might be the reason the agency decided to rush him out on the diplomatic flight.”
“Any idea what the urgency is?” Ding asked.
“No. But if Klaus still sees it that way, he’s going to make a move to get in touch soon. That would put him on streets and alleys that are swamped with Russian agents. He’s going to be vulnerable.”
Clark said, “Any way you look at it, I don’t think we’re here for an extended stay.”
“Fine with me,” said Ding. “Let’s find this guy, throw him on the jet, and get home in time for dinner.”
Ding had been hoping for a few laughs, but a canvass of the faces around him spoke volumes. Nobody believed it was going to be that easy.