by Gayle Lynds
He studied the vast sweep of rugged mountains, where snow glistened on the high slopes. Serpentine ribbons of smoke curled up from houses in the distance, mostly made of mud bricks with thatched roofs. A maze of smoke tendrils rose over the town, where many of the buildings had been pulverized by fighting and raids. Khost province was a crossroads of trade and smuggling, and in the crosshairs of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, who sneaked in from North Waziristan directly across the border in Pakistan. They came under the cover of night to recruit, do business, and murder collaborators, often local police.
On the far side of the town was America’s secret and highly secure forward base, painted in camouflage colors and draped with camouflage netting to make it invisible from above and difficult to see from the land. No smoke trailed upward, since a huge generator gave them all the power they needed.
Lifting his head, Ullah sniffed. He could smell mutton, hearty and sweet, cooking in the villa’s kitchen. A good lunch. Since he had taken control in this war-ravaged area, he and his family ate well, and if it were not for Martin Chapman, he would have even more funds at his disposal—the overseas account Chapman had frozen. Until the poppy harvests in the autumn, he had little income from opium and heroin. He needed Chapman to release his money, and that meant tonight his men would put on the U.S. Army uniforms Chapman had supplied and eliminate about a hundred locals from the town and nearby villages, chosen because of their opposition to him, and recorded by the cameras of friendly tribal newsmen from Pakistan. Finally he would have his money plus Chapman’s payment for buying the land.
Just then the two army Humvees veered toward his villa. His guards turned and lifted their heads, watching, too.
The warlord called into the house for tea and paced along the porch. As the tea arrived on an enameled tray, he sat in his chair.
The Humvees roared into the compound and stopped in a cloud of white dust. Soldiers sat behind the machine guns mounted on each vehicle, their helmets low against the morning sun, their eyes hidden behind black sunglasses.
The forward base’s commander, Capt. Samuel Daradar, jumped down from the passenger seat of the lead vehicle and strode toward him, taking off his cap and running his arm across his forehead.
“Pe kher ragle.” Ullah did not stand, but he welcomed him.
“Mr. Ullah, good to see you,” Captain Daradar answered in Pashto as he climbed the steps. “You are well?” In his early thirties, he had golden skin, clear black eyes, and a sober expression.
“Yes, thanks to Allah’s blessings. You will honor me by joining me for tea?”
“Of course. I appreciate your hospitality.”
AS HIS men waited in the Humvees, Sam Daradar took the other chair, the seat and back lower than the warlord’s. It was as if he were sitting next to a king on a throne. He would have found Ullah’s little reminders of power amusing, except each was a deadly signal of the complex weave of loyalties and vendettas among Pashtun tribes, and that Afghans in general were often far more antiforeign than the West was capable of understanding.
“You are patrolling,” the warlord said, showing benign interest. “Have you found anything?” He poured tea into cups on the wood table between them.
“Nothing but the wind, the sky, and the earth.” Sam gave a short smile.
“Spoken like a true Pashtun. I will never understand why your family moved to the United States.”
“We have our wide-open spaces, too. Visit me in Arizona sometime. I’ll show you the Grand Canyon.” The captain sipped tea. “I got an update today I thought you’d like to hear. Since you helped us oust the Taliban and al-Qaeda, there are two thousand new clinics and schools across the country, jobs are being created constantly, and the bazaar in Khost is completely rebuilt. Nearly seven million children have been educated through primary school, the new central bank is solid, and the currency is stable.”
“It is all good,” Ullah said. “I am pleased.” He smiled, showing a row of thick white teeth. “Still, there are many problems. Look around you. Such poverty. My people go hungry. It is the corruption in Kabul. No one can solve that.”
It was also Ullah’s corruption, but Sam was not about to say that. Developing countries tended to have relatively effective central banks and armies but corrupt and despised police forces, and Afghanistan was no exception. Corruption was also why it was easier to build roads than to create law and order, easier to build a school than a state. No amount of education could help a judge faced with drug kingpins prepared to murder his family. It was almost impossible for outsiders to reform this kind of system, and although Ullah liked to think of himself as operating independently from Kabul, he was part of a very broken system.
“I’m concerned about rumors there are Taliban here today,” Sam told him.
“Ah, so that is why I have been honored.”
“And that some sort of action is in the works, with or without the Taliban.”
The Taliban were mostly Pashtuns, and both, like al-Qaeda, were Sunni Muslims. In a country where men with guns reinvented themselves in loyalty to every new power that came along, it was inevitable former Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters were in their ranks. Even Ullah had once pronounced himself Taliban—until the Taliban had outlawed the drug trade when they took over the country. After that, they were his enemy.
“It is Pakistan’ fault,” the warlord announced. “They should keep the Taliban from crossing the border. They invented them.”
“I agree, but neither Pakistan or Afghanistan is succeeding,” Sam said mildly. “I know you want nothing but the best for your people. Tell me what’s going on.”
Ullah’s heavy black brows lifted, and his broad mustache twitched. A look of complete innocence crossed his face.
“I have heard nothing,” the warlord said. “You can be certain I will call if I receive even a rumor. Would you like more tea?”
THE MEN in the town mosque stood and bowed and stood again, finishing noon prayers. A sense of reverence filled the hall, making Ullah proud. It was his mosque—he had paid for every block and tile.
But then the mullah in his white turban and young face with the neatly trimmed beard commanded all to be seated. They settled themselves on their prayer rugs. Ullah sighed and lowered himself, crossing his legs.
Holding a Koran between his hands, the mullah stood before them, his long black robe flowing. “When the Prophet and his companions went to jihad, they carried black flags because war is not a good thing. When we go to jihad today, it should not be because we want to fight, but because we are compelled to fight for the sake of Islam, and for the freedom of Afghanistan. Still, that is the role of the army and the police—not of private citizens.”
Ullah adjusted his backside, inwardly groaning.
“There is only one Allah, and our life on Earth is to serve Him alone,” the mullah continued. He stared at Ullah. “But the human is weak, and unwise mullahs with wrong ideas have disobeyed the Koran’s laws and sent people onto dangerous paths. This fighting among Muslims and against the West is about power, not about Allah. He does not want our people to be killing. Long ago the Muslim world was under attack in a crusade by Christians who wanted to make all of Islam vanish from the planet. Jihad was about survival then, a last resort. Allah teaches us the greatest jihad is the struggle within each of us for the soul, the jihad of the heart. The heart is a holy place, and we must always take care never to hurt one another.”
When the sermon finished, Ullah pointedly ignored the mullah, picked up his AK-47, and strode toward the door, his two guards close behind. The mullah was new and very young, he told himself with disgust. He had a lot to learn about what the Koran really said.
Ahead of him, the forward base’s commander, Sam Daradar, was leaving, too. The military man must have arrived late and stayed in the back. Ullah slowed, waiting for him to get far ahead. Then he went out to the doorstep and watched Daradar climb into a Humvee. They exchanged nods and smiled.
Ullah waited imp
atiently as one of his men ran for the car. But when the silver Toyota Land Cruiser arrived, he noticed a strange expression on his driver’s face.
Frowning, he climbed into the passenger seat, and the remaining guard got into the rear, immediately making a small sound deep in his throat. Quickly Ullah turned. Lying on the floor was Sher Chandar, his black Taliban turban beside him, his shalwar kameez and vest spread around him like the wings of the angel of death.
“Drive,” the Taliban leader ordered.
“I should have killed you a long time ago,” Ullah rumbled.
As the vehicle sped down the street, bouncing over potholes, Chandar laughed and gave directions. The street became a dirt road and then a trail that took them up the slopes away from Ullah’s villa. When they dropped over the other side, out of sight of the town and the military base and the villa, Chandar sat up, looked around at the bare foothills, and gave more directions.
They circled back around to the rear of Ullah’s property and at last lurched down into a deep canyon where a small stream fed a big stand of cypress and pine trees. Uneasiness swept through the warlord—here in this woods was where his men were to gather tonight.
Chandar ordered them to drive into the trees and stop the Toyota beside the American crates, covered with dark tarps. A half-dozen men in black turbans seemed to melt out from among the greenery, pointing assault rifles. Chandar’s men.
“Kill the engine.” When silence enveloped them, Chandar gestured at the mound of crates. “A gift for the Taliban?”
Ullah said nothing.
“There is a change in plans,” Chandar told him. “I know what you were going to do tonight. You will not kill the villagers—some of them are Taliban. Instead your men will put on the American uniforms and arm themselves with the American weapons as they expect to do. Once they are disguised they will be able to get inside the military base. And then they will kill all of the infidels.”
Ullah’s throat went dry. “It cannot be done.”
Chandar chuckled. “You have a greater imagination than that. Your Pakistani journalists will record it from a distance. They will think the Americans are at war with each other in a tribal blood feud as we have here. With that you will have the publicity you need to get the base closed down. That is what you want, is it not?”
Ullah silently cursed.
“These American infidels do not have Allah’s blessing,” Chandar continued. “We have worked with you these past few years. You have made accommodations. We have made accommodations. If word were to reach Kabul of our arrangement . . .”
He left the sentence unfinished, but Ullah immediately understood the threat. As weak as the Kabul government was, it still had teeth. If enough troops were dispatched here, he and his family could be erased from the earth.
“The Americans will investigate,” Ullah argued. “Instead, I offer a compromise. I will leave unharmed any villagers you wish.”
“Not good enough. We want the American soldiers dead. The order comes straight from South Waziristan.” In other words, al-Qaeda.
Ullah glanced over his shoulder at Chandar’s stony face. Then his gaze swept the six armed men whose rifles pointed unwaveringly at him.
The problem was, if he had killed Chandar when he’d had the chance, another would have taken his place and come to murder him. There was no way he could win this fight. Having decided that, he felt a moment of relief. Chandar’s plan could actually work.
“I will do as you wish if you agree to help me later,” he decided. “Americans are going to buy the military base property from me and start a business. I do not know exactly what yet. I will need you to agree to their safety.”
“At a good price.”
Ullah smiled. “Of course. A good price.”
Their business concluded, the Taliban leader got out and joined his men in the grove. And then they vanished.
“Home,” Ullah commanded.
In his mind he could smell again the sweet aroma of mutton roasting in the kitchen. He was beginning to like the new plan, which meant he would be able to enjoy a good lunch.
As they circled back toward the villa, his satellite phone rang. He answered and heard Martin Chapman’s voice. He greeted him in Pashto.
“Are you on schedule?” Chapman asked.
“Of course,” the warlord assured him easily, thinking of the infidels who would die. “It will be a fine night, all to Allah’s glory.”
63
Athens, Greece
AS A fresh breeze blew in through the window, Judd sat with Eva and Tucker at the table in the hotel room, her laptop open before them. They were studying NSA’s photos and geographical information about the unnamed island that might house the Library of Gold.
There were rocky outcroppings, wide valleys, and rolling hills. The island was ten square miles of beautiful wilderness, except for orchards and a flat-topped mesa on the south side on which stood the three buildings Robin had described.
“The library could be in the big building,” Eva said. “But if there are twenty people living there year-round, where are they housed? It doesn’t seem large enough.”
Judd ran through the small photos on the screen until he found three pictures showing the mesa at a slant. Working quickly, he grew the images, choosing the best. The resolution was excellent, zeroing down to six inches. All had been taken just an hour earlier.
“Four stories underground,” Tucker announced. “That answers one question. Too bad the glass is darkened. No way to see inside.”
“Now it makes sense. I’ll bet the library is down there somewhere,” Eva said. “That would be optimum for keeping out sunlight and controlling for humidity, temperature, and so forth.”
They had already seen armed guards patrolling in Jeeps—thirty men, two in each vehicle—on the dirt roads that ribbonned the island and gave access to remote areas. Judd focused on one pair.
“M4 assault rifles. They’re not there to play games. Do you recognize anyone, Tucker?” He showed him photo after photo.
“No, all strangers,” Tucker said. “Check one of the beaches. Let’s see what other kinds of security the island has.”
Judd clicked a photo, making it bigger and bigger. “There are your security cameras, Tucker. And look—movement- and heat-sensing monitors.”
“Swell.”
“We saw squirrels and birds. Wouldn’t they set off the monitors’ alarms?” Eva asked.
“The system can be programmed to ignore wildlife,” Judd explained.
They analyzed the other beaches and the cliffs around the island, finding the same tight protection everywhere.
“It’s a fortress.” Eva’s voice was discouraged.
Judd focused on the wharf, where a cargo ship was docked. Men were carrying boxes onto it.
“They’re loading something.” Eva stared. “I wonder what that means.”
“Did either of you see any guard dogs?” Judd adjusted himself in his chair, pushing from his mind the aching gunshot wound in his side.
Both shook their heads.
“At least we have that. Okay, so let’s focus on the cliff beneath the compound.”
They studied the photos.
“Very steep,” Tucker said. “At least five hundred feet high, I’d say. It’d be impossible to dodge the cameras and monitors if we tried to climb it.”
“You’re right. Let’s check the top of the mesa.”
Judd enlarged more photos, showing the swimming pool, a picnic area, and a satellite dish. A gardener was watering plants on an outdoor patio, and a woman was setting out buckets of balls on the tennis courts. Two dirt roads coming from the east and west converged north of the complex and became a two-car cement driveway that ran south, passing the satellite dish and descending under the east side of the main house. There on the flat area beside the house stood a mountain of boxes and crates. Men were loading them into a van. Following the drive east, Judd saw it curved not only north but south, to the wharf.
>
“I don’t like this,” he muttered. He chose photos of the buildings’ exteriors.
“No monitors,” Tucker said. “They probably figured no one was ever going to get close enough to be a threat. Zero in on the ground-floor windows of the big house.”
Judd did. The windows extended across and around the building, showcasing the ocean view. Tall glass panels were open to the air. They could see two middle-age women in white skirts and blouses walking across the main room inside, carrying drinks on trays.
“No sign of Preston,” Judd said. “Or Yitzhak and Roberto.” Then he noticed more boxes against the back.
He enlarged the photos, homing in. The stack was so tall and wide it looked like a wall. Beside it, pieces of furniture waited, covered with sheets.
Tucker leaned close. “My God, they’re packing up and moving out. Crap.”
“They could be gone tomorrow,” Judd agreed. “We could lose the Library of Gold.”
A worried hush filled the room.
“This isn’t going to be easy,” Eva observed. “There are a lot more guards than Robin told us. We saw thirty in the Jeeps alone.”
“She said tonight was the annual banquet,” Judd reminded her. “She expected more security, but you’re right—this is getting increasingly dangerous. Yitzhak and Roberto may be hostages, so we’ve got to save them as well as figure out who’s behind Dad’s murder and what the Library of Gold has to do with terrorism. Whatever it is, Dad must’ve felt it was imminent. And now we’ve got the pressure of the library’s being moved. If we don’t go in soon, we might never find it again.”
“Can we call in Catapult for help?” Eva asked Tucker. “How about Langley?”
The spymaster drummed his fingers on the tabletop. “Hudson Canon is likely working for the other side, so we don’t want him to discover where we are and what we’re up to. It’s safest to tell no one. But I have a partial solution: There’s a small U.S. naval base at Souda Bay, on Crete. It’s not far from the island. If we don’t have any of our paramilitary teams stationed there now, Gloria should be able to stay out of Hudson’s way long enough to pull some strings to get a couple sent over for short-term duty.”
