Mustafa backed his van up to the building and parked by the loading dock. The facility was the most secure facility in Philadelphia, and it still amazed Mustafa how he could just walk in by flashing his picture ID. As he walked up the outside ramp to the enclosed guard station, the guard looked up and waved in recognition to a man he’d seen almost every day for the past three years.
Mustafa pulled the door open as soon as he heard the lock release. He walked in and again flashed the IDs hung around his neck to the guard.
“Hey, Mustafa, how are you doing?”
Mustafa nodded.
“I heard some of the managers talking about your new guys. Sounds like they’re doing a great job.”
Mustafa smiled, thinking, if this man only knew. “Thank you, Jake. I’ll let them know. This is an important customer for us, so I want to make sure the bosses are happy, both yours and mine.” Mustafa kept eye contact as he thought to himself that Jake might think differently in about an hour.
Mustafa continued walking down the corridor until he reached the door lettered “Janitorial Services.” He put his key in the lock and entered. He found his team waiting for him.
“It is good to see you, Mustafa. We take it all is going as planned?”
“Yes, I believe it is. There is much commotion at the Mall. The children have taken the buildings and the Police are mobilized and I believe I have also taken care of our problem with the Feds.”
The three men nodded in relief. Their part of the mission — the most important part – was about to begin.
“Do you have everything ready? Is everything in place?” Mustafa inquired.
“Yes, we have our carts positioned with everything we need. Nothing seems out of the ordinary today. Everyone we want is in today and working in their typical location. I believe, if Allah wills it so, we’re good to go.”
“I’m proud of all of you. Today will be a proud day for our country.”
Mustafa’s phone vibrated in his pocket. “Excuse me. You must all go back to work and undertake our normal activities until I tell you it’s time.”
Each man shook Mustafa’s hand as he left.
“Yes, hello?” Mustafa said into his phone.
“How are things? It sounds like all is going to plan.” The man on the other end was his new employer. Mustafa’s handlers in Iran were not aware of what Mustafa had planned, since Mustafa had long ago planned not to martyr himself today. He, too, had come to enjoy life in America, but couldn’t figure how to get away and disappear from his controllers — until this man approached him.
“Yes, I believe it is. I’m confident of our success.” Mustafa answered.
This man, named Jerome, had uncovered the details of Mustafa’s mission and it fit with what Jerome needed. A distraction of what Mustafa’s nieces and nephews would do created the perfect diversion. Mustafa had, at first, denied the plans for the Independence Mall takeover and refused to listen.
But, Jerome was persistent. He knew too many of the details and too much about Mustafa. He’d shown Mustafa a way out. Jerome could provide a new identity and a new location to live and enough money so Mustafa could live like the former Shah. He would want for nothing.
“Mustafa, tomorrow is going to be the start of a new day for you. I hope you’re excited.”
“I am. I’m looking forward to it. There is still much to be done, but the men are ready. The children have been in place for over a half-hour. The Mall is shut down and I’m sure we will be in lock down here in the next ten to fifteen minutes.”
“Very good. We’ll talk again after you leave and are at the safe house.”
“Yes. I’ll contact you when we arrive.”
“Good, Mustafa. I’m counting on you. Please, do not fail me — as the Libyans did.”
“I’ll not.” Mustafa said to dead air. He realized Jerome had ended the call. As he went to the door to begin his rounds, he could hear the P.A. system activate.
“May I have your attention, please. May I have your attention. This facility is now in lock down. I repeat, we’re now in lock down. All visitors need to be escorted to the visitors’ lobby immediately. All tours are suspended and all participants should immediately proceed to the tour exit. All employees are required to remain in their work area. No one will be permitted to leave or enter the building. Lock down is in effect until we announce all clear.”
It was critical for their success that the building went into lock down. Mustafa had been in the building before when a lock down had been declared and had observed that what was supposed to bring organization and security to the facility tended to do the opposite.
He moved along the corridor. Since he was a contractor and his people were all over the building, he enjoyed the ability to move about and not be stopped. He quickly made his way around, to check on the other members of his staff who weren’t involved with the plot. He found each of them in their proper position and directed them on what they should do. He then sought out his three accomplices. They had much to do and, while time wasn’t the biggest challenge, the quicker they accomplished their task and left the building, the better chance of success.
Chapter Sixty-Six
LIBERTY BELL CENTER, INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL PARK
Aziz spoke into the phone. Mustafa had warned him not to engage in any conversation with who ever answered the phone, just to give the message. He knew he shouldn’t have given him his name, but it had happened too fast.
“We have taken over Independence Mall. We have many hostages. We want America to understand that their liberty is meaningless to us and our intent is to destroy the symbols of this liberty, unless our demands are met in the next two hours. The seven political prisoners of Iranian descent who are to go on trial next week must be released from Fort Leavenworth and flown out of the country by private jet. The President of the United States must fully recognize the country of Iran as the national power it is and unfreeze all monetary assets belonging to it. Finally, the United States must denounce Israel and condemn all of it aggressive actions against its neighbors and must immediately insist Israel disarms. When all of these conditions are met, we will leave these facilities. At the end of two hours, if these demands are not met, we will execute hostages. Also, we have two wounded people whom you may come and retrieve in the next ten minutes. They are outside the door at Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center.”
“Okay, Aziz, let’s slow down a minute. How many hostages do you have?
“We have more than enough.”
“That’s not really helpful.” The negotiator looked over to Choufani and Stan.
“It is not important for you to know.”
“You understand this is going to take some time. Two hours is not enough time.”
“Then hostages will start to be killed and blood will be on your hands.”
“Come on, Aziz. You got to help me here.”
Aziz hung up. How could Mustafa know the questions they would ask and what their responses would be? Aziz was, once again, impressed by the intelligence of his Uncle. Aziz was also proud of himself and felt he’d done well. He knew Mustafa would be proud.
“Well those are some demands,” Stan said as he reviewed the list. Everyone was gathered around the conference table in the center of the room.
“He forgot to ask for lifetime tickets to the Super Bowl, though. The kid was definitely scripted. He knew just what to say. Not too much — just enough to get their point across.” Jordan had made some notes during the conversation.
Choufani was handed a message. “My officers confirm the two bodies outside. SWAT is getting ready to retrieve them, as we speak.”
“Let’s hope they’ll be okay.” Jordan always hated when innocents were caught up in these things. “So, he wouldn’t tell us how many hostages.” Looking over at the Rangers, Jordan asked. “Any idea how many people are usually in these areas at this time of day?”
“It’s hard to tell,” the Ranger who was the Homeland S
ecurity liason responded. “We had more people today because of the school holiday. My guess would be forty to fifty at the Constitution Center, fewer at the Visitors’ Center and probably thirty in the LBC. Independence Hall is a little easier, because it’s a timed entrance requiring a ticket. There would probably be twenty five people in there.”
“How about staff?” Kate inquired.
“The largest staffs are in the Constitution Center and Independence Hall. At this time of day, you probably had fifteen in the Constitution Center, ten at Independence Hall and five to six each at LBC and the Visitor’s Center.”
“So, we’re talking significant numbers. Smart move on their part to have them spread across the buildings. Not too large a number to be handled,” Jordan opined.
“The even smarter move is in using kids,” Choufani said. “You can take out adults all day and as long as you don’t use excessive force, you’ll probably be okay. But kids? That’s a whole new ballgame.” Choufani knew that, when the time came, it was going to be his decision. This wouldn’t wait until the Commissioner or any of the other Commanders would return. Action would have to be taken soon. “We aren’t going to have the manpower to take down all buildings simultaneously. We might be able to isolate two of the buildings as we take two down. Any thoughts?”
“Well, it seems the leader is in the LBC, so that might be where you need to start.” Jordan was tracing over the map with his index finger as he talked. “The Constitution Center has the greatest number of people in it, so I think that should be the other priority. This map works, but it sure would be helpful to me to see the actual layout. Can we get access to the roof?”
“Yes. We have a sniper team up there now. The advantage we get with them having their windows covered is they can’t see what we’re doing.”
“Kate, where’s Akmed?” Jordan wondered.
Kate was hesitant to respond.
Stan, saw the potential issue, jumped in. “Jordan, why don’t you and Kate go up to the roof and scout it out with the Commander’s men and, if you and I could find a quiet place, Commander, I need to brief you on a couple of things that may impact this operation.” Stan grabbed Choufani’s arm.
Choufani gave him the typical local cop dealing with a Fed look. “I’m all ears. I think there’s a conference room over there where we can discuss this.”
Stan and Choufani walked into the conference room. Stan shut the door. “The owner of the hardware store is in our custody. He has been our informant and we had to extract him to protect him. Kate couldn’t afford to stay in the store and had no idea that Benny, the employee, was under the control of Mustafa. I’m not sure how much help Akmed, the informant, would be to us, but the boy he raised for this mission is the one who was on the phone. Commander, I’m offering you Akmed if you think it might be an asset to your efforts. However, you must understand we made a deal with him and he’ll disappear after today.”
Choufani looked at Stan. He had no ideas of all the layers that were beneath this incident, nor did he have the time to delve into all of them. The decision Choufani had to make dealt with trusting this legendary Fed and his team or going it alone. “Stan, we’ve got a big problem here and I think we could benefit from your help and assistance. Let’s figure out the best way we can use Akmed, if at all. I want you and your team to have any resources you need. I need your input and advice.” Choufani stuck out his hand to shake Stan’s. “I have one condition though.”
Stan looked at Choufani, not sure what to expect.
“When this is all over, you’re going to take me to Barclay’s Prime and buy me the biggest steak dinner they have and tell me the whole story.”
Stan broke out into a big smile. “You bet, partner. Believe you me it’s a dog gone good story. Now, let’s go get this taken care of and wrangle up these kids.”
Chapter Sixty-Seven
CONSTITUTION CENTER-INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL PARK
Jon Halloran scanned the room and located where each of the children was positioned. It was hard for him to believe that a group of kids — some not even teenagers — had successfully taken over the Constitution Center. They were well trained and disciplined and demonstrated that this wasn’t some last minute effort, but carefully planned. What had transpired was a classic siege strategy to which the kids had quickly adjusted when some of the hostages had resisted. Situations such as this were Halloran’s business, but usually from the outside looking in, since he was a Special Ops officer, and reassured himself that, for every plan, there was a counter. He attempted to find the counter that he and his men could exploit as he sat on the floor, hands bound behind him.
Jon and three of his men had just instructed a survival school at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey. On the way back to their home base in Virginia, they had decided to spend a day in Philadelphia and visit Independence Park. They had just entered the Constitution Center, en route to the theater for the next show, when the students took over.
At first, Jon and his men had stayed together and could whisper to one another. When the larger group was broken up, Jon had quickly instructed his men to split up and try to be in each group. They found that, once the groups were moved, each one of them could maintain sight of at least one other soldier in another group. They all had been well trained in the art of signaling each other without others being able to tell, so they could maintain communication. They searched for patterns the children might demonstrate that the soldiers could subsequently exploit in order to get the hostages out of the building. They had already determined there were more than enough exits to rapidly evacuate the forty-five hostages. All Jon Halloran and his men needed to figure out was the best way to get people to follow them. They weren’t in uniform, so nothing gave them away as military, but training and experience had taught Halloran and his comrades that people could be reluctant to act quickly when they have been told to sit still and had seen their captors with guns.
As time wore on, the team began to notice the children had lost their discipline. The kids weren’t paying as much attention to the hostages and some were even involved with the interactive learning systems found throughout the center. The leader didn’t move around as much as he had earlier and was seated at the membership desk. His view was obstructed and would impact his ability to react.
Jon had to weigh when exactly they should move. Conditions had improved their chance for success and he wasn’t sure how much longer those conditions would last. In the past, he’d found these things worked in cycles, that the terrorists would slack off for a while, only to tighten up the control. Then, over time it would lessen again. The key was trying to determine when control was at its weakest, prior to returning to strength.
Jon’s team constantly gave him input and he began to feel they were close to the point where he needed to act. So, he did a quick survey of the room and felt they were probably in the best situation they could expect. He decided they were at the point of no return, so he signaled his man closest to him that they would move in five minutes and watched as the man relayed the message to the next man closest to him.
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Mustafa moved through the building, until he found the door he needed. The door had a special lock for controlled access, but he had found out by accident the master key he’d been provided opened this door. On several occasions, after he’d first been promoted to this job, he would sneak in after hours. While many parts of this facility operated twenty-four hours a day, this area was on a day schedule only. Security was not aware that Mustafa had access since they would always escort his team into the room for it to be cleaned and stay with them until it was done. To Mustafa, this seemed like a work room, since it was full of tools and metal working equipment. He couldn’t understand its importance until he began having conversations with Jerome. Through those conversations, he began to understand that this was the most important room in the entire building and the people who worked in this room were the greatest prize of all.
The more he worked in the facility, the more he begun to understand how it really operated. As he got to know people, rules became less enforced. He was able to walk into the building without the guard physically taking his ID to check its validity. Doors which, in the past, he would have to call to have opened were now unlocked as he approached. The seeds were planted as to how he might be able to do what Jerome wanted him to do — and right under the all-seeing eyes of security.
His next stroke of genius came to him when there was a lock down drill one day while he was on the premises. He noticed that his role allowed him the ability to continue to move around the building and not get stopped or ordered into a specific area. The only obstacle he could find was the lack of ability to get outside, and possibly back in. The plan ultimately came together when he realized he could use his family’s mission to create a diversion.
So he continued to plan and work with the children, but he subtly changed the training, so the children’s chance of success diminished and the opportunity for their mission to dissolve into chaos was almost ensured. With bedlam happening across the street, it would more than ensure Mustafa’s success in his new mission.
As he walked down the hallway, Mustafa was pleased his men were already at the door, with their carts. They stood in a formation Mustafa had developed, effectively blocking the camera view in the hallway. The camera had been placed to view the door, but also scan down the corridor. Mustafa believed because the door was secured and only a few senior people supposedly had a key, security had assumed the proper precautions had been taken and didn’t need to have a backup. While the security team would see Mustafa and his men at the door, the security people’s vision would be sufficiently obscured that they couldn’t be certain if Mustafa and his men had the proper escort. However, since Mustafa had his key and they would see the door open and the group enter, Mustafa was hoping they would make the assumption, however wrong, that he and his men were indeed under escort.
Enemy Among Us-A Jordan Wright Thriller Page 22