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The CIA’s RV had followed the two terrorist trucks from Ismailly to Baku in eastern Azerbaijan.
The RV usually stayed two miles behind the trucks so they wouldn’t gather suspicion, and the Predator spy plane was 2000 feet above and locked on to the blue rental truck. As they neared Baku, Frank, who was driving the RV, yelled back to Hoskins, “We’re within Baku City limits, should we follow them into town, or stay out here?”
Hoskins looked over a map of the city and said, “Take a right on Niyazi Street and we’ll find a good place to set up.”
Frank located the street and then found an isolated spot to park the RV on a hill overlooking the bay in Baku. The predator was soon airborne over the turquoise waters of the Caspian Sea as it scanned the docks and marina areas.
As they watched the video monitor from the predator, the group was somewhat shocked that they were looking at a beautiful resort city. The busy waterfront was alive on that Saturday night with local people and tourists shopping, dining, and cavorting with the many street vendors. There was even an amusement park that they did not expect to see.
“Maybe we should tie a banner on the predator and act like we’re advertising for a restaurant,” David said.
“That’s not a bad idea,” Leslie said, “I’ll have to remember that one.”
Hoskins was on the cell phone again.
“Henry, the two trucks are heading toward the waterfront. We just set up in a quiet area in the hills and we’re watching them on the predator’s video right now. Is there any chance that you could signal us so we could pinpoint your location?”
“I think I could do that,” Henry said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small mirror and pointed it into the sunlight reflecting upward, “Do you see me?”
The group in the RV scanned the monitors looking for the signal until Leslie said, “There’s a flickering light over here.”
One of the monitors showed the glimmering reflection from Henry’s mirror. Hoskins, who was still on the phone with Henry, asked him, “Is that you on top of that stone tower?”
“You found me, eagle eye.”
“What is that place?” Hoskins asked as the video showed Henry on top of a cylindrically shaped tower that looked like it was part of a fort at one time.
“It’s called the ‘Maiden’s Tower’, I bribed the guard to let me stay up here for the rest of the day and night,” Henry said as he looked around at some of the tourists that were chatting as they toured the tower. One young couple asked Henry to take a picture of them, and he kindly obliged.
“You picked a good spot,” Hoskins said.
“Yeah, they don’t make them like this anymore, the visitor’s brochure said that it was built in the eighth century to defend the bay. The walls are fifteen feet thick, and right now, I’m about a hundred feet above the bay, so if those trucks come down this way, there’s no way I could miss them.”
“That’s what we’re counting on, and not to get off the subject, but why was it called the Maiden’s Tower,” Hoskins asked.
“There’s a couple of legends, and as you probably guessed, most of them end with a maiden jumping off the top,” Henry said as he looked over the retaining wall down at the people walking a hundred feet below. “It seems hard to believe, but there really isn’t any recorded history on the origin of the tower, it’s somewhat of a mystery.”
“As long as you’re safe up there, is all that matters to me,” Hoskins said.
Leslie nudges Hoskins to look at a video screen that shows the terrorist trucks only two blocks away from the Maidens Tower.
“How’s that for timing, Henry?”
“Incredible, I see them too, now let’s see where they’re going.”
“The blue rental truck is the one that is hauling the cesium, and the billionaire financier is roughing it in that military truck.”
“They’re pulling onto a dock next to an Iranian yacht,” Henry said as he looked over some notes his team put together on the ships in port.
“Do we know who owns the yacht?” Hoskins asked.
“It says that it’s a pleasure boat leased to an Iranian corporation, we’d need more time to dig into who the principals are,” Henry said.
“How long have they been in port?”
“Almost a week, and coincidentally, it’s scheduled to set sail for Iran tomorrow morning.”
For a few moments, Henry and the agents in the RV silently watched the proceedings on the dock.
“How do you want to handle this, Jack?”
“I like what you did in Batumi, Henry, so we’re going to follow your lead.”
“That’s good, being a control freak, I love to hear those words. For now, we’ll just sit back and let them load the yacht and wait until it gets dark before we take them.”
“Sounds good,” Hoskins said, “We’ll get a lot less attention that way and for whatever reason, I feel more secure with the cesium on the water than on land.”
“So do I, and if push came to shove tonight, we could tow that yacht a few miles out to sea and scuttle it,” Henry said.
Down on the dock, Abdula and his two men got out of the blue rental truck and opened up the back door. He climbed up into the back of the truck and carefully pushed the crates, one at a time toward the rear of the truck for his men to carry out onto awaiting loading pallets. Tariq Amin and Max Landau stood next to their military truck that was parked about fifty feet away from the blue rental truck. Landau yelled for two soldiers to come off the yacht and stand guard on opposite sides of the blue truck,
“They just removed the first crate from the rental truck,” Henry said from his location on the Maiden’s Tower, “ I don’t know if you could get this detail, but they’re putting it on a loading pallet. Did you did say that there were four crates?”
“That’s affirmative,” Hoskins said.
“Okay, here comes the second crate now,” Henry said.
“Does anyone see Abdula Nassir, I lost track of him,” Hoskins said.
“The last time I saw him he went into the back of the rental truck,” Leslie said, “Do you want me to rewind the video?”
“Not yet,” Hoskins said, “Let’s keep a sharp eye on all of them.”
“I see him,” Henry said, “He’s still in the back of the blue truck.”
“Abdula’s two men are unloading the cesium crates while those two soldiers are standing guard,” Hoskins ponders aloud.
“There’s a crane coming up the dock and it looks like it’s heading over to the yacht,” Henry said.
Everyone watched as the motorized crane with a driver and two dockworkers slowly made their way down the dock before it stopped along side the yacht and in front of the pallets.
“They’re going to use that crane to hoist the pallets onto the yacht,” Hoskins said.
Frank, who was in the RV’s cab checking his e-mail from Langley, walked back into the console area. As he looked at the video surveillance monitors with the others, he said, “What’s wrong with this picture?”
“What do you mean?” Hoskins asked.
“Those two uniformed men next to the blue truck belong to Amin, and I see two more on the boat, but why are Amin and the other’s standing away from the Abdula and his men that are unloading the crates?”
“They’re either afraid of the cesium or.....”
“Or something else is going down,” Henry said to finish Hoskins sentence.
“Do you see anything else, Henry?” Hoskins asked.
A voice came over Henry’s radio before he could answer.
“Rebel leader we have hot movement in that brown warehouse to the left of that military truck.”
Henry replied over the radio, “Roger that, rebel one.”
“How’s that for timing, Jack,” Henry said as he got back on the cell phone, “My people have spotted some unfriendlies set up in the brown warehouse to the left of the military truck. I just got a visual on one of them, and he’s armed to the teeth.”
“Steady everyone, let’s sit back and see what’s going on,” Hoskins said, “Are they wearing the same uniforms as Amin’s other men?”
“That’s affirmative,” Henry said.
“If I had to guess, Abdula Nassir must have really pissed off Tariq Amin,” Frank said.
“At least they’re smart enough to wait until the cargo is loaded before they open fire,” Henry said.
“That would also explain why Amin brought an armored vehicle with him too,” Hoskins said.
“Amin’s two guards are on the move, there moving away from the blue truck to get further out of the line of fire,” Frank said.
Every one looked on as the dockworkers securely harnessed each crate to its pallet and signaled the crane operator to hoist the pallet onto the yacht. On the yacht, Amin’s men untied the harnesses and the crane swung back to the dock to load the next pallet.
“It’s interesting that Abdula is still inside his truck, I wonder if he suspects anything at all?” Hoskins asked.
“We should find out in the next few minutes,” Henry said as the group watched the crane load the rest of the pallets onto the yacht.
“Abdula’s men just unloaded the last crate from the truck and they’re getting ready to hoist it onto the yacht,” Henry said.
“Okay everyone, let’s get ready,” Hoskins said,
“Leslie, you’d better arm the missiles on the predator, if that yacht takes any significant damage I may want you to toast it.”
Leslie typed in some commands on the keyboard and said, “Armed and ready, Jack.”
On the docks, Abdula’s two men were standing around watching as the crane loaded the last crate onto the yacht. After Amin’s men unhooked the harnesses from the last pallet, the dockworkers and the motorized crane slowly left the area.
Abdula finally stepped out on the rear section of the truck and stood by with his men taking a break.
After the dockworkers left the area, Tariq Amin turned around and looked toward the brown warehouse. He closed his eyes for a second and then nodded his head.
Shots immediately sprayed the dock area near the blue rental truck and Abdula’s two men were riddled with bullets and fell to the ground. Abdula slid back into the truck for cover as bullets pelted it. The crowd of people and merchants on the waterfront were running for their lives to get away from the area.
Abdula stuck his head out of the back of the blue truck and sprayed the brown warehouse with a burst of bullets from an Uzi machine gun. Then he screamed in Arabic and sprayed the dockside sending Tariq Amin and his soldiers ducking for cover behind the military truck. He wounded two of the soldiers but Amin and Max Landau were safely out of the line of fire. Abdula then turned his attention back to the brown warehouse as he loaded another clip of bullets into the Uzi and kept firing and thinking of the best way out of this predicament. He noticed that the shooting stopped, so he looked out the back of the truck to survey the area. It was then that he spotted a grenade launcher pointing toward him from the brown warehouse. Seeing this, Abdula jumped from the back of the blue truck and sprinted along the dock for a few feet before diving into the Caspian Sea. Not two seconds later a grenade hit the truck and blasted it over on its side. Amin and his men ran up and sprayed the water with bullets as they searched the water looking for Abdula. Max Landau fired bullets into Abdula’s men to make sure that they were dead before he climbed up into the cab of the truck and grabbed Abdula’s money filled briefcase before the truck’s cab caught fire.
“It’s Allah’s will,” Tariq Amin said as he and his men continued to scan the waters of the dock area, “Let the fish eat the infidel.”
Inside the CIA’s RV, Hoskins asked, “Did they get Abdula?” Hoskins asked.
“They’re not acting like they did,” Frank said.
“I agree,” Henry said, “They stopped firing, it looks like he may have gotten away.”
“That’s not a problem,” Hoskins said, “He’s a small time arms dealer, Amin’s the big fish, he’s the one we need to get, without people like Amin, the Abdula’s of the world are out of work.”
“You’re right, if Amin would kill three of his terrorist supporters, I don’t think he’d have any qualms about taking out a whole city of infidels,” Frank said.
Henry’s voice came over the speakerphone in the RV, “Heads up, a black limo just drove up and picked up Amin. Just in time too, here comes the local police and some army units.”
“The cesium is still on the yacht, right?” Hoskins asked.
“Yes, they covered up the crates with a tarp, and the other guards are hiding down below until the police leave.”
“Henry, you keep watching the yacht, we’re going after the limo,” Hoskins said, “Did you spot them, Leslie?”
“There they are, they’re going up the northern hill overlooking the bay.”
On the monitor, the limo was seen cruising up a hill into a rich residential district. It drove past some expensive homes and mansions before it pulled up to a secured gate entrance on a lot facing the sea. The limo paused while a camera, hidden in some rich shrubbery, focused on the vehicle and the gate was remotely opened. The limo went down the long circular driveway past the well-manicured lawn, decorative trees, and shrubs before it stopped in front of an opulent mansion.
“Wow! That’s one hell of a place,” Brad said, “I could count at least six fireplaces and there’s probably twelve rooms on the second floor.”
“Leslie, see if you could get us some close ups, maybe we could get an address on this place,” Hoskins said.
“I’m already on it.”
“On one of the monitors, the gate area of the mansion is zooming in closer and soon a mailbox is seen with the number 49 on the side. The mailbox continued to get larger on the monitor until some mail was seen in side.
“Let me drop the predator down a few hundred feet and see if I could pull that mailbox in tighter,” Leslie said as she typed some commands on the keyboard.
“Now let’s focus in on it again.”
The video now showed a close-up of the open mailbox with a stack of mail inside. Fortunately, the address on the first letter in the stack was clearly legible in Arabic writing.
“Way to go, let’s send that off to HQ for interpretation,” Hoskins said.
After a few minutes, a message came in from in-house Agent Don Nelson at HQ saying that the name on the letter has been interpreted as ‘Amin Enterprises, LTD’
“I guess that wasn’t much of a surprise,” David said.
“I wonder if he’d want to adopt me,” Brad said before he quickly added, “Just kidding.”
“Yeah, must be nice to have money,” Frank said.
“Tell me about it,” Hoskins said, “I can’t afford a cheap cottage on the shore in Ocean City, and Amin owns a mansion overlooking the Caspian Sea, life really isn’t fair.”
“And this is probably just one of his summer homes,” Frank said.
“Leslie, we need to have the predator scour every inch of that property, this guy’s no fool, he probably has multiple egress routes from that property. Make sure we check the cliff side to see if there’s any boat ramps,” Hoskins said.
“With the money this guy has, it probably wouldn’t hurt to check for a submarine tunnel too,” Brad said.
“Let me guess,” Frank said to Brad, “You’re a big James Bond fan.”
“Yeah, I have every movie ever made,” Brad said, “Let me know if you ever want to borrow them.”
Leslie shook her head at the inane conversation and said “I’m going to keep the predator in a tight formation above the mansion and I’ll send a copy of the surveillance video to Langley to see if they could spot anything that we might miss.”
“Good idea,” Hoskins said.
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