When Arjun left, Jack said, “That man earns his money. He works like a dedicated professional, or am I reading him wrong?”
Kathy laughed and said, “No, you are right. Our Arjun is one dedicated, effective piece of work. Note he is a Sikh but has no beard and doesn’t always wear a turban. I haven’t asked him, but I’ll bet he wants flexibility in using different guises while working with different clients.”
Jack paced around the room. The rest kept silent. When he stopped, he said, “I believe Arjun might be right. We have nothing to give to the police. The reason we are all here is this meeting tonight or maybe tomorrow. We can’t make a plan until we know what we want to accomplish. In Recon we would say, what is the mission?
“We know Yuri, alias Vladimir Petrov, was in the terrorist business for money, and he probably was getting money from Fahad, the export/importer from New Delhi and Iraq. Almost certainly that money wasn’t from Ali Fahad’s pocket. He’s getting it from an al-Qaeda banker. Without Yuri’s network, which the U.S. cops should have finished rolling up by now, Fahad has no way of selling terrorist acts for money in the United States. Whether or not he knows it, he is in trouble. He can’t deliver for al-Qaeda, and I don’t believe they are very forgiving.
“That is one set of assumptions. The other has to do with his part, if any, in the running of drugs through Bahadur. If we are right in our belief the Maoists physically move the drugs through Nepal into India, then does Fahad play a role in that? I bet he does. Tibetan crafts and antiquities travel through Nepal to India, some legal, others not. Fahad deals in Tibetan products.
“He exports stuff abroad. Is he an important part of the narco/terrorism equation? I don’t know, and I don’t think we have the time to find out. We are all on borrowed time here. My suggestion is we narrow the mission to taking out Fahad and as much of the al-Qaeda cell as we can and then getting out of here.”
“What you said makes sense, but I’d like to muddy the water a bit,” Kathy said. “While your proposal simplifies the mission, it leaves us with nothing positive and a very suspicious al-Qaeda. Let’s add Hakim Al-Lami to the take-out list. I also want a chance to search his house and make off with his records. I believe he is keeping records at his bungalow, because I believe Al-Lami is either the al-Qaeda operative in charge of directing Ali Fahad or he is the finance guy, or both. He’s got to have some records. Besides these bastards killed my brother, and I want to hurt them as much as we can.”
Bernadette added, “Back in my days with the IRA, unless you were sending a purely political message, it was good to sow discord and confusion. For example, if al-Qaeda thought something happened between Al-Lami and Fahad, they wouldn’t know whom to blame. Confusion among enemies is always good.”
Jack asked Anita if she had anything to add.
Anita said, “I’m more comfortable on the operations side. For example, how many people are in the bungalow? Are they armed? Are guards on the perimeter or just outside the perimeter? Is the bungalow alarmed? Are the records booby trapped? I know we can’t answer those questions, and we don’t have the time to try to get the information. We have to plan for the unknown, including what we do if someone gets badly hurt or killed. It’s not as if we have a lot of support here. I believe Arjun can take care of his own, but he can’t take care of us. To me we only have one answer. If any of us get incapacitated or killed, they must be left behind. I know that is hard to face, but it must be done. We can’t provide serious medical help, and we can’t carry dead bodies with us. The wounded or dead cannot be allowed to compromise the mission. Nobody carries I.D. on black operations. We have to operate under these rules.”
Jack said, “Anita is right. Those have to be our rules. If we kill a half-dozen people, getting captured by the authorities is not a good option. So, people, don’t make mistakes and don’t hesitate to shoot. If our plans go to hell and we have to separate, do not come back here. I’ll get Arjun to provide a short-term safe haven for us to re-group. Anita, please go over an entry plan.”
As Anita started going over the items of concern to an entry operation, they heard a car pull into the driveway. Jack looked out the window and told the others it looked as if Arjun’s courier has arrived with the photos of the bungalow and the surrounding area. Jack sent a note back with the courier asking Arjun to come as soon as he was free.
Kathy spread the pictures on the table saying, “Hey! This photographer did a great job. Good shots of the bungalow. Looks like almost a panoramic of the surrounding area. And if the label is correct, here is Hakim Al-Lami.”
Anita said, “I’ve been by this place on my bike. Some quite large houses are on this street, many with private gardens, high walls and gated driveways. I would like another look at this place.”
Kathy called to Jack, who was staring out of the window on the other side of the room. When she had his attention, she said, “Do you think you can get this group of people to come up with some kind of a plan before Arjun comes back, so we know what we need from him?”
Jack told Anita to work up daylight and night entry plans that would give them control of the house. He asked Kathy to put together a search plan of the house and grounds with each member of the entry team assigned responsibility for a search area. Jack asked Bernadette to work on confusing al-Qaeda.
Facts and Fictions 