Chapter 38
From the small apartment beneath Sameer’s home where he stayed, Murad waited for word from the two he had dispatched from a Canadian-based Castle Pizza store in Vancouver to capture Dr. Evans. The only clue to their failure was from the article he read in the San Francisco Chronicle. It lacked specific details but told of a yacht belonging to a Christian minister that was attacked in the early morning hours the day before while in port in Kona. Six were confirmed dead and they went on to say three were crew members and three others were still unidentified.
If there were three onboard, and then my two men, then who was the other killed? Murad wondered. The article mentioned the minister’s name but unluckily, as he was away on business, he was not one of those killed. So without communications from his team along with the article he just read, Murad could only assume they were included in the casualties.
Murad turned on the television to see if he could learn more and caught the tail end of a recent update on the attack. The reporter said all victims were male, and one dog was killed as well. As there was no mention of a woman in any of the reports, he concluded Dr. Evans had eluded them or not been on the yacht in the first place. He had tracked her to Hawaii when their inside person at Apple provided them with Dr. Evans’ GPS coordinates as she moved from island to island. Another case of how stupid these Americans can be. They do everything for commerce, marketing and profit. Apple’s welcoming attitude towards international employees allowed them to easily place one of their brighter faithful from Pakistan in the sensitive data-collection department of Apple. Having her inside had been one of their most successful infiltration efforts.
People who carry cell phones, which today is just about everyone, continually download dozens of apps with a real-time GPS data feature that gives the app developer the ability to track spending and travel habits. Normally everyone forgets to turn off the phone’s GPS location tracking device, so millions upon millions of citizens have their movements tracked and sold to companies who want the information. Apple provides this info anonymously, but their inside source has devised a way to attach a cell number to a location. Where Sameer had failed, Murad succeeded.
Murad listened as the reporter went on to say, “Three crew members of the yacht Salvation II, owned by Reverend Daniel Gibbons of MCN, were shot to death, along with two assailants of mid-eastern descent who Homeland Security say may have ties to a terrorist cell in Northern California. While officials from the FBI haven’t confirmed it yet, our sources close to the investigation tell us they were likely tied to a terrorist sleeper cell based out of a college pizza parlor near the University of Berkley. One of the assailants wore a Castle Pizza T-shirt under his body armor.”
Murad was stunned. How he could have worn the very shirt he ridiculed upon his arrival? The reporter added, “One eye witness spotted the logo of the popular pizza chain as they wheeled his body from the dock to a medical examiner’s vehicle.”
“It is time to leave this behind,” he said to Sameer. “We need change our identity to leave your home this moment, never to return. We cannot take weapons as we must travel by commercial airline to Hawaii. We must succeed where they have failed!”
“But Murad what will become of the attack on the arena, the death of thousands of non-believers, as we’ve hoped for every moment of our lives? Can we not issue the order to detonate,” Sameer asked.
“Sameer, as the Americans will always have football, we have time. If we do not bomb the stadium now, we will do it next year. The explosives are safe and will keep for a very long time. Murad answered.
“Then once we leave here, where will we go?” Sameer asked. “Murad, I am loyal to Allah, and to you, but I have found a home here.”
Sameer you will find your place in heaven; your faith will be fulfilled by your love of our savior Mohammed,” Murad assured Sameer with fragile conviction. But as he had seen the wave of disappointment come over Sameer’s face when he learned he must give up his fraudulent life in America, he thought Sameer to be a coward. And just as sure as Murad would now spread Islam by the sword, he vowed Sameer would soon die.
“Do you think we can get through airport security with our fallback identifications, especially because of the news report?” Sameer asked.
“We will find a way around it. Have you prepared your home for destruction as instructed?” Murad asked of Sameer.
“Yes, but can we wait? I have already sent my family away but want to bring some of the things I cherish with me. My wife had no time to collect our family photographs.”
“Go ahead, but we have less than an hour; the agents are probably at the pizza restaurant already.”
Sameer took the elevator up to the third floor where his home office and their bedroom were located. “I will be down in twenty minutes, thank you Murad.”
Murad went into the garage and started the car Sameer kept hidden for times like this. Its Nevada plates were registered to a man who passed away two years ago and would take him to the airport undetected.
As the car warmed up in the driveway, Murad returned to the garage. He went to the back panel on one of two water heaters — only one was an actual heater, but the home was so large no one would question the need for two. Unscrewing the panel, he placed it on the ground and reached his hand inside the tank, feeling for a series of switches, each connected to a detonation device in the primary rooms of the house, including Sameer’s office. With Sameer only gone for five minutes out of the twenty he estimated he’d take, Murad activated all of the six detonators. Each would go off in exactly four minutes, enough time for him to get into the car and be at least a mile from the house when they set off the charges.
And that is what he did.
Unleashed Page 49