Hakim approached them. He spoke softly so the homeless man couldn’t hear him. “Don’t worry, we got this. Jamal is only wearing the protective gear as an added precaution. This is how it’s going to work. Jamal will open the door to the lab just enough to toss in the glass container with the sarin. By the time it hits the floor and breaks, he will already have the door closed and be safe in the man trap. In the meantime, the gas will have been released and then we wait for the show to begin.”
Abdul and Mohamed nodded, but they weren’t moving any closer. Amused by their fear, Hakim glanced at the scientist. Standing still as a statue, he stared at the man in the lab. His face looked ashen. Hakim realized he had probably seen this trial performed previously. Ahmad must have sensed him nearby. He turned in his direction and their eyes met.
“Don’t do this,” the Iraqi pleaded softly.
Hakim ignored him. A commotion inside the lab brought his attention back to the homeless man. He had run to the door and was yanking on the handle without success. Panic was spreading on his face.
“Hey, what’s going on here? Why is the door locked?” he shouted, his voice quivering with anxiety.
Hakim stepped up to the glass and spoke to him soothingly. “Don’t worry, Harry. The door locks automatically when someone comes in or goes out. The testing has to be done in a sterile environment. That’s why you’re in there and we’re out here. My assistant is getting the cream right now, then we can test it and we’ll be done. And remember our deal, a thousand bucks for a few minutes of your time. So, have a seat, relax. It won’t take long, I promise.”
“Why are all of you watching me out there?” he asked with a frown.
Hakim smiled reassuringly. “The company wants multiple observers for veracity of the results. If we don’t do this, no moolah for us.”
Harry nodded and hesitantly went back to his seat. Hakim gave a slight nod to Jamal. He grabbed the door handle, twisted it quietly, pulled the door open slightly, and quickly tossed the vial into the lab. The door was closed and locked again before the vial hit the floor. It shattered near the homeless man, splashing liquid all over his skin and clothing. Startled, he jumped off the stool, tripped over one leg, lost his balance and landed on all fours, cutting his hands on shards of glass from the broken container. In the meantime, separated by the door and unable to see what was happening in the lab, Jamal remained in the man trap, waiting for Hakim’s signal to make his exit.
Inside the lab, the man was rubbing his face with a bloody hand in an effort to wipe off the sarin, while doing his best to pull himself to his knees with the other. Finally, he was able to get up and stumbled toward the door.
“Let me out, dammit!” he growled.
When no one responded, he turned, climbed over the stool and onto the work bench. As he raised his fist to pound the glass, his nose started running, his muscles twitched, tears streamed down his cheeks, and his face contorted.
“Please, let me out. You don’t have to pay me anything else. Just let me go. I didn’t do anything,” he begged, his mouth twisting. Drool ran down his chin.
Hakim stepped closer to the glass, fascinated by the spectacle. Suddenly, Harry let out a horrendous shriek and a wall of vomit hit the glass, startling all of them. He shook once, then rolled off the table onto the floor, convulsing, twisting and moaning.
Ahmad had turned away with his head down. Mohamed and Abdul stood back, shock reflected in their eyes.
Soon there was only silence. The man’s body twitched and shuddered a few more times, then stopped moving altogether. Hakim turned to his crew, noticed the dismay on their faces, and grimaced in annoyance. “What the hell did you expect? This is good news. It means we’re ready for the attack.”
Abdul shook his head. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Hakim smirked. “Exactly. That’s why we’re using it.”
Jamal was still waiting in the mantrap. Hakim told him to stay there, then he ordered Abdul to get some large trash bags. “Put on a hazmat suit, help him bag the body, then take it out to the truck.”
He turned around and found himself locking eyes again with the Iraqi. Not liking what he saw, he quickly looked away and motioned to Mohamed.
“Take him back to his cell, then call the women. Tell them to get here as soon as possible. We have to talk.”
A couple of hours later, they all filed into the room and Hakim savored the moment. This was his cell, his attack, and it was closer to getting accomplished than ever before.
Gone was the fear of failure. He was going to strike a deadly blow to this evil nation and no one would ever be able to take that away from him. The hatred consuming him would finally be soothed. He took a deep breath and started.
“Earlier, most of you witnessed our sarin trial. There is no doubt we are ready for the attack on Saturday. Let’s go over every detail once more. Our destination is terminal eighteen in Port Everglades. To keep from drawing attention, we will get there separately. He looked around the room and his gaze stopped on Mohamed. “No beards, short hair only. Everybody must be clean shaven. Good old American boys off to have a good time, right? As I mentioned before, we’ll be entering the Port from different directions. Mohamed, you start out from a hotel van bringing the passengers to the Port. Abdul, you take a cab.”
The two men nodded. Hakim continued, “Jenna and I, we’ll be coming in on Eller Drive. Jamal and Maggie, you use the Eisenhower Blvd entrance. Boarding is set to start at eleven. The terminal should be jammed packed by eleven thirty. This is when we strike.”
Holding up a paper, he continued. “This is a drawing of the inside of the terminal. Notice the three different areas marked with an X along the walls,” he pointed out, “Saturday morning, there will be a couple of large storage barrels or trash bins near each one of those sites. Jenna and I will go to the west wall site behind the restrooms. Jamal and Maggie will head to the east side containers, and Mohamed and Abdul to the north site. Each one of us will carry a large backpack with two pressurized cylinders. You’ve seen them in the lab. They look like fire extinguishers. Close enough to fool anyone at a glance. When you reach your designated area, you open the pressure valves on the cylinders, drop the backpacks either in the barrels or behind them if necessary. The gas will start releasing right then and there, and you get the hell out of there.”
He waited a moment, checked their faces, tried to read them. “Any questions?”
“Yeah. Who is placing those containers?” Abdul asked.
“He’s not one of us. But he knows the terminal inside out.”
“If he’s not one of us, how do you know you can trust him?” Abdul scoffed.
Hakim glared at him. “I can assure you he will do as told."
“And our getaway?” Maggie asked.
“A driver with a van will be waiting for us on 14th Avenue.”
“Same person?” Abdul asked.
“Yes. We won’t have much time or we risk getting caught. If your access is blocked, there are a number of places you could hold out at the port. The container yard is one of them. Friday night we’ll go over the different options to exit the area.”
Hakim observed them as they reacted to the information with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. This was real now.
“What about the antidote?”
“In your pocket, you will have two syringes. Inject them into your thigh or buttocks right before you enter the terminal.”
“Do we really know they work?” Jenna questioned.
“They were issued by the military for their soldiers in the Middle East. So yes, they were tested.”
Hakim’s eyes lingered on Jenna. “Is there any doubt in your mind, Jenna?”
She didn’t flinch. “No. I’m ready.”
“Good. Because we are committed to this attack. From the beginning it was understood, if needed, every one of us is willing to die a martyr for the Jihad.”
A moment of silence ensued while they took in the infor
mation.
“When are we getting the guns?” Jamal asked.
“Tonight. We don’t use them unless there is no other choice. Got it?”
They nodded and Abdul spoke up. “If everything goes off as planned, what will be our next move?”
“Abboud has arranged for us to leave the country. We can’t stay here. You can be sure they’ll be turning over every rock looking for us.”
“Where will we go?” Maggie asked.
“Some place safe. I should find out by the end of the day.”
****
With the meeting over, Hakim went back to his room and called Abboud. As usual, the phone rang several times with no response. And as usual, he hung up, sat and waited. Five minutes later his phone rang.
“Give me good news, Nephew.”
“We are all set to go, Uncle.” Hakim told him about the sarin test on the homeless man. Abboud grunted his approval.
“Did you get rid of the Iraqi?” he asked.
“Not yet.” He hesitated. “What if we still need him?”
“No, it’s time, Nasir. Do it,” Abboud ordered.
“The men want to know what comes next.”
“After the attack, call the number I sent you last month. They will give you an exact pick up point. Soon you will be home.”
Hakim frowned. “Home?”
“Somalia. Our new home, Nephew.”
Hakim smiled. “Thank you, Uncle.”
“We won’t speak again before then. Inshallah!
“Inshallah!” Hakim said.
He found Mohamed in the living area and they went into his bedroom. He closed the door behind them. “Do you have your gun?” he asked.
Mohamed nodded.
“We have to kill the Iraqi,” Hakim said.
“Now?”
“Yeah. We don’t need him anymore.”
“Do you want me to do it?” Mohamed asked.
Hakim nodded. “ Take him out by the walled area in the courtyard and shoot him. When you’re done, bag him, load him on the truck. Abdul and Jamal will dispose of both bodies later tonight.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“So, you’re going to write a follow up on the Russian arrests?” Art asked after Jessie relayed her conversation with the FBI agent. They were sitting in his office and she was about to respond when Susan Blandish, her cheeks flushed, poked her head in.
“Do you have a minute?”
“What is it?” Art asked curtly.
Everybody knew the old man hated to be interrupted when he was busy. Jessie started doodling on her note pad.
“Just heard from my contact at the Sheriff’s office. They found two bodies in the Glades this morning—”
Art cut in impatiently. “So what else is new?”
Bodies in the Everglades were as common as alligators. As a matter of fact, they often were the first ones to find them. Susan ignored him and went on. “A couple of kids were out there fishing when they stumbled across them. They were partially out of the water. Supposedly, they still had a few pieces of trash bags tied to them. This is where it gets interesting. My contact said one of them was really weird, looking like one of those zombies on Walking Dead.”
Jessie’s head shot up. “What do you mean?”
“He wasn’t sure. The lab guys showed up in hazmat suits. They set up a tent and a shower. Everybody who had any contact with the bodies was isolated and had to get some kind of treatment. He said they whisked the kids away, rushed them to the hospital and they’re being kept in quarantine. It was all very hush hush, then the next thing you know, the FBI shows up,” Susan added excitedly.
Jessie glanced over at Art and their eyes met.
“Nerve gas?” he ventured.
She nodded. “Could be.”
Susan gasped. “You knew about this?”
“No, not about these men. We were aware there was a possibility someone was planning to make nerve gas.”
The woman’s eyes grew bigger. “You mean sarin, like what Saddam Hussein used on the Kurds in the Middle East?”
“I’m afraid so,” Jessie replied soberly.
“Damn, that’s pretty terrifying.”
Jessie got up. “Any chance your friend gave you the location of the bodies?”
Susan shook her head. “He could already be in trouble for telling me as much as he did. But he likes me. He asked me out for a date. The sheriff warned all his guys to keep this under wrap.”
“If this man was killed by nerve gas and the word spreads, it could create a major panic,” Art stated somberly.
He turned back to Susan. “Maybe you should call back this fellow, tell him you’re good for a date.”
Susan made a face. “I don’t think so, Art. He’s nice but he’s old,”
“How old?”
“I don’t know, like you maybe.”
Art moaned. “Oh geez.”
Jessie could hardly stifle a laugh as she headed for the door. “I’m going to call Perrone, see what he knows.”
She went back to her desk, dialed the detective, and got his messaging. “Hey Sam. It’s Jessie. I need to talk to you. Call me as soon as you can.”
Next she phoned Liam. He answered right away.
“Remember Oksana mentioned the Russian gave chemicals and hazmat suits to Hakim?”
“Yeah?”
“Two bodies just turned up in the Everglades and from the information we have so far, it seems at least one of them was exposed to a deadly chemical. According to our source, he’s like a zombie. I think Hakim either got his hands on some sort of nerve gas or he’s making it himself.”
“How the hell would he know how to make such a thing?”
“Are you kidding? It wouldn’t surprise me for a minute if the instructions were on the internet.”
“And you think they made a trial run?” Liam asked.
“Possibly. Or the guy got poisoned while handling it.”
He considered the information for a moment. “Can you find out more about it?”
“I called Sam, left a message. I’m hoping he’ll call me back soon.”
“Let me know when he does,” Liam said.
At noon, when she hadn’t heard back from Perrone, Jessie was chomping at the bit. She had to find out something. So she called Boyd and got his recording. Out of desperation, she located Sonia Estrada’s business card in her purse and dialed her cell phone. After a couple of rings, the Agent answered.
“Agent Estrada, this is Jessie Milner. I’m sure you’re busy, so I’ll cut right to the chase. The two bodies found in the Everglades this morning, did they die of exposure to nerve gas?”
“Where did you get this information?” the woman asked coldly.
“We have our sources. Can you please answer my question? The public has the right to know if their lives are endangered by a deadly chemical.”
“Ms. Milner, we have not yet determined the exact cause of death of those individuals, so do not speculate on something you don’t know. Everything we are doing at this point is done out of precaution.”
Jessie sighed in frustration. “So, you’re not going to deny or confirm they were killed by some sort of chemical exposure?”
“We do not deal in vagueness. Once we have the facts, we will pass on the information. Trust me, if we find out the public is at risk, we will let them know. Now, you’ll excuse me. I happen to be very busy.”
She was gone before Jessie could retort. She hadn’t expected much and got even less. Still, she was upset. She had to find out what was going on.
She called Perrone back again and this time, he answered. He sounded tired and testy.
“It’s about the bodies found in the Glades this morning. We hear they may have been exposed to some deadly chemical. What do you know, Sam?”
He sighed, and she worried he was going to brush her off. “Jessie, you can’t publish any of this, not now anyway, okay?”
“I got it. You know you can trust me,” she promised.
>
“The word just came in. It was sarin.”
“The same sarin they are using in the Middle East to kill thousands of innocent people?”
“Not exactly.”
She was taken aback. “Then what was it?”
“It wasn’t the same sarin. They tell us it was a much stronger strain.”
“Oh my God. Do you think it’s Hakim?”
“They’re pretty sure it’s him.”
“Did they get an I.D. on the bodies?”
“Not yet. One of them looked like he was gassed. But it seems like a gator got to him first. The lower half of his body was gone. The other man didn’t die of sarin exposure. He was shot to death. It was lucky those kids found them when they did or both bodies would have disappeared in the next few hours. Gators are always on the prowl. They don’t waste time.”
“How long do you think they were out there?” she asked cautiously.
“According to the coroner, just a few hours. It’s serious enough for the FBI to call a meeting with all the South Florida law enforcement agencies this afternoon. I would say they’re worried. Now Hakim has proof the sarin is working. It could mean something is about to happen real soon and we’ve got to get ready for it.”
“An attack?”
“Exactly. The trouble is how to try and narrow it down to a time and a target. There are just too many possibilities.”
“Like a mall or a theater? My God, it is really frightening when you think of it. And they still aren’t getting any closer on finding Hakim?” she asked.
“Everybody is looking for him. So far, no luck.”
“What time is the meeting?” Jessie asked.
“Three o’clock.”
“Where?”
“Jessie, you can’t be there.”
She sighed in exasperation. “I know. Will you call me when you find out something?”
He hesitated.
“Please, Sam. I’m partially responsible.”
“Why?”
“If I hadn’t led Hakim to the diamonds, he might not have had the means to get the nerve gas.”
“Trust me, he would have found a way. I’m sure he’s not in this alone. During the Russian’s interrogation, the FBI found out he provided him with six passports. And the diamond heist proves there is overseas involvement as well. Looks like we’re all going to be busy.”
Diamond Lilly Page 26
