Chapter 45

Mike returned to the office to find that a rough version of the program that he had requested had been installed on his computer. The first thing that he did was run the program on the data he had tried to analyze earlier. The results were a lot clearer, but there was still a lot of missing links. He added the data collected during the week that he had traveled the Middle East with the President.

The picture generated by the program showed a structure with eleven high level leaders, three dozen aides, and two hundred messengers. There were names associated with most of the nodes. Using the program he was able to track the flow of communications among the high level leaders. Unfortunately there were no names attached to the men at the top.

Working patiently, Mike was able to eliminate all but eight names from his list of suspected leaders. It took half a day to associate the eight names to eight of the top level nodes. The problem was that the results showed that there were at least eleven men leading the Jihad. Mike stared at the three nodes that were without names with a frown. He wanted all of the leaders, not just eight of eleven.

The hours passed as he attacked the problem of the three unknowns. He chipped away at the problem until quitting time. He was prepared to spend the entire night looking for them except Cathy tapped him on the shoulder and said, “I’m pretty sure that what ever you are working on will wait until tomorrow.”

“You’re probably right,” Mike said finding it difficult to pull himself away from the computer.

“What are you working on?” Cathy asked.

Mike looked around and saw that they were alone. He said, “I’ve found eight of the eleven leaders of the Jihad. I’m not talking Mohammad bin Laden and others at his level. I’m talking about the ones giving them orders and coordinating actions across all of the terrorist organizations and states hostile to us.”

Surprised, Cathy sat down and stared at the computer. She asked, “You’ve found them or you think you’ve found them?”

“I’ve found them. I know who eight of them are and I know where they are,” Mike answered.

“The last three?”

Mike shook his head and said, “I’ve queried our biographical databases for Muslims fitting the parameters that I’ve identified and no one shows up.”

“Why Muslims?” Cathy asked.

Laughing, Mike answered, “It’s Jihad.”

“Not really. Jihad is probably just a way of motivating the soldiers. The leadership doesn’t need to believe in the cause,” Cathy said.

Mike spun around and looked at the computer. Too excited to type, he said, “I need your fingers.”

Smiling, Cathy sat down and started typing as Mike gave her the keywords to use in the search. The query took five minutes to return results. There were six names on the list. The hair on the back of Mike’s neck stood on end when he read one of the names. He knew without a doubt the identity of one of the leaders.

For five of the names, Mike told Cathy how to request that they be put under surveillance. He also added another fifty names to the list just in case there was a leak. After she had finished typing, she asked, “What about that last name?”

“That gentleman is an American citizen. He is very rich and powerful. We won’t be able to go at him through normal channels,” Mike said thoughtfully.

“What are you going to do?” Cathy asked.

Mike picked up the telephone and dialed a number. When the person on the other end answered, Mike said, “This is Mike. Bethesda Hospital, room 10, at seven tonight. Call our mutual friend. It’s an emergency.”

After Mike hung up the phone, Cathy asked, “Who did you call?”

“You’re not cleared to know that,” Mike answered in a sharper voice than he intended. Seeing the hurt expression on her face, he said, “I’m sorry, Cathy. There are some things that I have to keep secret. Believe me; you already know far more than you’re cleared to know.”

Cathy realized that it was a matter of national security rather than a lack of trust on his part. Nodding her head, she said, “I understand.”

Mike said, “I have a meeting to attend. I’ll be home late.”

“Alright,” Cathy said understanding the significance of what Mike had discovered. Then it dawned on her just how dangerous it was. She reached out to him and said, “Be careful.”

Jack Lancer walked into the meeting room of the hospital and looked at Mike. In a tone of voice that conveyed his irritation, he asked, “What’s this about? My wife and I had a special evening planned.”

“I understand. I’m a newlywed with my bride at home waiting for me. I’d rather be there, but this is an emergency,” Mike answered.

“So tell me what’s up,” Jack said.

“We have to wait for Tim,” Mike said.

Jack noticed the pile of equipment in front of Mike and frowned. He recognized it and asked, “Are you expecting the room to be bugged?”

Holding up the remains of a bug, Mike answered, “Not any more.”

“Not any more?” Tim asked as he entered the room.

“The room isn’t bugged any longer,” Mike answered.

Tim looked at the bug and said, “Don’t worry about that. I always sweep the room before and after a meeting. I find one every time. Our guys have been bugging this room for decades.”

“I guess I’m glad to learn that,” Mike said. He wasn’t even going to ask why someone would bug the meeting room of a hospital. He didn’t really want to know why.

“So what’s so important that you call us down here in the middle of the month?” Tim asked after shutting the door to the conference room.

“I found one of the primary leaders of the Jihad,” Mike answered.

“So have him targeted with a missile,” Jack said taking a seat. He hoped that the meeting would end in a few minutes. It was possible that he might be able to salvage his evening.

“It’s Stanley Roberts,” Mike said.

Jack stood up from his chair and shouted, “What?”

“I said that one of the primary leaders of Jihad is Stanley Roberts,” Mike answered looking Jack in the eye.

Tim stared at Mike for a full minute. Shaking his head, he said, “That mother fucking son of a bitch. I knew it. You can’t trust a capitalist who claims to be a socialist.”

Correcting him, Mike said, “A billionaire capitalist who claims to be a socialist.”

“That bastard has been behind every anti-war effort in this country for the past fifteen years. He talked the previous President into dismantling the military,” Jack said hitting the table with his fist. He paced around the room for a second and asked, “You are convinced that he’s one of the leaders?”

Nodding his head, Mike said, “That’s right.”

“How solid is your proof?” Jack asked returning to his seat.

Mike said, “It’s pretty convincing, but not solid enough to act on; at least, not yet. I’ve got major communication links between him and ten of the other leaders. I know the identities of eight of the others. I’m in the process of collecting the data that will allow me to identify the other two.”

Jack smiled at how calmly Mike was reporting that he had found the leaders. He said, “Well, I guess it won’t be long before we have Mohammad bin Laden.”

“He’s not one of the leaders,” Mike said with a smile.

“Sure he is,” Jack said.

“No. He’s one of the Generals, but he’s not a leader of the Jihad movement. I’m talking about the guys above him,” Mike said.

“What?” Tim asked unable to believe what he had just heard.

Jack stared at Mike wondering if he had lost his mind. Mike asked, “Did you ever wonder how it was that we would destroy some organization and another one that was fully trained, armed, and operational would pop up, literally within months? I mean, it was like the group already existed and was just waiting to be activated.

“We saw that with al-Sadr. Saddam fell and within a month al-Sadr had a substantial militia ready, willing, and able to fight us. He wasn’t even a supporter of Saddam. There’s no way that Saddam would have allowed him or any other rival to his power to arm so many of his followers. So where did al-Sadr get the money for all of those weapons? Where did his people get the training?”

“I’ve asked myself those same questions, but...” Jack started to say. All of the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fell into place. He sat back in his chair and said, “You’re right. We’ve been fighting this war by going after the chess pieces without ever considering the chess masters pushing them around on the board.”

Nodding his head, Mike said, “That’s right. When we took out the terrorists at the Jamal bin Laden funeral, we accidentally killed the reserve army that was going to move into place to take over for him. I imagine that half of the masked men who attended the funeral were members of the reserve. That’s why it was so quiet after the funeral.”

“Our little march across the Middle East tore up their forces faster than they could replace them,” Tim said nodding his head.

The significance of what Mike had unearthed was staggering. Jack had no doubt that the men were busy trying to rebuild their forces even after the American Army had destroyed their armies. Thinking about Mexico, Jack said, “There are probably a dozen armies just waiting to be activated in South America.”

“There’s probably one in Mexico getting ready to be activated,” Mike said. He looked at the other two men and then asked, “So what do we do about Stanley Roberts?”

“I’ll take care of him. He’ll be dead by tomorrow night,” Jack said.

Mike shook his head and said, “He’s got people working for him. They’ll have to be dealt with as well. His aides and messengers can’t get away. Some of them are Hollywood types. I’m still working on putting the entire story together.”

“I’ll take care of him and all of the others. Just let me know who they are,” Jack said looking Mike in the eye.

“It has to be coordinated with the efforts to take out the other ten along with their aides and messengers,” Mike said. He didn’t want the loss of one to spook the rest.

“I’ll need a week to get people in place and then three hours of lead time to coordinate our attack,” Jack said.

“You’ll have it,” Mike said.

Looking over at Mike, Tim said, “If any of those leaders learns about this, you’re a dead man. You do know that, don’t you?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Mike said, “They already want me dead. Once I distribute my report on them, it will be too late for them to save themselves by killing me.”