They decided that the most appropriate day for unleashing their attack on the Jewish infidels in Israel and on the Christian followers of the false Messiah, Jesus, in the United States would be during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims practice sawm fasting from dawn to dusk. Even more significantly, they set the date at the festival of Eid al-Fitr that ends the month of Ramadan and is a cause for celebration during which Muslims wear their finest clothes and decorate their homes. Nagib said that the gift they would give to Islam by carrying out their attacks would be the ultimate sign of devotion, spiritual and physical, that will never be forgotten by fellow believers. As the Muslims adhere to a lunar calendar the exact date of Eid al-Fitr shifts by 11 days every year compared to the solar year of 365 days. This year it coincided with the American celebration of Labor Day, on Monday, September 2nd. For a moment a fleeting thought passed through Alia's mind that perhaps they should wait a few more days until 9/11 but when she expressed this Nagib objected saying that the Americans would be more alert on that date and that it had no religious significance to Muslims, unlike Eid al-Fitr. He added that Labor Day special sales would assure that there will be large crowds of shoppers in shopping centers and malls and that would be a perfect target for Alia's suitcase bomb. They then considered the exact time for the attack, considering that there was a 10-hour time difference between Israel and California. Nagib suggested that the best time would be at noon time in Los Angeles when shopping will be at its height and Eid al-Fitr festivities in Israel and Palestine will be under way at 10 pm local time. As the target in Israel was Tel-Aviv, a city that never stops, the exact number of casualties was not expected to change much during the day or night.
They expected that the five weeks until their intended D-Day would allow them ample time to get to their targets and yet the date was close enough to reduce the probability of unveiling the plot. They decided that they would tell Rahman and the Pakistanis about their plans with regard to the date but not the exact time nor the intended targets. They knew that the fewer people who knew their plans the better the chance of evading capture.
Rahman had overseen the arrangements made by the Pakistani intelligence services and when he arrived at the apartment to escort Nagib and Alia, now Munir and Fatima, to the airport he was not surprised to see that the couple was very quiet and introverted. They appeared to be in a contemplative mood, each with their own thoughts about the future. Nagib, somewhat formally and stiffly, informed Rahman about their decision to carry out strikes at the same time in Israel and the US and to do it on Eid al-Fitr. When Rahman tried to learn more about the exact time and location of the targets Nagib answered that these details were not relevant.
When they reached the airport Alia boarded a flight to Mexico City and Nagib a flight to Cairo. Rahman assured them the special suitcases will be sent to Los Angeles and Cairo by diplomatic pouch and gave them the contact details of the people in the Pakistani embassies in both cities. They agreed that the passwords used to verify their identities and those of the contacts would be "Do you remember my cousin Junaid?" that would be answered by "She just married Rahman". Rahman smiled and said that this indeed was his intention once the task was successfully completed. Rahman again raised the question of handing over the complete blueprints and Nagib answered that both he and Alia would have a copy that will be delivered at the two embassies in return for the suitcases.
At the American embassy in Islamabad the information supplied by Linda effectively meant that their role in the pursuit of Nagib and Alia Jaber had ended as the couple was ready to leave Pakistan. Blakey felt that he had failed miserably in his attempts to apprehend the couple or even get the Pakistanis to arrest them. He started to feel the undercurrents in the Pakistani administration that became evident with the "suicide" of the minister of defense shortly after being briefed by the ambassador about the sensitive information that was in the possession of Nagib. He also understood that his best source in the Pakistani nuclear establishment had dried out when Linda and Alma curtailed their affair. He was not really surprised when he was summoned back to Langley for an indefinite period.
The Iranian intelligence service was alerted by their man at PINSTECH that the two suitcases were removed from the small hangar and taken to the airport. The IRG agent, Mahmoud, tried to trace their destination and succeeded in discovering that one was sent to Cairo and the other one to Los Angeles. He presumed that Cairo was probably a convenient transitional place for moving it further and he guessed that it would be smuggled to Israel. He had consulted with his chief at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and was told that the main interest of Iran was in the blueprints of the advanced designs. No one worried about the fate of Nagib and Alia and as far as the Islamic Republic of Iran was concerned they could become martyrs, national heroes of Sunni infidels. So Mahmoud was now facing a bigger problem — getting a copy of the schematics. When he tried to understand the rationale of this directive, his boss who was not usually inclined to explaining his orders, simply said that within the provisions of the recent agreement between Iran and the P5+1 (US, Russia, UK, France, China and Germany) Iran was prohibited from doing nuclear weapon research and therefore acquiring designs of approved advanced weapons represented a real windfall. If Iran ever decided to clandestinely produce, or somehow obtain, fissile material it could take the next step to constructing powerful weapons in a very short time without the need to carry out tests or experiments.
Mahmoud asked his boss how he was supposed to get hold of the schematics and was told in no uncertain terms that it was now his problem and he was to take whatever measures he found fit. He would receive any assistance he requested but he was to be held responsible and accountable. He understood that by accountability his dear life was on the line while success would be attributed to his boss. He realized that neither Cairo nor Los Angeles were teeming with supporters of the Islamic Republic of Iran so that snatching Nagib, Alia or the blueprints wouldn't be easy.
David arrived at Newark airport on a nonstop flight from Tel-Aviv and after rushing through immigration and customs boarded the short flight to Reagan National airport in Washington, DC. Eugene was waiting for him at the Arrivals exit and whisked him into a waiting limousine that was driven by an employee of the NNSA. They entered the office building in which Eugene was stationed and got down to business immediately.
Eugene said "Nagib and Alia had been issued Pakistani passports in the names of Munir and Fatima Abu Jihad and were scheduled to leave Pakistan separately. We managed to find out that Nagib was to fly to Cairo and Alia to Mexico City".
David raised an eyebrow when he heard these destinations and asked Eugene "What do you think the purpose of flying to Cairo and Mexico City could be?"
Eugene said "I am pretty sure that Cairo is just for transition into Israel and Mexico City would probably be a stopover on the way in to the United States".
David concurred and asked "Is the US intending to do anything about this? Is it possible to get the Mexican government to arrest Alia on some trumped up charges?"