Arabian Deception by James Lawrence

Author:James Lawrence [Lawrence, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781720492504
Publisher: Genesis Publishing
Published: 2018-06-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Alexandria, Virginia

Pat was seated in the gunfighter’s seat in the back of the narrow dining room of the Warehouse Bar & Grill located on King Street in Old Town Alexandria. The Old Town tourist area was lined with small upscale restaurants and antique shops. The quaint restaurant was an unlikely spot for a clandestine meeting between a senior CIA agent and his asset, which, knowing Mike, was probably the reason he had chosen it.

Pat had arrived fifteen minutes early, at seven fifteen, and the maître d’ had seated him without delay as the restaurant was still mostly empty. Pat had ordered a bottle of chardonnay and was enjoying a glass of Jeff Gordon 2012 that was chilled and surprisingly good. The waitress, who had introduced herself as Carlie, was a vivacious ponytailed blonde with a very pretty face and a flirty demeanor. If her behavior was contrived to increase tips, it was going to work. The dinner rush had yet to arrive, which gave Carlie and Pat a lot of time to chat. Without too much prompting, he learned she was single, living in Alexandria alone, and working on a master’s degree in international affairs at Georgetown. Spending so much time in the Middle East, where many of the women were horribly repressed, had given Pat a much better appreciation for the wholesome good looks, refreshing openness, and confidence of the American female. It was a shame they always broke his heart.

Mike arrived and slipped into the seat across from Pat. The smiling solicitous waitress poured him a glass of wine. Mike took a sip and nodded his approval. He was still dressed in a suit and tie while Pat was wearing jeans and a loose black turtleneck. Carley came back and took their orders. Pat ordered the she-crab soup and the halibut, and Mike went with the crab cakes and a filet mignon. It was an excellent meal. They spent the time talking sports and family, with Pat enjoying the ambience and the conversation.

Realizing that time was getting short, as soon as the waitress cleared the table, Pat shifted the conversation to the matter at hand.

“What do we know about the people who killed my pilots?”

“We found the launch containers and traced the serial numbers on the Stinger missiles. That led us to a German unit in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan, who reported them captured in 2015. The trail went cold after that.”

“What about the vehicles and personnel involved in the attack?”

“The vehicles were turned over to the Iraqi government by us in 2009 and captured by ISIS when they were abandoned by the Iraqi Army in 2012. The personnel we could identify were a mixture of Tunisians, Iraqis, and Kuwaiti jihadis.”

“What about that guy who was trying to get away? He had some training.”

“He did. His name was Abdul-Rahman Al Ghaneem. He was US-trained Special Forces, a major in the Kuwait National Guard before he ran away and joined ISIS. He was high level in the caliphate. Our intel suggests he was one of the top guys, working directly for the caliph.

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