Massive Attack (A Guy Niava Thriller Book 1) by Dana Arama (e reader for manga .txt) 📗

Through my jumble of thoughts and the static noise from the satellite telephone, I heard Gordon’s voice say: “We have information regarding the school you mentioned. Lord Arthur Nicholas Graham the eighth, converted to the Islam over two decades ago. He is a devout Muslim and has been practicing the faith for the last twenty-five years. His son, Yassin, fits the profile we are looking for. He is the right age and has the financial status to conduct such an operation. I am already investigating his social network and I can say with certainty that he has made quite a few anti-Israel declarations that he definitely doesn’t try to hide.”

“And do you know where he is now?”

“The information should be available in a few minutes. In the meantime, you can tell me how you are, because you sound a little down.”

He surprised me. It had never occurred to me that Gordon was interested in me as a person and certainly never that he was capable of such sensitivity. I said, “Nothing really, just a family thing. I found my sister and I really don’t like the guy she is seeing at the moment.”

“Because he isn’t in the security force type?” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Exactly… Would not fit in with the family. I can’t see us sitting around the same table for Thanksgiving without it turning into a big fight.”

“You can take comfort that it happens to the best of families. The holidays make us all a little sensitive. By the way,” he added humorously, “I fit your profile of the security type and I am waiting for you to invite me to Thanksgiving dinner.”

I laughed. I wished that was the reason why I was sad but just said, “Believe me you don’t want to join. I am not sure that my sister and her boyfriend are the type to come celebrate with us. He wants to move her out of the United States. They have this romantic dream of living in the middle of a jungle.” I hadn’t deviated too far from the truth. The head of a drug cartel hiding in the middle of a jungle on an estate was obviously a better description, but Gordon wasn’t the right man to share this information with.

“Don’t underestimate romantic dreams.” There was something soft in his tone of voice, but then he got back to business, “Okay, here’s the information about Yassin. He is here, in the United States at the moment.”

“Do we have grounds to arrest him?”

“We don’t even have grounds to follow him.” He hesitated for a moment and then added, “But that shouldn’t prevent me from passing his name to Mustaffa Allimi to try to concentrate his investigation around him.”

“That’s right. Allimi has his own sources of information. It will be better to tighten the noose around Yassin before trying to pursue legal action against him.”

Gordon sounded quite cheerful, maybe because of this new direction in our relationship, and he announced, “We now have a new lead thanks to you. That must cheer you up, even if your family has disappointed you.”

I laughed. “I will deal with my family in good time,” I said, “Now is the time to solve this case and close it with zero casualties. I want to start analyzing the information about Yassin, from the time he landed in the United States.”

I heard Gordon typing away at his keyboard as he checked on a few things. “Private jet… This character documents all his movements on every possible social media platform.”

“This doesn’t quite suit the type who is supposed to be planning a terror attack.”

“It really doesn’t fit,” he agreed. “Still, I am going to pass on his name.”

“Yes. If it is not him, maybe it is someone in his entourage. I want a full-scale, detailed report on his every move once the wheels of his jet landed on US soil till this very moment. If he reports everything, it shouldn’t be too hard. And please do it with the utmost discretion and sensitivity. He is well-connected and there is no use in poking a sleeping bear if we are not sure there is any credence to our suspicions.”

“We’ll check it out, and also look for other leads. I remember you want zero casualties.”

He was right, but at that moment I had no way of knowing that the number of casualties was going to rise very soon.

“Did the boss say something about my disappearance?” I asked anxiously, just before he hung up.

Gordon hesitated before answering. “He was furious.” Maybe because he said it so quietly what he said next sounded scarier. “He said that if this affair doesn’t end well, you will be the first he will throw to the hungry dogs.”

***

I looked at my screen, almost hoping that she would call. My throat was thick with tears and I refused to let them surface. This isn’t the time to become emotional.

“Did you give up on her?” I heard over my shoulder. It was Guy’s soft voice. “I hope you haven’t given up on her.”

“It is not the same situation as Jonathan,” I answered, and the tears now poured out of my eyes. “I can’t let her relive her memories. I know it is too hard.”

“Do you also relive the memories every day?”

I lifted my eyes and looked at him. Had he guessed? Had he heard our conversation? I wanted to answer that I still remembered the warmth of his body, his weight on me, the helplessness I felt every time I saw his shadow in the door frame. Instead I answered simply, “Yes.” And because I felt I owed it to him, I added, “He harassed me too. Every morning I wanted to die. I stayed alive to look after Gail, but in the end, when I couldn’t bear it any longer, I was given the choice to leave to an athletic boarding