"We'll track them. Call when you're safe."
"Roger that." Ronnie put the phone away.
CHAPTER FOUR
The following day Selena, Nick and Stephanie met in Steph's office. Ronnie and Lamont were on a US Navy carrier two hundred miles off shore. The cost of extraction from Khartoum was a bill owed to CIA. The Project didn't have assets on the ground all over the world. Langley did. To Nick's surprise, they'd cooperated. Carter was relieved his team was safe, but he knew Langley would call for payback.
There was a new, bad development.
Stephanie briefed them. "Senator Randolph has been murdered. There were three Secret Service agents with him. They're dead too. Also his wife and his dog. They found a disc on the body, like the one in London. The President called and he wants answers."
Randolph had been a lock to run against President Rice in the upcoming election. He had favored pre-emptive military intervention to stop Iran or anyone else from obtaining nuclear weapons. Someone had just assassinated the man who might have been the next President of the United States.
Nick said what they all knew. "Someone is bound to make the Shia connection with that symbol. Randolph wanted heavy sanctions against Tehran. Like the Brit Secretary. Everyone's going to think Iran is behind these murders."
"Maybe they are behind it." Stephanie tapped her fingers on her leg.
"It doesn't make sense, Steph. Why would the Iranians announce their involvement? It's not their style."
"Public perception is going to drive things. It's politics, you know that. Everyone looks for someone to blame. This could start a war if anyone finds a direct link."
"I don't think it's Tehran," Selena said. " She held up the picture of the disc. "I remembered where I'd seen this. It's hard to believe we're looking at it now."
"'What do you mean?" Carter waited.
"This was the sign of a secret order called the Hashishin. That's where the word 'assassin' comes from. They were a Shia sect that disappeared seven hundred years ago."
"Are those the guys who smoked hashish and thought they were in Paradise?"
"Yes."
"Don't tell me." Nick said. "They came out of Iran."
"That's right. Only it was Persia then. They had a fortress in northwestern Iran, at a place called Alamut. It's still there. It was conquered by the Mongols in the thirteenth century."
"What happened to them? You said they disappeared."
"They believed in a succession of hidden Imams and went into something called dissimulation. Into hiding, until their Imams would reveal them again. That's not supposed to happen until there's a divine sign."
"What kind of sign?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. I suppose they'll know it when they see it."
"Maybe the sign's turned up. Maybe they're back."
"You think this cult is still around?" Steph asked.
Selena shrugged. "It's their symbol. Their weapon of choice was a dagger, though they weren't above using poison or something else now and again. They were trained in every method of killing from an early age. Think of them as Muslim Ninjas, and you've got the picture. They were fanatics, an isolated, minority sect even among the Shia. They believed they were the only ones with a true interpretation of Muhammad's teachings."
"How many were there?"
"No one knows."
Carter massaged his throbbing temples. "They can't possibly still exist."
Stephanie said, "I'm thinking of Sherlock Holmes."
"This isn't a movie, Steph."
"Don't be an asshole, Nick. What I mean is Holmes said that if the possible is eliminated, only the impossible remains. Something like that. If it is the assassins, they exist in the modern world, even though everyone thinks it's impossible."
"If they still exist and have been hiding out for hundreds of years, they're pretty good at it. How do we get a handle on them?"
Selena frowned. "We need more information about them. I know where we might start."
"Where?"
"In Mali."
"Mali? What's in Mali?"
"The Ahmed Baba Institute. It's a library in Timbuktu with a collection of Arabic manuscripts and papers going back to the thirteenth century. You want to know something about Muslim history in the Middle Ages, that's the source."
Nick saw her excitement. Pure research on obscure texts, what she'd done for years. It had brought her world wide academic recognition.
"You want to go to Timbuktu?"
"If there's any contemporary historical reference to what really happened to the Hashishin, it's the best place to look for it. All you can find anywhere else is standard history. That won't help us."
Stephanie flicked away lint from her dark suit. Nick remembered when she'd shown up for work sporting bright colors. Now she was all business.
Selena continued. "Steph, I need a research permit. They're very protective of those manuscripts. It shouldn't be hard with my credentials. I gave a lecture two years ago to an international conference on Islamic history and language and I've been invited to speak again when the next one comes up. I could use my real identity and say I was doing research for that."
Stephanie made a note. "We can arrange that."
"She can't go alone, Steph. I'll go with her. We've got advisors in Mali, the government's friendly. We can send our pistols by diplomatic pouch."
"Damn it, Nick. You're a Director now. You're not supposed to go off somewhere where you could get shot at or captured. Besides, all the intelligence agencies in the world will be looking for these people. They can find them."
"The other agencies don't have Selena. This is a tactical decision and it's my call. She doesn't have enough field experience to go alone. Ronnie and Lamont are out of it. That leaves me."
Selena waved her hand. "Excuse me, I'm right here." Her face was flushed. "You don't think I can take care of myself?"
"That's not the point. You're a rookie. This will be your first time in Africa. Consider it part of your training."
Selena looked at him, nodded once. Carter knew he'd hear about it later.
"Nick…"
"I'm going, Steph."
Stephanie sighed. She knew it was hopeless when Nick made up his mind. She let it go.
"You're too well known in the Muslim world. You'll need a cover legend, a disguise."
It was true. After Jerusalem, he was a high priority target for the fanatics.
"We'll figure it out," he said.
CHAPTER FIVE
Carter and Selena left the Project and headed back into town. She'd gotten another Mercedes to replace the one shot up by the Chinese. A coupe. Fast, burgundy red, almost the color of blood. The inside of the car was leather comfortable and warm. Outside, it had begun snowing. The whisper of the wipers and the quiet background of the heater filled the car against the noise of Selena's silence. Nick kept his thoughts to himself. When she finally spoke, her voice was tight.
"Why do you think I can't take care of myself?"
"I don't think that."
"Yes you do. You called me a rookie back there."
"You are a rookie. Africa is a mess. Anything can happen there. You don't know yet what it's like to go in as an agent. You have to assume everyone wants to kill you."
"They tried pretty hard in Tibet."
"That was different. Ronnie and I are experienced in special ops and it was that kind of mission. So was Argentina. You did great, more than great. But covert field work isn't the same. You don't have any experience in that."
"You forget my research took me to a lot of dangerous places without getting hurt. Including Africa."
"Look, in the field you can't trust anyone. You can't believe things are what they appear to be. You have to develop constant awareness. You have to see everything with a different eye, looking for the false gesture, the wrong word, the concealed knife. You always assume someone is after you, even if they aren't."