One Rough Man - Brad Taylor [36]
“I don’t think the weapon alone would be a sufficient catalyst. We need to ensure the Zionists will attack another. A bomb, no matter how great, may simply cause them to slaughter Palestinians, and that is an old story.”
Baker paced back and forth a minute, then said, “Why not kill two birds with one stone? If we were able to bring about the attack you envision and blame it on the Persians, we could use the United States to eliminate those infidels while accomplishing exactly what you want. The United States has already forgotten about Iraq and begun to rattle their sabers toward Iran. With the Persians constantly talking about driving Israel into the sea and their current nuclear ambitions, it wouldn’t take much evidence to convince the Zionists of their culpability. The attack would cause a major conflict, forcing all to choose sides.”
Abu Sayyidd thought the idea was a good one but impossible to execute.
“But how will we implicate the Persians? We have no contacts with the Shia dogs, and I don’t think they’d volunteer.”
Sayyidd had a point. While Iran did indeed provide support to various terrorist groups, most notably Hezbollah, the regime had little affinity for the Sunni-based Al Qaeda. Bakr knew there were ways around this. “One step at a time. We’re assuming such a weapon exists. I’m not averse to seeing if we can find the weapon, provided it doesn’t jeopardize our long-term efforts. For now, let’s focus on simply getting the weapon. If that fails, we can still continue on our original task. That remains the priority.”
Bakr gave Sayyidd a stern look. “You understand that, correct?”
Pleased at the new path, Sayyidd said, “Yes. Of course. I wouldn’t do anything foolish.”
Abu Bakr went to the back of the room and opened a box. They had brought with them a test case—a collection of items that were not illegal individually but, put together, were sure to be confiscated. If the package made it to the contact inside the U.S., then AQ would continue to the next step with Miguel’s network. Inside the box was a Canon Rebel XTi digital camera, four Garmin 60CS mapping GPSs, four 3M P100 medical respirators, a box of glass test tubes, and two remote control garage door openers. Fairly innocuous items by themselves, but if the box were searched, the items together would trigger a response, which would allow the terrorists to judge the integrity of the smuggling network.
Abu Bakr was disappointed in the packing list. “Where’s the police scanner? The GPS and respirators will be useful for finding the weapon, but we need the police scanner right now.”
“Ahh . . . I did some research on the American laws, and the police scanner we obtained had the ability to scan in the American cell phone spectrum. It’s illegal to import those to America, so I took them out. I didn’t think we’d really be using any of this equipment. It was just to see if the network was good.”
Bakr was flabbergasted. “You took something out of the box because it was illegal? Something that we were illegally trying to smuggle in? What in all that’s holy—”
“Don’t begin to attack me!” Sayyidd said. “We were specifically told not to include illegal items so that if the box was found there would not be a legal reason to pursue its owners. It would simply get confiscated. I didn’t know we would use the equipment.”
Bakr waved his hand. “What’s done is done. I won’t mention it again, but if you wish to proceed on this path we need to find a scanner.”
He pointed to the suitcase holding their laptop computer and Thrane M4 satellite phone. “Get on the Internet and find a local store that sells scanners. One that can scan in the nine-hundred-megahertz range that the cell phones here use. We need to hear what’s being said from inside this room. It’s the only way we can stay ahead of Miguel.”
22
The professor woke up bouncing