The Bin Laden Plot

Khalila cut him off. “I’ll answer that question. It’s neither. Instead, you had help. An inside source you struck a deal with. Someone high up who fed you information in return for tips that kept him safe. Except, by the time of the Abbottabad raid, you had been promoted from a Middle East field officer into another section of the agency and could no longer feed him the vital information that would have kept him alive. Isn’t that right?”

Rolow gave her a long stare, then finally responded, “What I did was for America’s benefit, not just mine.”

“You’re going to have to explain that,” Khalila replied.

“Osama bin Laden was a coward. He was willing to provide whatever information I needed in return for his safety. That information saved thousands of American lives. Would it have been better to forfeit the lives of those men, women, and children — to capture one man? Yes, I helped your father stay alive, but I saved thousands of Americans in the process.”

“It wasn’t your decision to make! If my father had been captured or killed earlier, perhaps the al-Qaeda network could have been destroyed entirely, saving even more lives!”

“There’s no way to know,” Rolow argued. “But I do know the path I chose saved lives.”

Harrison was about to join the conversation, then remembered he had agreed to stay out of it. Then Khalila asked the question he’d been about to pose.

“What about the Abbottabad assault team members? The men who risked their lives taking down Osama. Did you feed their names to al-Qaeda, helping to eliminate them?”

“I hate to disappoint you, but I don’t work with al-Qaeda.”

“Oh, so when it comes to betraying your country, you have standards?”

“State it however you want. But that was my work, eliminating anyone who could have made the connection between the radio on bin Laden’s desk and me. Unfortunately, I didn’t factor you into the equation.”

Rolow’s words touched on a sensitive topic, because Khalila exploded with rage.

“You took advantage of me! You knew why I joined the agency, to right the wrongs my father committed. To restore my family’s honor! And all along, I was working with the devil who helped my father escape justice!”

“What did you expect from me?” Rolow said, his voice going stern. “For me to come clean so I can have an honest relationship with a woman that no one in this agency trusts? I’m the only one who had your back, putting you into situations where you could help atone for your father’s sins. You should be thanking me!”

“I will not thank you!” she said, her voice rising as her hand began trembling in anger. “Your twisted logic may have justified your actions in your mind, but it doesn’t in mine!”

The emotion suddenly vanished from her face. Her hand stilled, and when she spoke again, her voice was calm.

“You were faced with a decision and made a choice. I’ve made mine.”

She pulled the trigger, putting a bullet into Rolow’s forehead.

Verbeck stared in disbelief as her former lover collapsed at her feet, blood spreading slowly across the floor.

Khalila turned to Christine and Harrison. “I’ve taken care of this mess for you. You’re welcome.”

Then she swung her pistol toward the secretary of the Navy.

Verbeck held her hands up before her, palms out in a supplicating manner.

“And you,” Khalila said to Brenda. “Rolow must have really been in love with you, because he confided in you, told you what he’d done. You’ve used it as leverage against him ever since.”

“What can I say,” Brenda said, “other than — we must take what Allah provides and be grateful.”

“Do you mock me?” Khalila asked. “Because that’s a really bad plan when the pistol is in my hand.”

Harrison sensed Khalila’s rage building again. “Put the gun down,” he said.

Khalila ignored him, so he stepped in front of her. “You’re not the judge, jury, and executioner.”

Her eyes went to Rolow, his body sprawled on the floor, then back to Harrison. “You clearly haven’t been paying attention.”

“That’s enough,” he said. “Let the legal system take care of Verbeck.”

“She was in a position of trust and betrayed America! She deserves the same fate as Rolow.”

“I did not betray my country!”

Harrison turned to Verbeck as she continued, “I sacrificed a few people to protect my brother, but I did not betray my country.”

“What about the centrifuges?” Harrison asked.

“They are of no concern. Once they are received and my brother paid, appropriate intelligence would have fallen into our hands, and we would have located and destroyed them. My brother makes a buck, and the United States remains safe.”

“They’re likely headed to Natanz. That facility is practically indestructible without a nuclear strike.”

“I’ll admit, I didn’t think everything through all the way. But I’m sure we would have found a way to destroy the centrifuges. I’m not a traitor to my country.”

Harrison turned back to Khalila, his eyes locking with hers.

She shook her head in disgust, then lowered her pistol.

“Fine. Do with her as you please.”

72 USS MICHIGAN