Power Grab. Don Pendleton

don’t side with him or who dare even to report on the dissidents. Our CIA assets in Iran report that Khalil Khan has a very good chance of winning, if he lives to see election day…and if Ovan doesn’t influence the election otherwise.”

      “It’s almost a repeat of the Ahmadinejad-Mousavi election,” Brognola said. “Khan’s a pro-Western moderate who wants to bring his country into the modern world and improve its human rights record. Magham’s a dictator who’d just as soon crush the dissidents and run the country like a prison camp, but he’s sensitive to world attention and media coverage. He doesn’t just want to run the country—he wants people to acknowledge that he’s right to run the country.”

      “Enter Ovan again,” Price said. “We have covert intel that says Ovan’s terror network is led by two men. These are his sons, half brothers Karbuly and Ebrahim Ghemenizov.”

      The secondary screens displayed images of a large, bearded man with wild eyes and a thin, balding, sallow man whose eyes shared the other’s slightly unstable look. “We have reason to believe Karbuly is heading up the domestic terror network that directed the actions of the three dead terrorists in New York,” Price said. “There are unconfirmed reports that Karbuly has been spotted at multiple locations here in the Northeast United States. We think the botched attack, in which the terrorists either set their bomb incorrectly or perhaps used a defective weapon, was the opening salvo in Ovan’s long-range plans to hurt the West as he jockeys to better his economic and strategic position worldwide. From the terrorist chatter we’ve intercepted, we also think he’s trying to show the Iranians just what he can bring to the table. They hate us, too, remember, and if he can show the hard-line Iranian government that he’s a real force to be reckoned with, they’ll be eager to cut a deal with him.”

      “Ebrahim Ghemenizov is half Iranian by birth,” Brognola said, “and the CIA places him in Tehran. Their people believe that Ovan, through Ebrahim, has been behind several terrorist attacks on supporters of Magham.”

      “But Magham’s the hard-liner,” James said. “Why would Ovan hurt the candidate who’s more likely to sell him the weapons?”

      “It’s true that Khan would put a stop to the weapons program,” Price said, “or at least we hope he would. Magham is behind the program. But he’s also working in complicity with Ovan to help stage the attacks on his own supporters. The idea is to create, and spread through the media, the idea that Khan’s followers are violent murderers who cannot be trusted. So far the tactic is working. Those few polls we can get that aren’t skewed by Magham’s government show that, while he’s still running behind Khan, the moderates’ lead has diminished since the attacks began.”

      “On the world stage, meanwhile,” Brognola said, sounding especially weary, “the Man is worried that we can’t simply hit Ovan and cut this off at the source, because all of the evidence we have is covert intelligence. We can’t afford to point to any more satellite photos of WMD factories that turn out to be anything but…and we can’t afford to move against Turkmenistan in an official capacity, not even as a black operation, unless we can turn public opinion against Ovan and show the world he’s got his hands in the terror attacks in Iran. If his involvement is exposed, the Iranians will scream bloody murder about the interference, and Magham’s fate will be sealed. That’s especially true if his own involvement in the plot is outed.”

      “So what are we doing?” Lyons asked.

      “A WMD-equipped Ovan would be a nightmare for us all,” Brognola said. “His terror network, at this point, quite possibly rivals al Qaeda. But more years of hard-line rule under Magham does no one any favors, either. We need to expose the terror link in Iran and do what we can to ensure an honest victory for Khan, while putting a stop to Ovan’s terror network and removing him from power.”

      “Oh, is that all?” McCarter snorted, half grinning. Brognola rolled his eyes fractionally but ignored the comment.

      “Gadgets, working with Aaron, Akira and our friends at the CIA who provided the sample bombs,” Brognola said, “have performed extensive analysis on the bombs, and there’s a vulnerability we can exploit. The devices have a unique electromagnetic signature that changes as they go active and increases as they reach their full sensor capabilities.”

      “The signature is difficult to pin down among the background noise of the electromagnetic spectrum,” Schwarz said, “but it can be detected.”

      “The Pentagon has, overnight, retasked its Warlock network of surveillance satellites,” Brognola said. “They’re going to provide us with the detection we need to home in on each terrorist attack site. Able Team, using this intelligence, will intercept the cells before they can carry out the series of attacks we believe to be imminent.”

      “That’s where this come in,” Tokaido said, holding up the handmade device.

      “Gadgets and Akira have built this scanner-jamming unit,” Price said. “It reads the bombs’ signals at close range and retards the function of the processors in the bombs. It can be used, at extreme close range, to deactivate it, provided you can hold it on target long enough.”

      “The problem is,” Schwarz explained, “you’ve got to get close enough and point the unit directly at the bomb as you approach to prevent it from going off. Then you’ve got to touch it to the casing and hold it there until it gives you the all-clear that the bomb has been neutralized. The rest happens within the bomb’s processor as it interacts with the wireless signal from our unit.”

      “Are you saying,” Lyons asked him, “that the bombs could go off because they sense us coming?”

      “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Schwarz confirmed. “Also this device is one of a kind. There isn’t time to build more, nor to test this one. So nobody drop it.” He looked at Blancanales and then back to Lyons.

      “Wonderful,” Lyons said.

      “Phoenix,” Price said, “will deploy to Iran. The CIA has operatives placed within Iranian security who will conduct you from there. You’ll enter the country as Canadian journalists and then fall off the radar to conduct your operation covertly with the CIA’s assistance. Able Team will use the Warlock surveillance feed to perform terrorist interdiction here.”

      “The goal,” Brognola said, “is to stop the terrorist attacks centered in Tehran and, if possible, uncover Ovan’s network there. We also want to prevent an outright assassination of Khan if we can. If you can expose the terror connection there, we’ll redeploy you to deal with Ovan directly. If you can’t get anything on him, however, there’s little we can do except find and destroy the source of the Iranian bombs so that Ovan cannot continue to make use of them. Able, meanwhile, will deal with the threat at home using the more direct approach.”

      “At least there’s that,” Lyons said.

      “Jack Grimaldi is standing by,” Price said, referring to Stony Man’s senior pilot, “and he’ll hop you from target to target. The Warlock network has produced a priority list, and the signals we receive will help redirect you once you get closer to each potential strike point.”

      “All right, then,” McCarter said. He stood. “What are we wasting time here for?”

      “Good luck,” Brognola said. “And good hunting.”

      Price lingered as the rest of the teams filed out, their conversations growing louder and more businesslike as they began to discuss the missions ahead of them. Kurtzman shot a salute to Brognola as he wheeled in front of the screen, and Brognola nodded in acknowledgment.

      “You okay, Hal?” Price asked, stopping Brognola as he reached for the disconnect button.

      “I’m always okay, Barb,” Brognola said. “You know how it is. This job is never easy.”

      “I do,” Price said. “Just…take care of yourself, Hal. We all count on you.”

      “And the country,” Brognola said, “counts on them.” He pointed at his camera, and Price knew he meant the soldiers