Sean ended the call with Emily and set the device back on the tray to his right. He was frustrated. After telling her everything that happened in Indonesia and Bhutan, she was still stuck amid a bunch of red tape. She wanted to go after Al Najaar and his crew, but the CIA had somehow learned of what Axis was up to. They’d stepped in, and now the entire mission was in danger. She asked for the go-ahead from President Dawkins, but he was stalling. He knew that going after an Emirate national could be political suicide, and as he put it, “You don’t piss in your friend’s backyard.”
That meant Emily was in a holding pattern and couldn’t do anything until there was more proof that Al Najaar was up to something. Sean knew that calling her and asking her to kick in the man’s door was a shot in the dark. It was hopeful at best. And the president was right: They shouldn’t go in without evidence of some wrongdoing. Just because one of his men had tried to kill Sean was no reason to start World War III. It was worth the shot, though. If Emily could marshal a strike team to go into Mamoud’s compound — or even better, see what he’d been doing with all those shipments — it would not only buy Sean some time, it might just end this whole charade much quicker.
Since that plan was out of the question, he pondered another. She needed proof. Maybe he could give it to her.
Of all the resources Emily had at her disposal, one of her weaknesses was technology. Axis had a codebreaker and electronics security officer available at all hours of the day. Neither one, however, was capable of doing what Tara and Alex could do. The irony wasn’t lost on him.
Sean remembered Tommy telling him about how they were able to hack into nearly any database in the world. Although heavily encrypted databases slowed them down, it didn't stop them gaining access. However, there were a few doors they knew not to knock on, such as the Pentagon’s mainframe; that was a hack that could see them spend the next fifty years behind bars.
The thought kept poking at Sean’s mind. If the kids could break into Mamoud’s databases and find out what he’d been shipping and importing, they might be able to find enough proof to warrant sending in the cavalry. It was worth a shot.
He looked over at Tommy in the seat across from him. “You said Tara and Alex were accomplished at hacking into things, right?”
Tommy nodded. “Yeah. I mean, they’ve toyed around with a few things from time to time. Nothing illegal. Well, maybe it was illegal, but they didn’t steal anything. It was just to snoop around.”
“That’s exactly what we need them to do right now. Give them a call, and see if they can pull any information on Mamoud Al Najaar: big transactions, shipments, manifests, anything they can find. He’s up to something. We need to tell Emily exactly what it is so she can do her thing.”
Tommy nodded and picked up his phone. Sean directed his attention to Adriana, who was sitting next to him. “What about your father?” he asked. “He’s a part of the intelligence community. Does he know anything about this guy or what he might be up to?”
She stared at the floor for a moment. It was a second of vulnerability. He’d struck a nerve with his question, though he wasn’t sure why.
“No,” she answered. “He’s gone under.”
Sean frowned. “Under? Why?”
“It’s complicated. I’ll tell you all about it at some point. But he won’t be able to help us.”
Sean nodded, letting the issue go. “Okay.” He paused and looked out the window at the sea below before speaking up again. “Have you ever been to Iran?”
“Yes. Only for a short visit. It is an interesting culture. I’ll need to hide my face while we’re there.”
“Actually, you really don’t have to, though it might be better that way.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” She jabbed him in the ribs.
He winced and laughed. “I didn’t mean it like that. What I meant was, it would keep you disguised. Most women don’t hide their faces in that country. But doing so might be useful. And there’s something else I need you to do. I have a plan.”
She listened closely as he laid out the details. When he was finished, she nodded slowly. “I like it. Of course, it all hinges on getting there before Al Najaar and his men.”
“I have to believe we will. And even if we don’t, I have a backup plan.”
“Do I get to hear it?”
He shook off the question. “No. And I don’t think you’d want to.”
Tommy ended his conversation with the kids and looked with satisfaction across the row at the other two passengers. “They’re on it. They said it may take a few hours, but given the volume he’s been working with, it will be hard for Al Najaar to keep everything hidden.” He looked as if he had another question. “So that takes care of that end, but what about our end? How’s this going to play out?”
The plane started its descent, and the engines whined as the turbines slowed.
“Al Najaar will be there in Susa.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s his style. He wants other people to do the dirty work. Then he wants to show up and take all the glory. More than that, though, he’ll want to try out his newfound toys.”
“He’ll attempt to use the relics,” Adriana said.
“Right. Which is why your role is so important.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Tommy looked befuddled. “Her role? What about mine?”
The other two smiled. “You’ll be with me. Did you remember to tell your man to bring extra ammunition? I have a bad feeling we’re going to need it.”
“I talked to our contacts on the ground before we left Bhutan, and they said it would be ready to go.”
To say getting into Iran would be tricky would be a monstrous understatement. Relations between Iran and the United States had never been solid, but over the years, things had deteriorated to a point where it seemed reconciliation would never be possible. The Iranian leader was seen on all the major media outlets, basically taunting the American president, daring him to make a move. While President Dawkins wouldn’t be goaded, he made subtle statements that let Iran know the U.S. wouldn’t be pushed around.
At the center of the debacle was Iran’s desperate effort to become a nuclear power. They were years, maybe decades away from achieving anything threatening, but the act they were trying was concerning in itself.
Sean wished that, for a day, things between the two countries were a little more amicable. It would make entering the country so much easier. As it was, they had to come up with an alternative plan for getting in illegally.
Tommy knew a smuggler who worked out of Baku in Azerbaijan, an Iranian neighbor to the northwest. Since getting into Azerbaijan was far less complicated, it made perfect sense to land there, drive south down the coast of the Caspian Sea, and cross the border via boat.
Tommy’s connection, a guy named Mick, smuggled all kinds of goods into Iran on a biweekly basis, taking everything from liquor to blue jeans to his distributors in the major cities. From what Tommy said, Mick had quite the elaborate operation, which was perfect since getting caught might mean never seeing the light of day again.
The plan was to board Mick’s boat about fifteen miles north of the Iranian border and take it thirty miles south to a point he’d used frequently. It was little more than a beachhead with no cities or residential areas nearby, but it provided exactly what they needed as a clean entry point.
Turkmenistan was closer in proximity to their rendezvous point in Iran, but Sean and Tommy’s contacts there were basically nonexistent. They may have been able to pull something together, but it would have taken longer, and time wasn’t something they had to spare.
Sean looked out the window again at the Caspian Sea below. The city of Baku exploded from the flat plains and merged with the sea. Baku was thriving. Tourism had picked up over the last decade, and Europeans were flocking to the area to enjoy the culture and climate. The city was impeccably clean and well run by the local government, which kept things safe for visitors. It also provided an excellent base of operations for smugglers like Mick.