"Sure."
Nick disappeared into the bathroom. Selena dressed in jeans and a loose top, put on a pair of walking shoes and went to find Lamont.
Nick stood in the shower and let hot water pour down on his back, hoping the knotted muscles would relax.
You're getting too old for this stuff. Maybe sitting at a desk wouldn't be a bad change after all.
He looked down at the dark bruising along his left side, then ran his fingers over the washboard ripple of scar tissue on the other side of his chest.
You're pushing your luck, buddy. It can't last forever..
His inner voice was back, nagging at him. He pushed it away and reached for the soap.
What if it really is the Grail in that box? What does it mean? What am I supposed to do with it? Who's supposed to have it? That tile said only a just man. Are you a just man?
It was a question he couldn't answer. One thing was sure, Haddad had not been a just man. Maybe Simon's prophecy wouldn't play out, now that ISIS couldn't get hold of the cup.
He'd finished dressing by the time Selena came back from Lamont with the contents of Haddad's pockets.
"There's only one word written on that paper," she said. "Athena."
"Athena? Like the Greek goddess?"
"Yes."
"That could mean anything."
"It could be a code name for an operation."
"A fanatic like Haddad wouldn't pick an infidel name for an operation. He'd be more likely to name it something like Allah's Vengeance. Something dramatic."
"It has to mean something. He wouldn't write that down unless it was important. Haddad was a smart guy."
"Until he went for that AK."
"Why don't you give it to Stephanie?" Selena said. "Have her do a search?"
"There are millions of references to Athena out there."
"She could eliminate anything that had to do with classical history or works of art, that sort of thing."
"That would narrow it down. Good idea. Let me give her a call."
Steph picked up on the first ring.
"Hi, Nick."
"Hi, Steph. How's Junior?"
"Asleep, thank God. Burps is protecting him. The cat won't leave his side."
"He could do worse, believe me. I need you to do a search for me."
Nick told her what he wanted.
"I can't promise anything useful," she said.
"This guy wasn't thinking about statues on the Acropolis when he wrote this. The more I think about it, the more it feels important. Just do the best you can."
"I'll get on it right away. When are you coming home?"
"As soon as Hood's pilot has the Gulfstream ready."
CHAPTER 57
Rashid Jaffari stood on the bow of the Athena and looked out over the rolling surface of the Atlantic. So far it had been a smooth journey, except for squalls in the gulf as they'd left Turkey. Now the ship was more than halfway to America without running into any serious weather. At the moment it was sunny, but late October on the Atlantic Ocean meant that Rashid wore a heavy jacket and woolen watch cap against the cold and the wind.
The Athena was an old ship and slow, not long for the scrap yard. Streaks of rust ran down her sides. Her ancient engines struggled to push through the heavy swell. A serious storm could sink her. Her captain had been keeping an uneasy eye on the weather reports. It was late in the year, but hurricane season wasn't yet over.
For the first three days of the voyage Jaffari was seasick, unable to keep anything down. Then his equilibrium returned and the sickness left him. His mind was free to imagine what would happen when the bomb went off in the enemy city of Savannah.
He'd decided not to try and take the device inland. American customs officers could be efficient if they chose. Rashid had no illusions that the packaging around the bomb would stand up to close scrutiny, but a thorough customs inspection wouldn't take place until they were docked. Once in port, he would detonate the bomb.
Savannah was a critical hub for American commerce. Major rail, land, sea and air networks all came together in the city. With Savannah gone, American trade and shipping infrastructure would be crippled. The bomb would obliterate everything for a radius of several miles. Anything left would be covered with a lethal dose of plutonium radiation for a thousand years or more. For all practical purposes much of Georgia and the Southeast would cease to be livable.
Allah would be pleased.
CHAPTER 58
Stephanie sat at her console, watching streams of data flow across the screen. It was amazing how many articles, pictures and references existed about Athena. She'd programmed a series of filters to eliminate most of it, but there were still thousands of entries.
Nick had called her from somewhere over the Atlantic. She'd had nothing for him.
"Why is Athena important?" she'd asked.
"It was written on a piece of paper we found in Haddad's pocket."
"Haddad? As in Abdul, our spymaster?"
"Right, you don't know what happened."
Nick told her about finding the box and the encounter with Haddad.
"That scrap of paper was the only thing on him except for a phony passport and some currency. It has to mean something. It might be the code name of an operation but like I told Selena, that doesn't feel right."
"It could refer to an object or a place, something named Athena."
"He must have written it down, stuffed it in his pocket and forgotten about it. I can't shake the feeling it's important."
"Freddie is working on it as we speak."
Stephanie named all of her computers. Freddie was her favorite, a maxed out Cray that was her pride and joy.
"Good old Freddie," Nick said. "Anything new from the hospital?"
"Nothing's changed. She's still unconscious. But her brain is active and that's a good sign."
"I could use a good sign about now," Nick said. "I'll be back in about four hours."
After he'd disconnected, Stephanie had thought about what he'd said. Putting Haddad into the equation narrowed the search. They'd been running across ISIS at almost every step of the way on this mission. If Haddad's plans involved something named Athena, it had to be high priority for ISIS.
Think like the enemy, Steph thought. If I'm running ISIS, what do I want to do? What do I want to accomplish?
The answer didn't require much thought. Annihilate the infidel and raise the black flag over the entire world. Islamic fanaticism had only one goal in mind. Stephanie couldn't believe there were still people who refused to see the reality of that goal and acknowledge the hatred aimed at achieving it. But then again, reality had never been popular if it conflicted with belief. In this case, far too many people wanted to believe only in the positive aspects of Islam without looking at its dark side. All they had to do was study history to see that the cancerous aberration of ISIS was nothing new.
Annihilate the infidel.
Trying to pin down the ISIS connection to Athena was worse than trying to find one particular grain of sand on a beach.
She needed to come up with new assumptions if she wanted to find anything useful.
Okay, start assuming. Assumption number one is that Haddad wouldn't have that in his pocket if it didn't mean something. Assumption number two is that it has to be important because of his role in ISIS. Assumption number three is…What is assumption number three?
She sat back in her chair and glanced over at her sleeping child.
What's the most important thing we need to know right now, about ISIS?
That was easy. If they had a bomb, where was it and what were they going to do with it? Thanks to Adam, they knew the answer to the second part. They'd set it off somewhere in America.