CHAPTER 31

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Niassa Game Reserve

Mozambique, Africa

July

“BASE TO REECE, ” THE Motorola radio lying on the seat next to him squawked with Rich Hastings’s voice.

“Go for Reece. ”

“There’s a man here to see you. A Yank, over. ”

Shit.

It had been two months since Solomon’s encounter with the poacher’s bullet, and it would be another month until he was back in the field. It was also Reece’s first exposure to anyone outside the hunting concession since his arrival.

Had to happen sooner or later.

“Check. Did he say who he was? ”

“Negative. He was polite but firm, eh. One of us from the looks of him. I tried to run him off, but he knows you’re here, over. ”

“Roger that. I’ll be there in an hour. Reece out. ”

Reece stopped the Cruiser and explained to Gona that he needed to head back to camp. Gona nodded down from the high seat and didn’t ask any questions. Reece did a three-point turn in an open area and began making his way back, though he wasn’t exactly in a rush to see whoever it was who was waiting for him. If they knew he was here, there was no sense trying to make a run for it, they’d have UAVs or other assets on him, and Reece had done enough running.

He saw a lone black Land Rover Defender 110 parked in front of the lodge as he pulled into camp. At least whoever had come for him had good taste in vehicles. Instead of pulling around to the back, he stopped the truck next to the Defender and walked up the path toward the broad veranda. The door opened and a man his own age and height stepped out. Sandy hair fell below his battered Florida Gators ball cap and his reddish beard betrayed a few flecks of gray. He was dressed in a short-sleeved plaid shirt and jeans and wore Salomon hiking boots. Though he didn’t see a handgun, Reece knew there would be one concealed on his right side at the four-o’clock position or possibly in an appendix rig just beneath his shirt. His eyes narrowed in recognition as Reece approached the stone steps. Reece stopped and looked up at his old friend, Navy SEAL Senior Chief Freddy Strain.

“I guess you didn’t come all this way just to kill me. ”

“Nah, Reece. If they wanted you dead they would have droned your ass weeks ago. ”

The men stood five yards from each other, Strain looking down at Reece from the elevated deck. The last time Reece had seen him was months ago, when elements of the United States government had ordered Strain’s SEAL Team to hunt down and capture or kill their former teammate before he eliminated any more of the conspirators who had planned the killing of his family and SEAL troop. Strain had maneuvered right into Reece’s ambush and Reece had let him live. Neither man spoke for what seemed like an eternity; this time it was Strain who broke the silence.

“Speaking of killing, thanks for not blowing those claymores. I should have known better than to have rolled in there like we owned the place. You had us dead to rights. ”

“You weren’t on my list. ”

“Thank God for that. It’s good to see you, brother. ” Strain’s stoic expression broke into a wide grin.

“You too, Senior. ” Reece smiled, climbing the steps to shake Freddy’s outstretched hand before embracing him in a hug.

“Damn, Reece, you going for the Jesus look? ” Strain pointed at his friend’s shoulder-length sun-bleached hair and scraggly beard.

“Something like that. Grooming hasn’t been a high priority lately. ”

“I wouldn’t think so. Reece, I’m really sorry about Lauren and Lucy. I don’t even know what to say to you other than that. ”

There was an uncomfortable pause as each man considered how to transition to the meat of the conversation.

Finally, Reece simply nodded. “So, how’d you find me? ”

“Well, it certainly took some doing, ” Freddy answered, relieved to be moving on.

“Let’s grab a drink, ” Reece said, nodding toward the main lodge.

“I think I need one, ” Freddy said, and smiled. “You might too, when I tell you why I’m here. Any Basil Hayden’s? ”

“I might be able to scrounge some up, ” Reece said. “We are fairly well provisioned in that department. ”

The two frogmen moved through the lodge, where Strain stopped to pick up his backpack, and out into the dining area. Reece poured two fingers of the brown liquid for his friend and opened himself a can of MacMahon beer, known locally as 2M. Taking a seat at the bar that overlooked the river below, he motioned for his former teammate to join him.

“If someone had to find me, I’m glad it was you, ” Reece offered as they touched drinks.

“So, ” Reece led off again, “how did you do it? ”

“Well, the working theory was that Liz dropped you off somewhere after you took care of Horn, Hartley, and Ben on Fishers Island. We couldn’t confirm that since she’s still on a nice estate in Mexico protected by an army of lawyers, courtesy of your buddy Marco. ”

“He’s a good one, that Marco, ” Reece said, taking another sip of Mozambique’s finest.

“Turns out he’s a little more than just a good businessman, and even I’m not cleared to know exactly what he’s involved with, but my guess would be he’s a highly placed DEA asset. I don’t have a ‘need to know, ’ so that really is just a guess. ”

“I’d bet it’s a good guess, ” Reece confirmed.

“Well, we would never have figured out that you liberated the Hastingses’ boat if a few other pieces hadn’t fallen into place. Even if we had, we would have assumed you were killed at sea in the storm the night of your escape. Never in a million years would we have thought to look for you here, ” Fred continued, gesturing at the surrounding wilderness.

“It was a bit of a trek, ” Reece admitted with a smile.

“I’ll say. I’d love to hear how you did it at some point. ”

“Trade secrets, my friend. ”

“And maybe a bit of luck. ”

“To be honest, it was a lot of luck. ”

“They say it’s better to be lucky than good, Reece. ”

“Isn’t that the truth? But you didn’t find me because some yacht club finally noticed a boat went missing. ”

“True. It started with the East African desk at the Agency coordinating with the NSA on Chinese interests in Mozambique. The signals guys intercepted a series of Chinese intelligence reports detailing a major shift in antipoaching efforts on this particular concession. The meat poachers feed the workers the Chinese use to support their mining and logging operations, and it was beginning to impact their productivity. ”

“It’s nice to know it was working. ”

“Yeah, enough for them to mention it to higher. Now that alone would never have raised any eyebrows, but when a white guy with an American accent claiming to be a former Canadian army medic brings a wounded tracker into an East African medical clinic without a good explanation as to why he knows how to do a tension pneumothorax and apply an Asherman Chest Seal, well, that’s not something they see every day. Unfortunately for you, the doctor that you encountered is an MI6 asset. ”

“Are you kidding me? Is there anyone in this country who isn’t some kind of spook? ”

“You would have gotten away clean not very long ago, but our intelligence collection capability has grown exponentially over the years. That, along with our ability to sift through mountains of information, can now be done at speeds unheard of in the past. ”

“I still don’t see how a cable saying the Chinese have some hungry workers coupled with a stitched-up game reserve tracker led them to believe I somehow made it from New York to Moz when they weren’t looking for me here to begin with. ”

“It wasn’t them, Reece. It was me. ”

Reece looked quizzically at his former sniper school spotter.

“I know you, remember? And I know Raife. And I know that you two spent time at Raife’s uncle’s hunting operation in Africa when you were in college together. ”

“Thanks for remembering, ” Reece said sarcastically, taking another long drink.

“Africa got me thinking, so I checked on all Raife’s family’s East Coast–based planes and boats. Guess which one disappeared the same night you did? ”

“You missed your calling, Freddy; you should have been a detective. ”

“Maybe in my next life. And Reece, next time you kill the secretary of defense and unravel the biggest government conspiracy in modern history, you might not want to give your name as Phil Bucklew to a British spy at an East African medical clinic. ”

Reece shook his head. “Yeah, using the name of one of the legends of Naval Special Warfare was probably not the best move. ”

“After that, we put up a UAV and have had you under surveillance for the past couple weeks. Facial recognition works, even from fifteen thousand feet. ”

“Lucky me. ”

Freddy paused. “I guess you know I didn’t come all the way here to go hunting with you. ”

“I figured you were here to kill me or arrest me. I’m guessing arrest me. ”

“That’s where this gets complicated. I’m leaving here as soon as we’re done but I’m not dragging you out against your will. Let me run this by you and you can make the call. You’ll want to hear it all, though. ”

“Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice. ”

“I have something I need you to see, ” Freddy said, sliding off his bar stool and motioning for Reece to follow him. “Might want to snag a couple more drinks. ”

Strain pulled a tin of Copenhagen from the pocket of his jeans and packed it with several flicks of his wrist. He opened the tin and put a pinch of tobacco between his lip and gum before offering the can to Reece, who shook his head.

“When did you start dipping? ”

“When the wife made me quit drinking, ” Fred responded, motioning to the bourbon in his hand with a gleam in his eye. “I think she meant only in the States, though. ”

“I’m absolutely sure that’s what she meant. How is Joanie? ”

“She’s good, man. She never really loved Virginia Beach, so she was happy when I got out and could live wherever she wanted. We’re down in South Carolina, near her family. ”

“So, you’re not at the Command? ”

“No, I got out a few months back. Things got really weird after you skipped town. Your friend Katie’s reporting put the spotlight on all of the Hartleys’ shenanigans and the shit rolled downhill pretty hard. I don’t blame you for what you did, Reece. If we had had any idea what the real story was, we’d have helped you knock those bastards off instead of targeting you. ”

Reece nodded. “So, I guess I’m public enemy number one? ”

“Yes and no. When the whole story came out, it certainly eased up the pressure to find you or confirm your death at sea. The conversation shifted to the Hartleys, the Capstone finance operation, and all that. Even the conspiracy theory people started looking mainstream. You became a little bit of a Robin Hood type. There were James Reece sightings everywhere. You were like Elvis for a while. ”

“What about my friends? ” Reece asked, not mentioning names.

“The reporter, Katie? She’s untouchable, at least for now. No one would go near her with a ten-foot pole. She had the best law firms in the country lining up to insulate her from questioning by any government investigators. DOJ is ready to go after your friend Liz Riley and have her extradited to the U. S., but the president has them at bay for now. ”

“Why would the president do that? Wasn’t he part of Hartley’s bunch? ”

“Jesus, you don’t know, do you? ” Strain looked bewildered.

“Know what? ”

“That the president resigned over this whole thing. ”

“What? That’s crazy! ”

“Yep. The fact that he was letting the SECDEF run DOD like it was her own kingdom and piggy bank was too much for even the media. How could you not have heard about that? ”

“Guess I just wasn’t looking. You can really lose yourself out here, ” Reece said, gesturing to their surroundings. “The only news comes in over a radio in the main office, and most all of that is local. This is the land that time forgot. ”

“Well, the long and the short of it is the media loved a good story even more than they loved the administration. The Republicans in Congress had all of the wives and kids of the dead guys from your troop on TV demanding his resignation, and it worked. He stepped down and Roger Grimes, the VP, took over to finish out his term. He’s a good guy, old Army O-6 that they put on the ticket to keep Middle America happy. He never really fit in with the old boss, and he’s already said he’s not running for reelection. The parties are going nuts. Hartley was the Dems’ chosen one and, with her gone, they’re slashing each other’s throats trying to posture for the job. The Republicans smell blood and half the governors in the country are now looking to run. It will be a crazy primary on both sides—anybody could win. Fun to watch for a political junkie like me. I still can’t believe you haven’t heard any of this. ”

“Look around, ” Reece said. “No Internet, no newspapers. Main concerns here are the environment, the animals, and poaching. ”

“Well, whether you wanted to or not, you changed the course of U. S. political history. ”

“I wasn’t trying to take down the system. They just needed to pay for what they did to my troop and my family. They got what they deserved. ”

“I agree. We were part of the investigation, since they had us out looking for you on domestic soil. The entire Command had to stand down. I had twenty-two years in and the option to take this job, so I made the leap. ”

“So, you’re with the Agency now? ”

“Yep. And that’s why I’m here, even though I’m kind of a new guy. You ready to hear my sales pitch? ”

Reece nodded. Strain took an iPad from his backpack, entered a long passcode, and selected an icon on the screen.

“You came to Mozambique to show me a PowerPoint? ”

Strain laughed. “High-tech, Reece. Our manila envelope days are over. ”

Strain held the screen so that Reece could see it. It was a file image of Kingston Market, fully decorated for Christmas. Strain swiped the surface to advance to the next photo and a close-up picture of a deceased eight-year-old girl in a pink winter coat filled the screen. The next image was an aerial view of the market post-attack.

“Kingston Market on the outskirts of London. They hit a Christmas event with a VBIED and bottlenecked the crowd here at the other end. Two guys with PKMs opened up on the survivors from these two rooftops and then blew themselves up with s-vests. It was bad, really bad. They killed close to three hundred people outright, with more dying later in the hospitals. Total dead was three hundred and seventy-eight. Hundreds more were wounded. A lot of amputations. More than half of the victims were kids. ”

Reece looked away from the screen.

“Yeah, man, bad stuff, ” Strain continued. “Not only did they kill and wound all those innocent people, they crippled the brick-and-mortar retail economy all over the West. People were scared to go Christmas shopping. The malls were empty despite tons of beefed-up security. The stock markets got spooked. The global impact of these attacks was enormous. ”

“I’m honestly surprised that we don’t see this kind of attack more often, ” Reece said solemnly.

“I agree with you. ”

“Who’s behind it? ISIS? ”

“They took credit, of course, but every jihadist organization in the book is calling themselves ISIS now. This is actually a little more organized than the typical ISIS-inspired attack by a bunch of lone-wolf types affiliated through social media. This is a real network—AQ in Europe. Check this one out. ” Strain moved to another series of images. “Right after the market attack, they hit a formation of British Paras with a mortar barrage during an awards ceremony. Poor guys had just returned from Afghanistan and got ripped up right before their Christmas leave. Only reason they didn’t kill the Prince of Wales is that his motorcade arrived late. ”

“So this isn’t a one-off. ”

“No, as a matter of fact, they just killed the NATO commander in Brussels. An Army four-star. They blew him up in front of his wife. He was all set to retire, too. Good guy, from what I understand. ”

“Bastards, ” Reece said, shaking his head, “but what does this have to do with me? ”

“The charge that killed the general, it was delivered via drone. ”

“What? ”

“That’s right. Defeated the armor in his vehicle by putting a drone on the roof with a shaped charge. An EFP sliced him in two. Same way you killed that Jaysh al-Mahdi lieutenant in Iraq back in ’06. ”

“That was an Agency deal, buddy. And that drone was huge. Experimental CIA bird, if I remember correctly. ”

“You’re right. Technology has come a long way since then. UAVs are smaller, more powerful, GPS programmable, but the idea is the same, so we started tracking down everyone involved in your op in Baghdad. We think you know the cell leader responsible for the NATO attack. ” Strain swiped to display an image, obviously taken by a surveillance team with a long telephoto lens.

“No way! Is that Mo? ” Reece asked, unable to contain his surprise at the photo of his old comrade.

“That’s right, your buddy Mohammed Farooq from Baghdad. The Agency trained him to build mini-EFPs and taught him how to fly a drone to deliver an explosive payload. He fell off the radar back in the summer of 2014 when ISIS started sweeping across Iraq. He’d worked with the Coalition and would be a dead man if they caught him, probably tortured first. He was rumored to be in Syria working with the al-Nusra Front, an anti-Assad group now called Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. Next thing you know, AISI spots him in Italy, which is where this photo came from. They lost track of him after that and no one thought much of it until these attacks. ”

“What makes you think he was involved? Why wouldn’t he just disappear? Mo’s no terrorist. ”

“MI5’s assets point to a network that is pulling the strings on a lot of the radical elements that have come in as asylum seekers. There are so many newly arrived refugees from Muslim countries that all the European security agencies are overwhelmed chasing down jihadi elements. We think they’re hiding in plain sight. ”

Strain advanced to a new image. “This is Amin Nawaz. He’s a Saudi but hasn’t set foot in the Kingdom for close to twenty years. He’s original muj: Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and now Europe. He’s running the show while UBL’s son Hamza bin Laden prepares to take the reins. ”

“Wasn’t bin Laden’s son killed in the raid in 2011? ”

“That was a different son. Hamza was off at a terrorist training camp studying the family business, so he lived to fight another day. Until he’s ready, Nawaz is the number one terrorist on our list and the mastermind of these recent attacks in Europe. Multiple independent sources with reliable reporting histories confirm that Mohammed Farooq and Amin Nawaz worked together in Syria. We think that your buddy Mo runs one of his cells in Europe. He would be highly trained courtesy of the program you ran with the CIA in Iraq and his follow-on experience in Syria with Nawaz. ”

Reece shook his head. “I can’t believe Mo is involved, but nothing out of Iraq should surprise me, I guess. Still don’t understand what this has to do with me. Mo and I were friends but that was a long time ago. I haven’t seen or spoken to him in at least ten years. ”

“We know. I’m here because you are the only one, as far as we can tell, left alive who worked with him. ”

“How can that be? ” Reece asked. “A lot of SEALs rotated through that position over the years, not to mention the scores of Agency people. ”

“It’s really not as many people as you think. I’ve been through the documents. Brent got killed in Khost, and Eckert had a heart attack in freaking Vegas, of all places. He was at SHOT and somebody joked that the president had signed an executive order banning ARs and thirty-round mags; he just fell over dead. Weirdest thing. The last guy is Landry, who just also happened to be working with you and Mo on the drone op in Iraq. No one knows where he is. ”

“That’s probably for the best. I had a run-in with him in Iraq when we were both working with Mo. He liked the interrogations a little too much. Caught him going off the reservation on the Iraqi side of camp. I reported it up the CIA chain. Never heard anything after that and I was rotated out soon afterward. I never liked that guy. But I don’t think he’s bright enough to build an EFP without blowing himself up. ”

“That very well may be. The Agency is trying to track him down. They have some questions for him. ”

“Why do you need somebody who knows Mo to take him out? Can’t the Brits just pick him up? They’re great at this sort of thing. ”

“That’s the catch: we don’t want him dead. We want someone that he knows and trusts to flip him, use him to track down Amin Nawaz and dismantle the network. If he’s already swapped sides once, we know he’s not an idealist. We just need to make him an offer he can’t refuse. We need Nawaz’s head on a spike, Reece. It’s kinda like a shark attack; the public isn’t going back into the water until we show them a dead shark. ”

“You’re not going to start playing Lee Greenwood and tell me that my country needs me, are you? ”

“Nope, you only fall for that once. ”

Reece sat in silence, staring past Strain. Then, “You know I’m dying, right? The tumors that the Hartleys’ medical experiment gave me and my Team, they’re terminal. ”

Fred grinned. “Funny that you mention that. You are going to want to hear this. ”

He closed the slide show and selected an audio player icon, tapping it twice to make it play.

A voice from the past filled the African air.

“Um, hello, Mr. Reece, this is Dr. German. We’ve been trying to get in touch with you. We usually don’t leave messages like this but I wanted you to hear this as soon as possible. Your biopsy came back and, under the circumstances, it is the best news that we could expect. Your tumor is what’s called a cerebral convexity meningioma, which is a very common and slow-growing lesion. Based on the type and location of the mass, I am very confident that I can remove it surgically. We are talking a seventy-five percent or better survival rate. It could be causing you headaches, which is nothing to be alarmed about. Please call us back and my assistant will schedule you an appointment for a follow-up. We can speak in more detail at my office. Again, sorry to have to leave this on your voicemail but I didn’t want you to worry needlessly. Have a great day, and enjoy your new lease on life, Commander. ”

Reece’s entire body flushed. Whatever Freddy said next came through as complete nonsense, like he was underwater.

“It’s real, Reece. You’re going to be fine, bro. Welcome back to the world of the living. ”

“What the. . . how did you. . . where did you get that? ”

“It was on your voicemail, man. It was just sitting on your voicemail. ”

Reece stood and walked away from the table, fighting a sudden smothering sensation. He found himself by the stone fire pit, overlooking the river below. Was it possible for him to live again after all he had done? His family was still dead. Dead because of a conspiracy to monetize a war by those who had never spent a day in combat, content to sit back immune to the consequences of their vile decisions. Or so they believed. He stood there alone for several minutes until he heard Strain’s footsteps behind him.

“I’m done working for the government, Freddy. I’m done with that life. ”

“I understand, Reece, and I know this is a lot to process. It’s not just about you, though. I’m not even gonna lay the line on you about protecting civilians and all that, even though it’s true. Remember what I said about DOJ being ready to prosecute Liz? ”

“Yeah. ” Reece’s jaw tightened in anger.

“That’s the stick, Reece. If you don’t play ball they’ll go after her: aiding and abetting, conspiracy. They’ll try to ruin her. Raife and his sister, too. . . Marco, if they can find him. . . Clint. . . everyone they can find who helped you. When the government sets its sights on destroying you, all the lawyers in the world won’t stop them. Might slow them down but that’s it. ”

Fuck. Nothing in Reece’s makeup would allow him to stand by while those who stepped up for him had their lives destroyed by a vindictive government. The Agency sure knows what buttons to press.

“So, what’s the carrot? ”

“You get your life back. You and all your accomplices will be given presidential pardons. Little-known fact: you don’t need to be convicted of anything to be pardoned. It’s like immunity, but it’s preemptively coming from the president. All is forgiven. Flip Mo, take out his boss, and go on with your life. ”

“What life? Go back and pretend that my wife and daughter weren’t murdered in our home? Will the president bring them back, too? ”

“I’m sorry, man, I didn’t mean it like that. All I’m saying is that you won’t be a wanted man. ”

“And Mo? What happens to him? ”

“He goes down, buddy. After what he did to those kids in London? He goes down, and he goes down hard. ”

Reece shook his head. “There has got to be something we can offer to make him flip. The way this is set up, he gets the same deal regardless if he helps us or not. ”

“What are you saying, Reece? ”

“I’m saying I’ll need leverage. Unless you have his family in Gitmo, we are going to need to offer an option. Maybe take the death penalty off the table and offer up life in something other than solitary confinement. ”

“I’ll take that back to the bosses. ”

Reece paused again, looking out toward what was turning into a beautiful African sunset and thinking of those he had put in the ground on his crusade to avenge his family and the lives of the men killed under his command in the mountains of Afghanistan.

“Why would they let me go free after all I did? ”

“Two reasons, I think. First of all, there’s a sizable chunk of the American public that thinks you’re a hero. No one is looking to keep this story going any longer, especially with the election coming up. Second, and this may be the bigger reason, the U. S. and Eurozone economies are in the toilet with a new terror threat on the horizon. You’ve got retailers about to go under en masse. They were just coming out of the recession and now the public and the markets are scared shitless. The EU is on the verge of breaking up. This mass influx of refugees certainly hiding a percentage of current and would-be terrorists is part of that instability. The whole system is a house of cards that relies on the public trust, and right now we’re losing that. We need a dead terrorist, and we need him now. ”

Reece sighed. “So who’s my handler? ”

“You’re looking at him. ”

“Could be worse, I guess. ” Reece smiled. “How does this work logistics-wise? ”

“Pretty simple, really. Your early retirement from the Navy will be approved instantly. You were never indicted or arrested, so there are no actual charges to worry about. DOJ has made it clear to all of the state and local agencies that this is their show, so you won’t have to worry about any local DAs deciding to make a name for themselves. You’ll come to work for us as a contractor, which will give you and the Agency maximum flexibility. ”

“Terrific, ” Reece said sarcastically.

“It’s a contracted position. You won’t pay taxes on most of it as long as you’re working overseas. Added to your retirement pay and benefits and it’s better than the dollar a day you’d earn making license plates in prison. ”

“That does sound a bit better. Where does the brain surgery fit into all this? ”

“That’s a bit of a catch. As soon as we can, we are going to scan your brain and compare it with the scans you had done at the clinic in La Jolla to give us a better idea of what we’re dealing with. With the latest three attacks in Europe, this thing is time sensitive. We’ll do a quick work-up before attempting to make contact with Mo. Unless things have taken a drastic turn for the worse, the surgery will have to wait until he’s been flipped and Nawaz is in the ground. ”

“That’s the government I know. Where are Mo and Nawaz now? ”

“We’re not sure. The analysts are working it. In the meantime, we’ve got to get you tuned back up. There’s a compound in XXXXXXX where we can train and plan. You’re still a recognizable face, so we need to keep you off the grid until this op kicks off. Once we know where Mo is, you and I will move in and get to work. ”

“The government sure knows how to make you an offer you can’t refuse. ”

“Art of the deal, buddy, ” Freddy said with a smile.

“When do we leave? ”

“As soon as I make the call. ”

“Any chance we can take off in the morning? I have to settle up around here. ”

“Yeah, we can make that happen. ”

“Thanks, Freddy. ”

Strain rose to retrieve his Iridium satellite phone and placed a call to Langley, letting them know he had successfully recruited America’s most-wanted domestic terrorist.

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