"Questions?" she invited at the conclusion of her statement.
The crowd leapt to their feet firing staccato questions.
"One at a time, please. Louise?" Jennifer indicated the CNN journalist.
"Do you have any idea if this was a genuine navigation error or something more sinister?" asked Louise.
"It is too early to be certain, but we do not believe it would have been possible for an aircraft to mistakenly have the wrong navigation code, have radio failure, and stray into our exclusion zone. We believe this was a deliberate act" Jennifer explained.
More hands shot up, Jennifer pointed to Tom Atkinson from ABC.
"Do you have any idea where the plane took off from, or who was the pilot?"
"It is way too early to tell, I may have some more information for you later in the day." Jennifer walked back to her office to the throng of shouted questions.
Chapter 40
Kamal was furious with his son Muhommad for sacrificing his life. Kamal had no problem with martyrdom, as long as he and his family were not involved.
But in addition to the U.S., it was himself who he really blamed. There is no way that this could have happened if Kamal’s own security had been foolproof. He should never have left the suitcases where his son could get to them.
The bond between a father and his first born is perhaps the strongest bond on earth and Kamal was unsure how he could continue to live now that his son Muhommad was gone.
However, the strongest feeling that Kamal had was the need for revenge. He was absolutely consumed with hatred for the United States, who took his beloved son. The fact that Muhommad was trying to murder thousands of U.S. sailors at the time, was not even considered.
The worst thing for Kamal however, was that there was no body for him to bury. It would have been difficult of course, but if there was a body, he was sure he could have at least completed his job of the ritual washing and shrouding.
Women are not permitted to attend a Muslim funeral anyway, so Kamal just took a private walk through the family cemetery, saying the ritual burial prayer as he walked.
He passed the grave of his father Razak. Islam discourages the use of ornate grave markers and believes this money should instead be spent on charitable works. However, Kamal had resisted this practice and on his fathers death he had a simple stone tablet with Razak Pashwari inscribed and placed at the head of the body facing Mecca.
Crying at a funeral is permitted, but wailing is frowned upon. However, in the solitude of the family plot, he could not control himself. He lay on the ground beside his father’s simple grave and cried a river of tears and screamed like a banshee.
When he arose, Kamal felt like a changed man.
Kamal decided that the U.S. must be taught a lesson, and he planned on making this a lesson they would never ever forget.
Chapter 41
Adam Scott made the drive back to his haven at full speed. He told his driver/bodyguard to set a record on the way back, and true to request, he shaved thirty eight seconds off his best time for this regular trip.
He had earlier briefed his Director of Intelligence Bill Simpson, a former field agent who had shone in the intelligence role.
Adam picked up the phone and called him "Bill, can you come in, I have just spoken with the President."
When Bill arrived and had gotten seated, Adam outlined his conversation with the President.
"Bill, the President is mad as hell about the attack in the Gulf. He wants a target to bomb the shit out of. This will be your show. I will do all the White house liaison stuff, but as of right now I am giving you full reign on this. Let me know whatever resources you need, and you will have them. Just don’t screw up. Both our butts are on the line here." Adam Scott had risen to this job having diligently managed a number of other departments, but his best quality was pragmatism. One of his favorite quotes was from Clint Eastwood "a man’s gotta know his limitations". This was a quality much admired by all his staff.
"Don’t worry. I won’t let you down, sir" said Simpson, and he sincerely meant every word.
"The President has authorized us to contact Russian Intelligence for help with this, I guessed you would have some markers you could call in" Adam mentioned with a grin.
"Leave it to me" said Simpson as he turned on his heels and hurried off.
As soon as he reached his secure office, Bill grabbed the keyboard and typed an email to his counterpart in Russian intelligence. Things had changed a lot since the cold war. Bill and Oleg Karpov had met many times at conferences and briefing sessions at various ports all around the world. They both had a love of malt scotch, and had spent many hours sipping a "wee dram" and chewing the fat around a fire in an old castle in Scotland the last time they had gotten together the previous winter.
The message was short and sweet:
o. karpov@athenaimports.ru
Hi Oleg, I have a problem with a shipment that could cause a potential disaster for both our companies, need to talk to you urgently.
Bill just loved signing his initials, it brought a smile to his face every time.
7am in Washington east coast US was 3pm in Moscow the next day, so Bill should not have been surprised to get a beep from his inbox within half a minute with a reply that was equally brief:
I will call your other phone line. Standby.
"Other phone" was spook speak for a secure line, with an encryption device fitted. Whilst a little unusual to communicate this way, it was certainly not the first time this had happened and Bill waited only a few seconds for the call to come through on the plain looking grey telephone at the back of his desk. This little unit had a Secure Transmission Unit integrated, and used state of the art two hundred and fifty six bit encryption.
"William Stanford" began the Russian using the formal Russian style first two names greeting. Bill was seldom reminded of his middle name, the place of education of Simpsons for as many generations as anyone could remember.
"Oleg Peotyr, good to hear your voice, I have a situation that requires some cooperation between our departments"
"Of course my friend William, I was expecting to hear from you"
"How did you know I was going to contact you?" asked a surprised Peterson.
"I have already been told by my President to give whatever assistance I could, it seems bad news travels fast" explained Oleg.
"I was told to be completely honest with the US about this matter. You have my solemn promise on that." Oleg’s voice was grave.
"We had a submarine in the area and we were doing routine surveillance of your Gulf fleet. We were able to capture traces of the seawater from the crash site and analyze it the next day. There is no doubt that the enriched uranium from the bomb is Russian."
"Thanks Oleg, we appreciate your support on this, this is serious stuff", Bill was equally solemn.
"Oleg, I really need to find a way to prove that Russia was not behind the attack on the Ronald Reagan, can you please do some digging, I need to know where the weapon came from and which particular group got their hands on it."
"Bill, you will have unprecedented support from our nation in this matter, I will call you the moment I have something for you" replied the Russian ending the connection.