He dialed the number from memory. It rang several times and was about to kick over into voice mail. Suddenly the receiver was picked up at the other end. “Yeah.”
“Hey, bro,” Brian said, glad to hear the voice.
“Brian, what’s up?” Kevin Hayes was Brian’s older brother by eleven months and one day. Irish twins. “You okay?” he asked, his mind immediately drawn to Brian’s condition.
“Yeah. Fine.”
“You getting along all right?”
“Fine. It bothers me, but I’m doing okay.”
“You actually getting better?”
“It doesn’t work that way. But it’s not getting worse as fast as I thought…”
“How’s your new job?”
“Great. Incredible,” Brian said. “Secret level, which isn’t very sexy, but it’s fun. First class started today. We’ve got sixteen instructors, and all the MiGs are FMC.”
“FMC?”
“Fully mission-capable. Ready to go.”
“I can’t believe you got those MiGs flying. I heard they were at the end of their useful life.”
“That’s what the DOD said for public consumption. They only had a couple hundred hours on them. I think they had other things in mind for them but never got around to it. Probably a budget issue. And Luke found this company that’s joint German and Russian. They’re doing the maintenance. They can take any Russian airplane down to its serial number and build it back up. Some of the airplanes needed a lot of work, even new engines, and others didn’t. But if you’ve got the money, they can make them fly.”
“Unbelievable. What a great deal. So what’s up? You don’t sound like you called just to talk.”
Brian hesitated. “I need your help.”
“What kind?”
“It’s one of our students. I was wondering if… if you could have somebody check into him.”
Kevin was cool. “We don’t operate inside the U.S. You know that. That’s FBI.”
“CIA looks at foreign issues. Right?”
“Go on.”
“The student, the foreigner—”
“Where are you calling me from?”
“The school.”
“You have access to a STU-III?”
“No. We don’t have any secure communications.”
Kevin Hayes paused. “Don’t say anything you don’t want to read in the newspaper. What’s going on?”
“We have four foreign students—six actually, but four of them are from Pakistan. Ever since I heard about these guys, the hair has been standing up on the back of my neck. The way the school got going, the way they show up as the first foreign students with the path completely greased for them. The way their head guy shows up with this attitude, a total asshole, like he’s completely in control, gives our CO a faceful of crap, but there’s more to it. I don’t know. That’s why I hesitated to call. There’s nothing I can really point to. I just wanted—”
“Look, Brian,” Kevin said sympathetically, “I trust your instincts, but you don’t crank up the big bad Agency to investigate some random suspicions. Assholes are not on our list of things to look into.”
“He has the same name as the Pakistani director of ISI.”
“Internal Security? Shit, Brian, those are some serious people. You think he’s related?”
“I don’t know.”
“But where does that get you? Some foreign country’s going to be investigating the son of the Director of the CIA if he shows up for some exchange program?”
“Yeah. I don’t think it gets us anywhere. It’s just the only thing I can point to. I don’t trust the guy. Can you have somebody look into him?”
“You know how hard it is to get the CIA to ‘look into’ anything?”
“I thought you worked there. You can get them to do whatever you want.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Sorry. I shouldn’t—”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do anything. I just want you to appreciate how hard it is. Especially when you have nothing to go on.”
“Well, if you can—”
“Pakistani, you say.”
“Right.”
“You got anything you can show me?”
Brian picked up the brown envelope lying on his desk. He opened it and pulled out the documents. “I’ve got the information they forwarded to us to verify their security clearances.”
“Fax it to me. I know somebody in Pakistan. Let me make a couple of calls.”
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“Counting this one, I think you owe me about a thousand.”
“No doubt.”
“You’re working yourself into the ground,” Katherine said as she walked outside behind Luke.
He had changed into his jeans and his usual gray fleece pullover. “No harder than you used to work in your law firm.”
She couldn’t argue with that. “And I was working myself into the ground…”
They walked across the sandy area that passed for a backyard behind their sprawling ranch house toward the well-used Bobcat. Luke climbed up into the cab and sat on the cushioned seat. “I can’t take three months to build the runway. I only rented this Bobcat for two weeks. I’ve got to get it done.”
“Do you think maybe you’re thinking about too many things at once?”
There weren’t many hours of daylight left. Luke had his hand on the starter lever but resisted the temptation to start the engine. “Like what?”
“Think about what you’re doing—starting a new company, leasing a fleet of fighters and one of the world’s best airfields, borrowing a hundred million dollars…”
“He invested. I didn’t borrow anything.”
“You know what I mean. Plus buying a new house, building your own private airfield, trying to buy an airplane. Don’t you think you’re taking a little too much on your shoulders? Oh, and starting a family.”
“I feel more in control of my life than ever. Nobody’s going to tell me to leave my family to go to sea. Nobody’s going to move me across the country for the needs of the Navy. We’re finally where we can decide exactly what we want to do. And I happen to have the best job in the world. It’s going to take a lot of work to get through the first year. We both know that. But it’s worth it to me. The runway,” he said, looking at his half-done strip for his nonexistent airplane, “is a dream. You know me. I’ve always got some project going. Keeps me from watching television.”
“How is that Pakistani student?”
“Khan?”
“Yeah. You had a lot of questions about him after the first two days.”
Luke got quiet. “I still do.”
“Serious questions?”
“I don’t trust him at all. I don’t know what the hell he’s up to, but his goal in life sure isn’t trying to be the best student in the school. He’s got something else in mind.”
“Need me to do anything?”
“Brian is working the problem. He really doesn’t trust the guy. And he’s got his brother at the CIA looking into it.”
“The CIA?” She thought about the implications. “Should we call the Undersecretary and ask him about Khan?”
“He’s the one who sent him here. I don’t think that would do much good.” Luke pushed the starter. The Bobcat’s diesel engine rumbled to life. “I’ve got to get working before the sun sets.”
“I still say you’re taking on too much.”
He put the Bobcat into gear. “You have any problem with me buying an airplane?”
“With whose money?”