Jihad

CHAPTER 81

“The brother says the imam requested a special meeting after Friday prayers.”

Marid Dabir nodded, carefully controlling the expression on his face. While he trusted his informant, prudence required that he not give any sign of emotion. And besides, the fact that there was a special meeting did not necessarily mean Asad was in Detroit. Dabir would have to continue methodically, discovering where the traitor was and then delivering justice.

Dabir had arrived in the city from Ontario the night before, riding the bus through the tunnel between the two cities. The passport formalities were trivial. His prematurely gray hair made him appear too old to be a threat; the al-Qaeda organizer did not fit the profile of a terrorist.

Nor did Asad.

So how would Dabir find the so-called Red Lion of Mohammed, Islam’s most perfidious traitor?

Dabir could not confront the imam, who owed his allegiance to Asad and would surely believe him rather than a man known to have fallen from favor before being banished to Germany. Nor could he send one of his people to the mosque; with the exception of his informer, they were unknown to the imam and would not be trusted with important information.

He would have the mosque watched from a distance. Sooner or later, Asad would show himself.

And if he didn’t?

Then it would mean that he wasn’t here. At that point he would formulate a new plan.

“Brother, have I done well?” asked his informant, snapping Dabir from his contemplative daze.

“Extremely,” Dabir told him. “Extremely.”