Agent of Influence: A Thriller (29 page)

They completed their f
aux prayers and made their way through the courtyard, passing doorways that led to the area that served as the madrassa. This was the Islamic school in the building that housed approximately five hundred students who were being schooled in one art only, the memorization of the Koran.  These schools indoctrinated many of the future terrorists of the world into the perverted form of Islam known as Wahhabism. Students began flowing in and out of the doors. Anna kept her head bowed while continuing to look for the young boy or Quasim. Colin and Anna made their way to the prayer hall and stopped to kneel on the outskirts of the large open area. The inner section of the hall was reserved for the most important and most pious of the worshippers.

The large circle of men stand
ing in front of her all kneeled and began preparing for the prayer ritual. She now had an unobstructed view of the group gathered in the center of the open-air hall. For the first time tonight she saw the short figure of Quasim holding court in the prayer hall. Until the imam appeared to announce the beginning of the prayer session Quasim would continue to dictate. The men answered him in hushed tones, some of them leaving on his orders and heading off to relay a message to another group standing by the fountain. Others disappeared into the madrassa. It was clear to her that this was
his
house of worship. All the energy in the vast space seemed to revolve around him. He was the center of the universe, and his gravitational pull dictated what the rest of the planets and moons around him did. A smile here, a frown there, and men jumped into action, eager to do his bidding. Anna kept her head bowed, while her peripheral vision continued to monitor her surroundings, looking for any piece of useful information.  The crowd slowly filtered in from other parts of the mosque, filling in the open spaces around Anna and Colin with prostrate forms quietly but fervently praying to Allah.

The imam finally appeared at the front of the prayer hall, gesturing to his flock to finis
h their business and gather together. After ten more minutes the huge, open air of the hall was stagnating and putrid, with body upon body lined up next to each other. All available space would be utilized in order to allow as many worshipers as possible onto the marble inlaid floor of the outdoor hall. Silence fell over the crowd until the incantations from the imam began. Others followed his lead, whispering silently to themselves with their eyes squeezed shut, trying to purge themselves of their demons. It reminded Anna of a séance, and the hypnotic rhythm of the chanting helped to slow her pulse.

She continued to keep her head bowed, chanting in Arabic the prayers her mother had forced her to me
morize as a child. Her voice repeated the words in perfect unison with the other men squeezed in around her on all sides. The sea of feet and arms were inches away from one another. The false beard itched, but she refused to fiddle with it. She blocked it out of her mind.  Her eyes fluttered half-open as she continued to watch Quasim as best she could. She never let him out of her sight as the massive open-air prayer hall filled to capacity. There was still no sign of the young man who paid Quasim a visit the previous night. Her head tilted slightly from side to side as the incantations grew louder. She used the new found energy of the crowd to her advantage, her eyes scanning the area around Quasim, searching for anything or anyone out of the ordinary. 

In unison, hundreds of turban-covered heads rose up, proclaiming Allah’s name. She found the ritual quite beautiful. The fact that men like Quasim used it as a cover for the slaughter of innocents infuriated her.  After a few minutes the decibel level o
f the chanting began dropping along with the heads of the group. That was when she saw him. The gnarled face was unmistakable, and his cloak overwhelmed his skinny frame. He was kneeling in prayer, fifty feet to the left of Quasim. It was Aziz. The fact that he was here did not prove anything. Still, it was a curious coincidence considering he lived in Islamic Cairo, home of some of the oldest mosques in the city, all of which were much easier for him to travel to when compared to this one, especially given his old age and crippled leg.

             
An hour later, the prayers finally came to an end. The warm day was now completely erased as the cool evening blew in from the desert that surrounded Cairo. The drastic temperature changes made surviving in the desert excruciatingly difficult. You spent all day sweating profusely and nearly passing out from heat exhaustion.  Then the sun sets and the temperature would drop to near freezing. The two extremes play havoc on the body, and a person can only take it for so long before it starts to drive him crazy. In order to survive it you must have grown up with it. Fortunately, Anna had done just that. 

Anna and Colin knelt silently, waiting
for those around them to stand first. Hundreds of bodies began to rise, and the two of them quickly followed suit. Their knees slowly and painfully locked themselves into standing positions, no easy task after an hour of kneeling and devout prayer on the hard tile floor.              

“Do you see him?” Anna whispered quietly in Arabic. The nearest group of men was ten feet away. Her eyes
continued to follow Aziz. He was slowly making his way through a throng of men, like a rat feeling its way through a maze. She smiled through the coarse beard when she saw him find his way over to Quasim.

“What are you talking about?” Colin asked. All he could think about was getting out of the mosque
as quickly as possible. His knees were aching and he felt out of place. He now followed Anna’s eyes, and they both watched as the old man embraced Quasim and exchanged kisses on the cheek with him.

              “Shit,” Colin muttered under his breath.              

Anna continued the conversation in Arabic, “Have you ever seen him with one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood before?”

              “No. Never. Honestly, I’m shocked. He always frequents a mosque closer to his home. I’ve met a few contacts here to pass along information to them, but I’ve never run into him before.”

The old man continued whispering in Quasim’s ear. She studied his body language carefully. It was not the de
ference that all the others had shown Quasim for the past hour. Quasim’s back stiffened and he raised himself to his maximum height, which was still much shorter than everyone else. Aziz was acting like an equal partner with one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. There were clearly no orders being issued by Quasim. They were discussing a problem, like two business partners deciding the best course of action for their venture. 

The crowd
of men was now sparse, and Anna and Colin could no longer linger around surreptitiously and not be noticed.  Anna slid her robe back up her arm and stole a glance at her watch. Their taxi should be waiting outside for them by now. They hastily made their way to the exit. The sound of their feet echoed off the tile floor and reverberated throughout the hallway. They were careful to steer clear of the remaining crowd as they made their way to the exit. As they approached the interior of the mosque they heard the sound of scurrying feet approaching quickly from behind.               

             
“Mr. Colin?” It was broken English, but there was nothing broken about the steel grip that grabbed Colin’s left forearm. Colin turned around to face the pursuer, coming face to face with one of Aziz’s friends. The old man must have spotted him as the crowd had thinned.

“Yes?” Colin did his best to remain composed and at ease. He had a perfectly good cover
story for any problems.  “We’re done here. You can leave.” Colin issued the order to Anna, and she continued heading towards the exit.

             
“Aziz would like a moment with you.” The gruff voice would clearly not be rebuffed.

“Sure. I didn’t know he was here. I didn’t think he visited mosques in this part of
Cairo.” Colin’s confident voice belied the churning in his stomach.  He had been receiving and sharing information with Aziz for years. He knew he had contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood, anyone with any influence did, but this was the first time he had ever seen Aziz in a meeting of equals with one of its top men.  His teeth chattered as the bodyguard lead the way back towards the open-air prayer hall. Colin told himself it was the chilly night air, but he knew otherwise. The old man was standing alone, his arms gesturing to Colin in a welcoming manner, as if he was welcoming a misguided son back into the family. Quasim was nowhere to be found.

             
Anna bounded down the granite steps of the mosque and climbed into the taxi.  She reached inside the folds of her robe and grabbed her Sig Sauer pistol so she could yank it out from beneath her piles of clothing if it became necessary. When he did not receive any instructions the taxi driver turned to face her. She ordered him to make a quick U-turn and park on the other side of the street. This provided her a better view as she waited for Colin to come out.

The night had taken an interesting turn. It was apparent that the old man had, at the least, a close working relationship with a known terrorist. An
d not just some wannabe looking to get attention from his parents, Anna thought. Aziz was dealing with one of the senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.  How close the two were was anyone’s guess, but it made her re-examine their previous conversation in a new light. She had surmised at the time that it was possible he was hiding something. If nothing else, the old man was not being completely honest with Colin, and she realized that there was a distinct possibility that Colin was the one being used for information instead of vice versa. Or Colin himself was a double agent. The thought caused a knot in her stomach.

             
Twenty minutes later Colin shuffled out the front entrance of the mosque with a look of annoyance plastered across his face. He plopped down beside Anna in the backseat, and they sat in an uncomfortable silence until they returned to the hotel. After washing up and doing away with their disguises they met up again in the hotel bar. They found a small table that was tucked away from the others. The corner table also provided Anna with a panoramic view of all the other tables. The crowd was sparse, and consisted mostly of tourists planning their next day’s excursion.

“What did the old man have to say?” Anna spoke after the waiter sat down two Samuel Adams lagers and retreated back to the bar area. She felt fresh and relaxed after removing the makeup and beard that hid her feminine features.

              Colin stared at her in annoyance. “I knew going there would only cause problems. I had to make up a lie about who you were and why I was meeting you there.”

“You work for the Company.
Kind of comes with the territory,” she remarked with a smirk.

             
“Yes, but that’s not the point. He didn’t recognize you, of course. That little disguise is top of the line stuff. I know the guy in the Science and Technology Directorate that developed it. He’s a true genius,” Colin said with pride before continuing, “Still, these people run in cliques. My sources see me at the mosque when I’m not meeting them and it immediately raises questions. They don’t trust me as it is. I have to feed them useful pieces of intel every now and then just so they will continue to talk. Hell, I had to convert to Islam before they would even allow me into any of the mosques. No unbelievers are supposed to set foot in them after all.”

“Well, the trip was worth it. Aziz talking with Quasim definitely raises some serious questions that I would like answered. If that means I have to rattle the cage a little, so be it. What did the old man say?” Anna asked.

              “Just be careful not to accidentally open that cage while you are rattling it,” Colin warned her.  “Anyway, Aziz wanted to know how your research was coming along. I told him I was unsure, but since you had not contacted me since yesterday I figured you had nothing of importance come up. He seemed pleased, but a little nervous.”             

“What about Quasim?”
             

             
“He was nowhere to be found. Aziz did say one interesting thing though. He said it was in your best interest to leave the country.”

“That is curious. Did he offer any reasons?”

              “He said you were wasting your time, and that whatever information the government had on Zach in its archives is useless. He was perfectly friendly, but the veiled warning was clear. He doesn’t like you snooping around.  Number one, you are a woman, and number two; he said it would not be good for the U.S.’s relationship with Egypt to start off by offending the home country of the next potential president. He really caught my attention with his last statement though. He claimed he will soon be a special envoy for the Egyptian government in its dealings with the U.S. A new era of working together. All the normal diplomatic crap.”

“If I’m wasting my time why should he care?” Anna swirled the layer of foam at the top of her beer until it dissipated. She sipped the lager, savoring the flavor.

              “Well, these guys are sensitive about their turf.” Colin’s eyes scanned the room. He was still on edge from the trip to the mosque. The cold beer helped to calm his nerves.

“
Any idea what Quasim could be doing for the old man now?” Anna asked. “I thought the Muslim Brotherhood tried to stay away from him? I wonder what has changed recently.”