I called Jennifer as soon as I stepped off the Metro at King Street, asking her to meet me in the lobby. I had managed to leave my number at Taskforce Headquarters, but it hadn’t been smooth. I was no longer a member of the elite little club. I didn’t have the badges or passwords to get me into the inner sanctum, so I had to make a fuss. Even then, after getting through the first gate, and begging to simply leave a number for Kurt, I was ignored because Kurt officially didn’t exist. I was politely asked to leave by Abigail, a gray-haired lady from whom I had bought Girl Scout cookies for years. I’d bought enough to put her grandkid through college, yet she acted like she’d never seen me. Eventually, the internal security force had shown up, giving me the not-so-subtle hint to get the fuck out. Before they pitched me headfirst out the door, Abigail finally broke through her stupid cover and said she’d take my number. I knew she’d get it to Kurt, so I guess I had succeeded.
By the time I reached the lobby Jennifer was already downstairs, carrying our new laptop.
Less than an hour later we were at Ethan’s house. I took the lead to the front door, looking at my watch before I rang the doorbell.
Immediately, a dog began barking like his fur was on fire. I smiled. “Sounds like a rabid wolf, but he’s really a teddy bear.”
I heard Ethan tell the dog to shut up before opening the door. I waited, a little anxious at the response I would get.
Ethan gave me a big grin, holding his arms open.
“Who’s this?”
“A friend of mine. Jennifer Cahill, this is Ethan Merriweather. Otherwise known as Haji.”
Ethan shook her hand, then invited us both inside.
I bent down to ruffle the fur of a brown-and-tan mutt that looked like a cross between a bulldog and miniature collie. The dog began to jump all over me, slobbering.
“Hey, Eddie, how ya been?” Looking up, I asked, “Kathy around? I’d like to say hello.”
“No, unfortunately, she’s not. She really wanted to see you as well, but Emily and Rachel had a big Girl Scout thing tonight. It’s been planned for a month.”
I nodded, relieved at the answer. It would be pretty hard for Kathy to decide at the last minute to attend something like that, and I knew that Ethan wouldn’t outright lie to me.
Standing up from Eddie, freeing him up to run over to Jennifer and begin slobbering all over her, I said, “That’s too bad. I’d really like to see her and the kids. I don’t know how long I’ll be in D.C., but maybe I’ll get the chance later.”
“How about coming by for dinner tomorrow night? I know we’re out here in the boondocks, but she’ll make your favorite — chicken pot pie.”
I couldn’t help but laugh because chicken pot pie was what Kathy always served when I came to dinner, whether I wanted it or not.
“You want some home-cooked food?” I asked Jennifer.
“I think that would be great, if one extra is okay.”
I knew Jennifer’s coming was implied. “Sounds like a date.” I paused, then got to the point. “Can we go to your study? I’ve got some stuff to show you.”
“You know the way. I’ll grab some beers.”
Once Ethan entered, I spread out both e-mail messages, one repeatedly folded and stained, the other a fresh computer printout.
“Haji, this is what we need translated. We got these from two different e-mail accounts. It’s terrorist related, but we don’t really know how.”
He picked up the first sheet, spending a few minutes studying it. Placing it down, he picked up the second sheet. After about fifteen seconds, he placed it back down and returned to the first sheet, walking around the room and studying it.
I finally got fed up. “Well, what’s it say?”
Ethan snapped out of his trance, looking at us like he didn’t know where we’d come from. After a pause, he said, “Okay, one is clearly some sort of terrorist message. It talks about killing infidels and other things. The other is simply an invitation to coffee, with an address.”
I already knew that one was terrorist related but was surprised at the other translation.
“What’s the address? Is it in Norway?”
“It doesn’t have a country listed, but it’s a coffee shop somewhere in Europe. The verbiage is a direct phonetic translation, and isn’t American. The meeting occurred today at thirteen hundred.”
“What’s the other message say? The first one?”
“Well, it’s pretty ominous, but it’s something I read every single day in chatter we get fed, so don’t freak out.”
“Yeah, yeah. The difference here is that I’ve met them; I know they’re trying to kill people. I just don’t know how. What’s it say?”
“Here’s what I
“Yeah, something like that. What do you make of it? What’s an Arabic mind saying when it says that?”
“Well… I’m not an Arab. I’m not really keen on telling you what I think because I’m probably wrong.”
“Haji, cut the shit. I’m not a robot. I already know what
Ethan held up his hands. “Okay, okay… Starting right off, they reference the Battle of Badr, the first significant defeat of Meccan forces by Muhammad, which led to Islam taking over the Arabian Peninsula way back when. Going further, this is clearly an AQ message. The references to the far enemy and the Caliphate point to that. Getting to the meat, in my mind, these guys have a weapon and they intend to use it on Israel. That, in itself, isn’t unusual. Every Arab with a firecracker says that sort of thing. In this case, I don’t think these guys believe they have a firecracker. I think they have a weapon that is dangerous enough to cause a phenomenal reaction, something designed to cause the Israelis to really, really go nuts.
“Okay. So far I’m tracking. That’s about what I thought. What about the Persian comment? I couldn’t make heads or tails of that. What do you think he’s saying there?”
“Honestly, that part’s a little disturbing. I’m not sure, but it could mean that the weapon will be blamed on Iran, causing Israel to attack them. The second order of effect for that, of course, would be that we would support Israel, drawing us in to a war with Iran. The end result, in the mind of the guy who wrote this…” He paused, looking at me. “Understand, I’m not saying this would happen, but I think they want to start the clash of civilizations everyone blabs about. They want to start a true holy war, using Israel as the bad guy. We’d be forced to defend Israel in any attack against Iran; and all other Arab states, because it’s Israel doing the attacking, would be forced to choose sides. There’s no question whose side they’ll choose.”
Ethan stopped, thinking about what he had just said. “Man, this could actually work. If they could blame the Iranians for a serious attack, especially with the nutcase in charge constantly talking about destroying Israel, it probably would start a chain reaction that would lead to a global fight between the Christian and Muslim worlds.”
He paced back and forth for a second. “Do you really think that such a weapon is real? Do you think these guys really found something in Guatemala?”
“I don’t know. I’m inclined to think they did, since a couple of in-digs died on her uncle’s expedition, and these guys have made arrangements to meet someone to continue on whatever journey they think they’re on. If they failed in finding a weapon, or if the weapon wasn’t real, why continue?”
“Shit, this is bad news. What’re you going to do?”
“I’m not going to do anything. I’m going to pass everything you just said to the Taskforce. Kurt should contact me tomorrow. What you could do, if you don’t mind, is simply reinforce what I’m going to say. I’ll tell Kurt
