Page 7 of The Devil's Ransom

“Have you been watching the news?”

A little incensed, I said, “No, sir. I’m in Tajikistan. I have no ability to watch the news. Did Kim Kardashian do something I missed?”

“Pike, Afghanistan is lost. The Taliban just took over Kabul. It’s done.”

It took a second to process. We’d only been here a week, and when I’d left, there were peace discussions going on in Doha, Qatar.

We’ve lost thecountry?

I said, “Say again? What do you mean Kabul is lost? You mean it’s coming to a close and Kabul is in danger?”

“No. Kabul is lost. It’s over. I don’t have time to get into it, but Kabul has fallen, and we’re doing everything we can to evacuate AMCITS from the county. It’s a mess. The 82nd is in right now controlling the Kabul airfield. But that’s not why I’m calling.”

I said, “Wait, wait, are you saying we’ve folded up the flag?”

“Yes. But that’s not why I’m calling—”

The statement was a body blow to me. I’d spent more than a few years in Afghanistan after 9/11 and his words were like blistering acid. Not that I didn’t know it was coming. I knew we were leaving, but that was when the Afghan government had a least a year to succeed against the Taliban. According to our own Taskforce intel guys.

I snarled, “We’ve lost the whole damn country? What about Maser or Jalalabad?”

“Pike, it’s done. They’re gone. The president fled the country. The Taliban are running amok. Haven’t you been watching the news?”

“Sir, I told you, we don’t have news out here in the wild lands. I’m living in a tent talking to you on a sat phone. I have seen nothing on this.”

I couldn’t believe it.Wewere the eight-hundred-pound gorilla. How could those fucks have taken over the entire country? But I knew how, in my heart. Like a lightning strike going from pole to pole, I thought about the Afghan men I’d served with who were now at the hands of savages.

I said, “What about theKandaks? The Commandos? What are we doing for them?”

“The 82nd is evacuating as many as they can, but that’s why I’m calling. We have a special request from the CIA.”

I looked at the sky, then at Knuckles. He squinted his eyes and I said, “What is it?”

“There’s a man who worked both for the CIA counter pursuit teams, then for the Commandos, then went deep cover penetrating Taliban infrastructure. He managed to make it to Tajikistan and he’s on the run.”

I nodded, even as I knew Wolffe couldn’t see it, saying, “Okay, go on.”

“He’s in Dushanbe. He fled with the national security advisor, but they split up. We have intel that the Badr 313 Battalion is hunting him. We want to bring him home. The CIA doesn’t have the assets to do it, but you do. Kerry Bostwick asked for you.”

Kerry was the head of the CIA, and a good man. While I had my issues with the organization, I didn’t with the man running it. He wouldn’t have delegated it to us if he had any ability to extract this asset. But I asked anyway.

“Why isn’t he pulling the guy out? What do I have that he doesn’t? I’m here as a private company. He owns the entire CIA.”

I heard heat from the phone, the distance not diluting the anger. “I can’t believe you’re even asking that question. I don’tknowwhy he can’t do it. What I know is that the asset is going to be dead in twenty-four hours or less and the CIA asked for our help.”

Chagrined, I said, “Sorry, sir. Just trying to get the state of play here. Of course we’ll pull him out. Where is he?”

“Dushanbe. That’s all I know. Start moving, and I’ll give you a lock-on. We have a case officer working it right now. He contacted his CO in Afghanistan, but that guy had already gone home to DC. He passed the contact to us. We have Carly in Dushanbe. She’s setting up the meet. It should just be a quick in-and-out.”

I said, “Carly? What’s she doing here? She speaks Spanish and Portuguese.”

“All we could get on short notice. She’s in Dushanbe coordinating with the CIA station chief. She’s in charge of the meet. All you need to do is get him, take him to the bird, and let him fly. Then you can return to digging up pottery shards.”

I said, “No issues. Is the Oversight Council aware, in case I have to go kinetic here?”

The Oversight Council was the body of men and women who oversaw all Taskforce actions. Comprised of thirteen members drawn from both the government and civilian world, they were the ones I’d aggravated in my quest to avenge Kurt Hale, but they still oversaw my operations. Since we were—to say the least—a little illegal, nothing we did happened without their approval, and I wanted to know, if I was forced into lethal action, that I was approved.

Wolffe said, “Yeah, they’re all read on. Kerry was pretty forceful, and as a member of the Council his words held weight. Thisguy was apparently one of their best operatives, and the president himself approved the mission. The ROE is hostile force.”

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