One Rough Man - Brad Taylor [39]
Two hours earlier, when Jake had asked if either Bakr or Sayyidd could help with a computer problem, he had jumped at the chance. After meeting Miguel’s computer expert, a man introduced only as José, he had been led into a room containing a table heaped with clothes, a laptop computer, cell phone, and GPS. While examining the computer, he began to suspect that it held a covert partition used for a steganography program due to the large amount of random digital photos and MP3s. José might have been an expert at typical computer problems, but he hadn’t spent a life on the run with the world’s greatest superpower chasing him. While serving as the media chief for his cell in Iraq, Sayyidd had used steganography quite a bit. He knew the signs. He also knew that he had no chance on earth of figuring out the keystrokes for a hidden program. His only hope was a physical key, something missed by Miguel’s men. He had asked José for a glass of water to get him out of the room. As soon as he had left, Sayyidd had searched the clothes on the table. To his absolute surprise, he had found a thumb drive missed by the computer expert and had loaded it on the computer.
He was now sure he was only seconds away from finding the temple’s location. One of the pictures on the hard drive would hold the data. He only needed to find the right one.
He was about to go back to the photo files when he heard José returning down the hallway. He deleted all of the files from the thumb drive, palmed it in his hand, and backed away from the computer.
José handed him the water and said, “You ready to continue?”
Sayyidd shook his head. “Not really. I’ve found nothing in two hours. I can’t do anything more than what you’ve already done. I think this is a waste of time but will continue if you wish.”
José said, “I knew this was folly to begin with. Miguel appreciates you trying anyway. You may go.”
Sayyidd hurried back to the guesthouse with the thumb drive. He knew that Bakr would be livid at his theft. If Miguel realized what had taken place, they would both be dead. Sayyidd was counting on nobody knowing the thumb drive existed. He told Bakr of his experiences and what he had found. As expected, Bakr initially flew into a rage at Sayyidd’s risks, but calmed down when told of the manner the thumb drive had been taken and the fact that Miguel’s computer expert hadn’t searched it. There was nothing to be done about it now anyway. The thumb drive was theirs. Risking returning it would be worse than keeping it.
The stego program itself made no sense to Bakr, given Miguel’s previous phone call. They had obtained a Bearcat scanner earlier in the day, and both had heard the conversation between Miguel and his friends in the U.S. describing a FedEx package. Why would Miguel be searching for a package if the temple location was on the computer? Bakr told Sayyidd to check the Web for a FedEx office in Flores, the last place the professor had been. Within minutes, Sayyidd answered that the only FedEx was in Guatemala City.
Bakr digested this. The facts didn’t make sense. Let Miguel waste his time and money searching for answers in America. Bakr was sure that the data was hidden somewhere on the professor’s computer, and that maybe they were as close as Sayyidd thought to pleasing Allah as no man had before.
24
The old man had been watching the boat-pretender for close to two months, waiting on him to do something interesting.
He called the man the pretender because he didn’t act like anyone who owned a sailboat. He had seen plenty of people rich enough to own such a luxury in his job at the marina, and this man didn’t fit the profile in any way whatsoever.
For one, the old man had never seen the pretender’s boat leave the dock. Ever. Truthfully, he was unsure if the pretender even knew how to sail.
For another, boaters were a partying, gregarious bunch. When they docked, it was all about margaritas, bragging, and laughter.