As I ran across the tarmac, I did some quick calculations in my head. The Council wasn’t scheduled to meet until after the holiday weekend. That gave me just under two days to dig into the data and discover Jin’s plan to decrypt the messages.
Chapter 9
I glanced at my watch. It was five thirty, dinnertime. But for the practicing Muslims around the city it was Fajr, the last call to prayer for the day. I knew this because of the skull-shattering wail that emanated from the minaret speakers directly across from my hotel room. It was like an alarm clock from hell and it went off every few hours. God, how I wished there was a snooze button.
My stomach gurgled, reminding me that I had skipped lunch. I didn’t skip it on purpose, I just got lost in the maze that was Jin’s data mat and I forgot to eat. But even a rat needed food, even if it couldn’t find the cheese at the end of the maze. It was time to feed this rat. Maybe when I got back, I’d get lucky and find the cheese.
It had been ten hours since I landed on Male. I’d spent most of it here, trying to find some clue about how Jin had planned to decrypt those messages. All I had done was confirm that the spreadsheet was SIGINT data streaming down from the satellite. I didn’t know any more now than I did when I landed.
I leaned back in my chair and for the hundredth time today I cursed myself for leaving Jin and going to that Council meeting. Maybe I could have prevented his… no… I wasn’t going to go there again. I needed to focus on figuring out his plan. The answer had to be somewhere in that goddammed data mat. Why else would he leave it to me?
I got up and walked to the window. I opened it, leaned out, and took a deep breath of the salty air. Puffs of white fog billowed from my mouth as I exhaled. I shivered. Son of a bitch, it was cold. It had to be in the low fifties, maybe even the forties. As far as I could recall, the temperature had never dropped this much or this fast before.
The people on the streets didn’t seem bothered by the cold. They were too busy reflecting. After all, today was the Day of Reflection. I had tried to block out the sounds of people yelling out the names of family and friends who died after the storm all morning. The ritual was intended to honor the memory of those who died. I didn’t need a special day to do that. I did it every fucking day of my life. It was a depressing tradition, but I knew that tomorrow would be worse.
Tomorrow was the Day of Joy, a celebration of life. The day culminated in a massive street party at night, kind of like Mardi Gras only no booze or tits. Still, things sometimes got a little crazy… at least by Male standards. There was music, singing, and dancing. My hotel room was in the heart of party central. Tomorrow was going to really suck.
I closed the window and looked around the room. My mind was wandering. I needed food to think straight. So I carefully folded up Jin’s data mat and tucked it into my back pocket. Then I headed out to find something to eat.
I opened the door and found Ahmed’s slimy cousin, Viyaja, standing in the doorway. His pungent odor bitch-slapped me. I involuntarily took a couple steps back. I wondered if he was allergic to coconut oil soap or if he was working on a new way to repel mosquitos.
“Jesus Christ, Viyaja… you scared the shit out of me.”
He smiled. It seemed to cause him pain.
“Assalamu Aleikom , my friend. Peace be on you.” He gave up trying to smile. “I am sorry if I startled you, but I would like a word if you have the time.”
“Actually, I’m on my way down to grab some dinner.” The sound of chanting from the street below filled the hallway. “And shouldn’t you be praying or something?”
His eyes narrowed.
“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “Why don’t you go and pray and I’ll go and eat. We can meet in the lobby in about an hour. Does that work for you?”
“I am afraid this is urgent.”
I ignored my instinct to slam the door and I let him inside.
Viyaja stepped forward.
“I do not think you will find food downstairs until after sunset. It is a day of fasting or have you forgotten?”
My stomach growled in response. “I’m sure I can find something. I can’t be the only one who doesn’t participate in these rituals.”
He closed the door behind him. The invisible reeking cloud that surrounded him was now inside my room. I tried not to breathe through my nose. His stench was killing my appetite.
“Okay,” I said, “make it quick.”
“We think it is time that this childish squabble ends.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The list. Time is running out.”
“Let’s talk about it on Tuesday. Okay? That’s what the Council meetings are for.”
“No, my friend. The time for talk is over. We are prepared to take the necessary actions to ensure that the list is approved. We have been very patient with you and your friends, but our patience is wearing thin.”
I studied him for a second. He was skinny, probably malnourished as a kid, but the way that he carried himself told me that he could probably put up a good fight. If he kept going down this path, I guess I’d find out.
“That sounded like a threat, Viyaja.”
His eyes narrowed even more. “You did not misunderstand me. We cannot allow the fate of our people to rest in the hands of a few foreigners.”
My heart raced and I resisted the urge to punch him. “Don’t you mean infidels? Look, if you think you can scare me then you’re stupider than I thought.” I took a step toward him and said, “In the last few weeks I carried the mutilated body of my best friend back to his family. A couple weeks later I watched two young men die right in front of me. And yesterday—” I took another step towards him. “Yesterday, the same bastards who killed them tried to kill me. So if you want to scare me, you’re going to have to do better than that.”
I took another step forward. I now stood inches from his face and his stench engulfed me. But I didn’t give a shit.
“If you want me out of the picture, then you better kill me. Go ahead. I won’t even try and stop you.”
I shoved him in the chest and he stumbled back against the door.
“Just be sure to do it right the first time, because I swear to God if you fuck it up, I’m going to be really angry… and you don’t want to see me angry.”
I grabbed his shoulder and shoved him away from the door and with my other hand I opened it.
“Why don’t you get the hell out of here and tell Ahmed what I told you. Okay?”
His jaw clenched. Then without turning his back on me, he sidestepped in front of the doorway and stepped backward into the hall. I moved forward and grabbed the door.
“And Viyaja…” I slammed the door in his face. “ Ma’a salama, asshole!”
I didn’t sleep much. Not because of Viyaja’s threat, but because my brain wouldn’t shut down. It was stuck in an endless loop, trying to figure out Jin’s plan. I was exhausted, but I had picked up where I left off in the morning. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or maybe Viyaja had gotten into my head, but I was no closer to figuring out this out than I was yesterday. I needed to get out of here and clear my head.
I thought about borrowing a kayak and seeing if I could catch anything, but the temperature was even colder than it had been last night. Running was out of the question. There were too many people in the street being joyful. So I decided to go perform a few systems checks on the servers in the tower. Mindless diagnostics might be just the thing to clear the log jam in my brain.
The noise from the streets had already invaded my room, and it was only noon. By nightfall, I wouldn’t be able to hear my own thoughts. I filled my backpack with the fish jerky and plantain pancakes that I had scrounged up last night. I wrapped my bottle of moonshine in some blankets and shoved it all into the backpack. If the blankets didn’t keep me warm, the moonshine would.