Blowback

In an attempt to broaden his revenue base, Kalachka, it was said, had offered his services to the United States on two separate occasions and both Presidents Kennedy and Carter had turned him down. Kennedy had said no to Kalachka’s suggestions for taking out Castro in lieu of what would become known as the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and Carter had passed on Kalachka’s ideas for how to successfully recover the American hostages from Tehran. Despite the affinity of several other countries for Kalachka’s talents and abilities, the United States had never warmed to him.

As far as Harvath was concerned, though, as long as Kalachka was helping to organize the assassinations of known terrorists and overthrow corrupt regimes, he was okay. His dealings in the black-market arms trade were among the gray areas that were easier to look at in light of the good he’d done elsewhere.

Kalachka was one of the few people he had ever met who not only knew who he was, but made no apologies for it. No matter how charming and cordial on the outside, the real Ozan Kalachka was a ruthless creature who worked the very outermost fringes of what was legal and would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. The hundred-thousand-dollar question at the moment, though, was what did Kalachka want from him?

Closing his eyes, Harvath tried to put the question out of his mind and was immediately burdened by something else. If Carmichael was successful in dragging him into the media spotlight and destroying his career, what was he going to do with the rest of his life? Depending on how bad a number the senator did on him, he might or might not be able to go into the private sector as a consultant.

Regardless, if Carmichael forced him into the spotlight, there would always be a bull’s-eye painted on his back, and no career other than what he was doing right at this very moment would ever be satisfying for him. Harvath had spent most of his adult life in service to his country and had no desire to see that change.

For the time being, though, he had very little control over his situation. He had to trust that people like Gary Lawlor, the president, and even Chuck Anderson were not going to let him burn for simply doing his job. In a matter of hours his plane would be landing and he would discover what Ozan Kalachka wanted from him.

FOURTEEN

BÜYÜK HAMAM

NICOSIA, CYPRUS

NEXT DAY

Harvath leaned back against the octagonal tiles and breathed deeply. The searing heat of the saunalike chamber known as a göbek tasi felt like bags of broken glass being poured into his lungs. He fought back a coughing fit and willed himself to relax. Taking another deep breath, Harvath realized that he’d become so wrapped up in his job that he’d actually forgotten how to relax. He knew it was an integral component of rejuvenation, and as he felt his lungs loosen up and the dry heat overtake him, he tried to remember the last time he had allowed himself any legitimate downtime. As long as there are terrorists, he began to say to himself, but pushed the thought from his mind. Whether he chose to take a vacation or not had nothing to do with terrorism. It had everything to do with him. It was easy to make the excuse that he had no time for anything else but work.

In the post-9/11 world in which Harvath lived, relentless dedication to one’s work had stopped being admirable a while ago and was now simply de rigueur. While no one would say his priorities were out of whack, they definitely came at the price of his social life. Even his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Meg Cassidy, was reaching the end of her rope with him. How could you have a relationship with someone who was never home? Harvath didn’t blame her. He had watched his mother go through the same thing with his father. It wasn’t until Michael Harvath had transferred out of active Navy SEAL duty to become an instructor at the Navy’s Special Warfare School near their home in Coronado that his mother had been truly happy. Harvath had no intention of becoming an instructor of anything at this point in his career and had told Meg that he would understand if she chose to move on with her life. She was a great lady and he had no desire to hold her back. Besides, getting married and starting a family were not what he wanted to do right now.

When Meg asked him what he did want to do, he was brutally honest with her. “This. I want to keep sticking it to the bad guys before they stick it to us.”

It was at that moment that Meg knew she not only didn’t have him, she never would. However Scot Harvath wanted to paint it, he was married to his career and there wasn’t much room for anything or anyone else in his life.