Foreign Influence

Rashid leaned forward. “How different?”

“Airplanes will rain from the sky. Radiation and a plague will infect the infidel populations. They will know terror like they have never known before.”

“And what about the cells? Are they already in place?”

“Everything is ready and waiting. Sheik Aleem has prepared a communications protocol that-” Jarrah’s voice trailed off as his eyes shifted to his television monitor.

“What is it?” asked Rashid.

“Someone is in the store.”

The younger man pulled out his pistol. “How many? Where did you see them?”

“On the first floor of the showroom. The west wall near the stairs to the-”

“Down here to the basement,” said Rashid as he leapt up. “Stay right there. Don’t move.”

As he stepped into the cinder block hallway, he heard a shout. Seconds later, automatic weapons fire began.

CHAPTER 70

Vaughan, Davidson, and Levy had no idea where they’d been moved to after being captured and tortured-or in Levy’s case shot-at the mosque. They knew it was a basement room somewhere, but that was it.

As far as why they had been placed at Mohammed Nasiri’s apartment, Vaughan had only been able to pick up bits and pieces, but thought that maybe they were going to be used to draw in a bunch of police officers and then their vests would be detonated in hopes of killing as many as possible.

The only other information the men could contribute was in regard to the TATP they thought the terrorists were going to use and what Mohammed Nasiri and the other men they had seen looked like.

It wasn’t a lot to go on, but it became a large part of Harvath’s decision to hit Marwan Jarrah’s place of business. With all of the activity, it was obvious that the attack was about to happen. But what had cinched it for Harvath was the camera at Nasiri’s apartment. Even fully charged, it would run for only so long. Whatever the Chicago cell had pla

Though Levy had taken two clean, in-and-out gunshot wounds to the shoulder and someone had done a fair job of patching him up, he was still going to need to see a doctor. Davidson and Vaughan had been roughed up pretty good as well. Vaughan had suffered a broken wrist, and both of Davidson’s eyes were so swollen he could barely see out of them.

“You three need medical attention,” said Harvath.

“The hell with that,” said Davidson. “We’re going with you.”

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

When the Public Vehicles officer didn’t answer, Harvath replied, “I thought so.”

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Davidson replied as he flipped Harvath the bird.

“I agree,” said Vaughan. “The hospital can wait. We want to help take these guys down.”

Harvath took the officer aside and quietly said, “Listen, your team has done a great job, but you’ve got to let us finish it.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then I’m going to hold you in my custody until this is all over. And just so you know, my version of custody is duct-taping you back up, including the gags, and placing you in a Dumpster somewhere around here. If I get shot and don’t come back, you’ll be there till trash day, or till the rats gnaw through the restraints, whichever comes first.”

“What authority do you have to-” said Vaughan, but Harvath interrupted him.

“Whether you think so or not, you guys need a doctor. All of you. You’re only going to slow us down, or worse, get us killed.”

Vaughan knew Harvath was right. He didn’t like it, but he understood it and consented to follow his plan.

He and Davidson would take Levy to De

When Harvath and Casey were back in their vehicle, they radioed the rest of the team to get ready to take down Jarrah’s store.

Forty-five minutes later, when the team was regrouped and ready to take down the store, Harvath gave the “go” command.

Ericsson disabled the alarm, but that was the extent of their prep work. There was no way they could shut down the power, which meant the closed circuit camera system would still be operational. Based on what Cooper had seen while inside the store, they had developed the best plan they could. Speed, surprise, and overwhelming violence of action would have to work.

They entered from two separate points and moved fast. Cooper and Rhodes took the first-floor office, while Harvath, Casey, and Ericsson headed for the basement. They had just made it to the bottom of the stairs when one of the delivery goons spotted them. He was completely naked, his skin damp as if he’d just stepped out of the shower.

Seeing the intruders, he yelled as he disappeared back into the room he’d just exited.

Harvath, Casey, and Ericsson advanced, only to be driven back by a heavy barrage of machine-gun fire. Several of the rounds ricocheted off the walls and ceiling as well as the pipes that surrounded them.

There was a grunt, followed by Ericsson saying, “I’m hit.”

“How bad?” shouted Harvath as he returned fire and tried to keep their attackers pi

Casey examined her teammate’s wound. “Upper thigh. It’s starting to bleed pretty good.”

“Damn it,” Harvath replied as he fired another burst.

“Office is empty. We’re on our way,” said Cooper over the radio.

“Hurry up,” ordered Casey.

Harvath noticed movement in the hallway and let loose another burst from his MP7. When he realized what had happened, he barely had time to yell, “Flash bang!” as a concussion grenade was banked off the wall at them.

It went off immediately in a blinding flash of white light with a thunderous boom that overpressured the basement. Harvath had barely shut his eyes and his mouth was only partway open when it happened; not enough to fully mitigate the effects. He had no idea if the rest of his team had heard his warning or not.

His vision blurred from the flash, he thought he could see two forms coming right at him. He raised his weapon to fire, but someone beat him to it. There were two loud booms and both figures dropped to the ground. He didn’t know who had fired and how he could have heard it over the ringing in his ears, as everyone on his team was using suppressed weapons. Then he realized the shots hadn’t come from his team. They’d come from someone else; someone at the other end of the hallway.