Act of War by Brad Thor Read Free Book Online

me.”
    Harvath studied him. “You know the target, though, don’t you?”
    “America. Yes.”
    “That’s why you helped him.”
    “Yes,” Yaqub replied.
    “But you never asked about the attack? You weren’t curious? I don’t believe it.”
    The man vomited again. The water was nearing his shoulders. His teeth kept chattering and Harvath had to strain to understand him. “He would not tell me.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t know. He told me not to ask him again. I don’t think he knew. I think he was working for someone else.”
    “Who?” said Harvath.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Who do you think?”
    “I don’t know. He is a Uighur. Chinese Muslim. We knew each other from the jihad. I don’t know who he worked for.”
    Harvath changed tack. “Where are these six men?”
    “It’s too late.”
    “ Where are they?” he repeated.
    “They are already inside the United States.”
    “How?”
    “I don’t know,” Yaqub answered. “I didn’t handle that part.”
    “You don’t seem to know very much, do you, Ahmad? You know what? I don’t believe you.”
    “Kashgari requested special men,” the terrorist clarified. “Smart men. Engineers.”
    Engineers. The word sent a chill down Harvath’s spine. Terrorists recruiting engineers could mean only one thing— bombs.
    “Where did these engineers come from?”
    “I don’t know.”
    He was playing with him and Harvath didn’t like it. He forced his head beneath the water again.
    Yaqub was weak and he didn’t fight for very long. Harvath knew he was taking a risk.
    Pulling the man’s head back up he yelled at him, “This isn’t a game, Ahmad. You tell me now. Who are they and where did they come from?”
    Yaqub, his body suffering from the cold and repeated oxygen deprivation, was trembling wildly. “ I don’t know ,” he repeated.
    “Which of your children, which of your wives do you want me to kill first?”
    “Khuram Hanjour,” he muttered. “Khuram Hanjour.”
    “Who is Khuram Hanjour?”
    “Khuram Hanjour,” the terrorist repeated, his eyes glassy and unfocused.
    Harvath slapped Yaqub again. He looked like he was going hypothermic. “Ahmad, who is Khuram Hanjour? Ahmad. Ahmad. ”
    Harvath slapped him once more, and for a moment, the man’s eyes met his. “Ahmad, tell me who Khuram Hanjour is.”
    “The recruiter,” the man said.
    “Khuram Hanjour recruited the men?”
    Yaqub’s head lolled to the side, the water now up to his chin.
    Harvath slapped him again. “Ahmad, where do I find Khuram Hanjour?”
    Nothing.
    “Who was Kashgari working for? Tell me.”
    It was no use. Yaqub had lost consciousness.

CHAPTER 7
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    P EOPLE ’ S L IBERATION A RMY G ENERAL S TAFF H EADQUARTERS , B EIJING , C HINA
    C olonel Jiang Shi hated politicians. Few possessed analytic minds. Fewer still understood the tenets of warfare. It was why he had wanted the politicians kept out of it.
    But the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee was the supreme decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party. Nothing in China was done without their permission. Shi had been left with little choice, especially when his superiors secured an invitation from the General Secretary for him to make the presentation himself.
    Depending on whom you asked, the meeting had either been a success or an utter disaster. Shi believed it fell in the latter camp.
    A thirty-five-year veteran of the Chinese military, Colonel Jiang Shi worked for the PLA’s intelligence division, known simply as “Second Department.” Second Department was home to some of China’s greatest strategic thinkers, including Shi, who headed the PLA’s unrestricted warfare program. Snow Dragon had been his idea.
    With good reason, the Politburo Standing Committee was highly resistant to any talk of attacking the United States—even if carried out by third-party nationals. If China’s involvement were ever exposed, the repercussions would be devastating. It would mean nuclear war. No