Blowback

Harvath and Alcott introduced themselves and then watched as he opened the tailgate and retrieved two shopping bags. “I brought you each a change of clothes. The natives are getting a little restless, and the less foreign you look, the better off we’ll be.”

“What about this?” asked Harvath as he pulled back his jacket to reveal his.40-caliber H amp;K handgun. Not only wouldn’t he be able to hide it beneath a traditional dishdasha, but even if he could, he’d have to hike up the entire robe just to get at it. That wasn’t going to work.

Reynolds sifted through the gear in the cargo area of his Land Cruiser and pulled out a small briefcase with Arabic writing on it used for carrying sections of the Koran known as a Juz that was perfect for holding Harvath’s weapon.

He had to hand it to the guy. Reynolds was definitely clever and apparently had thought of everything.

Once Harvath had changed into his dishdasha and Jillian into her full-length black abaya, complete with a long niqab that revealed only her eyes, they were ready to roll.

“Boy, are you a looker,” joked Reynolds as Jillian climbed into the backseat. “You’re going to break a lot of hearts around here with those eyes.”

Harvath wasn’t crazy about the man’s casual attitude and switched their conversation back to the matter at hand. “How do you know Gary Lawlor?”

Reynolds put the car in gear and headed for the air base’s main gate. “Gary and I were in Army Intelligence together. I joined the CIA about the same time he went into the bureau.”

“How’d you end up over here?”

“The Middle East was my area of operations. I learned how to speak Arabic and Farsi and actually used to enjoy it over here, Saudi Arabia in particular.”

“ Gary said you do security work for the Aramco company. A man with your background, I’m sure the CIA was sorry to see you go.”

“I’m sure they were, but I’d made a lifetime career out of serving my country. What I’m doing now, I’m doing strictly for the money, and I don’t see any shame in it. Why shouldn’t I be able to cash in on the few workable years I have left?”

The man had a good point. As they drove out the main gates of Riyadh Air Base, Harvath asked, “I can’t blame you, but do you ever miss it?”

“What? Working for the agency?”

Harvath nodded his head.

“In the beginning, yeah, I missed it. I missed it a lot, but I could see the writing on the wall. The company wasn’t going to hold onto me forever. What was I going to do, invest in a rocket-propelled wheelchair to chase down bad guys? If there’s one lesson I’ve learned, it’s that life is all about change, and stress comes from avoiding change. I think that’s the biggest lesson that came from losing my wife. She was extremely supportive of my career, but I knew she wasn’t crazy about it. The pay wasn’t super and the hours were horrible, but she understood I was in it for something more than that. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yes,” replied Harvath. “I know what you mean.”

“Are you married?” asked Reynolds.

“No.”

“Girlfriend?”

Harvath had to think about his answer a moment. “Not really.”

“Well, I’ll give you a free piece of advice. It’s something I wish somebody had told me a long time ago. The only love I ever had greater than my love for my country was my love for my wife. I wouldn’t be half the man I am today if it wasn’t for her. I see a lot of people in this game who have chosen their career over having a family, and I think that’s a bunch of crap. It’s a copout. Even though you’re working your ass off protecting life and liberty, it doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to the pursuit of happiness. The key, though, is in finding the right person.”

“There’s the understatement of the year,” said Harvath as he wondered if Dr. Phil knew somebody in Saudi Arabia was stealing his material.

“How old are you? About thirty-five?”

“About.”

“That’s when I got married, but I almost didn’t do it. It would have been a colossal mistake on my part not to. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t let your career stand in the way of what you want out of life.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Harvath, while what he was thinking was that his career was all he was aware of ever really wanting. He couldn’t see past it. He hadn’t even tried to until he was faced with what his life might be like without it. Reynolds was an interesting character. Unlike Rayburn, who’d been forced out of government service and into the private sector, Reynolds had chosen to leave and had done so on his own terms after a long and ostensibly satisfying life of service. What’s more, Reynolds had somehow been able to have a rich and fulfilling relationship-something Harvath had not yet been able to achieve. As he listened to the man speak, he wondered if maybe it wasn’t the women he had dated so much as it was he himself who had been sabotaging his relationships.