“I got word from Shiver,” he began. “Rivet swears he saw Dutch in Kaiserslautern.”
“Did he make contact?” Alegria asked.
“Negative.”
“Why not?”
“He said that Dutch looked right at him and then ducked into an alley.”
“So he assumed Dutch didn’t want him to approach.”
“Something like that. Rivet mentioned it in passing during a phone call with Shiver.”
Rivet was Shiver’s boss at MI6—wouldn’t he have been privy to the bulletins about Dutch?
“What’s Rivet doing in Kaiserslautern?” he asked.
“On holiday.”
At least that explained why Rivet hadn’t known about Dutch being MIA.
“Listen, Mantis, there’s chatter about Zamed Safi. Word is he’s on the hunt.”
Mantis nodded, his gaze focusing on Alegria’s. “For me,” he murmured.
“Affirmative,” Doc answered, even though Mantis hadn’t asked.
No one had considered Zamed, Bagish and Dadvar Safi’s youngest brother, a threat. His dossier read “student of philosophy” and didn’t list a tie to the Taliban, the Islamic State, or al-Qaeda, other than his two brothers.
“Who’s backing him?” Mantis asked.
“Unknown.”
“What’s his purported threat level?” Alegria asked.
“Again, unknown. I’ll be back in touch when I know more about Dutch and about Safi. For now, sit tight.”
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said to Alegria after disconnecting the call.
“It might be a good idea to contact Razor,” she suggested.
Everyone who’d ever worked with him knew Razor Sharp, third founding partner of K19, never forgot a face. Nor did he forget any details he’d ever learned about a person.
“I heard Zamed was Bagish’s personal secretary, translator, and press spokesman,” Razor told him. “In addition to his native Pashto, he speaks English, Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. He was born in Jelahor village, Arghandab District, Kandahar Province.”
“What threat level would you consider him?”
“I’d say minimal. Without the power of his two older brothers behind him—you know, since they’re dead—he doesn’t carry much weight. The vendetta, if it’s true he has one, would be personal. He wouldn’t be acting on behalf of the Taliban.”
“Enemies?” Alegria asked.
Razor laughed. “E
veryone who rose to a position of power after Bagish’s death.”
“Because they see him as a threat?”
“Because they see everyone as a threat. Your best bet in terms of neutralizing the little bastard is to make Abdul Ghafor think he’s after him too.”