The Assassin's Daydream || Mitch Rapp

Chapter 48

Mitch looked out across the city. Night had fallen and that scar known as the Green Line now looked like a wide, formidable river, a black swath of darkness that cut the city in half. Only twice in the last hour had he seen a car dare cross no-man's-land. He could not see the east-west streets to the north, and it was likely that more cars had crossed in that sector, but not enough to change what was obvious. This was a literally a city torn asunder.

The problem as Mitch saw it was fundamental geography. He was on this side and they were on the other side - they being Hurley, Richard, Rupert and of course, Aayat.

The only way to save them was to go over there, but Ridley had explained to him that going over there was a very bad idea. Going over there would result in his being captured, tortured, and then killed, in that order.

Mitch's response to Ridley was, "So you're pretty much admitting that Stan, Bob and Rupert are going to be tortured and killed."

"I'm admitting no such thing."

"The hell you're not," Mitch said, his frustration finally boiling over.

Ridley shot back, "I know you're the new wonder boy, so this might be hard for you to understand, but there are things that are going on that you have not been read in on."

"Like what?"

"Things that are way above your pay grade, rookie." Ridley caught his mistake and tried to temper his words by adding, "Listen, I don't make the rules. There are certain protocols that I have to follow. Langley tells me who I can share things with. If you're not on that list my hands are tied."

"Like Petrosian, for instance. I'm sure you cleared that with Langley. You telling a foreign national that I was the man who killed Uzuner." Rapp watched as Ridley looked away.

"Are you kidding me? There's no way in hell you got approval from Irene to give him that information."

Ridley sighed. "We need Petrosian on this one, and the man does not trust strangers, so I gave him a little piece of information that I knew would please him. He hated Adem Uzuner so giving him this big news automatically made him agree to help us."

"Fine ... so you used what I did for your own benefit, which means you owe me. I deserve to know what in hell is going on." Mitch could see Ridley was at least thinking about it, so he pressed him a little harder. "That could have just as easily been me that got picked up. I deserve to know what Langley is doing to try to get them back."

"They're working on different levels. Signal intercepts, applying pressure where they can, calling in favors..."

"What in hell does all that mean?"

"It's complicated, is what it's supposed to mean, and on top of that Stan, Rupert, Bobby and you aren't even supposed to exist. How the hell do you expect them to go to the State Department with that one ... Excuse me," Ridley said in a falsetto, "three of our black ops guys, who don't actually exist, were kidnapped in Beirut. Could you help us get them back?"

"Bullshit." Mitch yelled

"Bullshit ... what in hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means it's bullshit. If you think the State Department is the answer to our problems, if Langley thinks they're our solution, we're screwed." Mitch exclaimed

"I didn't say they were the only game. I told you it's complicated. And what the hell would you know? You're a damn rookie."

"A rookie who's smart enough to know this is bullshit," Mitch yelled. "You know what the solution is ... you just don't want to say it because you" – Mitch pointed at him - "and all of the other losers back at Langley don't have the guts to follow through on it."