Terms of Control by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2013-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Franklin Jackson was the laughingstock of the U.S. Senate, but a senator had certain privileges, provided for by law, even if he didn’t have the respect of the rest of the Senate. These privileges included access to certain international intelligence reports—too important to trust the U.S. citizenry with, but after all not that important. Mostly it had to do with the comings and goings of high-profile political and business figures.

Jackson had long ago seen the potential value in such information. His awareness was now paying off.

This time the report wasn’t about a political or a wealthy business leader, but about a pair of oil tankers that had left Iran just hours earlier.

In the Middle East the vitriolic exchange that started with the destruction of the oil tankers had continued unabated, never mind that subsequent attacks made it increasingly clear that the violence was not about one oil-producing nation trying to gain market dominance.

With amazing rapidity the war of words between Saudi Arabia and Iran escalated at a stampede pace. Iran and several other Middle Eastern oil-producing nations lost ships in the tanker attacks, but somehow Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest producers, was unscathed. Iran’s thinly veiled suspicions had become blatant in the past twenty-four hours. Saudi Arabia and only Saudi Arabia had the motivation and the resources to pull off the attacks.

Now the Iranians had quietly launched two supertankers, with a massive supply of crude oil being sold to U.S. oil companies through a complicated series of legal maneuvers. While the world media wasn’t told about the tankers, Iran had sent a clear message to the Saudis: if their U.S.-bound tanker twins came under attack, the Iranian government would hold the Saudis solely responsible and would consider the attacks an act of war.

This was what Jackson learned from his intelligence reports. Nothing top secret, but useful nonetheless. He knew precisely what time the tankers would move through the Gulf of Oman and into the Arabian Sea. When he plotted the course and checked the tide schedules, he was ecstatic to discover that the target was reachable. The Singep could slip out while the tide was rising, rendezvous with the Iranian tankers and take action.

It was a little risky, but he simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Alang

DAVID MCCARTER was halfway through his briefing when he revealed his suspicion.

“Paul Patel is as dirty as Aska Wali.”

“What makes you say that, David?” Barbara Price asked.

“Nothing specific. It was his behavior. Whatever Wali is guilty of, Patel knows about it, but I don’t think he’s been in on it all along. Patel is very cool, very in control, but I think he’s new to the Benedict Arnold role. His guilt was showing.”

They had gathered in the sitting room of a hotel room suite in the small high-rent district of Alang, using a satellite phone connection to link with Stony Man Farm.

“He found out Wali was involved and agreed to steer the U.S. away for a fee?” Price suggested.

“A fee big enough to justify betraying his country and his allegiance to the CIA,” McCarter said.

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