Not entirely the truth, but close enough.
“But you’re all right? And by that I mean completely uninjured.”
He nodded. “What about the others?”
“Same. Kent is on his way to France on a motorcycle. Donatella is on a train to Italy, and Grisha’s company is sending a jet for him. He’ll take it to his house in London. Then, after things calm down, they’ll all make their way back to Africa.”
“And us?”
“We’ll detour over some deep water to get rid of the car and rendezvous with them next week.”
*
It took some effort, but he finally managed to get bin Musaid’s blood off him and down the drain. Leaning into the hot water, he let it pound on the back of his head, forcing Claudia to raise her voice to be heard. She was sitting on the granite counter with a portable computer on her lap.
“It’s on pretty much every television channel in the world, Mitch. There’s some shaky cell phone footage from the parking lot, but nothing of you yet. That’s not going to be true of the interior security cameras. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to shut them down.”
It was another drawback to having left the government. Kennedy could have seriously limited access to that security video. Now it was likely that the local police were already watching it, and by dawn Interpol, the FBI, CIA, MI6, and Saudi intelligence would have copies. It wasn’t going to be long before he was identified.
“Sixteen dead,” she continued. “More than that wounded. The authorities are holding back the names, but an unofficial list is starting to circulate. There are some very wealthy and powerful men on here, Mitch. This is going to get a lot of attention. Do you know who the shooters were?”
“Iraqis.”
“Not a coincidence, I assume.”
“No. The fireworks were just for show. They were after bin Musaid.”
“Who sent them?”
His initial reaction was to lie. Not because he thought she didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut, but because he wanted to protect her. Unfortunately, it was a little late for that now.
“Aali Nassar.”
“The Saudi intelligence chief?”
Rapp turned off the water and grabbed a towel. “He’s behind the Saudi financing of ISIS. Bin Musaid was just one of his delivery boys.”
“Why?”
“Bin Musaid died before he could say. My guess is that, with all of Saudi Arabia’s internal problems, Nassar thinks ISIS is going to come out on top. He wants to be on the winning side.”
“Did the prince live long enough to give you the names of anyone else involved?”
“No. And he wouldn’t have known anyway. Nassar would play that pretty close to his chest.”
“What about King Faisal?”
“I doubt he’d be part of this. I’ve known him for years and he’s just looking to run out the clock. But wealthy businessmen who want to cut deals, royals who want Faisal’s throne, government officials looking to move up the ladder? The list of Saudis who have reasons to sympathize with ISIS isn’t exactly short.”
“All right. I’ll start working on Nassar’s history, known associates, and financial condition. Any chance you’d consider contacting Irene? I’m good, but I don’t have her resources.”
He shook his head and pulled on the clothes she’d laid out for him. “The only evidence I have against Nassar is the word of a little pissant who’s getting scraped off the road right now. I agreed to get myself into this. But she didn’t agree to come along.”
“Okay. I’ll handle it.”
“Carefully, though, right, Claudia? Nassar might be a terrorist son of a bitch, but he’s a smart one with an army.”
CHAPTER 31
Riyadh
Saudi Arabia
THE knock on Aali Nassar’s bedroom door was hesitant but insistent. Not his wife. Even in an emergency, she would go to the staff before disturbing him. The clock read 3 a.m.
He rolled from bed and put on a robe before striding through the darkness to the door. As expected, the head of his security detail was standing on the other side.
“What is it?”
“Your assistant just arrived, Director. He says it’s critical that you speak.
Nassar nodded. “Show him to my study. I’ll be there in a moment.”
“Right away, sir.”
Nassar pulled on a pair of slacks and a collared shirt before starting for the office he kept at the back of his home. Enough lights had been turned on to allow him to navigate, but not so many that the activity in the house would be obvious. These kinds of surprise meetings were kept as quiet as possible.
What was so important that it couldn’t wait another three hours until he arrived at the office? A successful terrorist attack on the homeland? An action by the president of the United States? The death of the king?
When Nassar entered the office, he found Hamid Safar pacing its length.
“Sir, we have reports that Prince bin Musaid has been killed.”
Nassar felt a profound sense of relief but didn’t show it. “How?”
“A terrorist attack at a private club in Monaco.”
“A terrorist attack? Do we have details?”
“There appear to have been ten men in total, all armed with assault rifles. They took out the security people and forced their way in, then proceeded to kill or wound a significant portion of the clientele before being killed themselves.”
“By authorities?”
“No, sir.”
“Then whom?”
“That’s a difficult question to answer,” he said, placing his laptop on Nassar’s desk and opening it. “We just received raw footage from the security cameras. Can I go through it with you?”
“Of course.”
It started with an outdoor feed depicting the terrorists getting out of their cars and beginning the assault. All was proceeding as expected until one of them was thrown violently back into one of the vehicles.
“What happened there?”
“Three of the men were killed by fifty-caliber rounds fired from the upper floor of an apartment building five hundred meters to the east. European authorities have identified the apartment and found the weapon, but they don’t think they will be able to trace it. We have some poor security camera footage of a man leaving the building, but it would be impossible to use it for identification purposes.”
“Why would there be an unknown, highly skilled sniper set up to fire down on a terrorist attack that no intelligence agency was aware was going to take place?”
“The authorities are working under the theory that the shooter was a member of one of the patrons’ security details.”
“It seems like a rather extraordinary measure for someone going to a nightclub.”
“Agreed. Further, we have a list of the members who were there that night, and none of them would have security that elaborate.”
Safar started the video again, depicting a terrorist being hit in the side and spun around.
“That wasn’t a high-caliber round,” Nassar commented.
“No, sir. There are two effective shooters. The sniper and one of the drivers in the parking lot.”