trust.
He said, “So don’t let it out. What’s the big deal?”
Bruce shifted on one foot, then the next, clearly uncomfortable. He said, “Boris, our source, apparently sold the same package to the Israelis, with some cutting-edge intelligence we weren’t privy to.”
“So it’s the new stuff we need to worry about? Something we didn’t get?”
“No. Sorry. I’m confusing the issue. From our sources, the Mossad got an encrypted drive that held all the historical information we received. That’s what’s volatile.”
President Warren said, “What do you mean? How could something from the past affect us now?”
Bruce took a breath and said, “Remember the seventy-two Olympics? The massacre of the Israeli athletes? The documents prove that Russia—or the USSR—provided crucial assistance to the Palestinians. Assistance that allowed the attack to occur.”
“Okay. I’d think that would help us. Give us some leverage with that asshole running the country.”
“It’s more than that. It also talks about US involvement. We knew about the attack before it was going to occur, and we did nothing to stop it.”
President Warren took that in, incredulous. He leaned back in his chair and said, “Are you telling me the CIA knew the Palestinians were going to murder Israeli athletes, and we did nothing? Seriously?”
“Yes. Well, no. I mean, we didn’t
know
they were going to do it. We only had indications, and the head of Black September—Ali Salameh—was helping us deal with the Middle East. We were using him to further American interests. The reporting was just like a hell of a lot of other stories being spewed at the time. There was constant chatter about attacking Israel. We didn’t know it would actually happen. We didn’t
know
. . .”
President Warren heard Bruce’s voice break, and understood something more was going on. “Okay, Bruce, okay. What’s that mean to us right now?”
“Boris passed an encrypted drive, then died of a heart attack before he could give the password. Israel will crack the encryption given enough time. Boris was very thorough about protecting his return on investment. If it’s like our pass, the drive will simply give the location to another thumb drive. We need to prevent that from falling into Israeli hands.”
“Because they’ll find out about our supposed complicity in the attack? It’s old news. Nobody will care about that now.”
“Because it will expose the fact that we could have prevented the slaughter of innocents. The Munich massacre was horrific for Israel, and if it comes out that we could have stopped it, it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. After Snowden, this will cause the American people to forever lose trust in our intelligence community. It can’t come to light. It
can’t
come to light.”
“Calm down. It won’t be that bad. We can firewall it. Blame it on some guy that left the service decades ago. Trust me, political games are easy. We just need to manage the release. Defang it before the Israelis get the documents.”
“You can’t do that here. You can’t fake it. The documents name
names
. It can’t be hidden.”
“So we find the man who got the intel and prep him for a fall. How bad could it be? The guy’s got to be retired. The only way it could hurt us now is if it was someone still active in the intelligence community. You’re worried about nothing, trust me. I’ve lived in this world of political BS for much longer than you. Shit, the only way it would be a problem is if your name came up.”
Bruce winced, and President Warren felt his skin grow cold. He said, “Don’t tell me that. I don’t want to hear that.”
Bruce nodded. “I was Ali Salameh’s case officer. I’m the name on the disk.”
18
W aiting on a SITREP from Decoy, I watched Jennifer walk across the square to a convenience store that looked like it had been built into a closet.
Walk
was probably the wrong word. More
He said, “So don’t let it out. What’s the big deal?”
Bruce shifted on one foot, then the next, clearly uncomfortable. He said, “Boris, our source, apparently sold the same package to the Israelis, with some cutting-edge intelligence we weren’t privy to.”
“So it’s the new stuff we need to worry about? Something we didn’t get?”
“No. Sorry. I’m confusing the issue. From our sources, the Mossad got an encrypted drive that held all the historical information we received. That’s what’s volatile.”
President Warren said, “What do you mean? How could something from the past affect us now?”
Bruce took a breath and said, “Remember the seventy-two Olympics? The massacre of the Israeli athletes? The documents prove that Russia—or the USSR—provided crucial assistance to the Palestinians. Assistance that allowed the attack to occur.”
“Okay. I’d think that would help us. Give us some leverage with that asshole running the country.”
“It’s more than that. It also talks about US involvement. We knew about the attack before it was going to occur, and we did nothing to stop it.”
President Warren took that in, incredulous. He leaned back in his chair and said, “Are you telling me the CIA knew the Palestinians were going to murder Israeli athletes, and we did nothing? Seriously?”
“Yes. Well, no. I mean, we didn’t
know
they were going to do it. We only had indications, and the head of Black September—Ali Salameh—was helping us deal with the Middle East. We were using him to further American interests. The reporting was just like a hell of a lot of other stories being spewed at the time. There was constant chatter about attacking Israel. We didn’t know it would actually happen. We didn’t
know
. . .”
President Warren heard Bruce’s voice break, and understood something more was going on. “Okay, Bruce, okay. What’s that mean to us right now?”
“Boris passed an encrypted drive, then died of a heart attack before he could give the password. Israel will crack the encryption given enough time. Boris was very thorough about protecting his return on investment. If it’s like our pass, the drive will simply give the location to another thumb drive. We need to prevent that from falling into Israeli hands.”
“Because they’ll find out about our supposed complicity in the attack? It’s old news. Nobody will care about that now.”
“Because it will expose the fact that we could have prevented the slaughter of innocents. The Munich massacre was horrific for Israel, and if it comes out that we could have stopped it, it will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. After Snowden, this will cause the American people to forever lose trust in our intelligence community. It can’t come to light. It
can’t
come to light.”
“Calm down. It won’t be that bad. We can firewall it. Blame it on some guy that left the service decades ago. Trust me, political games are easy. We just need to manage the release. Defang it before the Israelis get the documents.”
“You can’t do that here. You can’t fake it. The documents name
names
. It can’t be hidden.”
“So we find the man who got the intel and prep him for a fall. How bad could it be? The guy’s got to be retired. The only way it could hurt us now is if it was someone still active in the intelligence community. You’re worried about nothing, trust me. I’ve lived in this world of political BS for much longer than you. Shit, the only way it would be a problem is if your name came up.”
Bruce winced, and President Warren felt his skin grow cold. He said, “Don’t tell me that. I don’t want to hear that.”
Bruce nodded. “I was Ali Salameh’s case officer. I’m the name on the disk.”
18
W aiting on a SITREP from Decoy, I watched Jennifer walk across the square to a convenience store that looked like it had been built into a closet.
Walk
was probably the wrong word. More
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