7_The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

Author:Brad Thor
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9781847391957
Publisher: Pocket Books - Uk
Published: 2010-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 44

METROPOLITAN POLICE HEADQUARTERS

WASHINGTON, D.C.

“There are a lot of photos in there,” said Aydin Ozbek. “Take your time.”

“Nope,” replied Andrew Salam, turning the laptop around. “That’s him.”

“You’re sure?” asked Rasmussen.

“Positive. That’s the man who recruited me.”

Ozbek looked at Rasmussen and then turned his eyes back to Salam. “I know you’ve been through this extensively with the FBI, but we need you to go through it with us once more. We need to know how you communicated with him. When and where did you meet? Did he ever come to your home, your office? Did you ever go to his home or office? All of it.”

“You know who this guy is, don’t you?” asked Salam. “He’s CIA, isn’t he?”

“Let’s just take this one step at a time,” said Rasmussen.

“Fuck one step at a time,” retorted Salam. “You know I’m telling the truth. My recognizing this guy proves it.”

He studied the faces of the men sitting across from him. There was something about all of this that he couldn’t quite grasp. Then suddenly, it hit him. “Holy shit. My handler is your assassin, isn’t he? He and al-Din are the same person. That’s why you’re back here talking to me.”

“We don’t know any of that for sure,” replied Rasmussen.

Salam laughed. “All along, the FBI has been panicked that he was one of theirs and now it turns out he’s one of yours.”

“We’re still putting this together—”

Ozbek interrupted his colleague. “The man you ID’d in that photo is Matthew Dodd. He faked his death and disappeared a little over five years ago.”

“About the time he converted to Islam,” offered Salam.

“If what you’ve told us is accurate, then that does seem to fit the timeline.”

“As does recruiting me and setting up the Glass Canyon operation.”

Ozbek nodded, slowly. “Give or take.”

“Then that’s it. You’ve got your proof,” stated Salam. “I’m innocent. You can get me out of here.”

“Identifying Dodd as your handler is one thing. Proving he was, as well as proving that someone other than you killed Nura Khalifa, is something else.”

“But you can help me,” insisted Salam. “If you tell the FBI that Matthew Dodd was my handler, it’ll help prove that I’m telling the truth.”

“We don’t have to tell them anything,” replied Rasmussen.

Ozbek waved him off. Putting his elbows on the table, Ozbek clasped his hands together and rested his chin on his thumbs. “We might be able to help you,” he said, thinking, “but first you have to help us.”

“With what?” asked Salam.

Rasmussen looked at him. “Don’t be stupid, Mr. Salam.”

Once again, Ozbek waved him off. “We’ve got a pretty good idea where Dodd is. We may even know who his target is—”

“Is it Dr. Khalifa?” interrupted Salam. “Was Nura right about it being her uncle?”

“We have reason to believe that Dr. Khalifa is already dead and that there may be another target.”

“So Nura was right,” said Salam, more to himself than to the CIA operatives.

“We don’t know that Dodd killed him,” replied Ozbek. “Not for sure. Not yet. But we believe that there is something larger at play here, and we need to know what that something is.

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