The Teeth of the Tiger - Tom Clancy [172]
"We have additional plans for America, to sting them worse. This time we killed hundreds. The next time, we shall kill thousands," Fa'ad promised, with a sparkle in his eye.
"How, exactly?" Atef asked immediately. He could have been-should have been-a plans officer. His engineering education made him ideal for such things. Didn't they know that? There were people in the organization who thought with their balls instead of their brains.
"That I am not at liberty to say, my friend." Because he didn't know, Fa'ad Rahman Yasin did not say. He wasn't sufficiently trusted by those higher in the organization, which would have outraged him had he known it.
The son of a whore probably doesn't know himself, Atef thought at the same time.
"We approach the hour of prayer, my friend," Anas Ali Atef said, checking his watch. "Come with me. My mosque is only ten minutes away." It would soon be time for the Salat. It was a test for his colleague, to make sure that he was truly faithful.
"As you say." Both rose and walked to the streetcar, which fifteen minutes later stopped a block from the mosque.
"Heads up, Aldo," Dominic said. They'd been checking out the neighborhood, really just to get a feel for the area, but there was their friend, walking down the street with what had to be a friend of his own.
"Who's wog number two, I wonder?" Brian said.
"Nobody we know, and we can't freelance. You packin'?" Dominic asked.
"Bet your bippy, bro. You?"
"Hang a big roger on that," Dominic answered. Their target was about thirty yards off, walking right at them, probably heading to the mosque, which was half a block behind them. "What do you think?"
"Wave off, better to bag him on the way out."
"Okay." And both turned right to look into the window of a hat shop. They heard-they damned near felt-him pass by. "How long you suppose it'll take?"
"Damned if I know, man, I haven't been to church myself in a couple of months."
"Super," Brian growled. "My own brother's an apostate."
Dominic stifled a laugh. "You always were the altar boy in the family."
Sure enough, Atef and his friend walked in. It was time for daily prayers, the Salat, the second of Islam's Five Pillars. They would bend and kneel, facing Mecca, whispering favored phrases from the Holy Koran, affirming their faith as they did so. On entering the building, they removed their shoes, and, to Yasin's surprise, this mosque suffered from a German influence. There were individualized cubbyholes in the wall of the atrium for their shoes, all of them properly numbered, to prevent confusion or theft. That was a rare offense indeed in any Muslim country, because the Islamic penalty for thievery was very harsh, and to do so in Allah's Own House would have been a deliberate offense to God Himself. They then entered the mosque proper and made their obeisance to Allah.
It didn't take long, and with it came a kind of refreshment for Atef's soul, as he reaffirmed his religious beliefs. Then it was over. He and his friend made their way back to the atrium, collected their shoes, and walked outside.
They weren't the first out the large doors, and the others had served to alert the two Americans. It was really a question of which way they'd go. Dominic was watching the street, looking for a police or intelligence officer, but didn't see any. He was betting that their subject would head toward his apartment. Brian took the other direction. It looked as though forty or so people had gone in for prayers. Coming out, they scattered to the four winds, singly or in small groups. Two got into the fronts of taxicabs-presumably their own-and drove off to catch fares. That did not include any of their co-religionists, who were probably working-class schlubs who walked or took public transportation. It hardly made them seem villainous to the twins, both of whom closed in, but neither too fast nor two obviously. Then the subject and his pal came out.
They turned left, directly toward Dominic, thirty yards away.
From his perspective, Brian saw it all. Dominic removed the gold pen from the