An hour later Jack asked everyone to come sit around the dining room table. Once they were all seated, he said, “I really don’t like half measures. If we take the records from Hakim Al-Lami’s house, it will stir up an al-Qaeda hornet’s nest. In other words, we are taking a major risk for what will probably be a marginal gain. The people who will be at the meeting are very evil people. They have killed a number of Americans with their money, including my father. They will do more. We cannot expect to counter their every move in the U.S. My father once told me when you find a nest of poisonous snakes threatening your family, you don’t kill a few of them. You kill them all.

“I hate these people. Thinking about my father being gunned down by those thugs and their shooting Shadow puts me in a rage,” Jack said as he slammed his fist down on the porch railing. “I would sooner get them all than try to steal documents. I also think it would be safer for us. My gut feeling is we need to get out of here soon. Do you think we can do them all?”

Bernadette said, “Yes, we can hit two places at once! Being the ruthless aggressor and taking advantage of the element of surprise is always a good approach. It leaves very few loose ends and nobody immediately on scene to figure out what happened. We’ll need Arjun’s help, and that will require some convincing and a lot more money. That’s my IRA experience showing through. I thought it was gone forever.”

Jack looked around the table and said, “Okay, let’s do it!”

Singh arrived just before lunch. He said he had no new information concerning Abdul Ali Fahad or Al-Lami, but he did have some information on the young woman Mr. Brandon asked about. Miss Angela Pandey was not at the Soaltee Hotel. She is wanted by both the Nepalese and Indian police. Four years ago she graduated from a terrorist camp in Afghanistan. Since then she has become a highly skilled and sought after assassin. Most of her work seems to be for al-Qaeda. One of the middle to top leaders is believed to be her sponsor and lover.

Kathy looked over at Jack and said, “How did you get so damn smart? If you hadn’t insisted she be tied up every night, she might have killed all of us. You know, that is a blow to my ego. I have to admit the poor, little abused bitch manipulated me from the first time she saw me. I was even thinking about bringing her here. Thank God for the wisdom of one Jack Brandon. I wonder if she knows our names. She must know the general vicinity of this house. If her al-Qaeda friends show her any pictures, she could easily I.D. Jack. I don’t like that at all. We ought to do our business, and get out of this wretched valley yesterday.”

Jack asked Arjun if he thought they should do anything to improve security. Arjun replied, “It has been my experience, these people do not move without careful planning. It is almost a religion with them. I do believe they will find this house, but I do not think they will mount an attack until they have done extensive casing. Making changes to our security will delay their getting a plan put together. Our best security is to close down this house and get you all out of here in the next few days. I believe we have that long, but just to be sure I will add a few more guards and put up a few dummy cameras. They won’t know they are not active, but it will compound their planning process. Now, let me say a few words about our Arab friends.”

Arjun stated so far his people had not found any more Arabs staying in hotels. Hakim Al-Lami hadn’t left his bungalow today. Jack asked Arjun to stay for lunch. They had some proposals for him. Some of them needed major assistance from him. Two hours later a tense Arjun left Bernadette’s compound. It had taken Jack’s offer to invest $250,000 into Arjun’s agency, plus a yearly guaranteed level of business of $50,000 for three years from the Brandon group to get Arjun’s agreement to provide the support they needed and to sell 40 percent of his business to a Brandon holding company. Arjun told them he could not be ready before 8:00 tonight.
Buy “Justice Beyond Law” on Amazon, as well as the rest of the Jack Brandon series and other books by Barry Kelly, a former CIA agent and adviser to President Reagan.