Jay stepped out of the building and looked at his crew. “Where’s Batman?”
Deric pointed to the roof. “Keeping watch.”
Jay nodded. “Let’s get set up. We may have to wait until the storm blows over to make a move for the plane.”
Bridger marched past the other men and found al-Abadi withered on the couch in the main entrance. He grabbed the man and practically dragged him to the rear. “What was that facility that burned?” He tossed the man unceremoniously to the ground and stood over him.
Muhammed melted in the floor and began sobbing again. “I do not know. The widow claimed that it was one of hers, but I knew nothing of it.”
“Was it a chemical weapons manufacturer?”
Muhammed looked up to him with red, tear filled eyes. “I do not know. I had never heard of it before.”
Bridger fought the urge to throw the man through a wall. He clenched his jaw and silently counted. When he opened his eyes again, al-Abadi was a whimpering mess once more. “Has she ever sold chemical weapons before?”
Muhammed shook his head. “None that I know of. She tried to purchase old Soviet chemical weapons in the past, but they were too degraded and deemed unsafe to handle.” al-Abadi sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve. He sat up and pulled his legs under him as he slowly rocked back and forth.
Bridger snapped his fingers to get the man’s attention again. “What became of the weapons she tried to purchase?”
Muhammed shook his head. “I do not know. This happened without my knowledge. I only heard of it through one of her men.”
Bridger growled low in his throat and began to pace slowly. “Who could have known about this place if her right hand man didn’t even know it existed?”
“I am not her right hand. I am only a broker for her arms sales.”
Bridger stopped pacing and turned to face him. “Then who is her right hand? Who does she trust as a second for her dealings?”
Muhammed shook his head again. “I do not think she trusts anyone.” He inhaled deeply and put on a brave face. “But whoever it is who knows about her dealings also knew what I had planned. They put the attacks together to implicate me.”
Jay appeared in the doorway. “I miss anything?”
“Just having a pow-wow to figure out who the widow’s number two might be.”
Jay gave him a confused look. “What difference would that make?”
“Nobody knew about this chemical weapons plant but the widow and whoever is framing all of us.”
Jay leaned against the counter. “Regardless of who her right hand man is, the fact is that the US knew about the plant.” He eyed Bridger carefully. “They used the protest and the flag burning to ensure that locals were affected. And they timed the two events so that the fire could be blamed for the protestor deaths.”
Deric stepped up behind Jay. “Why not just hit the chemical plant?”
Jay shook his head. “They couldn’t guarantee that the smoke would cause a high enough body count?”
Jim opened the rear door and entered. “Trucks are stowed out of view. It’s just a shed, but I got both to fit. Probably have to pull them out to load up again…” He trailed off as he caught the faces of the men in the room. “What did I miss?”
“Trying to figure out this mess.” Bobby leaned against the wall and eyed Muhammed carefully. “Somebody wants all of us to pay for this one.”
Steve walked in and handed a bottle of whiskey to Deric. “I found this. Cheap but potent.” He took in the room and gave Jay a questioning look.
“We’re putting pieces together.” Jay pointed to Muhammed. “He’s the unknown.”
Steve chuckled and pulled a chair out from under the table. Straddling it, he shook his head at the other men. “You’re going about this all wrong. You’re trying to assess this from an operator’s point of view.” He tapped the side of his head. “You have to look at this from a spook’s point of view. What was the goal? What steps did they take to ensure that the goal was achieved, and how many enemies could they burn at the same time?”
Jay gave a sardonic laugh. “Son of a bitch.”
“What?” Bridger asked.
“I was lost until Steve just laid it out. How many of their enemies could they burn at once.” He looked to Bridger. “You were working for the Feebs for some online infiltration, right?”
Bridger groaned. “They want to burn one of the online patriot groups.”
“And since you sounded the most dangerous…” Deric trailed off.
“Okay.” Bridger pushed off the wall and squared his shoulders, his mind slipping pieces together. “So, obviously, they wanted to burn al-Abadi or they wouldn’t have targeted one of his protests.”
“True.” Jay stepped forward and pulled the whiskey from Deric’s hand. “But is it safe to assume that the chemical plant was the main target?”
Muhammed’s eyes met his. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, was there maybe somebody special who was supposed to be at the protest that might be their main target?” Jay’s eyes pierced the man as he considered the question.
Muhammed shook his head. “Not that I am aware of.”
“Besides yourself,” Bridger added. “You were supposed to be there.”
“But I have told you, I am nobody. I am just an arms dealer.”
Jim stepped forward, his finger in the air. “Wait, so let’s assume that the manufacturing facility was the primary target. Why bother with the people in town? I mean, why poison the flags?”
Bridger snapped his fingers. “They had to ensure that the casualties were locals.” He turned knowing eyes to Jim. “Think about it. You blow up a chemical weapons plant and nobody dies? Who cares, right? The majority here in the Pak are Sunnis and most of them are moderates.”
“And…” Jay waved him on.
“Okay, imagine you are a moderate Sunni here. Somebody blows up
