INFORMER said, “I am ready to begin funneling you information. But as I have made clear many times, I can well imagine what you are doing with this information, and this will make me one of the most hunted men in the world.”
“We have had this discussion before. You are safe. I won’t be connected to the end users of this information. And I don’t know you, how to get to you, or anything about you. Obviously you will be even more removed than I am. I just need information, and I need you to not concern yourself with whatever news you hear, news you might somehow think related to the intelligence you sold me.”
INFORMER replied, “Again, I am ready to proceed, but as I mentioned in my message to you last week, the price has doubled. You can take it or you can leave it. But as I am certain you have had time to prepare things on your end to exploit the information, I imagine you have already gone to great lengths and great expense to move your assets into place. I think you have to agree that even at my new terms, you have no suitable option but to go forward.”
Bin Rashid wanted to reach through his phone, grab the other man by the throat, and rip it out. This shakedown had been planned from the beginning, he had no doubt. This bastard had bin Rashid on the hook, and now he was reeling him in. Every fiber of Sami bin Rashid’s being was telling him to tell this man to take his information and shove it up his ass, but he could not do that. He had to acquiesce.
He controlled his breathing, and said, “I accept your terms, assuming you can give me the latest updated targeting information today.”
INFORMER did not hesitate. “Of course I can. You simply place an order on my dark website, just as we discussed.”
Sami bin Rashid opened the page on his computer. While he did this, INFORMER said, “So to recap, my terms are as follows: packages on field intelligence operatives are $500,000, as are military officers over the rank of major. Officers below the rank of major, or intelligence analysts or support personnel, are $250,000. Any general, admiral, intelligence community executive or the like will cost you one million dollars. Special operations military enlisted personnel are $250,000, unless they belong to Joint Special Operations Command. This is the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group, otherwise known as SEAL Team Six, or the Army’s Delta Force. Targeting packages for these elite enlistees will cost $500,000.”
They then spent the next few minutes discussing what sorts of targets were available with the latest updates on their whereabouts, and then Sami bin Rashid, for all intents and purposes, placed an order on the e-commerce webpage on INFORMER’s site.
Bin Rashid then transferred Bitcoin to INFORMER’S dark web address while the two men were on the phone. Five million dollars, for a total of one dozen targets, many of them lower-tier individuals. The Saudi knew his fight in America would cost him an average of one million dollars a day, at least, plus significant operating expenses from al-Matari’s cell, but if the end result meant America came to Iraq with boots on the ground, pushed back the Iranian hordes encroaching toward the south, ended pro-Iranian Alawite rule in Syria, and brought the price of oil back up to a level that would protect Saudi Arabian leadership’s domestic security… well, then, Sami bin Rashid would have done his job, and the King would reward him for life.
A moment later INFORMER confirmed he received the money, and he told his customer to watch his mailbox in the dark web portal on his computer, and to wait for the files to come through.
True to his word, INFORMER’s files began popping up, one by one. While bin Rashid clicked on the attachments, a smile grew inside his trim gray beard.
First, the name, the address, and a photograph of a woman. A map of the area around where the woman lived. A CV of her work with the Defense Intelligence Agency, including foreign and domestic postings that would have her involved in the American campaign in the Middle East. Real-time intel about her daily commute, including the house where she would be watering the plants and checking the mail all week for a friend.
Incredible, bin Rashid thought to himself. Where the hell is this coming from?
The next file was all necessary targeting info on a recently retired senior CIA operations officer, who continued to work on a contract basis in the intelligence field. He spoke Arabic, trained others in tradecraft, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism, and consulted on security affairs at a pro-Christian D.C. think tank.
The file after this was of a former Navy SEAL with a high profile and a record of missions against Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. At first bin Rashid didn’t understand why this man had been selected by INFORMER, but after skimming down through the dossier, a rare smile formed on bin Rashid’s lips, and softly, to himself, he said, “Yes. Perfect.”
One by one bin Rashid went down the list of a dozen targets. These weren’t admirals or generals or top operatives of the CIA, but he wanted Musa al-Matari’s cells to begin their actions with less well-protected victims. The leaders of America’s military and intelligence would be worthy targets, of course, but at the outset bin Rashid wanted victories for al-Matari, lower risk for moderate reward. He wanted… he needed new recruits to flock to the cause, and he knew this would happen only if the operation registered some early wins.
He called INFORMER back after reading through the last of the dozen files.
The man with the curious accent said, “Hello, friend. I trust you are satisfied with the products I sent you.”
Bin Rashid replied, “How certain are you of this… this information?”
An audible sigh over the line. “This is what I do. As you see, all the targeting data is completely up to date. Some of the information I updated this very afternoon.”
“I noted that, yes. When will I get more? More like these?”
“When you pay for more. That’s how all this works.”
“I know that. I mean to ask… are you prepared with more? Of this quality, or perhaps of higher-quality targets?”
“There are an unlimited number of products I can sell you. They all will be different, some perhaps you will find more… interesting than others. Some you will unquestionably find more expensive than others. The limit to this is your ability to process your way through the targets and your ability to pay.”
The Saudi understood that by “process,” INFORMER meant kill. It was clear to bin Rashid that INFORMER knew he was providing targets for assassination. But it was also clear to bin Rashid that INFORMER had already seen what happened in Italy, so the man clearly did not possess a weak stomach.
“Very well,” bin Rashid said. “I will wire additional funds to the account next week, enough for another dozen files. When I am ready for more, perhaps in another week’s time, I will be in touch. You have done good work.”
INFORMER said, “I am happy that you are happy, my friend. I wish you much success with your endeavors.”
Twelve hours later, and just before the twenty-four-hour deadline he’d given the Saudi to provide him with the intelligence he needed to open with his waves of attacks on America, Abu Musa al-Matari sat in his office in his Chicago safe house and read carefully over a batch of dossiers sent to him via Silent Phone. Intelligence officers, both current and former, men and women employed in the fight against the Islamic State. There was a file on a U.S. Special Forces operator in North Carolina, a bar frequented by a Navy SEAL platoon in Virginia Beach, along with photos of four of the men and their bios.
There was no other way to look at it; this was incredible material. He’d successfully had people killed in foreign lands with one-twentieth of the information he was being provided with here.