Free Retribution by Anderson Harp

the attention?” Parker leaned up in his chair.
    â€œRadicals such as al-Qadi have never shied away from news coverage. Before September 11, bin Laden sought out ABC and NBC and every major American network. After 9/11 they have gone to more protected sources but have nevertheless continued to use the media.”
    Scott had a way of staring at you as the conversation became more intense.
    â€œNow that bin Laden is dead, a vacuum has been created. Someone will fill it.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThe media is a weapon. It’s complicated. Men like al-Qadi want to gain a following in the Muslim world. Their jihads only succeed when they have a following. But many of the countries are controlled by governments that have no intention of letting men like al-Qadi be any part of the news. So they use a back door. Al-Quds or CNN International gets to the same people.”
    â€œThat explains why their acts are so violent.”
    â€œExactly. It’s all about PR. They want to get on CNN. But to be on CNN, terrorists have to blow other stories off the front page.”
    â€œSo why al-Qadi and why now? And why should he trust Zabara to meet him?”
    â€œActually, Yousef was instrumental in getting Zabara his job.”
    â€œNow I really don’t understand.”
    â€œThis asset has been buried for some time. It’s killing MI6 that we’ve asked for him. Zabara has been writing articles for years saying that the time of bin Laden has passed. That there is a new warrior needed to lead the jihad.”
    â€œEnter Yousef al-Qadi.” Parker sensed the multilayered plot. “So he gets this journalist the job at a paper with a much bigger distribution to provide his own new media platform.”
    â€œExactly. And the time has come. Zabara has received an invitation to visit Yousef on Yousef ’s home turf. There, from deep in the Hindu Kush, he’s to conduct an extensive interview with our man.”
    â€œWhen?”
    â€œSoon. Very soon. But no date’s been set. The problem is that once the date is set, we won’t have a minute to spare.”
    â€œBut what then? And how long?”
    â€œWe have a commitment for virtually unlimited funds and time. There will only be one person above me: the deputy director of the CIA. No one else. His aide is out of the loop. His staff, their wives, are all out. No one knows. Period.”
    Very much like the Korean mission, thought Parker. Including the fact that there would be no rescue wagon if things went south.
    â€œSo Zabara gets put in storage somewhere.”
    â€œYes, MI6 puts him in a safe place before he even gets off the airplane in London.”
    â€œAnd you’re suggesting I become Mr. Zabara?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œSo I get the invite and fly around the world. Let’s say I pass muster. Then what? A GBU in the right place?” A reference to the laser-guided Mk-84 bomb, which carried over two thousand pounds of explosives. The explosion would crater a football field.
    â€œPossibly. A botch job. A quick and dirty. Maybe a bullet to the rear of the skull with something small slipped in.”
    â€œHmm. I’m not sure of that.” Parker had killed men in combat and knew his share of death. But this was not James Bond. One doesn’t fly in, shoot a man in his head, and then take the next international flight out of the Sherani clan’s local airport. No, this would take something far more sophisticated.
    â€œDon’t forget that we have both Yousef and his Muslim from Grozny to reckon with. You would need to get both of them. And their tribe is more than just two. If you don’t get them all, they’ll be gone. A chased fox only goes deeper into the woods and then pops out somewhere else to hunt again.” Parker looked down at his coffee. “The fox needs to have a reason to be pulled out of his den. A strong reason.”
    Scott nodded, both agreeing to the point and