Blowback

Harvath could tell she was lying again, but he let it go. “When he saw me at the department store, he probably realized he wasn’t going to be able to get to you, and so he figured if he couldn’t, then no one would.”

“How romantic,” replied Jillian. “How do you know so much about this Alomari person?”

“Until recently, it was my job to hunt him down and bring him in.”

“So how come he’s still on the loose?”

“He’s very good at what he does and extremely adept at not getting caught. For over two months he’s been my number one priority, but all that’s changed now.”

“Why?” said Jillian. “What’s happened?”

“Emir Tokay is what happened. He and his colleagues have engineered an illness, which poses a serious threat to the West.”

Jillian’s mouth was agape. They had done it. “How come word of this hasn’t made it into the press?” she asked as she stared at the man sitting across the table from her. There was something about him, something she couldn’t put her finger on. She was torn between wanting to trust him and wanting to get up and run like hell. He could very well be one of the bravest, most confident men she had ever met, or the most insane and dangerous. There was a chance that he was just the wrong mix of all of the above. Until she uncovered why he refused to go to the police, though, there was no way she could even begin to consider answering his questions. Taking another sip of her drink, she said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Harvath, but I find it extremely disconcerting that you still haven’t explained why we, or more particularly you, can’t go to the police.”

Harvath looked past her to the small television in the bar area that had just been switched to the evening news. Already the press was reporting breaking news of a shootout at the upscale Knightsbridge department store. In some small way it was a relief to see something other than his al-Jazeera footage leading the news. His relief was short-lived, as the footage from the al-Karim bazaar was the next story the anchor cut to. There was no getting away from it. Harvath had a decision to make.

He had taken a chance with Nick Kampos, and now he was going to have to take a chance with Jillian Alcott. If he didn’t trust her, there was no way he could expect her to trust him. “Turn around, “He said.

Jillian half expected to see either the police or the assassin from Harvey Nichols standing in the front of the pub, and it took her a moment to figure out what Harvath was looking at-the television. The footage was all too familiar to her by now, but she watched again as the American soldier mercilessly beat the unarmed Iraqi. Each time she saw it, it was more distressing than the last. When it was over, she turned back and looked at Harvath. “Not a good day for America ’s public image.”

“Nor mine,” replied Harvath.

“Why?” said Jillian. “Wait a second. Are you telling me that was you? You’re the man beating that innocent Iraqi?”

“He was far from innocent, believe me. That man was paid a lot of money to act as somebody’s decoy.”

“Whose decoy?”

“Khalid Alomari. The man who tried to kill you less than a half hour ago.”

“That’s why you can’t go to the police?”

Harvath nodded his head. “That’s part of it. It’s important I keep as low a profile as possible right now.”

Jillian looked at him and replied, “You might want to start by not shooting up department stores.”

“Thanks. I’ll make sure I remember that the next time I see someone getting ready to use the back of an innocent high-school teacher’s head for target practice.”

Jillian ignored his remark. “What about going to the American embassy?”

“I definitely can’t go to the embassy.”

“Why not?”

“Because a subpoena has been issued for me back in the States. The president’s political opponents want to run him out of office on a rail. They think the way to do it is to have me testify in open court about what happened in that market in Baghdad.”

“So why not do it? If you didn’t do anything wrong, why not go and clear your name?”

“Because the whole Baghdad thing is just the tip of the iceberg. That’s only where it starts. Regardless of how it’s handled, it could be extremely embarrassing for the president.”

“Is there anything he’s done that should make him embarrassed?” she asked.

Harvath didn’t like talking about sensitive political matters with an otherwise perfect stranger, so he once again chose his words very carefully. “Absolutely not.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is how his opponents could make it all look. Often the mere suggestion of impropriety is enough to ruin someone.”

Jillian respected Harvath’s apparent loyalty to his president.

“The other thing I’m not too crazy about,” continued Harvath, “is that they want to televise the hearings. Even if I’m cleared, my career will be over, but that’s not the worst of it. There have been more fatwas issued against me than you can shake a falafel at, and once my face is made public, I’ll have to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life. I don’t want to do that.”