Jihad

CHAPTER 53

Tommy Karr told the BND agents that Dabir must have figured out he was being shadowed and arranged to trade places with a double; the al-Qaeda organizer almost certainly had planned to take advantage of the jurisdictional hassles that routinely made the police change surveillance teams at the state borders.

He could be anywhere, but the most logical place to look for him was in the Karlsruhe area. Still forbidden to mention the IMs, which might contain useful information, Karr had to settle for reminding his host that he could help in numerous ways, especially by supplying decryption services. The offer was met with a cold stare.

He went back to BND headquarters with Hess, trying not to eavesdrop as she dissed the state police to her boss over her cell phone, using the most colorful German Karr had ever heard. Inside, he hung around just long enough to see that he wasn’t wanted, then asked to be driven to the hotel where his bags had been sent when he arrived earlier in the day.

“Call my satphone if you need me,” he told Hess as he left. “And don’t forget—”

“Yes, you can help in many ways. We’ll keep that in mind, Herr Karr.”

Karr checked into the hotel, determined that he wasn’t being trailed — a nice gesture of trust, he thought — then, without going up to his room, had the front desk call him a taxi. He made the train station just in time for the last train to Karlsruhe.