The Templar Reprisals (The Best Thrillers Book 3) by James Best (read any book txt) 📕

first?” When he got a go ahead nod from O’Brian, Evarts asked, “When we first talked about this, you seemed more interested in Templars than Ikhwan. Have you had a change of heart?”

O’Brian showed irritation. “Eight hundred bombs in my city has a way of doing that. Besides, other agencies were previously assigned to the Ikhwan. Now, do you have any thoughts or not?”

Evarts realized events had given O’Brian good reason to change his focus. It was he who had stubbornly clung to an obsolete notion. His disappointment in not getting O’Brian’s help earlier had clouded his thinking. Evarts shook off his ruminations when he heard Wilson ask a question.

“Are we looking at storage facilities to find the bombs earlier?” Wilson asked. “Are we checking shipping manifests?”

“Of course,” O’Brian said. “The FBI is running down shipments on the East Coast of appropriate size and tracing space rentals within a three-hundred-mile radius. Anything within a four-hour drive of D.C.”

Wilson asked, “Has the FBI made any progress on the financial forensics?”

“Why?” O’Brian said.

Baldwin answered. “Methow said the Ikhwan use billionaires to conceal their financial assets and money transfers. They have enough leverage on these people to trust them with their cash, which means they might trust them with an important piece of this operation. If we know the U.S. citizens in their network, we could check their property holdings around D.C.”

“You just earned your supper,” O’Brian said as he punched up someone on his phone.

O’Brian got up and walked to a corner of the private dining room to talk in a low voice.  Evarts heard him say he’d hold. It was a long hold and Evarts finished his meal. When the server came back in, he ordered another whiskey. It had been delivered and he had consumed it before O’Brian finished his call and returned to the table.

After retaking his seat, O’Brian said, “There are nine super-wealthy Americans with attachments to the Ikhwan. Six are on the East Coast. Three of those are hedge fund managers with only residential real estate. The others have numerous holdings within our radius. One owns a direct marketing business with three warehouse operations within a four-hour drive. The FBI will concentrate on them first. Since the publisher believes this is a legitimate promo, we’ll start by assuming the deliveries haven’t been disguised. They’re a twenty-four-hour operation, so we’ll soon know. Additional teams will work the other two accomplices.”

“If you locate them, see if you can delay sending them out for delivery,” Evarts said.

“Why?” O’Brian asked.

“The Ikhwan must have watchers to make sure everything proceeds on schedule. What do you suppose the watchers will do if the books don’t leave the warehouse on time?”

“Call home,” Wilson volunteered.

“And home will call their rich accomplice to find out what the hell happened.” Evarts added.

O’Brian nodded. “We can get a trace set up. We’ll at least learn the country of origin.”

Baldwin said, “What if they get an answer that requires them to call their bomb teams here in the US. Could those calls be traced?”

O’Brian smiled, a rare occurrence.

“If you have a way to pull that off, you’ve all earned your suppers.”

Chapter 57

After dinner, Evarts and Baldwin had left immediately for their room. Thursday would be busy. When the alarm had gone off at five AM, neither wanted to roll out of bed. Evarts wearily took a shower and shaved. He dressed in khaki trousers and a black golf shirt. Only after a second cup of coffee did he feel halfway alert.

Baldwin drifted out of the bathroom for their room service breakfast. They quietly ate oatmeal and fruit, washed down with more coffee.

“Are you tired?” she asked.

“I woke exhausted, but I’ve recharged my system with copious amounts of caffeine.”

“I’m too old for this shit,” Baldwin said, imitating Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon.

“Ditto.”

They continued to eat in silence. The prior evening Baldwin had suggested a warehouse sick-out as the excuse for the late delivery. If they could get the warehouse manager to claim he needed temps to deliver the shipment on time, maybe the Ikhwan would volunteer their own men to fill the void. It was a long shot, but they had nothing better.

There were problems. The most serious dilemma would be if they couldn’t find the storage site for the books. Even if they did, watchers might spot the FBI checking the storage facility and realize their plan had been busted. Even in plain clothes, FBI agents tended to look like federal cops. Far more troubling, the telephone calls wouldn’t occur until the Ikhwan noticed the books were not being delivered, which meant the timeline would be extremely tight.

No one felt confident, so they covered a few additional bases. The Delta Team had reached Jakarta so they would set up electronic surveillance on the backup caliph. Hopefully, the caliph would keep his standby informed. If a communication came by text, email, or phone, they should get at least a general location for the caliph. Perhaps more. If they were successful in tracing it, the Delta Team would leave the backup triumvirate in place to avoid forewarning the caliph that something was amiss. If the communication never occurred or the trace failed, then the Delta team would grab the backup triumvirate for interrogation in the early afternoon on Friday. That wouldn’t allow much time for interrogation, so the Delta team had been sanctioned to use enhanced measures to secure information about the operation.

In case the FBI failed to seize every book in the Friday morning raids, a communication program had been put in place. Robo calls, text messages, and emails would be sent to every senator, congressperson, and staffer to warn them about the real contents of the book vaults. A team at the FBI was compiling a list of flights for every member of Congress. If necessary, agents would intercept members at the gate and confiscate any parcels. As a last resort, the president would make a public address that would alert the entire nation.

In the meantime, they