Jihad

CHAPTER 117

“It’s a chemical plant in Galveston, not Houston,” said Johnny Bib, pointing at the diagram. “Not Houston. Close, but no banana.”

Rubens ignored the non sequitur, looking over to the analyst he’d brought along with him, Mark Nemo.

“So it’s legitimate?” Rubens asked.

“Yes, but.” Nemo opened the folder on his lap and slipped out a piece of paper with a photo on it; it was an exterior shot of the site. “This file is based on the company’s own website. Someone cut and pasted a few bits into the file.”

Lahore Two, the CIA source purporting to know al-Qaeda’s U.S. target, had finally delivered his promised information. The file consisted of several bills of sale concerning the purchase of explosives from a Chinese company, supposedly for resale, by a commercial supplier in Turkey. Normally used in construction, the explosives totaled several tons. The Turkish company did exist, but the computer geeks working for Desk Three could find no trace of the purchases in the company’s records — which might or might not prove that they were diverted to al-Qaeda. The Chinese company’s records were in such disorder that anything was possible.

The file also contained a diagram of a chemical plant, along with a crude map of the area showing the nearby Houston Ship Canal, which connected the two cities. The diagram didn’t show where a bomb would be detonated, but any reasonably intelligent psychopath would be able to pick out half a dozen places where the explosion would do decent damage.

Rubens put the printouts of the file and the website side by side on his desk. The similarities were obvious; whoever had put the file together had used the website to gather data.

“What’s the ‘but’?” asked Rubens.

“Well, the thing is — someone from Pakistani intelligence accessed that website the same day this file was created,” said Nemo. “They have a pretty good system for checking page downloads and hits. And, this is a chemical company. They go weeks without anyone looking at their pages.”

The file could be a preliminary mission brief, rough instructions delivered to a field commander, who would then conduct an on-site reconnaissance before formulating the real plan. Or it could be something someone put together to justify a decent payday from the CIA.

Rubens leafed through the web pages of the real plant. According to the information, Galveston PC was the biggest maker of plastics on the Gulf Coast.

A decent target, but big enough? Asad’s other targets had been larger.

If it were one of several targets, it would certainly be big enough. Disrupt the plastics industry, and the effects would be far reaching. Asad had made it clear that the aim of his campaign was economic damage.

Even so…

“You did good work,” said Rubens, handing back the files. “Keep at it.”

“So you think Lahore Two’s information is bad?” said Collins when Rubens told her what they had found. She had only the slightest defensiveness in her voice, and Rubens couldn’t decide whether she was sincere or had simply become better at hiding her animosity.

“It’s really something you will have to make the call on,” Rubens said. “The file with the diagram could have been put together in about ten minutes by anyone with access to a computer. And if your source is in Pakistani intelligence, the timing seems provocative at best.”

Collins would not identify her source, and Rubens didn’t expect her to. But her silence tended to confirm that he was, in fact, with Pakistani intelligence.

“Are you going to bring this up at the conference call this morning?”

“I thought it would be proper for you to do so,” said Rubens. “Unless you want me to.”

“Thanks.” Collin’s relief was obvious. “I’ll do it.”