“Good,” said Nathan.
“This is Carrie, sir. Nathan’s here as well.”
“Hi, Carrie. Nathan. How was the flight, Carrie?”
“Excellent, sir.”
“Marines gave you any trouble?”
“Negative. A few complimented me, and a couple tried to make a move. I sent them both to hell.”
McClain chuckled. “Good one. Talking about hell, things are going to get pretty hot in Sa’dah. There have been some negative developments.”
Carrie’s face remained calm. She was used to getting bad news. It would surprise her at this point if McClain gave her any good news. “We’re listening.”
“It seems Romanov hasn’t been quite straightforward with Hall and with us.”
“That slimy weasel never is. So there are no missiles and no Al-Khaiwani?”
“No, the missiles and the terrorists are there. But Romanov left out something crucial. Following the trail of those weapons, the M16s discovered in Somalia, I was looking into other arms deals involving American weapons and contacting other intelligence agencies. It’s still unclear where exactly these weapons came from, and CIA is not being very helpful. I just finished talking to Mossad. Their intel shows that Rashed bin Hussein Hamidi is the man Romanov wants. And he’s also hiding in Sa’dah.”
“Hamidi? Who is he?”
“I’m having some people dig out the facts, but according to Mossad’s sources, Hamidi’s a big weapons businessman. He has sold weapons to Libya’s and Syria’s rebels and elsewhere in Africa and South America. He partnered with Romanov as they tried to break into the Saudi’s weapons market.”
“So, Hamidi took Romanov’s shipment?”
“Mossad wasn’t clear about that. Hamidi was aboard the cargo plane, which initially was headed to Saudi Arabia. He was in charge of completing the delivery.”
Carrie glanced at Nathan. His eyes were glued to the road, but his head was slightly tilted toward the satellite phone Carrie was holding in her hand.
“OK, so Romanov has been duped by Hamidi. Why is Mossad interested in this war of elephants?”
McClain laughed. “You beat me to it. Mossad claims Hamidi has been brokering deals to deliver weapons to Yemeni insurgents. That’s why this cargo is in there instead of Saudi Arabia. And Mossad has evidence Hamidi sold similar missiles to Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Carrie’s face sank. This was not bad news. This was worse news. “He armed Israel’s sworn enemies. Hamidi’s a dead man,” she said in a low voice.
Nathan’s eyes caught hers. She tried to smile, but her lips just formed a small grin.
“Yes, Mossad’s coming for their pound of flesh. They already have a team in place, on the ground, ready to strike once they receive their authorization.”
“Justin,” Carrie said.
“Yes, we need to make sure he doesn’t get caught in this firefight. Mossad will wipe out the place and everyone who gets in their way. Insurgents are no match for the Israeli wrath.”
Nathan let out a low cough. Carrie looked at him, and he nodded at the phone.
Carrie said, “Go ahead, Nathan.”
“Sir, do we know anything about Justin’s, I mean, Hall’s location?”
“We don’t. I was thinking about notifying Yemeni authorities, but it wouldn’t do much good. Their officials are no strangers to bribes, and their borders are full of holes. My educated guess is that Hall is either very close to or already in Sa’dah.”
Carrie exchanged a quick glance with Nathan. He shrugged, indicating he had no other questions. He eased on the gas pedal as they came to an intersection. The traffic was slowing down, with cars turning mostly left.
“Have our orders changed?” Carrie asked.
“No. You’re still to stop Hall. Needless to say, it’s even more urgent now with Mossad looming in the background.”
“Does Mossad know about our involvement?”
McClain sighed. “I told them about our rogue agent. They said they couldn’t guarantee anything once things start to blow up. If Justin gets in the way of their operation, to Mossad he’ll be one more obstacle they’ll need to remove.”
Carrie nodded in silence.
“I told them also about you and Nathan and your mission. They wished you luck and advised you to stay out of the hot zone.”
“Good advice. I’m assuming we’ll not get another update about their plans?”
“We may or we may not. I would consider this as our final warning.”
“OK. Anything else?”
“No, that’s all. Update me once you’re in Sa’dah. And be safe.”
“Will do.”
“Thank you, sir,” Nathan said.
Carrie turned off the satellite phone. “Wonderful, as if we didn’t have enough problems. Now we’ve got to watch our backs for Mossad.”
Nathan nodded. His eyes had suddenly grown thoughtful, weary.
“How long until we get to our plane?” Carrie asked.
“A little over an hour or so, depending on traffic.”
“Step on it. We’ve got to get to Sa’dah and find Justin before the Israelis bring about Armageddon.”
The rugged mountains of northern Yemen reminded Justin of the landscape in northeast Iran. He could hardly believe it had been exactly a week since his mission to retrieve the Iranian defector. The mission that had almost killed him and Nathan and which had set in motion the events that had brought him to these hostile lands.
The airstrip was literally a strip of dirt, carved between two jagged hills and tucked around a steep mountain slope. One had to know where to look for it, but the Cessna pilot was familiar with its location. And so was the welcome party waiting for them on the ground. Romanov had arranged for members of a local tribe to give safe passage to Justin and his team. The tribe was Sunni and supported the Yemeni government. It had proven its allegiance in many battles against Houthis, who were Shia. And with half a million dollars, Romanov was buying a considerable amount of the tribe’s loyalty.
The pilot circled the airstrip, then veered to the left, losing both speed and altitude. Justin, two seats behind the pilot, looked through the dirty windows. Six, no, seven trucks and two SUVs were lined up on the left, next to a dry riverbed, the road out of this middle of nowhere in northern Yemen. The first and the last truck were fitted with what looked like heavy machine guns, pointed at their airplane. A few men had set up positions on both sides of the airstrip.
“What do you think?” asked Yuliya.
“I hope those are the right tribesmen, or we got ourselves a fight.”
Yuliya drew in a deep breath. “We’ll know soon enough.”
Justin looked at her face. Her eyes were tired, but she was still very focused on their mission. “Daniel, how’re you holding up back there?” Justin asked.
“I’m not dying. Not yet,” came the reply.
Yuliya had cleaned up and bandaged his leg wound before they boarded the airplane.
“Always the smartass,” said Yuliya. “But he’s a good soldier,” she added in a whisper.
“You still want to go ahead with this?” Justin asked. “With this mission?”
“Of course. Do you even have to ask?”
“I want to make sure you know what you’re doing, especially since now it’s just the three of us, and we don’t have the money to buy the missiles.”
Yuliya held his eyes. She nodded slightly, closed her eyes for a second, then opened them, and shook her head. “We’ll follow the new plan. It will work. We’ll make it work. Plus, it’s too late now. We’re already here.”
“No, it’s not too late. Not for you. Stay on the plane. Turn around and return to Moscow.”
Yuliya looked out the window. The land was getting closer. A few of the tribesmen were running to secure better positions.