The Watchman of Ephraim (Book Club Edition) (38 page)

“
Cris..! It’s great to see you, buddy!”

“
Thanks John. Hey, I have a cell phone here. Can you do me a favor and hack into it. Specifically, I’m interested in any calls made or received in the last 24-hours.”

“
Not a problem. Just plug into the adapter I set up on your desk.”

De Niro sat the phone into the cradle that Mugsy described.

“
Got it … okay, it looks like two calls were placed and one was received all just before 5 a.m., your time. All of them were to and from the same place … the Zamani Import-Export Corporation, in New York City. They were routed through the front desk, so I can’t tell you which office they came from.”

The hair on De Niro’s neck stood up with fury.

“
That’s okay, that’s all I needed to know, thanks John.”

Ricci dropped Johnny-F from the call and his image disappeared on the screen.

“
That son of a bitch … he came after my boys, Mugs! I want you to fly to Teterboro. I want you to meet me there. You and I are gonna go talk to Mr. Zamani … old school!”

“
Cris, he didn’t just come after the boys … he came after you too! I don’t think it’s a wise thing—“

“
Mugs, stop …! Terrorists killed LISA! And now this terrorist not only targeted our country …he came after my SONS … Lisa’s SONS … your nephews …”

Ricci’s face turned red with his own rage.

“
I hear you, brother. You want me to grab a few other men?”

“
No, just you and me, Mugs … he might have men with him there, so come prepared. I’m gonna take Moriah and the boys with me. I’ll send them to my suite at the New York Palace in another car. We’ll be leaving here in about an hour and we’ll be flying the QSST, so we should be landing at Teterboro at around … 4 p.m., Eastern Time.”

“
I’ll be there.”

“…
and Mugs …don’t be late.”

De Niro disconnected the call and walked back into the kitchen. He took a seat at the kitchen table facing the terrorist.

Payam looked at De Niro with a combination of scorn and hatred written across his face.

“
So, you are Cris De Niro. You think now, maybe I will talk to you … I won’t … except to tell you that you and your sons are all dead. Nothing you have done here can change that!”

De Niro stared silently back with no emotion on his face.

“
You think you will intimidate me with your staring? All you Americans are the same. You have no idea how to interrogate a prisoner!”

Payam laughed.

“
Your laws and your rules and your new President … prevent you from using torture … so all you can do now is to stare at me!”

He laughed harder.

“
I’m entitled to a phone call. I will call my lawyer. Maybe I tell him that you mistreated me.”

De Niro motioned with his eyes to Martin. Payam watched the rugged old man leave the room.

“
What now, Mr. De Niro? I tell you what, why don’t you let me go now and I will promise, when I come back, I will kill your two boys quickly … I won’t make them suffer … too much. Maybe I won’t make you watch!”

Payam burst out into loud laughter as De Niro took the terrorist’s pistol out and pulled on the slide. The terrorist stopped laughing but kept a snide grin on his face.

“
What are going to do with that? You can’t shoot me, you know. What would you tell the police?”

De Niro slid the gun across the table. It ended up right in front of Payam.

“
I’m not going to shoot you.”

Payam looked down at his gun through squinted eyes, then he looked over his shoulder for Martin, but he wasn’t there.

“
What is this, some kind of trick? Where is your man?”

De Niro walked around the table.

“
What’s the matter? Don’t you want to earn your virgins …or maybe you can only kill children. Come on tough guy, I’m standing here. What are you gonna do about it?”

Payam’s growled at De Niro like a wild dog, jumping from his seat and grabbing his pistol in one motion. It was to be his last motion. Something sharp pierced his back, just below his rib cage. Martin reached around and grabbed the pistol from him with his free hand as he used his other hand to force the blade of his long knife up and deeper. Then with one violent twist, he spun the knife around inside the cringing Iranian then pulled it out allowing him to collapse to the floor.

The rugged Argentinean cowboy wiped the blade of his knife on the dead terrorist.

“
Muchas gracias, señor … I need to do that for Señora Lisa.”

De Niro’s face was still filled with fury.

“
Martin, I have to go to New York to take care of the one in charge … but the ones outside … the ones still alive … they came here to kill my boys!”

Martin held up his hand.

“
In Argentina, we chanted once, ‘Qué se vayan todos’ … be gone with them all! They will be taken care of, señor. I will do so myself. I will tell the rest of the staff that I take them away from the house so the boys are not afraid. No one will question. They all love the boys and respect you, señor … and they understand the meaning of la familia.”

De Niro patted Martin on his shoulder then walked to the back door but Martin called to him one more time.

“
Señor … Vaya con Dios!”

Chapter 34

Ridgeline approximately one mile northeast of town

Tubac, AZ

10:45a.m., Sunday, September 11, 2011

Vic Rigoni and Spiro Pescalitis took a position about forty feet above and just two hundred feet from where the trail bent at a 90-degree angle to the west. From there, they determined that the men on horseback wouldn’t be able to see them. The problem was that they also wouldn’t be able to see the men on horseback until they reached a point just a couple hundred feet from them. They laid flat on the ground and remained completely quiet, using only hand signals to communicate. Both of them began hearing the sounds of multiple horses approaching at a slow pace. Within moments they could both hear the voices of individual riders and then the first rider came into their sites.

Riggy motioned to Pescy to wait until two came into their aim before opening fire and that he would take down the second rider.

POP … POP!

Chaos broke out as the sounds of their shots spooked the first several horses and panic broke out when the first two riders were propelled from their saddles. Both were dead before their bodies thudded against the ground.

The leader of the group, the Iranian named Hadi broke from his position in the center of the line and galloped to the front. He held up sharply when two more of his men at the front of the line were struck by bullets. They also fell lifeless from their mounts.

Hadi shouted commands first to the Iranians.

(In Farsi) “Retreat to the bend and take up positions there! You must guard the Russians escape! I will lead them away from here!”

Then he galloped to the back of the line and shouted to the Spetsnaz leader, Oleg.

(In English) “My men will guard our escape. Follow me. There is a trail on other side of this eastern ridge that will lead us to Arizona Interstate 286. I’ll radio coordinates to our plane and have them land on the highway. We’ll board her there. The interstate is about 12 miles east of our location. If we move swiftly we can make it there in less than three hours!”

* * * * *

“
ARCHANGEL-two (it was Riggy’s voice and there were sounds of automatic weapon fire in the background)… Charley, we downed four of them. The rest retreated back to the bend and have taken dismounted positions there. We have the high ground near the end of the ridgeline and are under fire. We count ten or eleven hostiles and we are returning fire, over.”

Santappia replied.

“
ARCHANGEL-one … Riggy, we have a contingent of around six or seven riders that broke off with the road case. They’re heading due east. Can you keep the group at the bend pinned down?”

The sound of gunfire was more intense.

“
Affirmative, at least until we run out of ammo…”

Santappia turned to Ahiga.

“
Can we follow them in your truck?”

“
Not directly, no. We’d have to head south first on the road. If we did that, we’re sure to lose them.”

“
They’re heading east, Bryan. Where could they be heading?”

“
Well, there are trails on the far side of that eastern ridge that run south for a mile or so. They intersect with a bunch of trails that crisscross, but all of them converge at three points along Sasabe Road … Arizona 286.”

“
How far is 286 from here?”

“
It’s about 12 miles due east. Charley, what I don’t understand is … where were they originally headed?”

“
Talk to me, Bryan!”

“
Well, if they would have kept going in their original direction, the only two places with any sort of population are the small town of Choulic, which is 10 miles due west of here and Sells which is about 25 miles northwest. I hate to put it this way but I don’t think some rich terrorist would pay … what did you say … $25 million to attack either of those places.”

A thought occurred to Ahiga as soon as said that.

“
Wait a minute, Charley! There’s a commuter airport near Sells! Maybe they’re fixin’ to hop in over-the-road transportation when they get to 286. If they head north, 286 intersects with 86 at the town of Three Points. It’s about 40 miles north and then another 40 west on 86 to get to Sells Airport.”

Santappia shook his head.

“
They went to a great deal of effort to stay off the main roads just to minimize detection, Bryan. We surprised them but I don’t think that would make them decide to drive 80 miles on two interstate highways. They have to know that it won’t be long before Nogales sends another chopper up here, along with an army of border patrol agents.”

He paused to think then he started thinking out loud.

“
Okay, let’s figure they were heading for Sells Airport. It’s a commuter airport. What’s the length of their runway?”

“
It’s around 5,800 feet,” Ahiga broke in to his line of reasoning, “mostly small jets and commuter prop planes land there.”

Santappia smiled at the interruption.

“
Okay … so let’s say they were intending to load the bomb onto a small plane. That would make sense … if were a nuclear device! The blast radius would be maximized as would the impact from the blast if they detonate a nuke at a fairly low altitude over a city … but what are they planning to do now? How far is Tucson?”

“
Over 50 miles by road and if they’re planning to stay on horseback and stay off the roads then they’re looking at a two-day journey. There’s some rugged terrain between here and Tucson and the closer they get to the city, the more border agents they’re bound to run into.”

Santappia nodded as he stood looking east.

“
So, why are they heading to the highway?”

Ahiga joined him.

“
Well for one thing, it’s the only paved road for 50 miles, at least.”

Santappia blinked his eyes at that statement.

“
Bryan, that’s gotta be it!”

“
What’s it?”

“
It has to be it! It’s the only paved road in 50 miles!”

“
That’s what I just told you, Charley!”

“
Don’t you see … it’s the only place they can land a plane in 50 miles! Bryan, we got to get to 286 and stop them before they take off! Can we catch up to them in your pickup if we head south?”

Ahiga shook his head.

“
I don’t think so, Charley. The roads are so bumpy, we couldn’t speed there. It’s too bad we don’t have our ATV’s … or horses like our friends have.”