Rick Campbell

The Bin Laden Plot

CHARACTERS

UNITED STATES ADMINISTRATION

KEVIN HARDISON — chief of staff

MARCY PERINI — secretary of state

TOM GLASS — secretary of defense

NOVA CONOVER — secretary of homeland security

THOM PARHAM — national security advisor

GLEN MCGLOTHIN (Captain) — senior military advisor

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

CHRISTINE O’CONNOR — director (DCIA)

MONROE BRYANT — deputy director (DDCIA)

PJ ROLOW — deputy director for operations (DDO)

TRACEY MCFARLAND — deputy director for analysis (DDA)

BECKY ROCK — deputy director for support (DDS)

JAKE HARRISON — paramilitary operations officer

KHALILA DUFOUR — specialized skills officer, National Clandestine Service

ASAD DURRANI — collection management officer

NIZAR MUSSAN — paramilitary operations officer (Bluestone Security)

MARZOUQ ASHOUR — specialized skills officer (Salmiya, Kuwait)

OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

ELIZABETH GHERLONE — supervisor

SARA INMAN — torpedo expert

OTHER U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

BRENDA VERBECK — secretary of the Navy

JOHN RODGAARD — director of National Intelligence

BILL GUISEWHITE — director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

USS MICHIGAN (OHIO CLASS GUIDED MISSILE SUBMARINE) — BLUE CREW

MURRAY WILSON (Captain) — Commanding Officer

TOM MONTGOMERY (Lieutenant Commander) — Executive Officer

RYAN JESCOVITCH (Lieutenant) — Weapons Officer

BRIAN RESOR (Lieutenant) — Officer of the Deck

BRITTANY KERN (Lieutenant) — Officer of the Deck

KAREN BASS (Lieutenant) — Officer of the Deck

JIM MOORE (Sonar Technician Chief) — Sonar Division Chief

ANDREW BUBB (Sonar Technician Second Class) — Narrowband Operator

USS MICHIGAN — SEAL DETACHMENT

JON PETERS (Commander) — SEAL Team Commander

TRACEY NOVIELLO (Lieutenant) — SEAL Platoon Officer-in-Charge

RUSS BURKHARDT (Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief) — SEAL Platoon Leading Chief Petty Officer

JOHN SHEAKOSKI (Special Warfare Operator First Class)

MICHAEL KELLER (Special Warfare Operator Second Class)

KURT HACKER (Special Warfare Operator First Class)

JOHN PICKERING (Special Warfare Operator Second Class)

DAVE NAREHOOD (Special Warfare Operator First Class)

RICH MEYER (Special Warfare Operator Second Class)

USS JIMMY CARTER (SEAWOLF CLASS FAST ATTACK SUBMARINE)

DENNIS GALLAGHER (Commander) — Commanding Officer

USS STETHEM (ARLEIGH BURKE CLASS DESTROYER)

RICHARD WORTMAN (Petty Officer Second Class)

JAY NEAL (Seaman)

OTHER MILITARY CHARACTERS

JOE SITES (Admiral) — Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)

ANDY HOSKINS (Captain) — secretary of the Navy’s military aide

JASON JOHNSON (Cryptologic Technician Chief) — Pentagon watchstander

KUWAITI CHARACTERS

AYMAN ABOUD — Persian rug dealer

BASIM IQBAL — Kuwait Security Service agent

MALIK AL-RASHIDI — Director, Kuwait Security Service

OTHER CHARACTERS

LONNIE MIXELL (alias Mitch Larson) — former Navy SEAL

GARY NAGLE — former Navy SEAL

JOHN MCNEIL — former Navy SEAL / secretary of the Navy protective agent

GRETCHEN MCNEIL — John McNeil’s wife

ANGIE HARRISON — Jake Harrison’s wife

MADELINE (MADDY) HARRISON — Jake Harrison’s daughter

BRIAN HUMM — Alvin operations officer

KEN HILLSLEY — Alvin pilot

CAROLINE RICE — Fairfax County, Virginia, detective

ADELLE MURPHY — housekeeping supervisor at the Intercontinental Hotel

CAITLIN JOHNSON — gymnastics coach

1

USS STETHEM

In the Strait of Hormuz, the thirty-mile-wide opening to the strategically important Persian Gulf, USS Stethem cruised through the warm water, her navigation lights revealing the presence of the U.S. warship twelve miles off the coast, hugging the edge of Iranian territorial waters. To the south, white masthead lights announced the passage of numerous merchant ships transiting the busy choke point.

Hours earlier, after being battered by a storm as the destroyer passed through the Gulf of Oman, Stethem had entered the Strait, where the narrow waterway turned sharply southwest. The sun had recently set, and an outward calm had returned to the warship. In the darkness, the topside decks were deserted aside from two men on the fantail taking a smoke break, the occasional red glow from the ends of their cigarettes faintly illuminating their faces.

Petty Officer Second Class Richard Wortman, leaning against the hangar bulkhead on the helicopter deck, took another puff of his cigarette while his newfound friend rattled on about his girlfriend back home. Seaman Jay Neal, who happened to be from a town less than an hour from Wortman’s, was a new addition to the crew, having reported aboard just before Stethem’s departure for its Gulf deployment several weeks ago.