The Case Officer (26 page)

“Iran? Iran and China would make,
you know, dangerous bedfellows,” said Santos. “What sort of connection?”

“Another good question.”
Articulating his thoughts to Santos served to help in the analytical process.
“China remained more or less neutral throughout the Iran/Iraq war. Or perhaps I
should say China did not join the ranks of those countries that condemned
either Iran or Iraq before and during that war. They remained neutral or
noncommittal on the outside, overtly, but supported Iran covertly, and they
have continued that support through the years as their cooperation increased.”

“Oil?”

“You got it. Oil. But there’s
more, much more. Certainly oil. In return for cheap oil, practically free in
some instances, the Chinese provided military assistance and equipment. There
has also been some nuclear cooperation, but I don’t think anyone knows the
degree of that cooperation yet. And now that Iran wants to play an influential
role in Iraq to eventually drive us totally out of the country, China may now
be offering its covert support.

“Iran is heavy into covert action
in Iraq these days. They’re actually outspending the U.S. in this regard. I
think this money might be part of that covert cooperation plan. That’s pretty
clear now from what Huang just said. Rothmann is going to love this.”

Mac pulled his feet off the table
and leaned forward to emphasize his next point. “The fact is we’ve just caught
China with its hand in the cookie jar. Smiling at us and shaking our hand while
they’re giving us the finger with the other hand. They’re diddling us. They are
just like the French, the slimy bastards. I’m talking about their government.
They’ll do anything if they think it’s in their own best interests. Screw the
rest of the world. They’re whores...the whole lot of them, whores...”

“Whew! Glad you don’t feel too
strongly about this, Mac. And I thought I was the one with, you know, the
reputation for being a hothead! So let me see if I understand. The Chinese are
supporting an Iranian CA operation to the tune of 50 million Euros. Is that about
it?”

“Actually, the way Huang
described it to Lim just now, the Iranians supplied the money covertly through
Beijing. That’s why they had to bring it into the country in cash, through the
diplomatic pouch. It’s ‘black’ money…”

“Untraceable. Hmmm. But why cash?
With the way money is being laundered these days, you know, they shouldn’t have
had to go to all the trouble of shipping so much cash…and getting a safe large
enough to hold it…and all that…”

“Because it’s going out in cash.
Huang has a list...where the hell is it? Here it is...Huang has a list of
recipients. The heat is on the Iranians and their Arab friends who actively
support terrorism, particularly in Iraq, where all of them have the common goal
of ousting the U.S. from the country and indeed the whole region, so the
unlikely Chinese have been tasked to distribute the money in Europe. And this
is probably not all of it, just the first
tranche
. I’ll bet there’s
plenty more to come…”

MacMurphy paused to find his
place in his notes. “Here it is. The money will be used primarily in France—I
guess because France is such a haven for terrorists and other low-lives, and so
anti-American these days—but not exclusively. It’ll also go to groups in some
neighboring European countries like Germany, Italy, Belgium and Greece. Huang
is in charge of all of it. It sounds like his station will be the main
distribution center for all of Europe.

“He said about two-thirds of the
money will go to advance Iranian goals, especially in Iraq, and the remaining
one-third for pro-Chinese propaganda activities. To erase the stigma of the
1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, unsafe food and toys exported to the U.S., and
all that crap. They want to portray China as an emerging democracy with an
economy to be reckoned with. Let’s see.” He flipped the pages of his notes.

“I can’t read my own writing. Looks
like most of the Chinese portion will go toward reviving European communist
parties like the PCF here in France, and to buy political influence wherever
they can. They are not so much interested in reviving communism, which is
pretty much a dead horse, but using those communist party infrastructures and
redirecting them to support anti-American political positions—especially Arab,
Iranian, and Chinese political positions.

“And it gets worse…” He paused to
study his notes and organize his thoughts. “Here it is. Huang’s not too happy
with this part, although his deputy, Lim, thinks it’s pretty neat. Active
support of terrorism. The covert action campaign for the Arab and Iranian
portion of all of this includes everything from posters and rallies and
articles and that sort of CA crap, to outright bomb-throwing terrorism. The
Iranian clerics have finally pulled out the stops, and Iraq is the catalyst.

“Get this, Culler.” He turned to
the next page of hastily scribbled notes. “Cash will be distributed directly to
extremist organs of Hizbullah, al Qaeda, the PLO, the PFLP-GC, the PFLP-SC,
Black September, the Hawari Organization, even remnants of the old Abu Nidal
Organization.... The list goes on. I couldn’t copy them all. Iran believes it
is in the best position in its history to exert influence in Iraq, and it is
pulling out all stops to achieve that goal…

“It has already flooded Iraq with
its operatives and is financing the Shite insurgent groups there, and this
covert action is just an extension of that effort. They want to defeat America
there.” He looked up from his notes. “This is scary, Culler. Real scary… I’ve
got to get this out to Rothmann right away.”

Chapter Sixty-Six

T
wo weeks had passed since the bugging
of Huang’s office. The initial tapes had been fully transcribed, providing
important and revealing detail to the overall plan. The tiny LP was functioning
well, although the station had still not found an ideal candidate to man the
tiny
au pair
room, forcing François, Culler and Mac to alternate in and
out of it to check the equipment and pick up tapes to be transcribed.

Things
were relatively quiet in Huang’s office after the initial conversation about
the covert action plan. Huang spent most of his days working at his desk in
silence. The bug picked up conversations with Lim and other members of his
staff and a number of short, one sided phone chats which provided unique
operation information about the workings on Huang’s station, but nothing more
on the subject of Iran/China cooperation. MacMurphy’s frustration grew, as did
Headquarters’…

So
when MacMurphy was summoned to the COS’s office on Thursday afternoon, he had a
strong feeling of angst in his gut. It was not misguided.

Burton
B. Berger and MacMurphy sat alone in the COS’s office. Bob Little, Mac was
told, was summoned back to Headquarters for “consultations.” The door was
closed and Berger pointedly activated the anti-intrusion security system before
beginning.

Berger
began calmly by pointing out Headquarters’ frustration over the lack of
progress of the audio op in providing additional information on the Iran/China
plot, or on providing an updated assessment of Huang. “It’s not working. It’s
simply not working. You’re stalling, aren’t you?” He stared into MacMurphy’s
eyes, as if to say,
I know something is amiss here. I know what you are
doing, and I’m going to nail you for it
.

MacMurphy
calmly defended the operation. “I don’t see why you’re in such a hurry. The
operation began with a bang. It provided an outline of their plans and
intentions from practically the first day, and now you are telling me that
Headquarters is pissing all over it because it hasn’t produced anything lately?
Is that what you’re saying?”

“It
isn’t
just
Headquarters,” Berger said knowingly, settling back in his leather
executive chair, fixing MacMurphy with his stare. “It’s the Director. He’s wise
to your stalling tactics. You initially did the audio op to gain assessment
data on Huang that you could use to pitch him. That hasn’t happened. He wants
action, and he wants it
now
. He’s on to the game you and Rothmann are
playing. Huang is the key to all of this and he wants Huang
now
.”

Berger
leaned forward and wagged a long, delicate finger at MacMurphy. “You are
through playing games. You were told to bring Huang in and you refused. The
Director knows you’ve been stalling because you have some sort of an affinity
for the guy. You fell in love with your agent, MacMurphy. Something a rookie
case officer would do. Huang has all the answers and the Director wants them
now. Get it? Now…”

“What is it you want me to do?
Pitch him? That’s it, isn’t it? I’m telling you that won’t work. Huang will
refuse. He’s not recruitable. If you want answers, you and the Director will
just have to wait for them to come to you through the audio op. That’s the only
way to get the answers you want. Through the audio op. For God sakes, Burton,
you can’t be serious. Where’s the DDO in all this? He knows the deal…”

Berger leaned forward, elbows on
his desk, glaring at MacMurphy. “The DDO, your old buddy, is out of it. The
Director is running this show now.
Personally
. And you’re going to do
what he wants you to do or you can take the next flight out of here. Get it?
The DDO and you are no longer running this op.” He sat back, satisfied, and
studied his fingers.

Mac had the wind knocked out of
him. He was trembling with emotion and barely able to contain himself. He was
back in Somalia. Back in that hot “bubble” with the Ambassador. He could not
believe this was happening again. “You know its wrong, Burton, but you are
going along with it anyway.” He spoke softly, trying to bring the tension down,
trying to make some sense out of the matter, trying to appeal to Burton B.
Burger’s better sense of judgment.

And then it got worse, much
worse.

Berger had MacMurphy on the
ropes. He enjoyed the feeling. He was winning. “So here is what I want you to
do, Mr. MacMurphy. And this is straight from the Director…”

Berger wagged a blue striped cable
in front of him and his tone was quiet and assured. He tossed his glasses on
the desk, stood up and looked down on MacMurphy, gaining a psychological
advantage.

“You will use the surveillance
team to follow Huang. Wake up with him in the morning and put him to bed at
night. And when the right opportunity presents itself…when Huang is somewhere
outside of his embassy and accessible…perhaps in that Chinese restaurant he
likes so much...the Mai-Lin or whatever…you will approach him and say whatever
you need to say to get him to cooperate with us. I think there will be a lot of
incentive for him to do it this time, because he knows he will be on the first
plane back to Beijing if he doesn’t.”

“No! Because that’s exactly what
will happen. He’ll refuse and he will take the first plane back to Beijing and
he will be fucked and our audio operation will be fucked and we’ll be nowhere.
Is that really what you and the Director want? Have you guys completely lost
it?”

“No, Mr. MacMurphy, we haven’t
lost
it. We are totally on top of it. It’s you and Rothmann who have lost it. You’re
dragging your feet. That’s what you’re doing and we know it. The Director wants
action and he’s right. We need answers and we need them now. We’ve got Huang
where we want him. He has to cooperate with us. He has no choice…

“But… You see, here’s the beauty
of it. We will win no matter what decision Huang makes. If he decides to
cooperate, we will win. If he decides not to cooperate, we will also win”
Berger stepped back, proud of himself. Satisfied.

“I must be missing something, How
the hell do we win if Huang is sent back to Beijing?”

Berger leaned back and put his
feet up on his desk. He pondered his slender fingers before answering. “Because
if he agrees to cooperate and accepts recruitment we will debrief him and we
will get all of the answers we need, and if he doesn’t we will snatch him off
the street and still get all the answers we need. You see, it’s a win-win
situation...”

Mac shook his head, not
understanding.

“You still don’t get it, do you?
It’s time for some action, Mr. MacMurphy. We have a FATBOY team arriving over
the weekend. They’ll take care of things if he decides not to cooperate with
you, or if you decide to take the next flight out of here. It makes no
difference to me one way or the other…”

Chapter Sixty-Seven

M
acMurphy left the COS’ office deep
in his own depressing thoughts. He passed Wei-wei Ryan’s desk on the way out. They
exchanged worried looks but didn’t speak.

He knew something had to be done,
but was unsure what he could do to prevent the unfolding of the Director’s
disastrous plan. This was no time to wait and be reactive, he thought. He
needed to be proactive. And without Rothmann in his corner – it appeared he was
no longer in the picture – what could he do?

The Director had grabbed the
wheel and was driving the bus off of a cliff. Mac’s only thoughts now were how
to save Huang from an impending extraordinary rendition by the FATBOY team, and
how to save the country from reverting back to a cold war stand-off with China.
The rendition of a Chinese diplomat was sheer madness, even if the Chinese
official was involved in supporting terrorism.