Foreign Influence_ A Thriller - Brad Thor [135]
“I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, Shahab. The mission must always come first. You know that.”
The young man turned away and rolled his chair back to his reloading equipment.
The Iraqi smiled. “You’re tired. You should rest. Tomorrow will be a glorious day, Insha’Allah.”
“I still have work to do. We’re going to need to replace the bad cell phone and you haven’t told me how you want the magazines loaded.”
“Relax. I have an extra cell phone up in the office,” he replied. “And as for the armor-piercing rounds, load two of the thirty-round magazines for each man.”
“That’s all?” Rashid asked.
“Yes, that’s all. They will use the rounds we have tested as their primary ammunition. Your armor-piercing rounds will be a backup if they need them.”
“So you’ve got no problem, in the heat of battle, with them having to remember to transition to armor-piercing when the police show up.”
“Not at all. I have every faith and confidence. These men are well trained. They will remember.”
“It’s your operation.”
“It is our operation, Shahab, and you have contributed many, many good things to it. Tomorrow, the infidels will be shaken. It will be the first blow of many that we will deliver on their own soil. After tomorrow, we will discuss the future and what Sheik Aleem and I have planned for you. But now, why don’t you tell me what you are going to do with our guests; the police officers.”
The younger man reached for a piece of paper and a pen. He drew three squares whose tops came together to form a triangle. “These will be the chairs that we duct tape together. Essentially, we’ll be creating three separate blast directions like three claymores.”
“So each of the men will be wearing an explosive vest?”
“Yes, but it won’t be obvious. As with our Shahid, their vests will be hidden by clothing.”
Marwan smiled. “So you will place them in the center of the room and no matter how their colleagues gather around them, they will all be vulnerable?”
“Exactly. And along with duct-taping them to the chairs, they’ll also have hoods and duct tape around their mouths so they can’t speak or gesture.”
“Very good. How will you know the exact moment to detonate?”
“With this,” said Rashid as he reached over and picked up one of the remote camera balls John Vaughan and Paul Davidson had been caught placing in the alley behind the mosque.
The Iraqi brought his hands together in a clap. “This is very good.”
“And it will be an excellent beginning to the chaos. It will draw tremendous resources to the exact opposite side of the city.”
“I’m proud of you, Shahab. You have indeed done a very good job. I just wonder if we should consider using another location.”
“No. Mohammed Nasiri’s apartment is perfect.”
“How are we going to get the police officers in there without drawing attention?”
This time it was Abdul Rashid’s turn to smile. “Do you have faith in Allah, Marwan?”
CHAPTER 66
As they had a very small surveillance team, Harvath decided that they could risk exposing only one of their operatives. Because she was biracial and Jarrah’s furniture store catered to a largely ethnic clientele, Alex Cooper had nominated herself to go in and look around.
Armed with her camera phone and an exceptional when-I-want-your-help-I’ll-ask-for-it attitude, she walked around inside ostensibly taking pictures of furniture while getting the most accurate lay of all three levels that she could.
She found the door to the basement, but it was locked. The door to the business office, on the other hand, was open and she walked right in. She was immediately confronted by two very large Middle Eastern men who told her in broken English that she was in an area off-limits to customers.
Feigning insult, Cooper scolded them for being rude and demanded to know where the ladies’ room was.
One of the men directed her back into the showroom and pointed at a door on the far side. After she had washed her hands and come back out, the two men were talking to another, younger man who also appeared somewhat Middle Eastern.
As soon as he saw her,