Foreign Influence by Brad Thor Read Free Book Online Page A

Harvath.
    “Actually, they’d prefer captured, but they’ll accept dead. Considering your history together, I thought you’d want to be the one to make the choice.”
    Which option did his boss think Harvath would exercise? He studied the man’s face, but couldn’t tell.
    “Why isn’t the CIA spearheading this?” he finally asked.
    “Ever since the Agency snatched that radical cleric in Milan, they’ve been persona non grata in Italy.”
    Like everyone else in the intelligence world, Harvath knew the story. Though the Italians denied ever giving their blessing to the operation, the CIA claimed that all of the appropriate authorities had been filled in on the plan. According to the Agency, they had been granted permission to grab the al-Qaeda-aligned cleric in Milan. As part of their extraordinary rendition program, he was then flown to Egypt where, after being released two years later, he went public with stories of how he had been tortured by Egyptian interrogators.
    While it wasn’t exactly great PR, what was unforgivable was that the fifteen CIA operatives involved had used their real names during the operation to rack up hotel loyalty points. To make matters worse, they had also used their personal cell phones. It was beyond embarrassing.
    “Do we have anyone in Italy working the bombing?”
    “Besides a nonofficial cover operative or two the Agency secretly still has over there, the Bureau continues to have a decent relationship with the Italians and had a couple of teams wheels up within an hour of the attack.”
    Harvath liked the people at the FBI, but he knew that outside the forensics specialists they’d have working the bombing, any other agents would take a backseat to their Italian counterparts. The attack had happened on Italian soil, and despite the high number of American casualties this would remain an Italian investigation.
    “I still don’t buy that the Troll was involved in something like this.”
    “Maybe you put too much of a dent in his business. Maybe he needed to branch out and start dealing in explosives. It doesn’t matter. We’ve been tasked with bringing him in. If you don’t want the assignment, I can give it to somebody else.”
    “No,” replied Harvath, removing the file from the table. “This is mine.”
    Carlton nodded. “We have an apartment in Rome you can use, unless you want to begin in Naples, in which case we’ll arrange something for you there.”
    “He’s not in Italy. He’s in Spain.”
    “How do you know?”
    Harvath had a lot to do. Standing, he picked up his coffee mug and said, “Because he just called me to set up a meeting.”

CHAPTER 7
 
    B ILBAO
T UESDAY
    After landing in Madrid, Harvath passed through immigration and customs, then took the metro into the city. It was packed with tourists.
    Near the boisterous Puerta del Sol, he entered a nondescript building, rode the aging elevator to the fourth floor, and used the key he had been given to gain access to the Carlton Group’s Madrid safe house.
    He located the capabilities kit that had been left for him and cataloged its contents. While capabilities kits could be tailored to the specific assignment, as a rule they contained all of the hard-to-acquire items an operative might need in a foreign country.
    Kits were Spook 101 and normally included cash, sterile SIM cards, cell phones, lock-picking tools, a condensed trauma kit, tracking bugs, Tuff Ties, a Taser, folding knife, multitool, IR laser designator, infrared strobe, night vision monocular, and a compact weapon with high-end ammunition. In Harvath’s case, the compact weapon was a Glock 19 with two spare magazines of 9mm +P ammunition.
    The contents of the kit fit neatly into the 3-Day pack he had brought along with him.
    Following a quick shower and shave, he gathered up his belongings and returned to the metro. At Chamartín station, he boarded a train headed north.
    Though Carlton could have arranged for the gear to be dead-dropped