Khalif nodded, staring absently at the glossy finish of his gigantic oak desk. “Yes, Senator, our deal is complete. I will no longer require your assistance. You may consider our business relationship at an end.”
Thorpe hesitated. “Okay then. Good. Glad to hear it. So you’re not going to call me anymore with these stupid questions or requests?”
“No. I will not be calling you anymore. We have everything we need. There are just a few loose ends to tidy up.”
Thorpe didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean, loose ends?”
“Mmm, for starters, the agents that are causing so much trouble for my men. I’ll have to kill them.”
“Like I said, fine by me. The fewer loose ends, the better.”
Khalif’s eyes wandered to the ceiling fan overhead. Its blades were carved to look like palm leaves. “Did you know, Senator, that those agents killed several of my men earlier today in Tanzania?” Before Thorpe could answer, he went on. “Apparently, they discovered my depot outside of Mbeya and traced the trucks to Songea, where a large shipment was being loaded onto a plane.”
“So? How many times do I have to tell you to get your act together? Stop hiring amateurs, and you won’t have those problems anymore.”
“I have to say, Senator, I am going to miss our little conversations. Especially your helpful advice. I assure you that only the best will be handling my most important tasks.”
“Good. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to have a quick bite to eat before I head back to the office. If there isn’t anything else pressing you’d like to tell me, I bid you good day.”
Khalif’s eyes lowered, and his gaze lingered on the doorway across the room. “In ancient times, Senator, when situations like this arose, men were called upon to do things they wouldn’t normally do. They had to take measures into their own hands to create a shift in power, or to even the score.”
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“The great leaders of the ancient world had to take what they wanted, often with their own hands. On occasion, they called upon a trusted friend to handle more delicate matters. Take you for instance.”
“Me? Just what are you getting at, Omar?”
“You have provided me with a supply of weapons — weapons that will wreak havoc on one of America’s allies. And in exchange, I paid you handsomely.”
Thorpe was confused and hesitated to reply for a moment. His tone escalated rapidly to raw agitation. “Now wait just a minute. What are you talking about, America’s allies?”
Khalif ignored the question. “But that deal wasn’t good enough for you, was it, Senator? You had to be the cowboy, the hero that put a stop to a madman’s plans. So you went and brought in those agents to save the day.” He clicked his tongue several times.
“Listen, Omar, I don’t know what you’re getting at, but if you use those weapons against our allies, I can’t stop the thunder that will come down on you. You’ll be on your own. As for the agents, I have no idea how they found your facility. But I wasn’t the one who put them on your tail.”
“Do you know what I like the most about you, Senator?” He didn’t wait for a response. “It’s your predictability.”
Silence came through the earpiece as Thorpe waited for Khalif to finish his thought.
“You take your lunch at the same time every day. And on this particular day — every single week without fail — you happen to eat lunch at home. Your consistency is admirable.”
“So what?” Thorpe said with a nervous tremble in his voice.
Khalif imagined the senator’s head was on a swivel, twisting around to make sure no one was watching him. He could hear Thorpe’s footsteps on his hardwood floor. The man was likely checking every room in case of an intrusion. Soon he would call for his security guard, a highly trained government asset that would — in all likelihood — be standing outside the front door, oblivious to what was happening inside.
“I find it important,” Khalif went on, “a routine in place. Take me, for instance. I wake up at the same time every day. I have my coffee and breakfast, take a shower, and then immediately attend to my morning prayers.”
“Okay, Omar.” Thorpe tried to end the conversation. “That’s great, but I have to go now. Nice talking to you. Do me a favor. Lose my number. Don’t want anyone tracing our conversation.”
“You won’t have to worry about that, Senator. Just like with some of the crooked leaders from history, your time is at an end.”
Before he could retort, Thorpe gasped. Khalif heard muffled grunting that quickly turned into frantic, muted screams. A loud clack and a rattle shot through the earpiece, a signal that the senator had dropped his phone. Then just as suddenly as the struggle began, it ended. The noises faded away, and Khalif was left with silence.
A familiar voice broke the quiet a moment later. “It’s done,” Ahmed said.
“Good. Return here at once. I have another assignment for you.”
He ended the call and set the phone down on his desk.
Ahmed was one of the deadliest men he’d ever come across. His ability to move in and out of areas undetected was extraordinary. He’d no doubt used his stealth to sneak into Senator Thorpe’s mansion, kill his guard, and then take out the primary target.
Adept at many forms of killing, for this particular assignment Ahmed had chosen a rare toxin that would cause cardiac arrest in the victim. Just a small prick in a freckle or mole would deliver the poison into the blood stream. From what Khalif had heard, it was an excruciating way to go. Luckily for the dying person, the toxin worked incredibly fast, causing the heart to stop in less than a minute. For a smaller or older person, it worked even faster.
The senator would be found on the floor of his home within the next day or so. Khalif imagined what the media headlines would look like. They would — no doubt — mention all the good and wonderful things Thorpe had done for his state, the country, and maybe even the world. There would be a huge memorial service. And then eventually the gears of American government would start turning again. Soon, Thorpe’s memory would be forgotten.
Ironic, Khalif thought, that the man who sold out his country and people he believed in protecting would be honored as a kind of hero. If the media knew what he’d done, Thorpe would have been thrown out with the rest of the trash.
But not even the senator had known what he’d done. Thorpe believed he was just making a quick buck with a company he’d been in bed with for some time. He never dreamed he was funding one of the largest terrorist operations in history.
An operation that was almost ready to begin.
25
“You know, all this would be a lot easier if I was there.” Emily’s voice was laced with agitation.
“You’re the one who was in a big hurry to get back to the office.” Sean spoke coolly into the phone.
He wanted to put on a dry T-shirt and a fresh pair of khakis, but he and Tommy were still twenty minutes away from the camp.
“We completed the mission.”
“We thought we completed it. But Toli was just a front. Someone else is behind all this. And the missiles we found are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Emily was stuck in the Nairobi airport — not exactly the other side of the world, but not close either.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Is Fitz with you?”
“Yeah, he’s here.”
Sean breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Write down this sequence. You ready?”
There was a brief pause before she said, “Yes. Go ahead.”
He rattled off the sequence of numbers and letters from the plane and then asked if she needed it repeated.