Fatal Conceit by Robert K. Tanenbaum Read Free Book Online

but if State and the CIA know more than I just told you, they’re not telling us, which wouldn’t be unheard of. The White House is expected to make some sort of announcement in a couple of hours. I’m told it will be short and won’t have a lot of details . . .”
    â€œSo what’s this got to do with Lucy?” Marlene interjected, unable to control her fear.
    Jaxon reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We think she and Ned were in the compound when it was overrun.”

3
    â€œA RE YOU READY ?”
    Lucy Karp picked up her head at the sound of the woman’s voice in front of her. She could not see who spoke but knew her. Even if she hadn’t worn a heavy cloth sack over her head, the woman wasn’t . . . she groped for the right word in her foggy mind . . . “real” isn’t the right word, she’s real enough, maybe “corporeal” would be better .
    â€œHave you prepared yourself for what’s ahead?”
    Taking a series of rapid breaths in and out, Lucy tried to clear her head. She was exhausted—physically, mentally, emotionally. She couldn’t remember the last thing she’d eaten or, as she licked her parched lips, her last drink of water. She hadn’t slept in . . . How long has it been? More than one night. Two? . . . The bare lightbulb that hung above the chair to which she was tied had not been turned off since she was first brought to the room from the compound outside Zandaq.
    Trying to recall the events that led to her current predicament, she was reminded of a terrible loss. “Ned,” she croaked. “What happened to Ned?”
    â€œHe’s in the hands of God now,” the woman in the room with her replied, “and no longer your concern.”
    Lucy sobbed. “No . . . please.”
    â€œLucy!” the woman snapped. “Focus! It’s important that you listen, remember, and survive what’s to come.”
    â€œPlease forgive me, St. Teresa, but I don’t want to survive,” Lucy cried quietly. “If he’s gone, there’s no point.” She tried to remember what happened, searching for any reason to hope.
    She and Ned, along with a four-man team, all former military and hand-selected by Espy Jaxon, had surreptitiously crossed the border into Chechnya from Dagestan more than a week earlier. The plan was to meet with a Chechen separatist leader named Lom Daudov to enlist his aid in hunting down an Al Qaeda terrorist mastermind named Amir Al-Sistani, otherwise known to his followers as The Sheik.
    Daudov had no great love for Americans; it didn’t help that they looked the other way when Russia sent tanks and troops into Chechnya to stamp out the republic. However, according to Jaxon’s sources, Daudov hated the Islamic extremists who’d come to Chechnya to fight for their own reasons and saw them as trying to usurp the nationalist movement for a theocracy, to say nothing of their brutal acts against civilians, which hurt the separatist cause in the court of world opinion.
    In Dagestan, the country to the east of Chechnya, the team had been met by a young woman, Deshi Zakayev, who said she would be their guide in Chechnya. However, the first week after they crossed the border had been spent moving from place to place only to learn that when they arrived at each new destination Daudov had already been there and gone, or had never showed up at all. Zakayev explained that “Lom” was one of the most wanted men in Chechnya and being difficult to track was what kept him safe.
    â€œThe Russians have a large price on his head,” she said. “But being a ghost is also part of his strategy, by convincing spies that he will be in one place when he is striking in another. Did you know that his name, Lom, translates to ‘lion’? He is the lion andthe hope of a free Chechnya. Don’t worry,