Marwan Jarrah never had a chance. As the bullets popped and zinged all around her, Alex Cooper stood her ground and returned fire.
Though she wanted to kill him on the spot by putting two rounds right into his head, she focused on his chest and didn’t lay off of her trigger until he laid off of his.
The Iraqi fell back against the wall and left a trail of blood as he slid down into a sitting position. His AK clattered to the ground next to him and Cooper kicked it away.
Chase tried to get up, but Harvath kept his knee in his back as he zipped his cuffs.
“I don’t know who the hell you are,” shouted Chase, “but if he dies, you’re in a lot of trouble.”
Harvath stood up, yanked Chase to his feet, and handed him to Casey. “Let him ask any questions he wants, but watch him.” Harvath then took Cooper to clear the rest of the basement.
“You lied to me,” murmured Jarrah as Chase kneeled next to him.
“Tell me how I can reach Aleem,” he said, knowing full well it was pointless. Marwan wasn’t going to give him up.
The Iraqi laughed and then produced a wet cough as he spat up blood. “I treated you like a son.” His eyelids were drooping and his breath was coming in sharp gasps.
He whispered something further but Chase couldn’t hear it and so leaned in closer. “What did you say?”
“I have something to tell you,” the Iraqi rasped, before his body was racked once more with bloody coughs.
“What is it?”
“I have a secret.”
Chase was inches away from his face. “What is it, Marwan? Tell me.”
As his final breath escaped his body, Jarrah looked at his beloved protégé and said, “I lied to you too.”
After clearing the basement, Harvath came back to interrogate the man claiming to be from the CIA.
“Listen, there’s going to be an attack downtown in two hours.”
“Let’s start with who the hell you are,” said Harvath.
“I told you, my name is Sean Chase. Call Langley and ask to be connected to Kip Houghton. He’s my handler.”
Harvath nodded at Cooper, who removed her cell phone and headed for the stairs.
“Jarrah’s got eight suicide bombers,” continued Chase, “but you don’t need to worry about them. What you need to be worried about-”
“Wait a second,” interrupted Harvath. “Why shouldn’t we be worried about eight suicide bombers?”
“Because their vests don’t work. I made sure.”
Casey looked at him. “How?”
“The circuit’s not complete. The detonators can’t get any electricity.”
“Just like the vests in Nasiri’s apartment.”
“Where are the bombers now?” asked Harvath.
“That’s not important,” replied Chase. “Jarrah has three two-man teams of Mumbai-style shooters that are going to hit a bunch of hotels unless we stop them. We need to get going.”
“Until we get confirmation on who you are, you’re not going anywhere. Why was there a camera in Nasiri’s apartment?”
“So I could have an excuse to get away from Jarrah. I wanted him to think I was going to detonate the vests on the hostages myself. If I could get away from him, then I could try to stop the shooters.”
“Why not call the cops? Why go to all this trouble?”
“Because this isn’t the end of it. There’s somebody else above Jarrah, a man named Aleem.”
“Aazim Aleem?” Harvath replied.
“That’s him. The guy with the hooks. Jarrah told me that he has networks in at least two other cities. Supposedly, he’s already left for Los Angeles and I was supposed to coordinate an attack in New York. But-” Rashid’s voice trailed off.
“But what?”
“I think he was lying to me.”
“About what?” asked Harvath. “The location of the attacks or the fact that you were supposed to coordinate the one in New York?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I wanted Jarrah alive. He was the only one who knew how to get to Aleem.”
Harvath pressed him with more questions. “Why’d you torture those cops?”
“You’re wasting time,” said Chase.
“Answer me.”
“For fuck’s sake. I’m the only reason they’re still alive. Jarrah wanted to kill them.”
“But you shot one of them.”
“It was clean. Through and through. If I’d wanted to kill him, trust me, he’d be dead.”
Harvath was about to ask another question when Cooper hailed him over the radio and told him someone at Langley wanted to talk to him.