The Templar Reprisals (The Best Thrillers Book 3) by James Best (free ebook reader for ipad .TXT) 📗

much trouble. Unless we hunt one down, I suspect we’ll never see another Templar.”

“How bad is that?” Baldwin asked.

“Bad. As far as we know, the Ikhwan still want us dead, and O’Brian can’t or won’t dedicate government resources to help us. I was planning on playing the Templars against the Ikhwan. Now I’ve got to figure out something else.”

“Why was Methow assassinated?” Baldwin asked.

“The million-dollar question. It had to be the Ikhwan, but the assailant looked and acted like a professional hit man. Perhaps the Ikhwan are too busy arranging Friday’s big party to do their own dirty work. But why now? They must have previously known about his Templar status.”

Wilson leaned forward to catch their attention. “Because he renewed his inquiries about Ali as-Saad.”

“Crap, you’re right. That must be it. They’re protecting the backup caliph. The hit had all the traits of a hurried job. If it had been carefully planned, they’d have known that Methow would have left the office by that time of day.” Evarts thought through the course of events. “But why did he wait until we left the room? That makes no sense.”

Wilson said, “Maybe the hitman only had a contract for Methow and purposely waited for us to leave.”

“That pattern of shots through the wall was grouped to nail us as well. I’ll bet he knew about the reward for our heads and after he completed his immediate contract, threw a Hail Mary.”

The three sat quietly for a moment.

“What does that mean for us?” Baldwin finally asked.

“Death … unless we get them first. The Templars set us up as grand poohbahs in their little club. Now, they’ve caught us in a private, off-hours meeting with a leading Templar. That just reinforced their conviction that we’re the enemy.” He leaned over and gave his wife a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry, dear.”

“Nothing to be sorry about … but I prefer the ‘we get them first’ option.”

Chapter 56

We met O’Brian in a private room at the Kingbird restaurant inside the Watergate. I appreciated his choice because afterwards, we could be in our room in about three minutes. It was late, we were tired. When the server came, we ordered drinks and a main course immediately.

“I hear you had a harrowing experience,” O’Brian said.

“You could say that. Your daughter-in-law saved my life.”

“Good luck, was all,” Wilson said around a swallow of cold beer.

“More than luck,” Evarts said. “She’s a damn good cop, you know.”

“Yes, I know,” O’Brian said unemotionally. “Before we get to the issues at hand, thank you for the heads-up on the president. He’ll fly in a back-up plane, everyone else will fly on what they’ll presume is Air Force One. We’ll keep up the pretense of a normal flight to catch the terrorist. Everyone will be carefully searched. Pens, lighters, key bobs, belts, etc. will be confiscated and sent to a lab for inspection and disassembly. Shoes will be highly scrutinized. After take-off, passengers will be told that the president is not on board and this is a Black Flag drill. Before the flight arrives in Bermuda, we hope to have the person arrested.”

“Black Flag?” Baldwin asked.

“Highest alert for a pending Islamic terrorist attack,” O’Brian answered. “Somebody found the code word fitting because Mohammed used a black standard. Official Washington knows we occasionally run these drills. So, with the president safe, our main concern turns to finding the book-bombs and the terrorist cells.”

Baldwin asked. “How long to defuse all those bombs?”

“Twenty minutes each. Assume eight hundred bombs. Two hundred sixty-six man-hours. To complete in the twenty hours allotted, we would need at least fourteen working demolition experts around the clock. Five hour shifts due to stress would require fifty-six teams.”

“Do you have that many?” Baldwin asked stunned.

“In the Army, but not close to D. C., plus I can’t order them all into town. It would surely alert the terrorists.”

“You can’t allow live bombs to be distributed,” Evarts said.

“I want those terrorist cells. It’s an opportunity to make some inroads into the Ikhwan and dissuade them from trying anything like this again. Even if we find where they’re warehoused, we’ll allow the books to be delivered to the lobbyists. In pre-dawn raids on Friday we’ll pick up the books. That will give us tomorrow and through the night to catch the terrorist cells.”

“What if copies leak before Friday morning?” Baldwin asked.

“We put the fear of God into the lobbyists. We weren’t specific, but we told them it would be a criminal breach of national security if they allowed any books out of their possession before Friday afternoon. Of course, by the time they arrive for work on Friday, they’ll be gone.” O’Brian almost smiled. “Plus, we have every office under tight surveillance. Nothing bigger that a cigarette pack will leave the premises.”

Baldwin said. “On the Congressman Johnson bombing, we have some—”

“Separate issue,” O’Brian interrupted. “He received a package from his campaign manager that had no commonality with the books. We haven’t figured that out yet, but separate teams are working on it.”

“We think we figured it out,” Baldwin offered. “The Ikhwan wanted an early bomb explosion in case one of the lobbyists made an early distribution to preferred clients. Law enforcement would assume any bomb that went off early was a continuation of the Johnson and Capitol Hill Club bombings. The misconception wouldn’t hold long, but long enough for the curtain to rise on the Big Show.”

O’Brian thought that through. “Plausible. It would have the added benefit of hurrying our valiant members of Congress out of town to spread these bombs all over hell’s half acre. Clever. Now, let’s get to the issue at hand. How do we entrap these terrorist teams? Any ideas?”

“You’ve already had your experts review this six ways from Sunday, why ask us?” Baldwin asked.

“Because I like the way this team thinks. Plus, I often get outside the pentagon bubble to hear other opinions.” Our meals arrived. When the plates had been distributed, O’Brian added, “So, any suggestions?”

“Question