True Faith and Allegiance

“What we are prepared to do is back off, for a week, and allow your organization to look for him… if that is something you are interested in doing. Purely for the safety and security of both of our nations.”

Fang nodded thoughtfully, though the truth was he couldn’t fathom what was going on. But it didn’t matter. He had been in the job long enough to know he was being passed something that he was simply supposed to pass on to his higher-ups. The Americans had a hidden agenda here, and if he had to make an educated guess, it had to do with America wanting this guy taken out of action, without America having to do it themselves.

He had no idea why the Ministry of State Security should care about any of this, but he smiled at Spicer and said, “I will convey your interesting proposal to officials in my organization. I assume you would like some sort of informal reply?”

Spicer said, “Not necessary. In fact, we request that we know nothing else of your actions on the matter. As I said, we will wait one week, and then we will pursue this man with the full force of our capabilities.”

Fang sipped his own beer. “Would you have any idea where this man you are looking so hard for might be found?”

Spicer shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, but if I just had to take a wild guess, I’d say he’s walking through Terminal One of Hong Kong International Airport right now, wearing a white shirt, khaki pants, and a black jacket. He’ll probably be sweating heavily, looking for a place to do some banking. After that he’ll spend as little time in HK as possible, before booking a flight out of the country.” Spicer downed the rest of his beer and said, “Only speculation on my part, you understand.”

Fang nodded slowly. “Of course.”

* * *

Spicer walked out of the restaurant a minute later with all the confidence in the world that Alexandru Dalca would be picked up in minutes. Other than the United States, no nation on earth had more against Alex Dalca than China. The danger that he could reveal something to the Americans about their operation to out American agents inside China would be bad for them, for the simple reason the operation was ultimately hijacked by ISIS and led to the death of many Americans.

Yes, China was after Dalca just as the United States had been after Dalca. But China had made no pledge to the man, and had nothing to gain by letting him live.

Spicer hailed a cab. The American CIA officer figured the Romanian would be dead by the end of the day.

74

The light over the camera turned red at exactly eight p.m., and President Jack Ryan, seated behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, addressed his nation.

“Good evening. Tonight I want to tell you about some recent events of national and international importance. Several weeks ago, agents of the United States of America captured Abu Musa al-Matari, alive, here in America. Many details of his capture and subsequent incarceration must be kept secret to protect sources and methods, but I can say some things.

Through interviews with him, as well as the hard work of our military, intelligence, and diplomatic communities, we have uncovered key details about the terrorist attacks by the so-called Islamic State that have been carried out at home and abroad over the past several weeks.

“An intelligence leak of massive proportions took place here in the U.S. just over four years ago. It involved files of the Office of Personnel Management, and included a treasure trove of information about America’s federal employees. This hack was not perpetrated by a state actor, but rather by a company in India that an American firm with security clearances improperly partnered with. The material was copied by the Indian firm and kept on a computer server in India, and for several years this material was not exploited. Recently, however, the Indian company was compromised by a group of Romanian hackers. They obtained the data, realized what it was they had, and one employee of this concern sold some of the material to various foreign actors around the world with aims against the United States.

“We understand how the material was stolen and have made steps to make sure this will never happen again. We do believe we have retrieved all the electronic files, and are reasonably certain there exist no other copies, but we might never be able to know for sure.

“The loss of this material was, by any measure, an egregious failure of the United States government, and for that I am truly, truly sorry.

“Anyone who works in the military, federal law enforcement, or intelligence services in the United States swears an oath to America that states, in part, ‘I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.’