Bastien sighed as he turned his laptop around and looked at Aalam’s face.
“Airstrikes in Syria and Iraq have killed a lot of his family. Aalam was radicalised in his early twenties in Syria. He does not like western women and wants them to be ruled by Sharia law. Antonia got away from him and is making a fool out of him. He needs to kill her and show he is fully in control or he will lose face. He is an extremely dangerous man. We believe he is responsible for organising many terror attacks around the globe this year.”
Berger typed fast on the keyboard before turning it back to Gabriel to continue.
“Command also believes he is this man,” Bastien said as Gabriel looked at the armed man in a balaclava holding a knife to a male journalist’s throat. He’d seen this photo many times in the news last year and the beginning of the present one.
“He calls himself, the liberator and has a reputation for kidnapping foreign journalists and soldiers in the Arab world. This man parades them as a conquest on social media and then films their death.”
Gabriel grimaced. A strong dominant protective feeling washed over him. His eyes drifted to Antonia thinking of how much danger she was in. It was accompanied by an equally strong wave of violent feeling. He would kill Aalam if he tried to take Antonia away from him. The idea of losing her disturbed him so much it made him feel vulnerable, a feeling he wasn’t used to entertaining. Determined to distract himself and regain control he probed his colleague for more information.
“Any leads on the other bombers? Laraib said he thought his brothers were on a ship to England.”
“Yes. We have circulated all of the artist impressions but only sightings of two of the boys have surfaced. We interrogated two suspects we picked up in Paris yesterday who are linked to Aalam through family. We have had them under surveillance for a while but had nothing concrete to arrest them on until yesterday when we intercepted a call from another family member we believe is travelling with Aalam. They were reluctant to give us any information but we managed to persuade them,” he said with a smile.
“I can imagine,” Gabriel said with disdain allowing the image of the waterboarding torture the suspects would have been treated to enter his mind, something he had the misfortune of once experiencing himself.
“They revealed that the boys recruited from the camp along with others have infiltrated the Alexander & Pert Cruise Line. They have jobs as crew. One of the ships we think is being targeted leaves Southampton port for Norway at six pm this evening.”
Berger paused his briefing to glance at his watch.
“We will have enough time to get you there.”
“We aren’t going to Command in Paris?”
“No. Change of plan. Command wants you both on that ship when it leaves port with a team. We can’t stop the ship leaving, we have received no direct threat but with you on board and the others we will be able to flush them out and neutralize the threat. This is our only chance to get them. If we stop the ship leaving they will go to ground and find another way.”
“Antonia is not coming with me,” Gabriel told him flatly.
“Yes, I will. I can do this,” she said as she was listening in and frowning at the way he was speaking for her.
“You aren’t going and that is final. You have been through enough and I work better on my own.”
He wanted to keep her safe and if he needed to be cruel to be kind then so be it.
“I don’t want you in any more danger,” he told her firmly ignoring the hurt look covering her beautiful porcelain features. He turned back to Bastien. “I want her taken to Command in Paris and protected.”
The agent was watching him with amusement as he spoke. It irritated Malinov. He hated working with Berger he was an exceptionally good manipulator as an intelligence organiser and always got what he wanted.
“You can’t speak for me,” Antonia rebuked him.
“I can,” he returned bluntly. “I am in charge of your protection,” he said standing to look her directly in the eye.
“Command wants her on that ship with you,” Bastien spoke with equal firmness. “She is the only one who can clearly identify the bombers and draw them out. They will want to kill her for Aalam. We need her as bait.”
Malinov glared at him and pulled him up from his seat by the front of his suit jacket ready to force him over the table and begin fighting with him.
“Antonia is not going to be bait. She isn’t expendable.”
Berger lost his temper and tried to remove Malinov’s grip on him but Gabriel wasn’t going to let go.
“We have to take a chance. She is the only one who can do this,” he shouted back. “What the hell is wrong with you? Are you in love with her or something?”
Gabriel growled and raised his fist to punch him out but Antonia was pulling him back.
“Do you think for one minute I am going to let you go on that ship without me? This is my call, Gabriel. I want Nazila and Qaifa back and nobody is going to stop me getting on that ship to find Aalam and make him tell me where they are. You don’t own me, Mr Malinov. I speak for myself,” she said putting him down and in his place. “I am the only one who can identify the bombers. All you have to go on is an artist’s impression. I know some of these bombers. Let me try and stop them. I failed with Laraib but I need to try again. This is my fight with Aalam and I mean to finish it.”
Antonia wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Gabriel let go
