Krumm was not blind to the possibilities. On the one hand, he knew some agencies were playing both sides of the intelligence game in this war. There was plenty of evidence the more egregious bombings were false flag operations, for example, carried out by Xe, the CIA or their hired hands, and simply blamed on the Taliban. He also knew the Taliban had been created by the CIA in the first place, and weren’t simply grumpy Muslims. They had their own intelligence operations, and had proven well capable of sophisticated military operations.
It was possible Khan was not exactly what he appeared to be. At the same time, Krumm knew he was himself a mystery to most people, and in that sense, he was not what he seemed. Much as he despised the system which employed him, he knew how it worked. Thus, he filed a report of the contact. However, he submitted it through the back channels, after first a great deal of prayer and thought, and discussion about what really mattered to the intelligence office. Since it was by no means required of him by regulation, there was no negative consequence from passing it through someone else. He felt at peace about it.
He also found himself quite comfortable in the strict enclave. Though he never saw Khan again, there was no exaggeration about the effects of being seen in public in his company. Krumm was able to make friends with other Morality Police, shop owners, and was often invited to visit the mosque for a tour. He eventually took them up on the offer, and was impressed by the artwork and general atmosphere. He saw nothing of the crazy fanaticism alleged in popular outlets back in the US.
Krumm decided to keep to himself the results of these later explorations. However, Ripley asked him about it one day. Even with his guarded answers, Ripley noted, “Do you realize there are no HTS field officers working this area? Simply following your personal inclinations you accomplish more than almost all of the official officers, the least of whom makes three times your salary. I read their reports, and I assure you most of them are inflated, but they report less success than you have. That rapport might save our hides one of these days.”
During one of his forays, Krumm shared coffee with an old fellow near the park. The man spoke through his daughter, who interpreted. Krumm found it amusing he would not normally be allowed to talk to the girl, much less see her without the burkha, but she freely chatted through the interpretation. Her grasp of American English was quite good. The man was obviously another who was not what he seemed. Very early he noted Krumm had five co-workers, aside from the frequent visits from HTS and military officers. Any casual observer who watched could have seen all this, but it still surprised him. His point became obvious, though, when he mentioned the city was filled with enemies of the Americans.
He also seemed to understand Krumm’s position on the whole matter of war without having to be told. “We wiser heads find ourselves pulled into many things we do not wish. So we are left doing the best we can with our small opportunities. Your friends are at very grave risk. Some of the women in those foul places are agents. Future events of warfare may require some great effort to save them from themselves.”
The old man then grew silent, but his eyes seemed to speak volumes. Krumm thanked the man and took a long ride out to the very edge of town. There was an outcropping of rock exposed in a hillside. Parking his bike, he sat down on the well worn stone ledge and gazed at the city below.
Turning it over in his mind, he first considered whether it was he who was being played for a fool. Part of the military community’s dislike of the strict enclave was in their minds the association of that lifestyle with the Taliban. Krumm knew the association was purely superficial, since it was not the same sort of zeal and strictness. This community was led by older, well-established figures with plenty of international connections. His research on the Internet of the agencies they favored put these folks closer to pacifism, at least in Islamic terms. The apparent kinship he found there was the strong thread of mysticism, as opposed to simplistic legalism. This was not the sort of place where Taliban would feel welcome.
He felt it more likely the situation was what it seemed to him in the first place. Lacking any particular political interests, having taken the job only because of some wordless conviction, he could see with painful clarity the primary mistake, not just of invading this part of the world, but the way this war was carried out. For all their competence and power, the US military simply did not understand what they were fighting. The entire Human Terrain thing could help, but too many officers were purely political hires, just as too many commanders were political appointments. Things were pretty messy, unconscionably brutal. But this wasn’t simply foolish; Krumm was utterly convinced God Himself was not pleased.
His examination of Islam confirmed his rejection of its basic assumptions, but something about it all did seem closer to what God had intended for mankind, at least culturally, if not theologically. Krumm was entirely comfortable with the social constraints, even to the point of being grateful. If debauchery was the price of greater freedom, he was ready to live without some freedoms. All the more so, considering how the likes of Jordan could be adding to the leakage of intelligence which could end up costing them what little security they had. Krumm was hardly afraid to die, but he was by no means eager for anyone else to die needlessly.
He decided he had no choice but to seek inclusion of Ripley in his considerations. Their computer data was of little use to anyone, since it was essentially the exaggerated record of very uneven research carried out in support of false assumptions. He had carefully designed the data collection input forms to exclude anything which was actually military in nature. Because he had a security clearance, he had been authorized to scrub anything which might expose operational security, and it was not too hard to identify common terms and expressions for scanning the database, without having to read too many of the wordy reports. While some of the field officers just refused to understand, the task of sanitizing his database was manageable. The intelligence office knew and appreciated his efforts. But he first had to make sure Ripley knew what was on his mind.
Once settled upon this purpose, he rode just a little harder then normal to get back to the warehouse.
