Calculated deception, p.20
Calculated Deception, page 20
Ree and Parker drove back to the embassy and debriefed the team. However, it was still only two in the afternoon. Ree's stomach couldn't take much more, and Alexis was hovering protectively over her shoulder. Alexis was also showing signs of being cooped up since she'd been sidelined to the surveillance team. If Ree had learned anything about Alexis in their short time together, it was that sitting still wasn’t really her forte. The palpable tension was broken by Mike challenging everyone to a game of poker. Ree couldn’t resist, even though Parker warned her that Mike was shameless about exploiting everyone’s tells and enjoyed winning just a little too much.
Ree retrieved a few dollars from her bag to pass the remaining hours until dinner. She held her own, but her observant new friends didn’t buy her bluffing, and she was out first. Alexis swept the floor with Parker and Mike as they focused on beating one another.
After Mike slid his last chip to Alexis and she scooped up her winnings, they ate dinner, and everyone went to their separate quarters. Tomorrow, they would all be at the embassy until word was received that Simon's shipment was in. Once he unpacked it and left the building, the real work would begin. Changing into sweatpants and a t-shirt, Ree slid under the covers and waited for sleep to come.
27
Simon approached the building where his equipment should be waiting. For the first time in months, it was clear he had the upper hand. The University of Accra was much smaller than the campus in Indiana, and he was counting on few witnesses. It was irrelevant in any case. Those in the lab knew nothing about his equipment, and those with expertise had never suspected his intent. He could take the guidance and control systems and nose cones even with other people nearby. No one would be the wiser.
If his machine arrived intact, he would continue as planned. A little welding, riveting, and soldering this afternoon, and he would be ready the following day. Simon had been warned by The General to expect the unexpected and to proceed regardless of any surprises. It was an otherwise unexplained warning that made him uncomfortable, but ultimately, it was all The General thought he needed to know. His only task was to point the missiles at President Minkah, and Simon had the coordinates for his location at the time the missile would be launched. While The General had tried to weave more details into the story about the President killing Simon’s parents, he was likely just trying to ensure Simon’s compliance. It was reassuring to know he played enough of a role in The General’s plans to warrant special reassurance from the man, but the veracity of the story was irrelevant. President Minkah stood in their way, and that was all that mattered. He would proceed as planned.
Simon made small talk with the employees at the university as he leaned against a building near the loading dock. Presenting different personas was something that came more easily to him than most things. Switching to a more outgoing personality was no trouble as he waited for the package to arrive. The General informed him that the machine was en route, and the trip from the airport to the university was a relatively short one. However, the equipment had cleared customs later in the day than he expected. He would need to work through the night. It was no matter. One long night in exchange for the outcome he desired was more than an acceptable trade.
A few minutes after his arrival, Simon’s machine was delivered to the loading dock. He pushed himself off the wall of the building, brushing his pants and feeling for his knife before directing the delivery truck driver to the appropriate lab. Simon allowed victory to seep into his limbs. It was a luxury in his line of work, where isolation was typical and emotional control was essential. Seeing his machine arrive in one piece as if it was a normal delivery was a welcome reminder that his plans were coming to fruition.
Once the delivery truck driver left, Simon disassembled the crate, noted that everything was as he had left it, and began to assemble his machine to continue his charade. It took some time, as his new acquaintances stopped by to see his equipment and ask questions. Before he left, he placed five complete thrust control and guidance systems and the metal pieces he needed into a large cardboard box. Five total nose cones, each progressively smaller than the one before, had masqueraded as a fixture at the base of his machine and would only require a little work to form into their proper shape. They were not perfect but were close enough to suit his purpose. He had more parts than he needed, but the solitary nature of his mission meant he couldn’t count on anyone but himself, and back-up components were necessary.
Simon walked to his truck and placed the components in the passenger’s seat. It was a short drive to the warehouse on the outskirts of town where the rest of the parts he needed to create his missiles would be waiting.
* * *
When Simon began to drive away from the college, Alexis and Mike packed up their gear at the embassy to follow him. It was too risky for Parker and Ree to join them. They would stay at the embassy unless they were needed. If all went well, Alexis and Mike would catch Simon in the act of creating a missile, and the team could turn him over to the local authorities and go home before the night was out.
Alexis stared at a small screen that tracked the location of Simon’s truck and gave Mike directions until they reached it. The red dot continued to blink, but the truck in front of them was empty. “We lost him, Mikey,” she said. She smacked her hand against the inside of the hard car door. They had trailed him into a busy warehouse district. Because of the narrow streets, pedestrians, and the desire to keep their distance, there was no sign of Simon.
“Alex, the guy is a fully trained intelligence officer. We’ll find him – it’ll just take longer than finding an untrained civilian,” Mike reassured his teammate. But Alexis could spot a bullshitter from a mile away, and Mikey was definitely bullshitting. She sighed and looked out the window. They passed the empty vehicle, parked, and communicated their location. Alexis adjusted her hair under a headcover and ran a hand over her traditional Ghanaian dress. She looked like a tourist trying too hard to fit in, but as long as she didn’t look like Alexis Jenson, Dr. Ryland’s student, that was just fine. They would have sent Tim or Jordan in her place, but they were techies, not field agents. This wasn’t her first rodeo, and she could stay disguised long enough to find their man. However, as they crept into the alleyway, it started to feel less like two FBI agents finding one rogue intelligence agent and more like walking into an ambush.
They communicated their situation and requested backup from the as yet unseen CIA team. A couple of guys were there in minutes, explaining that they didn’t exist and wouldn’t even have a record of being there. Alexis was so grateful for the help she didn’t even roll her eyes. One of them had a slight limp – his face was shaded under a hat, but he seemed familiar. The other was either Ghanaian or a good actor, since his accent matched that of the locals perfectly. It didn’t matter who they were, as long as they were armed, and their weapons were pointing at their mutual enemy. They checked around corners and looked into buildings, but after half an hour of searching, they found nothing. But, they also didn’t get shot in the back, so it wasn’t a complete failure. Minutes turned into hours, and soon the sun began to set. They went back to the car, and Mike called in their situation while Alexis stared out the window in silence.
“Guys, we have his vehicle, and they’re not launching missiles from the inside of a building. Get back here, and we’ll regroup,” Parker said. His voice was clipped, as it always was when he was annoyed. Answerless, they had no choice but to go back to the embassy to figure out what was next.
* * *
Ree was carrying a stack of paperwork when two dejected agents walked into the room Tim and Jordan were using as a command center. Alexis and Mike stripped out of their bulletproof vests and joined the rest of the team pouring over satellite photography. After getting a quick lesson in what to look for, Ree flipped through the pages with the rest of the team, the high stakes keeping her focused on what would otherwise be a mind-numbingly dull task.
“Got it,” Mike said. Waving a part of the map that looked to Ree to just be desert with a couple of outbuildings, he flipped between images from two months prior and those taken yesterday while the satellite was overhead. “New building, nothing around it but a concrete pad. And it’s the right size. Get the team, we’re going out there tonight.”
“Am I going?” Ree asked, unsure of whether she wanted them to approve or disapprove of her coming along.
“Sorry, Ree. You need to sit this one out. Hopefully, we’ll come back, and Simon will be in handcuffs. You can stay with Jordan and Tim and help keep an eye on things from here.” Parker took off his shirt and put on a bulletproof vest. Over it, he added a long-sleeved black shirt.
The rest of the team followed suit and checked their weapons. The rip and placement of the Velcro on the vests and click of weapons being checked were the only sounds as the team prepped for action. Ree settled into a seat by Jordan, ready to help if her team needed her. If she couldn’t relax, she could at least be useful.
“All right guys, let’s move,” Parker commanded the rest of the team and pointed to the exit. As the efficient line of agents filed out of the room, Mike lagged behind, plugging GPS coordinates into a device. The door closed, and the room went silent except for the humming of the computer that was Ree’s lifeline to her friends.
“They’ll be alright,” Jordan said without looking away from his screen. While his words were intended to reassure, the fact that they needed saying did little to ease her mind. She rapidly tapped her right index finger on the desk while staring at the computer screen, willing it to tell her that her friends were safe.
* * *
As he slowed the truck to a stop, Parker scanned the surrounding area. They were in the middle of the country with no other people around. The only shelter was the small building that Mikey had spotted on the image. It appeared to be deserted. Parker hopped out of the truck, drawing his weapon. The rest of the team followed in a similar fashion. He gestured to the sides of the building, and they split up. The front of the building was corrugated metal, with only one small window and a heavy metal door locked with a padlock. On the other side of the building was a large closed metal garage door. Finding nothing of value on the exterior of the building, Parker flashed a light into the window, and said quietly, “We need to get in there, guys.” Parker handed his light to Alexis and removed his lock picking tools while Mike watched the road. Parker heard a quiet click, and the heavy padlock was removed. Alexis opened the door, and it groaned on its hinges.
Parker shone his light around the room but saw no one and no obvious recording equipment. The bases that the missiles would need to launch successfully were sitting in front of him. There were three bases total. A row of metal storage cabinets lined the wall. Approaching one of the large unlocked cabinets, he cautiously opened the door and found what he was looking for. Shutting the door gingerly, he scanned the room to make sure they hadn’t left any traces of their visit and indicated that it was time to go.
“Still good, Mikey?” Parker asked, breaking through the quiet tension.
“Affirmative, Parker, no one in sight.”
“Place that camera, will you?”
“Affirmative.” Mike placed his flashlight between his teeth and planted the camera discreetly under the building’s roofline. He was back to the truck in seconds. They didn’t dare place more than one, and this would give them the information they needed, even if it didn’t give them as much as they wanted.
Five minutes after their arrival, the team left the building, and half an hour later, they were back at the embassy. It was the first score for the good guys, and the mood in the truck on the way back was one of cautious optimism. It wasn’t a win, but it was a start, and they’d take what they could get.
* * *
Ree met them at the door, relieved they were back safely but exhausted from the constant stress of worrying about what could go wrong. The team seemed happy with the outcome, which was odd, considering they hadn’t brought Simon back with them.
“So, everything go okay?” Ree asked, her voice more casual than she felt.
Parker answered, clearly pumped up and more talkative than usual. “Yes. Actually, better than okay. They can’t launch these things without fuel, and we just found enough to light up half the city. Now that we have eyes on it, we know at least that source is secure. The only risk is that they have more stashed somewhere, but rocket fuel isn’t that easy to come by. It’s dark, and we can’t find out much more now. We can get some sleep while Tim keeps an eye on the cameras.”
“What can I do?” Ree asked.
“Nothing right now. We’ll be sleeping in our vests tonight in case we need to move quickly. Good news is we still have a chance to stop this guy. The vice president will be at the college tomorrow, and our intel, along with Simon’s cover, points that direction. We need to be fresh, so do what you can to relax tonight. It sounds impossible, I know, but we need you rested for whatever is going to happen.”
28
Simon wiped his brow with the back of his blackened hand. He was covered in sweat and grease from riveting, welding, and soldering his weapons into being. He’d worked through the night in the basement of a warehouse with only a freight elevator and no windows. He had three finished missiles, and his mission was almost complete. The fuel was elsewhere, a necessary compromise considering he was working with heat. The General had arranged for a truck with lifting equipment and another agent who was trained to not ask questions to come help him in a few hours. Soon, no one would stand in the way of their plans.
* * *
The FBI agents and one college professor were all up before the sun, even though the big event didn’t start until 1 p.m. Mike and Alexis left shortly after waking up to continue their search for Simon, despite the meager odds of finding him in a busy city if he didn’t want to be found. If they couldn’t locate him by late morning, they’d drive over to the college for two reasons: Simon still had what was left of his equipment there, and there was a high-profile target speaking to a large crowd that afternoon who might need extra coverage. Parker and the rest of the team would be watching the camera they’d planted the night before in case Simon slipped past their defenses at the university.
* * *
Two hours after they’d left the embassy, Alexis looked at her watch and grimaced. They had found nothing, and it was time to change locations. Damn. Mike’s eyebrows were furrowed, and he was scowling into another alley. Yeah, he was as pissed as she was. He growled into the mic that they needed to go. Their last chance to catch this maniac rested on finding Simon lurking in the crowd, since the shack filled with rocket fuel still sat empty.
Mike parked some distance away from campus proper to make it easy to leave in a hurry, but as they approached the bright red buildings, Alexis twitched at the size of the crowd. The smell of food hung in the air as vendors sold their wares and eager students gathered. Alexis turned her shoulders to slip through the tightly packed sea of people. At least everyone seemed friendly and most were excited. The environment was lively, not unlike big political rallies in the U.S.
Alexis followed Mike, whose head turned back and forth methodically to scan for threats. The large crowd limited their visibility, and she grabbed Mike’s arm, pointing to indicate they should try and get a better look from the roof of a building. They tried to walk up a deserted stairway to get to the top of the building but found a national security team already stationed at the roof door. They were told in no uncertain terms that they needed to find another place to watch the ceremony. At least the government had tight security – they’d take all the help they could get.
Given that their covers required them to act like tourists, they retreated to a second-floor window of a classroom in a building farther away. Mike pulled a pair of binoculars from his backpack, but the crowd was enormous and moving, alive in its own right, which made it difficult to find a specific person. Time passed with no sign of their suspect.
When the vice president stepped up to a podium to welcome the crowd, Alexis tensed. The crowd stilled, and her trained eyes looked for motion. Because she was focused on the crowd, she didn’t see where the shot came from before the vice president of the country they were trying to help collapsed on the stage.
“Holy shit!” Alexis yelled. She and Mike ran to the door of the classroom, shouting a situation update to Parker on their mics. As they tried to leave the building, the crowd morphed into a sea of chaos, and they found themselves trapped inside a swarm of terrified witnesses.
* * *
Parker heard the expletive in his earpiece and shouted at Jordan to communicate with the CIA guys, who were elsewhere on campus but similarly penned in by the crowd. They needed to find a route to get his team safely out, but they didn't know where the shot had come from or why it was happening. The timing was too coincidental not to be connected to Simon’s missiles, but it didn’t fit the evidence they had gathered. The building housing the fuel Simon needed was still deserted. Parker’s highest priority now was to get his team out of danger. Once they were out, they would reassess the threat. Parker kept Mike and Alexis talking, coaching them and making sure he knew their whereabouts in case more drastic action was necessary.
* * *
The General collapsed and grabbed his leg in pain. Akua had shot him exactly where he had commanded her to. Good girl. While he had been shot before, it was a lifetime ago, and it hurt worse than he remembered. As expected, his security team swarmed, and he heard the distant screech of an ambulance. Per protocol, President Minkah would be rushed to the presidential mansion to get him away from government buildings and other large gathering places. The president would then reassure his country by holding a press conference within the high cement walls around his compound. The General would watch and wait from his hospital bed, surrounded by security personnel who would vouch for his non-involvement. The tragic death of the president, followed by the vice president’s government takeover would be complete just after nightfall. Blood seeped from his wound, and he closed his eyes and smiled.
