Gunn gazed sideways, away from the screen. “Well, it's obvious, isn't it? You were right about the hit on the Russians. They have the connection, and they suspect. My concern was right about fearing someone passionate about this. You didn't see his eyes, but this John Savas is a driven man. And Cohen, well, she knows.”
“They have no proof! Nothing to go on!”
“No. Of course not, and they will not get that, certainly not in time to stop us.”
“We need to make sure of that, Mr. Gunn.”
Gunn turned toward the monitor, his expression grim. “Yes, my friend, we do. We need to find out who these agents are. We will have to make some decisions about them soon.”
44
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced today a partial embargo against the United States and the European Community. OPEC will reduce oil supply to these nations by 25 %, effective immediately.
An OPEC spokesman was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying that “the recent bombings of Islamic Holy sites around the world have left us no choice” but to enact the embargo. In the statement issued, OPEC demanded that Western nations end the terrorist attacks and apprehend those responsible.
Last month, in an unprecedented attack on Muslim houses of worship, terrorist attacks destroyed four mosques in four nations spread around the globe — England, the United States, Finland, and Nigeria. These attacks led to more than four thousand deaths, and followed on the heels of what have become seemingly monthly attacks on Muslims, including attacks in Algiers, New York, and Venezuela.
The White House press secretary issued a stern warning to OPEC. “The president condemns both the terror attacks and the response of OPEC, and cautions OPEC that the United States will not allow its supply of oil to be threatened.” Reports placed several US warships en route to the Persian Gulf, and military sources claim that the entire United States military has been placed on high alert. Analysts have parsed the president's words and generally conclude that a full-scale embargo would in short time lead to massive military intervention.
China and Russia have protested US deployment in the Gulf, the Chinese representative to the UN calling the moves “reckless and destabilizing.” Russia has vowed to prevent foreign occupation of oil-producing nations, and has placed its own military on heightened alert, according to sources in Moscow. The president has canceled his long-planned trip to India and is returning to Washington. He is expected to address the nation tomorrow evening.
John Savas stepped out of his office and nearly crashed into the muscled figure of Husaam Jordan standing outside his door. Jordan had made a rapid recovery. He still limped slightly and favored his shoulder at times, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to tell that he had been through the ordeal in the desert. Savas assumed that in another month or two, he would be almost fully recovered. He apologized for his carelessness, caused by distraction over events following last month's insane visit to Gunn International. The large CIA agent smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.
“So, how is the investigation going?” he called out.
Savas smiled ruefully. “Which one?”
Jordan nodded back. “Indeed. But I am more interested in one than the other.”
Savas could only agree, except that the FBI inquiry into his trip to Gunn Tower was occupying increasing amounts of his time. He had managed to convince all those involved that Cohen had been dragged along with him, and, for now at least, she had been spared the paperwork, meetings, and constant interruptions that an internal investigation entailed. He had also been spared any suspension of his duties or privileges — a rescue effort by Kanter. That was after Kanter had first threatened to kill him.
Savas nodded toward Jordan. “You were right.”
Jordan cocked his head to one side and half-smiled. “About which investigation is more important?”
“Yes,” said Savas, “but more than that — about following the trail of Operon and the shell companies.”
Jordan became serious. “That trail is getting cold as we speak. The CIA isn't going to listen to the ravings of two mad FBI agents who stormed an American icon. Gunn practically ran a monopoly in the defense industry for two decades. He's owed more favors in Washington than we can guess. They've tied my hands, John. And it's been too long. Weeks and weeks have gone by. They aren't going to leave anything standing, or anyone connected alive.”
“The FBI has twisted itself into a tangle of internal investigation,” said Savas with obvious irritation. “Everyone is scared shitless now about moving on this guy. Larry's frustrated as hell, but he is protecting his division. Until this blows over, we're left doing research reports on the Internet. Meanwhile, we wait for the next fall of the hammer.”
“Don't give up hope, John,” Jordan rumbled. “It is written in the Holy Koran, ‘When a man dies, they who survive him ask what property he has left behind. The angel who bends over the dying man asks what good deed he has sent before him.’ You have worked for justice.”
Savas stared at the black man standing before him, an American, a former gang member, and now a Koran-thumping Muslim. Yet he had come not only to respect Husaam Jordan but to feel a tug of affection for a person who clearly sought justice, who had disregarded career and safety in the service of justice. He just could not reconcile the different parts.
“Husaam, I don't want this to go the wrong way, but there are some things I don't understand.”
Jordan stared straight into Savas's eyes, his expression unflinching yet knowing. Savas pressed forward anyway. “I like you. I didn't at first, I have to be honest. Well, I couldn't at first.”
“You could not separate me from the Muslims who killed your son.”
Savas winced. “You're a good man, a man who sees right and wrong and risks his life for what is right. You can't find one out of a thousand men like that. How can you be part of this religion that gives birth to all these crazed murderers who kill in the name of this damn book you keep quoting? How can Islam be anything but evil for the wars and bombs and wrongs it has caused? I just don't understand it.”
Jordan smiled, his white teeth set in his strong jaw, bright against the darkness of his face. “The Abuja National Mosque was a gift from the heavens. If you had seen it, with open eyes, John, not eyes colored with anger, you would have seen its majesty rising into the African sky, its four minarets reaching toward God. Its beautiful dome was a bright star in the daytime sun or a powerful silhouette in the setting orange light at day's end. Muslims have made some of the most beautiful religious houses in the world. For hundreds of years, they preserved knowledge while Europe sank into the Middle Ages and burned witches at the stake, tortured innocents with the Inquisition, and converted by the sword many of the pagans of central and northern Europe. Science, mathematics, and philosophy were preserved, developed, and passed on to an awakening Europe by Muslims.”
Jordan opened his hands in a questioning gesture. “When you listen to the great composers of Germany — Bach, Mozart, Beethoven — do you also see in their music the ashes of the Holocaust? When you gaze at the religious sculptures and paintings of Michelangelo, do you see in them the blood-soaked lands the Crusaders marched across? America was founded by people fleeing persecution at the hands of fellow Christians. For the centuries of Christians doing evil in the name of God, how can you be one?”