Scorpion: A Covert Ops Novel (Second Edition) Read Online Free PDF

Andrews Air Force Base. It’s
ready to take off when you are, and will take you directly to Dushanbe. You can
read the briefing materials on the flight. Gerald Rashid, one of the people on
Bob’s staff and acting chiefof station, will meet you on the ground. You
can stop at the Point to pick up whatever equipment you need.”
    The Point, code
named ISOLATION TROPIC, was the Defense Department’s Harvey Point Defense
Testing Activity Facility, in North Carolina. This was where CIA based its
Special Activities Division and trained foreign paramilitary forces, from
Kosovar separatists to Palestinian Authority security forces. The Point also retained
an armory of sanitized American-made and foreign-manufactured weapons and
equipment.
    “I’ll have twenty
thousand dollars deposited into your personal account,” Culler said. “And
you’ll have another ten thousand upfront for expenses.”
    “What’s my cover
for action?” Avery asked. This was important. He was accustomed to working
without official cover, but under the circumstances, having to interact with
others involved in the investigation, he doubted that would be the case this
time.
    “You’ll have
diplomatic cover as a special investigator from State, so if the worst happens you’ll
be declared persona non grata and kicked out of the country and not welcome
back. You can contact me through the embassy.”
    “I want a team from
SAD or independent contractors standing by. Guys who can keep their mouths shut
and follow orders. If I pinpoint Bob’s location and need to make a hot
extraction, I’ll need them.”
    “It’s already
arranged,” Culler said. “A friend of yours—Poacher’s team is being redeployed
to Tajikistan from the Afghan-Paki area of operations and will be on stand-by
for any direct action contingences. I’m glad you’re onboard, Avery.”

FOUR

Tajikistan
     
     
    10:00AM.
    Avery’s first
glimpse of Tajikistan came from 36,000 feet. Peering through the Learjet’s
window, he watched as the terrain below shifted from flat, barren rock to fields
of green to massive mountain ranges, some of which at the peaks of the Tian
Shan were topped with glaciers, which fed lakes and rivers. He saw small
villages scattered across the landscape, connected by unpaved roads, and he saw
the Fergana Valley’s fertile plains and rolling hills.
    A new day was
already well underway in this country, and it was now almost two days since
Cramer left the American embassy. Two days of Cramer possibly undergoing
torture and revealing his encyclopedic knowledge of CIA secrets. Two days since
Tom Wilkes became a corpse, leaving a wife and three children back home to
suffer unspeakable anguish.
    CIA officers are
trained to withstand interrogation, but nobody was expected to hold out indefinitely
against extreme torture. Everyone, even seasoned officers like Avery and
Cramer, had their breaking point. Langley’s desk heads and division chiefs
understood this harsh reality and could only hope that a captured officer would
at least hold out long enough for them work on ways to mitigate the damage of
blown ops and extract at-risk personnel.
    But this was
different. It wasn’t just a few agents or active ops in Tajikistan that were
potentially compromised. Robert Cramer knew clandestine officers, agents, safe
houses, and ongoing operations across Afghanistan, western China, Iran, Pakistan,
and Russia. The potential damage was severe. If compromised it could easily take
several years for the National Clandestine Service to rebuild its networks and capabilities
in these countries.
    The Learjet’s
only passenger, Avery shared the cabin with one member of the flight crew who
knew better than to talk to him or ask questions. Avery had slept through most
of the flight, never knowing when the next chance might come while deployed.
    The jet was
flown by two ex-USAF pilots who were accustomed to making unusual flights with
unusual passengers. Avery presumed that the aircraft