Christine thanked both men as relief washed over her. The thought that bin Laden was still alive and his existence concealed by a rogue intelligence organization had weighed heavily on her. At worst, the man taken prisoner at Abbottabad was a courier, and keeping his capture secret while information was extracted from him made perfect sense.

At this point, it probably wasn’t all that important to find the courier. He had likely been disposed of years ago, once he had exhausted his usefulness.

49

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

Inside the director’s seventh-floor conference room, it was silent after Harrison and Khalila finished reviewing their trip report with Christine, Bryant, Rolow, and McFarland. It seemed that everyone around the table had prematurely concluded that the prisoner taken from the third floor of the Abbottabad house was Osama bin Laden. The confirmation that the corpse on the bottom of the Arabian Sea was Osama seemed conclusive proof that bin Laden had, in fact, been killed during the Abbottabad raid.

McFarland broke the silence. “It looks like we misinterpreted McNeil’s note. Let’s start over, back at the beginning.” There was murmured agreement around the table, so she continued. “What kicked this issue off were the deaths of Nagle and McNeil, which we associated with the Abbottabad assault. We initially had two theories: the first was that bin Laden had been taken prisoner and those who knew were being silenced, and the second being that the assault team deaths were the work of al-Qaeda, exacting revenge for bin Laden’s death.

“Now that we’ve ruled out bin Laden’s capture, the elimination of the assault team by al-Qaeda is the only theory that makes sense. But there’s a peculiarity. The SEAL deaths occurred at a steady pace for several years following the Abbottabad raid and abruptly stopped a few years ago. Then they picked back up with Nagle and McNeil a month ago. Why?”

Christine answered, “It may have to do with Zawahiri’s death. Al-Qaeda needs a new leader. Perhaps they’ve chosen one, and he’s decided to finish what Zawahiri began. Or maybe there’s a struggle for leadership and one of the contenders is attempting to garner support by terminating the last few assault team members.”

McFarland opened her laptop and pulled up a summary of the potential successors to Zawahiri, which had been prepared for Christine’s briefing at the White House the morning after the attempted assassination of Secretary Verbeck, and displayed it on the conference room monitor on the far wall.

McFarland went quickly through the list, one slide per man.

“Our assessment is that the leading contender for the new leader of al-Qaeda is Saif al-Adel. He would have the resources and connections, plus a strong motive, to complete the elimination of the Abbottabad assault team members.”

Harrison glanced at Khalila, wondering if she had any information to offer. She had just spent an entire day with Osama’s eldest son and had no information worth mentioning? Not even that she had met with him two days ago?

He decided to stay quiet, evaluating how best to proceed with what he knew. As he considered his options, McFarland continued.

“We’re already working the angle that al-Qaeda is responsible for the assault team deaths,” she said. “We’ll keep everyone apprised as we learn more. In the meantime, however, that conclusion doesn’t explain McNeil’s note — 3rd floor desk. Find him. If he wasn’t referring to Osama bin Laden, then who?”

“It looks like we jumped to the incorrect conclusion that McNeil was referring to the reflection in the computer display,” Christine offered. “We should take another look at the video.”

“My thought exactly,” McFarland replied.

She brought the video up on the conference room display and advanced the file until McNeil reached the third floor. Against the back wall of the room was a desk crowded with various items: a computer tower, display, keyboard, several thumb drives, a handheld radio-transceiver in a charger, a cup holding several pens and pencils, three stacks of manila folders, and a few books standing beside each other.

McFarland paused the video, letting everyone study the desk’s contents. Harrison decided to check out the book titles in case they offered a clue, but nothing registered. It was silent in the conference room until McFarland blurted out an observation.

“The radio!”

Harrison focused on the handheld transceiver in its charging stand as McFarland expounded. “That’s a standard-issue CIA radio from the early 2000s. What is a CIA radio doing on bin Laden’s desk?”

“Perhaps it’s a souvenir from a dead agency officer,” Bryant offered. “Bin Laden had a souvenir AK-47 assault rifle in his bedroom, but no bullets were loaded. Maybe the radio is something similar.”

McFarland shook her head. “Look at the charging stand. The green light is on. You don’t keep a souvenir radio charged.”