Altered State. Don Pendleton

a decade after the invasion that was meant to punish those responsible for 9/11. Bolan had a diplomatic passport in his pocket that should answer any questions asked by U.S. soldiers who might stop him on the street.

      As for the native military and police, if they tried to detain him, he would have a simple choice: either resist or bluff it out.

      He definitely needed that interpreter.

      The simple map of Sharh-e-Khone that he had memorized included streets and major landmarks, but it didn’t give the flavor of the Old City. It didn’t simmer with the tension Bolan felt around him, didn’t indicate the spots where bullets, fire and bomb fragments had scarred ancient walls.

      Passing along the old wall that had once defended Kabul from its enemies outside, Bolan was conscious of the irony. This day, no matter which side you were on, the city’s enemies were all inside . Whether they strapped plastic explosives to their bodies or wore military uniforms, they were combatants in a struggle dating back, at least, to the Soviet invasion of the country in the latter 1970s.

      Or should he take it further back, into the early nineteenth century, when British troops had made themselves at home here, in the midst of a society they never really understood? Where did the grim cycle of kill-or-be-killed have its roots?

      Passing a line of busy market stalls, Bolan watched for tails, even as he was scouting for his next landmark along the route to locate his interpreter and guide.

      The man he sought wasn’t supposed to be alone.

      It was a two-for-one deal, this time, which compounded Bolan’s risk. Without even addressing trust issues, two contacts made it twice as likely that they would be followed to the meeting place. If Bolan’s guide was not under surveillance, then it stood to reason that the guide’s control—a DEA spook from the States—would be.

      Bolan could only hope that one or both was smart enough to watch their backs and deal with anyone who tried to crash their rendezvous in Sharh-e-Khone.

      In case they weren’t, he’d come prepared.

      The pistol slung beneath his left arm was a Jericho 941, the simple but elegant Israeli-made 9 mm semiautomatic. It was slightly shorter than his usual Beretta, held one extra Parabellum round, and had its muzzle threaded for a sound suppressor.

      Of course, the supressor was back in Bolan’s car, along with all the other martial hardware he’d acquired upon arrival, prior to seeking out his guide.

      A soldier had to deal with first things first.

      Now, as he passed a bank of aromatic food stalls, keeping track of each turn in his mind, he hoped the day that had begun with jet lag wouldn’t end with blood. A simple meeting and agreement to collaborate would suit him fine.

      The killing would come soon enough.

      It was, after all, his reason for being in Kabul to start with. The land that his country was making “safe for democracy” still had some serious problems. Negotiation might solve some of them. As for the rest…

      Enter the Executioner.

      “I WAS AFRAID HE MIGHT be late,” said Edris Barialy.

      Deirdre Falk replied, “He isn’t late. Your watch is fast. Again.”

      It was a challenge for him, working with a woman. Make that, working for a woman, since the slim brunette American was certainly in charge. She told him where to go and what to do, approved his weekly pay and judged when it was time for him to risk his life.

      Like now.

      As a strong Muslim—well, an adequate Muslim—Edris Barialy recognized the subordinate state of womankind established by God when He said, “Be” and created all things. Men were supposed to be the rulers of their homes and of the world, but things had changed a great deal in the world outside Afghanistan.

      When Barialy had joined his first protest against the growing Afghan heroin trade, he had not expected covert contact from the American Drug Enforcement Administration. And when he accepted the DEA’s offer of part-time employment, using his freedom as a licensed tourist guide to gather intelligence on smugglers, he had not expected that his control officer would be female.

      It was strange how things worked out sometimes.

      Now here he stood in Sharh-e-Khone, waiting to meet yet another American. A specialist, as Deirdre Falk had described him.

      But in what?

      Nervous as he was about the meeting and whatever might ensue from it, Barialy had armed himself with a venerable Webley Mk IV .38/200 revolver. It weighed nearly three pounds and pulled down his slacks at the rear, where he wore it tucked under his belt, but Barialy felt better for having the gun close at hand.

      He also prayed that he would not be called upon to use it.

      Deirdre Falk carried a pistol, too, of course. Barialy had seen it but could not identify the weapon as to brand or caliber. It was some kind of automatic, presumably she had been trained to handle it.

      Unlike Barialy himself.

      He had served two years in the Afghan National Army, but his firearms training had been limited to practice with Kalashnikov assault rifles. After the basic course, he had been posted to a clerical position in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province, and had never fired another shot.

      Still, he knew guns as most Afghanis knew them, having grown up in a nation with one of the world’s highest concentrations of firearms per person—one gun for every two of Afghanistan’s twenty-three million citizens, according to estimates from Oxfam and Amnesty International. It had been simple to acquire the Webley and a stash of cartridges.

      But as for using them, well, he would have to wait and see what happened next.

      “Who is this man, again?” he asked.

      “I told you,” Deirdre Falk replied.

      “A specialist, I know,” Barialy said. “Could you be more specific?”

      “Are you getting cold feet now?” she asked.

      “I’m simply curious.”

      “I’m told he’s someone who can cut red tape,” she said. “We’re blocked on this end, going nowhere. If he helps us break the jam, more power to him.”

      Barialy understood and shared her natural frustration, but the “jam” she spoke of seemed to be, at least in part, a product of the very government that had dispatched her to Afghanistan. Could Barialy trust another agent from that government to set things right? Or would the specialist succeed only in making matters worse, perhaps increasing Barialy’s risk?

      Give him a chance, he thought.

      And then, the small voice in his head amended, But keep close watch over him.

      And then, what, if it seemed that things were getting out of hand? Should he resign, break with the DEA? Or was that even possible?

      At least he had the Webley, Barialy thought. And they had taken care not to be followed.

      Still, in Kabul’s teeming streets it was impossible to guarantee security. For all he knew, the enemy might be observing them right now.

      “I’ M GETTING BORED ,” Farid Humerya said. “They don’t do anything.”

      “They brought us here,” Red Scanlon told him. “And they didn’t do it for the tourist thing. Keep watching.”

      If the circumstances had been different, Farid Humerya might have told the rude American to do the job himself but Humerya had his orders.

      Not from Scanlon and the pigs he served, although their interests coincided with the wishes of Humerya’s master. And Farid Humerya knew enough of life—and sudden death—to follow orders from the man he served.

      He did not wish to think of the alternative.

      “You