“Give them last rites. I’ll have a crew sent to make them disappear. We will monitor everything from the Algerian embassy once they realize their six men have gone walkabout. I agree with you about Fontaine. This can’t be simple with all the people involved, including the Algerian embassy employees. These multiple attacks by Isis may have a lot to do with it. They nearly succeeded with the dual attack plans on Boston Harbor and the Queen Mary II. Has anyone checked Omar’s ties to financial collapses?”
“Good point. I will get that going immediately. If currency markets collapse or the stock exchange takes a huge hit, it could be Fontaine’s tied into something on the opposite side of the ledger. He’s no Isis true believer, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t play puppeteer for whatever lame brain schemes the Islamists invent to strike at the West. I doubt the bunch you have with you now know much. I believe they had one job only: collect everything in Felix Moreau’s possession before anyone else did. Let me know if you do find anything interesting from those four.”
“Of course. Another item of business I need to discuss is whether our saving April Hutchen’s Granddaughter will help at all in the political realm.”
“Way ahead of you on that, brother. By the time I get done making it plain to April what is happening and why her Granddaughter was a target, we’ll have more political clout than we’ve ever had. Fontaine may own a couple or sleazebags in congress, but he’s a foreign national. Any politician caught taking payoffs from him will be in prison before the dust settles. I don’t want to present the case without some reasoning. Blackmailing me to get at you is a stretch. Anything crippling CIA for a short time could prove to be a diversion capable of covering for an attack we do not yet know about.”
“I’ll find out what I can from my Algerian gang. Be in touch soon.” Nick rejoined his friends and the very unhappy prisoners. “Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is I think you four can tell me something interesting about what’s been going on with Algeria being tied in with a world class assassin. Please don’t insult us by saying you six wandered by to say hello. The bad news is I don’t know for certain or not what you four survivors know or don’t know. That means I’m going to torture the shit out of you until I’m convinced of your knowledge one way or another.”
“You…you cannot torture us!” The one Nick had also shot in the shoulders decided to become the humorous entertainment. “You will all be imprisoned by the World Court for this blasphemy. We have diplomatic immunity!”
“The World Court, huh?” Nick felt he needed an example anyway so he shot him in the head. “Anyone else think we give a shit about the World Court or what they might do to us, or what we think of your diplomatic immunity?”
“Murderer! You-”
Nick shot the complainer in the head. The other two Algerians stopped all sound, even holding back groans of pain. “How about you two?”
“What is it you want?” The older man exchanged looks with his younger counterpart in silent agreement as to their dire situation. “You are going to kill us anyway. Why should we tell you anything?”
“Because these two were my examples. They’re dead. I’m down to just you two,” Nick answered. “Show the gentlemen what happens to prisoners we need answers from, John.”
John showed the two men videos of the eviscerated and bleached men The Unholy Trio had interrogated. The younger man turned away and threw up. The older prisoner shut his eyes. “I have no doubt you are all monsters. That you would do something so obscene to another human being is beyond belief.”
“Yep. We’re the Americans who believe in the old eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth Old Testament. Your Islamist bunch tortures, mutilates and beheads prisoners but that’s okay – not with us. We plan on playing catch up on the torture and mutilation deaths. Want to answer some questions or be part of our payback is a bitch program?”
“I…I will tell you anything you want to know!” The younger man made no pretense of outrage or noncooperation. “Please… do not do those horrid things to me.”
“Okay, let’s start with an easy one. Who sent you bunch here to a known assassin’s place and what were you to do when you got here?”
“We were to strip everything from these rooms… in particular that missile launcher and the special digital rifle. All computer gear and personal effects were to be taken too. The Algerian ambassador sent us. We were told it was a matter of national security.”
“Good start.” Nick moved to the older man, taking his scalpel out as he knelt. “How about you? I better hear something new and impressive or I’m going to eviscerate you this instant, and then hold the bleach jug over your entrails dripping a little at a time.”
The older man’s eyes widened, seeing in Nick’s a cold merciless stare. “Behind the medicine cabinet in the main bathroom is a case which must not be opened. It holds something to be released into Boston’s water supply, the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoir. Moreau was to have released it into the reservoir after kidnapping the Hutchen girl. We learned of Moreau’s death in Washington. We were then sent to contaminate the reservoir in his place. It was to be done as part of a distraction involving the rocket launcher and digital rifle.”