“I see.” Ryan said in a tone that clearly indicated that he didn’t.
Gwen ignored it. Ryan was a nice enough guy, but he was also the sort that believed that terrorism had something to do with Islam. This was about as accurate as saying that Slavery had something to do with Christianity. Sure Christians had once held slaves, still did in some parts of the world that no one liked to talk about, but so did pretty much every other religion that had ever existed.
Fundamentalist terrorists weren’t particularly faithful to Islam or any other religion, though a surprising number of them claimed such an affiliation. Well, perhaps not so surprising, she supposed. Islam had gotten a bad reputation in the world wide arena over the past four decades, and any terrorist wanting to be taken seriously often would take up the mantle of Islam and Allah just for the credibility it gave him with the media.
It was, perhaps sadly, a fact however that Islamic groups did make up a disproportionate amount of the radical terror cells. That hadn’t always been the case, but as time wore on most of the other groups had either been stamped out or found some ways to settle at least some of their grievances. Most people, even extremists, grew tired of the death and dying eventually.
Religion, however, added a certain staying power to the mix.
Nice big explosions were, after all, the last refuge of the `devout’.
“Send the copy around to all the cars and portables, ok Gwen” Ryan asked, “We’ll have the men keep an eye out.”
Gwen nodded, “Yes Sir.”
Ryan twisted his lip as he looked at the redhead, “I keep telling you, Gwen, no need for the formality here.”
She just nodded, “I’ll send the sheets out.”
“Good work, oh and let me know if that Interpol guy wants anything, alright”
She nodded briefly and the Chief headed back to his office.
Gwen looked after him for a moment, then turned to her terminal and keyed it open to the local traffic grid.
“I wonder.” She frowned delicately, tapping in a few commands and calling up the traffic camera records that were stored in the central data base. “I wonder, Mr. Abdallah Amir.do you drive”
“There is an Interpol agent in the city, Abdallah. He is looking for you.”
Abdallah Amir looked up from his work, frowning. “When did he arrive”
“Just this morning.”
“Do you know his name”
The small wiry man nodded, “Agent Anselm Gunnar.”
“Gunnar.Gunnar.” Abdallah pursed his lips and looked over, “Don’t I know a man named Gunnar”
“Yes, Amir.” A large man said obsequiously. “He was the Agent in Charge of the investigation in London.”
“Oh yes.” Abdallah nodded, “The Swede. He almost located us once, didn’t he Jacob”
The large man nodded, “Twice, Amir.”
“Twice. Yes, of course. Three times if you count the Embassy party.” Abdallah smiled slightly, as did the large man he’d called Jacob.
The small wiry man didn’t say anything, nor smile, he didn’t get the joke. He just twisted his hands nervously, “Abdallah, if he finds you.”
“He won’t.” Abdallah said with a shake of his long dark hair. “But still, it pays to take care.”
“God helps those who help themselves.” Jacob replied.
“Yes, of course.” Abdallah nodded, “And fortune favors the bold.and the prepared. Have Mr. Gunnar followed.at a distance.”
“You don’t want us to.remove him” The wiry man asked, confused.
“Absolutely not!” Abdallah snapped, eyes flashing. “Go nowhere near this man. My own people will watch him. If you kill an Interpol agent we will shortly be flooded with his compatriots, and that would be very, very, bad. Would it not, Jacob”
“Very bad, Amir.” The large man agreed, staring stonily at the small man.
The man swallowed, gulping nervously.
“We are too close now,” Abdallah said seriously, “in a few days Interpol, or at least Australian, Police and Military involvement will be inevitable.But we need those few days Mr. Graves. You will not cost us that time, am I quite understood”
The small man nodded eagerly, “Of course. I promise.”
“See that you keep that promise.” The imposing dark man said grimly, his white teeth flashing against his dark lips. “Or I will keep the one I made concerning you and your family.”
Mr. Graves fell back, still nodding furiously. “Of course, I understand.”
Abdallah watched him go, then turned to his large friend. “What do you think, Jacob”
“He’s a weak link, Amir.” The man intoned. “We should eliminate him from the equation.”
Abdallah nodded, his lips pulling back. “I suppose that you are probably right, Jacob.However I would hate to have a missing person or, worse yet, a body turning up accidently, alert Agent Gunnar to something he shouldn’t.”
“Mmmmmm.” Jacob said, almost growling. “There would be no body.”
Abdallah laughed softly, “Oh Jacob, there’s always a body. No, let Mr. Graves live for the moment. We’ll use him in the first phase of the operation anyway. No sense in wasting the warm body.”
“As you say, Amir.” Jacob said in his gravelly voice. “And the Interpol agent”
“As I said, have him followed.but not closely.” Abdallah Amir said firmly. “Do it carefully, Jacob.”
“Always.”
Abdallah smiled, nodding. “I know. That’s why I let you live, Jacob. You may not always succeed, but you never fail through stupidity.”
Jacob just nodded at that, not commenting.
“Oh, and have a look through the arrivals registered in the hotels, why don’t you There may be others that haven’t announced their arrival with the local police.”
“I will have Karim check, Amir.”
“Fine, fine,” Abdallah turned back to the computer terminal he was looking at, then spoke idly as he worked, “Has Emil returned yet”
“Yes Amir, we recovered him eighty miles into the desert.” Jacob replied, “His flight time was forty minutes, plus four to climb and eight to descend.”
Forty minutes, Abdallah made some quick calculations. That meant that Emil had been traveling two hundred miles per hour, which wasn’t bad for an unpowered flight. Still, it wasn’t what Abdallah had been expecting.
“His instrument package has been recovered as well”
“Most assuredly.”
“Excellent. Bring it in before you go.” Abdallah Amir ordered before turning back to his work.
He would examine the data and learn why there was a discrepancy between his numbers and the actual test. Perhaps it was correctable, perhaps not. Either way, he had to know.
Chapter 2
The Pleasant Chimes Fountain was certainly deserving of any reputation it held with honeymooning couples, Anselm decided as he stood in front of site and looked around.
The decorative fountain was probably only a couple feet deep at its deepest point, but the water shimmered with reflected and refracted light from above and below, glazed mirrors planted in the base of the fountain reflected a multicolor spectacle to anyone looking down into the water, and also served to hide the true depth from the casual glance.
Water spouts sent jets of water dancing through the air on some pre-programmed dance, twirling and dancing around each other as they flew through the air, only to vanish into the surface of the pool without so much as a ripple as they vanished into hidden pipes placed carefully through the water.
It was, perhaps, not the most spectacular fountain he’d seen, but the surroundings made it stand out just the same. Glass stretched in all directions as far as he could see above, and the plants that grew in the massive greenhouse facility were of practically every color in the rainbow, plus a few extra for good measure.