Each picture was an overhead view of four major cities: Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tokyo, New York. Several places were circled within the cities, including one place on each that was a few miles outside the downtown areas. Emily zoomed in on the latter and found that the terrain was mostly flat, yet still close enough to the water that transportation could be fast and efficient.
“He’s chosen densely populated targets,” she whispered to herself. “And other than New York, I doubt any of those governments would be on their toes for it.” She checked the locations again and confirmed what she feared. Getting into port in any of these places would be easy enough for a massive shipping vessel. Customs officials and coast guards would usher them in unwittingly.
Another thought occurred to her. If Al Najaar was successful, these kinds of attacks could not only incite mass chaos, but something far bigger.
War on a global scale.
33
Sean’s cell phone started vibrating in his pocket. He removed it, checked the caller ID, and answered. “What’s up, Em?”
She spoke fast and direct. “Al Najaar is planning a massive attack on four major cities. I’m putting a team together right now to take him down, but my eyes on his compound told me that he’s gone, probably left the country. No one knows where.”
Sean pushed aside his instincts for a sarcastic response due to the severity of the situation. “What kind of attack?”
“Tommy’s kids were able to pull up shipping manifests, orders, inventories, the whole nine yards. He’s been buying attack drones by the hundreds. By my count, he has a thousand of them, all fully equipped with a devastating arsenal.”
“Bioweapons?”
“We don’t think so.” She didn’t sound certain. “But we can’t rule it out. Even if there aren’t bios, he’s got enough firepower to kill tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people.”
Sean stepped farther away from the others and retreated to a dusty corner of the warehouse. “If he’s got all that, why hasn’t he gone forward with the attacks?”
“I don’t know. It might have something to do with whatever he’s looking for.” Her tone became grave. “Sean, we’re going to attempt to blockade his ships from leaving Dubai, but we don’t have much time. If you find Al Najaar, you have to take him out. Or at the very least, slow him down.”
He nodded. “I was planning on the first option.” He looked back over at his friends standing by the van. “How much time do you think we have?”
“Maybe twenty-four hours. Maybe less. I don’t really have an answer for that either.”
“You’re just full of helpful information.”
She ignored the barb. “I’m going to oversee the mission from Atlanta. I have eyes and ears on the ground in Dubai with the strike team. The president preferred I sit this one out. I told him a fighter jet could have me there in a few hours, but he refused. Let me know if you’re able to take down Al Najaar. It might make things on our end go a little more smoothly.”
“Will do.”
He ended the call and walked back to the others.
They looked at him expectantly, but Tommy was the first to speak up. “What was that about? Looked serious.”
“It is. Like that’s any different.”
“True.”
“That was Emily. She said the guy we’re after has amassed some kind of arsenal and is planning an attack on several major cities. Sounds like she knows which ones and more importantly, where the weapons are stashed.”
“So she has a handle on it,” Joe said.
“I think so. She’s putting together a team right now to take the ships Al Najaar is using to move the weapons, which by the way, are a thousand drones.”
“Drones?” Tommy asked. “Where did he get those?”
“She didn’t say, but she did say we only have about a twenty-four hour window. I’ll assume it’s half that.”
“So you two need to get a move on,” Helen advised.
“Right,” Sean agreed. “Let’s get everything packed in the car and ready to go so we can get out of here fast.”
Adriana arrived at the warehouse five minutes later. She spoke briefly about the man who’d tried to abduct her. Sean was relieved she was okay. He knew she could handle herself, but it still didn’t bring him a great deal of comfort to know she put herself in harm’s way so often.
Joe made an off-the-cuff joke about the guy not knowing who he was messing with that eased the momentary tension.
Adriana opened one of the gear bags and was beyond satisfied with the weapons they’d provided. She was equally intrigued by the tomahawk, which she accepted graciously after flipping it around in her hand a few times.
Helen informed them that she and Joe had set up a contact person for them in Susa, a man by the name of Muhammad Bin Jarad. Being local to the area, he would know a great deal about Daniel’s tomb and could expedite their search. Bin Jarad was someone Helen and Joe trusted. They’d worked with him before when doing some research in one of the areas nearby and had established a loose friendship.
With their supplies packed in the little Toyota, the friends said their goodbyes and took off on the long road to Susa. The eight-hour drive was brutally boring, with only the occasional town or rock formation to change up the flat, barren land. Now and then, a series of mountains or hills would appear in the distance, but for the most part, it was one of the less scenic drives the visitors had ever encountered. Eventually, the flatlands gave way to rolling, green plains and then canyons, larger hills, and the city of Susa.
The town was like an oasis of life, springing up out of a dead dust bowl. Lush green trees were scattered everywhere. Farms rich with a burgeoning harvest stretched out for thousands of acres around the outskirts of the city. Architecture in the city was fairly dated, unlike many of the more modern buildings featured in Tehran. An ancient fortress looked down over the city from a high hilltop, ruins from a time long ago.
One of the most famous ziggurats in the world, Chogha Zanbil wasn’t far from the metropolitan area. It was a historic site both Sean and Tommy had seen before on a previous research trip. The enormous structure still stood as a lasting tribute to the incredible power and influence of ancient Babylon.
Sean steered the car through the sparse traffic on the edge of town and into the more densely populated downtown area. They’d been instructed to meet their contact in a place known as the Red Tea House just outside the bazaar. Sean found a parking spot in front of an old hotel. They decided not to risk leaving the weapons bags in the car, so each grabbed one and slung it over their shoulders.
Susa was a little more old school than Tehran when it came to the general view of women, and Adriana had to make sure to keep her face, skin and hair covered. A light, linen blouse covering her top and a darker skirt draped over her leggings, along with the headpiece, ensured she didn’t draw too much attention.
Sean looked up the street and saw the sign for the rendezvous location. He was glad that they’d found a place to meet that wasn’t too close to the tomb. Getting a plan in place before they got to the location would make things safer and their search much faster. According to Joe, the man they were meeting had maps of the place that were unavailable to the public. The fact that there were secret tunnels and underground thoroughfares only served to increase the likelihood that they were in the right place. Not that he doubted it, but there was always the chance. Deep down, he hoped that the relics hadn’t been moved like they had been from Borobudur.