“What was the distraction all about?”
The younger man answered Nick’s question quickly not wanting to be thought of as holding out. “We heard he would be firing the rockets at the Bunker Hill Monument after contaminating the reservoir, and then use the digital rifle to kill random targets until he had to escape.”
Nick didn’t like how many people were in the know. “Why would whoever ordered this trust all you guys with the information?”
The younger man looked away. “Because the six of us were part of a paramilitary death squad. We executed police, officials, or anyone else who worked against the Isil movement. The government caught us. We were to be tortured and killed, but were given a reprieve to do the Ambassador’s bidding.”
“I know contrary to popular belief it’s not as easy to poison a reservoir in reality,” Gus said. “Do you have any idea what’s in the case?”
“No. We were told to not open the case under any circumstances until at the reservoir. There are five vials to be emptied with care. Even a touch of the substance on our skin could cause death,” the younger man answered.
“Did all the orders come directly from the ambassador,” Nick asked.
“Yes.”
“The orders do not originate with the ambassador,” the older man added to his partner’s affirmative through clenched teeth. “The bastard gets his orders from Omar Fontaine, whom I know was the one who obtained our death reprieve. We all knew the government was not behind any of this. He has now gotten us killed… and for what? Because Fontaine bought him the ambassadorship to do only what the rich and imbeciles can fathom!”
“Do either of you believe anyone in the Algerian government knew of this plot,” Nick asked.
“I do not think so, but Fontaine owns many,” the younger man answered.
“There are some he owns who would do anything he asks,” the older man added.
Nick went to the equipment bag, extracted two syringes, and returned to inject the two men. “You guys earned a peaceful hotshot. I’m sorry the two of you didn’t run for the hills rather than carry out Fontaine’s plan.”
“It is… Allah’s will…” the older man, last to die, muttered a final prayer as he passed into darkness.
“Well there’s some happy news,” Nick said. “I’ll go extract the case. We’ll let Paul handle the rest of this. He’ll have to have the ambassador watched 24/7 until we can tie all the loose ends. We want him guessing as to what happened to his men as well as Moreau. If Paul doesn’t have a team nearby we may have to babysit the case until he does. I’m not walking away from some super bioweapon.”
“This Fontaine is into so much I am wondering if he even cares what happens to Cala,” John remarked. “It may be the Kader family is the only real obstacle to Cala’s freedom, in which case your generous offer of money should have been more than enough to dissuade them from violently opposing it. It would then follow Fontaine does not care about Cala.”
“It also means if they refuse the money the Kaders want blood instead,” Gus added. “When you rid the world of your first Kader, it became obvious they had some terrorist ties, especially in the East. It may be if they accept the money, groups like Isis will get a lot of it.”
“Oh thank you for that, Payaso,” Nick replied. “You are absolutely right. I’ll make sure to track the funds if they agree to take them. I’ll warn the Kaders what will happen if any of the money goes to terrorist groups, which in my mind is any Islamic group.”
“You would be correct,” John said. “When we moved from one country to the next building cells or simply carrying out our next terrorist act, the Islamic charities and Mosques would shelter us, provide services, and even obtain new identities for us. They were crucial in helping us past border check points.”
“Gather our equipment. I’ll call Paul. We need to work on this somewhere I can have a drink,” Nick said. “When we refuse to stop letting these assholes in the country and we get tagged with cleaning disastrous consequences I need to get my drink on.”
“Amen,” Gus said.
“Indeed,” John added. “They have truly turned the Constitution into a suicide pact just as the bumper stickers say.”
Chapter Eleven
Serious Tidings