Huston, James W. -2003- Secret Justice (com v4.0)(html) by Secret Justice (com v4.0) Read Free Book Online Page A

him.”
    Barone kept a serious face. “I just might.”
    “Tell him I told you I’m going to throw him over the side tonight, and you believe me. If he doesn’t start talking, you’re going to let me.”
    “I never tell them anything that isn’t true. Have to keep my credibility.”
    “Right.” Rat smiled. “Look, I’ve got to get a message off. I’ll catch up with you later. Let me know if he starts talking.”
     
     
    The excitement aboard the
Belleau Wood
was nothing compared to the elation in Washington. Sarah St. James sat in the situation room of the White House looking smug as the Secretary of Defense, the Chief of Staff, the Director of the CIA, the Attorney General, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs took their seats.
    President Kendrick was pleased. He took his seat at the head of the table and opened a manila file that had been placed in front of him. It contained photographs of the two terrorists who had been captured, as well as clips from the digital video Robby had taken of the raid. Kendrick was one who liked to see the final result in pictures, not read a cold report from some agency that tried to take the life out of what happened. He knew that they were involved in a deadly business, and he was willing to look that deadly business in the eye. He required the rest of the cabinet and his staff to be equally ready to deal with reality and not see the War on Terrorism as some sterile event fought by drones and satellites against faceless adversaries.
    “Good morning, everyone,” President Kendrick said. “I have to say, kudos go out to both the Agency and the Department of Defense. This was an amazing coordinated operation that worked to perfection,” he said enthusiastically. He wondered how he could publicize it properly, to give his administration a much needed boost. “When I first heard of the plan to have Special Operations teams in the air over Sudan I have to say I was skeptical. Some of you were more enthusiastic about it than I was. But based on your advice, we authorized it, and it worked. So thanks to all of you and especially to the Agency and the Department of Defense.” President Kendrick looked around the room. “So now what do we do with them?”
    Howard Stuntz, the pompous Secretary of Defense, spoke first. “Sir, I have to say that this operation was magnificent. It showed a tremendous coordination between the Air Force, the Agency, the Navy and Marine Corps team, and in fact shows we can—”
    “What do we do with Duar?” Kendrick interrupted.
    Stewart Woods, the Director of the CIA, spoke. His frown foreshadowed his concerns. “Part of the idea certainly was the chance to interrogate him. However, preliminary reports from the interrogators say they’re not getting much. He refuses even to acknowledge who he is. He claims to be someone else entirely, from Khartoum. We can’t really force him to talk. I’m not sure we’re
going
to get much from him.”
    Kendrick was annoyed. “We go to all this trouble to capture him alive, and for what? So he can spit in our faces? We can’t get anything out of him? None of his plans, his support structure, his finances, nothing?”
    The DCI nodded reluctantly. “I’m afraid that’s right, sir. Our hands are pretty much tied. We don’t torture people. Short of that, there’s really no way to get them to talk, at least not these kinds of men. With a common criminal you can negotiate a shorter sentence, or get them to turn state’s evidence, but a terrorist? He’s not afraid of a sentence. Not even afraid to die. He won’t disclose anything without
strong
encouragement.”
    “Then why try to capture them at all? Why not just drop a bomb on this meeting and be done with it?”
    Stuntz nodded. “Just say the word.”
    Kendrick shook his head. “Seriously. Why can’t we squeeze them a little?”
    Woods replied, “We signed the Convention against Torture in 1994. Promised all the civilized countries in the world not to