Full Black

CHAPTER 53

“What’s he doing?” asked Nicholas.

Watching in a sideview mirror through multiple layers of autoglass, Harvath had a pretty lousy view. “He’s leaning against the concrete half-wall with a laptop open.”

“What’s he doing on the laptop?”

“I think it’s a ruse. He’s trying to look busy while he watches his teams arrive at the airport.”

“Now what?” asked Nicholas.

Harvath knew that the only way anyone was going to get any answers out of Tariq Sarhan, especially quick ones, was if he was asking the questions. The problem was, how the hell would he interrogate him in the middle of a parking garage?

Two vehicles away from Sarhan was a brand-new, white Cadillac Escalade. Harvath described it, gave Nicholas the license number, and said, “How long?”

“Give me three minutes,” he replied.

Harvath looked at his watch. “You’ve got two. Make it happen.”

Ninety seconds later, Nicholas said, “The OnStar folks are very sorry to hear you’ve lost your keys, Mr. Chaffee. Let me know when you want it opened.”

“Stand by,” said Harvath, as he stepped out from the row of parked cars. Holding the key fob for the vehicle he’d parked downstairs, he proceeded forward.

Sarhan had a pad, pen, and a few papers set up next to his laptop. If anyone had wondered what he was up to, he could have argued that he had just dropped someone off and was filing a quick sales report or was trying to be productive while waiting to pick someone up. What none of them would suspect was that from this vantage point, he was taking advantage of a perfect view of all the traffic coming into the airport.

“Unlock it now,” said Harvath as he closed within fifteen feet of Sarhan.

The lights on the Escalade flashed and the locks thumped as they popped up. The Egyptian turned, looked at Harvath briefly, and went back to what he was doing.

Harvath ignored him. Walking around to the driver’s side, he opened the door and climbed in. Had there been space enough to maneuver, there was nothing he would have rather done than to drive the Escalade right into Sarhan and pin him against the concrete wall. It would have saved him a lot of time.

He listened as Nicholas updated him that the first vehicle had dropped its passengers at the Tom Bradley International Terminal and that two more were also just pulling in. It was time to crash Sarhan’s party.

Grabbing the latch, Harvath popped the Escalade’s hood and stepped out of the car. As he raised the hood, he looked around to see if anyone other than Sarhan was in the immediate area. Satisfied the coast was momentarily clear, he fiddled with the vehicle’s engine and cursed. The Egyptian glanced at him again and then went back to what he was doing. The fact that the Escalade had likely been there before Sarhan arrived ruled Harvath out as a threat to him. There was no way anyone could have known he would set up there.

Harvath stepped away from the truck and closed the distance with the Egyptian so rapidly that he didn’t realize what was happening until Harvath was almost on top of him.

Pulling his Taser out of his pocket, Harvath hit the trigger and watched as the expression on Sarhan’s face went from surprise to shock to agony-all in a matter of a few seconds. The man’s muscles seized and he fell forward.

Harvath worked quickly. After zip-tying Sarhan’s hands behind his back, he gathered up his belongings and dragged him back to the Escalade. The rear windows were tinted and that’s where Harvath had decided to conduct his interrogation.

Shoving the Egyptian inside, Harvath climbed in behind and told Nicholas to remote-start the vehicle.

He buckled Sarhan into his seat belt, zip-tied his ankles, and then took the seat next to him. When the vehicle started, Harvath reached for the rear seat audio controls and dialed in a local funk radio station. The Escalade was well insulated. In fact, it was built like a bank vault, but Harvath turned up the volume of “Too Hot to Stop” by the Bar-Kays just in case the Egyptian began to scream.

Sarhan didn’t, not at first. He also didn’t demand to know who Harvath was and what he was doing to him. The first thing he did was spit in Harvath’s face. That was all Harvath needed. Sarhan was guilty.

Harvath brought his elbow around and smashed the Egyptian’s nose. A gush of blood sprayed and Sarhan cried out. Harvath turned up the volume on the radio.

“We know everything, Tariq. All of it. I’m only going to give you one chance. How do we recall your men?”

“You can’t,” the man said with a smile.

Harvath gave him another burst from the Taser.

The Egyptian howled this time as the electricity coursed through his body.

“Tell me, Tariq. The pain only gets worse from here.”

“Fuck you,” he hissed.

Harvath raised the Taser to give him another jolt. The man’s body stiffened in anticipation. Harvath, though, had a better idea. Reaching back down, he depressed the rear cigarette lighter. He saw a flash of fear cut across Sarhan’s face. But as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.

“The fourth vehicle has entered the airport,” Nicholas said. “Vehicles two and three have dropped off their passengers at Terminals Two and Four.”

“Roger that,” replied Harvath.

“I’m not afraid to die,” said Sarhan.

Harvath smiled. “I wish I was allowed to kill you. Unfortunately, I can’t.”

“You can’t do anything.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he said as the cigarette lighter popped.

“I have rights,” the Egyptian stated arrogantly.

“And if I was a policeman I might care. But today isn’t your lucky day. You see, I’m not a policeman. Technically, I don’t even exist. I promise, though, you’re never going to forget who I am.” Snatching out the glowing cigarette lighter, Harvath brought it close enough to Sarhan’s face to feel the heat radiating off it. “How do we recall your men?”

The Egyptian tried to spit at him again, but Harvath moved out of the way. The projectile of blood and saliva hit the window behind him and rolled down. Harvath was done playing games. Grabbing the man’s face in a vise grip, he drove the lighter right into the man’s upper lip.

Sarhan screamed bloody murder, but Harvath didn’t let go until the smoke stopped rising from the man’s seared lip. The smell of burnt flesh filled the SUV.

Dropping the lighter to the floor, he reached under his coat and drew his pistol. He then pulled the suppressor from his coat pocket and began spinning it onto the threaded barrel.

He didn’t even give Sarhan a moment to think. Placing the weapon against his knee, he pulled the trigger.

There was a crack as the weapon discharged, and Sarhan set off into a fresh chorus of screams and curses. Harvath brought his elbow up again and slammed it into the man’s jaw, causing the Egyptian to bite down on his own tongue.

Reed Carlton’s voice suddenly came over Harvath’s earbud. “All of the teams are now inside the terminals. What’s our play?”

Harvath snatched up Sarhan’s cell phone. It had been set to silent and he had received four text messages, each one saying the same thing: We are in line.

“Shit,” he said aloud as he raised his pistol and placed it right against Sarhan’s temple. “I’ve changed my mind. Tell me how to recall your men, or I am going to kill you.”

The Egyptian looked at him and smiled before muttering a final, defiant “Fuck you.”

Harvath pulled the weapon back and then brought it crashing down into the side of his head. “Fuck you, too.”

“What do we tell DHS?”

Harvath was out of time. They couldn’t risk it any further. “Tell them to take them all down.”

“Roger that,” replied Carlton.

The Old Man’s voice was then replaced by Nicholas’s. “The Lincoln Town Car just pulled in one floor below you. Our man in the TOC says all of the vehicles are overloaded. He’s positive now that they’re VBIEDs.”