Fueling the Rage Page 21

  There were many funerals taking place in Kansas. Pastor Washington and his wife’s funeral was the most heavily attended. Bryan was there with all of his brothers. The state police and the FBI had camera men at every funeral and every person attending a funeral was photographed. The exception was Pastor Washington’s funeral. His church had a normal Sunday attendance of over 2,000 and the funeral had over 2,500 mourners. The FBI only took crowd shots but they concentrated on the front rows of the church. Simon Washington, one of Bryan’s brothers, preached the service and sixty people came forward to join the church. Thomas Washington was an FBI field agent out of St Paul, Minnesota and he sat in the front row beside his brother Bryan. This was the first time Bryan had seen his brothers since he had been sent to prison.

  Simon Washington was a caring person and was concerned about Bryan. He made sure that he rode with him to his home after the service at the cemetery. “Bryan what have you been doing?”

  “I’ve been working at Kansas Truck.”

  “Have you been going to church?”

  “Actually I’m living in housing furnished by the Topeka Peace Mosque.”

  “Have you become a Black Muslim?” Bryan was now holding back and he knew his answer could raise unwanted additional questions.

  “No, they helped me to get paroled and trained me on truck repairs. Part of my parole requires me to live in their housing. It’s like the Salvation Army. They must be getting paid or something. I really like my job and it helped to put my past behind be.”

  Thomas was not working with the investigation, but noticed the presence of several FBI agents at the service. “They’ll find who did this. There are just too many resources being used to not solve this.” All of the brothers agreed with Thomas.

  After the funeral Bryan returned to the mosque housing. He was thinking. If Thomas is right, we may not have much time until I’m discovered as a suspect. I need to talk to Malcolm about our timeline for jihad. Malcolm was also at the mosque. The next morning there was a knock on Bryan’s door and he said, “Come in.”

  Bryan was dressed for breakfast as Malcolm entered his room, “What were you thinking?”

  Bryan had been waiting for that question since his action. “I was afraid that if I tested the explosive at the farm it could possibly have been detected. After thinking about it I decided to try it at a couple of separate sites. There’s nothing that can trace it back to me. I stole a truck to carry the explosive soup, and it wasn’t even reported missing.”

  “We have serious plans and we need to surprise America. I believe that your work has taken some of our element of surprise away from us.”

  “Malcolm, I have six ambulances ready right now. Maybe we need to do this in stages.”

  “If a single piece of one of our vehicles is found they’ll be on to us in hours. We have one plan and one chance at doing this right. If you do not follow orders from here on out, so help me Bryan, I’ll kill you myself.”

  Bryan quietly answered, “I understand.”

  *****

  Bill was face to face with Sarah Realey. He had just told her his real name and their plan. She was an Iranian doctor and thought of herself as a pacifist. It was not a view she would admit, but there was no other path available to her. Outside the safety of the hospital she would follow the crazy laws of the Islamic State. She would treat her patients and simply do her job. She had the best life an educated woman could have in Iran. Am I a pacifist or am I simply a coward? She looked at Bill and saw a different type of life. He was strong and confident. He wants me to steal eight syringes full of powerful drugs that would induce unconsciousness in people I have never met. I am to allow a person that has never injected anything into a human to expose these people to the real risk of death. How could he be this strong? Can he mold my will? This is a person that is really just a stranger. Maybe I should pull the fire alarm on the wall and yell for help.

  She stood her ground, “Your name’s Bill and you’re an American and want to kill Ayatollah Meslem Ali because he could become the Supreme Leader upon the pending death of the present Supreme Leader. You’re troubled about killing eight Iranians that work for him and you want me to steal drugs and give them to you and Ivan. Do you know they will cut off my head if they discovered this plot? I can’t give you these drugs.”

  “I understand that you won’t give us the drugs, but I don’t understand why you aren’t screaming for help?”

  At first, she couldn’t answer the question and then it came to her to be honest. “I care for you and know that what you’re telling me is true. I know the pain of the loss of your friends and your sister, but I live here. They’ll find me and you will be long gone. I live here.”

  Bill moved his face close to her face. He looked into her black eyes and could feel the emotions that he had for her. Where do these feeling come from? She cares for me. In a single thought his plans changed.

  “Come with me back to America and we could be married if it is alright with you. I love you Sarah come with me to America. We don’t need the drugs. We’ll tie them up. All we need is enough time to meet you and the three of us will drive to Ilam and then escape to Iraq.”

  Ivan was watching all of this. This wasn’t a normal American courtship. If I live through this I will marry my Israeli girlfriend, and I have the strange feeling that I will live through this.

  “They’ll kill my family as soon as they know I took you to Ilam. I accept your marriage proposal, but you must get approval from my father. I can’t give you the drugs, but if you restrain these eight Iranians I will inject them. We’ll then all drive to Ilam and you’ll ask my father for permission to marry me.” With a single kiss they sealed the agreement.

  Ivan then went to the armory and collected enough weapons to offer a defense against a small army. If Sarah’s family joined them, there were enough weapons for her father and brother. They arrived at the Northern Tehran Residential Building and they were all in their military uniforms. Ivan parked the police car one block from the entrance and before they left the car Bill repeated his instructions, “Sarah, wait for us to take the elevator to fifth floor. As soon as it returns then you go to the fifth floor and head right to office 500. Wait about fifty feet from the office door until one of us comes out and signals you. Wait for ten minutes, if we don’t come out, leave and take a taxi to your apartment.” Sarah nodded yes.

  Ivan and Bill were in uniform with their faces covered. Sarah was following well behind them as they entered the building and stopped at reception. They headed for the elevator and took it to the fifth floor. Fifty feet behind, carrying a small black doctor’s bag, she followed and made her way to the elevator.

  Near the ayatollah’s office, Bill whispered to Ivan, “Don’t let this decision to drug them put us in too much danger. If we need to kill a few of them to be safe don’t think about it too long.”

  Ivan nodded yes. Bill knew the rule was that something would likely go wrong. Without looking at Ivan he said, “Sam, be ready for trouble.” Then he looked at Ivan, “Sorry Ivan, it was just a habit.” They saw the two guards at the door and both guards carried UZIs. They had plastic ties and duct tape to restrain the guards and the Iranian staff. “Once they’re all restrained I’ll take care of the ayatollah.”

  They got to the door and Ivan told the guards to come inside with them, “We need to talk to everyone for a few minutes.” Without a question the guards led them into the office, “Who’s with the ayatollah?”

  The ayatollah’s aid answered, “No one, he is resting.” Bill and Ivan raised their UZIs and Ivan instructed the guards to lie on the floor. Bill removed their weapons and then strapped their hands behind their backs. He used duct tape to bind their legs and cover their eyes and mouth. Ivan told the rest of the staff to lie on the floor with their hands behind their backs. They secured all of them with plastic straps and duct tape.

  Ivan opened the outside door to the office and saw Sarah standing down the hall as instructed and
waved her into the office. Bill went after the ayatollah and entered the apartment area of the office. He opened a bedroom door and entered. The ayatollah was sleeping on a large bed. He nudged the barrel of the UZI into the neck of Ali. He woke from a deep sleep and, as his eyes focused, they opened wider. Bill looked at him and removed his black mask. “Do you remember me? We met in Libya at your big home. Didn’t I tell you to keep your killing outside America?”

  As he was talking he was strapping the ayatollah’s arms behind his back. He taped his legs and then looked into his face. “Your bomber boys killed my sister in Tampa. Her name was Mira and I want you to say her name.” At first he resisted, but Bill applied pressure to his neck with the barrel of the UZI.

  “I am sorry about Mira.”

  With that Bill taped his eyes and then he taped his mouth and nose, and wound the tape again and again sealing Ali from the air. He didn’t deserve to breathe, “You are not worth a bullet.” He stood over him for a few minutes until Ali’s body stopped moving and then joined Sarah and Ivan.

  Sarah had injected all eight of the staff and was a little concerned with the weight difference between three of the staff. One woman must have weighed less than 100 pounds and the two guards were both very tall and heavy men. She carefully adjusted the dose to keep them all unconscious for four hours. When Bill joined them he noticed that all the staff appeared to be sleeping.

  “We have about four hours before any of them wakes.” They nodded and all left the office.

  As they were leaving Bill locked the door from the inside. “Now they won’t have any visitors.” The elevator ride took them to the lobby.

  The fight for flight on freedoms course

  Gives chase to borders free

  The acts of retribution force

  A family bond to be

  Chapter 19

  Bill and Ivan’s faces were again covered. Sarah followed about fifty feet behind them carrying her black doctor’s bag. They entered their car and shortly Sarah joined them. She sat in the back seat. She had only a small area, weapons and ammunition took up most of the room. They stopped at Sarah’s apartment and she picked up her Volvo. Following detailed instructions she followed from 300 yards behind. Bill gave her a slip of paper with GPS coordinates and was instructed to continue to Ilam if Bill and Ivan were stopped. They were ready to fight all the way to Iraq.

  “If we get separated take your family to this location and tell the Americans that we’ll be there later.”

  “No. We’ll stay together no matter what.”

  “Until it gets dark you’ll follow us. If we’re stopped go to your home and get your family. You will go to the location that I have given you. Mind me. We aren’t in America yet.” She nodded yes.

  Ivan started driving and about twenty miles outside of Tehran the four lane divided highway turned into a two lane country road. He saw were no markings or speed limit signs except a few crude signs as they entered towns along the way. Bill had a map and navigated as Ivan tried to keep them at a high but safe speed. He was also looking behind them making sure Sarah was following as instructed. Ivan was measuring the time in miles traveled and the first part of the trip was the fastest. After about three hours they had traveled 150 miles, but it was starting to get dark and they were now in a low mountain range. They were on a high mountain ridge and Bill noticed a large lake below. To their right was a long cliff, and at the bottom of the cliff was dark blue water.

  He called Sarah and told her to pull over with them. The terrain was beautiful and ahead the road wound up a steep incline. Off the road to the right was a gently downward sloping field. It was completely open from the road. Fifty feet beyond the field was a steep almost straight drop of about 400 feet to the water below.

  Sarah pulled her car into the field, “I’m going to need gas in about fifty miles.”

  Her car was still running as Bill took the driver’s seat, “Take your bags.”

  She opened the back door and removed them. He put the Volvo in gear and jumped out. The car picked up speed as it covered the downward slope. By the time it reached the cliff it was going twenty five miles per hour. The nose of the Volvo touched the steep cliff at about half way to the water. It flipped end over end until it hit the lake and in just a few seconds it disappeared into the dark blue water.

  Ivan joked, “Uncle Sam owes you one Volvo.”

  “It’s getting dark and no one has stopped our police car, so we should be okay now.”

  “We still have a seven hour trip to Ilam.” They all got into the police car and continued their trip.

  Bill looked at her in the back seat, “Glad you could join us. I was getting lonesome.” As they left the mountain range Ivan again picked up speed. He held his speed even as he drove through the small villages along the way.

  Hamadan was a larger town on their route and Ivan saw a rare open gas station and stopped. They were still dressed in their black ninja uniforms and Ivan was wearing his mask. He parked next to the proper pump and got out of the police car. An attendant ran from a small office and started dispensing their gas and then cleaning the windshield. Ivan towered over the attendant. Bill strapped his UZI across his chest and got out of the car. He asked directions to the restroom and the attendant led him to the unlocked the door. Soon Sarah got out and followed the same path and she and the attendant waited together until Bill opened the door. Ivan now had his AK47 strapped behind his back and realized that Ali’s staff would now be awake and probably struggling to get free. Ivan moved his rifle from his back to his chest and pulled on the action and a round entered the chamber. He no longer felt safe.

  Bill waited with the attendant for Sarah to emerge from the restroom. She opened the door and the attendant locked the room. He then ran to the gas pump and topped off the tank. Ivan paid the attendant and the attendant wrote a receipt and handed it to Ivan.

  Ivan said as he drove off, “The staff’s now awake.”

  “We’ve about one hundred miles. We’ll turn off this road to the right in a few minutes.”

  There was no sign to Ilam and it was now pitch black. The new road was about a lane and a half wide and there was no center strip. In about twenty miles they reached the foot hills of the Ilam Mountains. There were no guard rails or signs warning them of the approaching curves. Bill was glad that Ivan was driving.

  Sarah warned, “Be careful, the oncoming traffic may not be using lights. It’ll be about three more hours to my home.”

  At the Northern Tehran Residential Building in office 500, the staff of the Ayatollah Meslem Ali, were now all awake. The first to break her bonds was the small woman, who was able to slide one of her small hands free. She removed the tape from her eyes and then her legs. It took a few minutes for her head to clear and when she was able to stand she retrieved a letter opener from her desk and used it to free one of the guards. Together they entered the ayatollah’s personal quarters. The guard moved ahead to the bedroom and the woman stayed back.

  He yelled to her, “Call security and get medical help.” It took a while for him to remove the duct tape that covered the ayatollah’s face. As he unwound the tape it removed some of Ali’s beard and when his mouth and nose were free the guard stopped and joined the woman. In a few minutes several police and medical personnel arrived.

  A doctor who lived in the building was the first on site and examined his body, “He’d been dead for several hours.”

  When a powerful member of government is murdered the Supreme Leader’s staff is notified before any action is taken. The police serve at the will of the government and the Supreme Leader has the final responsibility for all life and death. There is an unspoken understanding that changes in leadership are not always done by counting votes. The Supreme Leader’s chief of staff was finally reached. He was told that Ayatollah Meslem Ali was dead and was given a short description of the death. The chief of staff said he would alert the Supreme Leader as soon as he woke in the morning. The senior policeman had the
medical people remove the rest of the tape and dress the Ayatollah in an appropriate outfit. Photos of the possible crime scene were taken in case a murder investigation was begun.

  It was 0500 local time. Bill, Ivan and Sarah arrived at her home at sunrise, but her parents would not normally wake until 0600. Bill suggested that Sarah wake them early. Ivan and Bill waited outside for the house to come to life. Sarah’s brother was the first to join them. His name was Isaac and went by the nickname of Ike. Sarah’s grandfather had served with the allied forces during WWII and had personally met General Eisenhower. He had named his first grandson Isaac and given him the nickname of Ike.

  Bill and Ivan still carried their rifles over their shoulders. Sarah soon joined her brother and introduced them to each other. Next, her father appeared at the door.

  “Let’s all go inside where it’s more comfortable and we can talk.”

  It was a very nice two story brick home. It was located on the largest, most western ridge of the Ilam Mountains. Everyone settled in the living room. A picture window offered a view to the west and Bill calculated it was about thirty miles to their meeting point in Iraq. They could drive the twenty miles to Kalak, but they would most likely need to hike through ten miles in difficult terrain to reach the Americans that were waiting for them.

  It was a strangely formal setting and Ike sat between Sarah and Bill. She reached in front of her brother and punched Bill in the ribs, “Do first things first.”

  He looked at her farther and asked a question, “Sir, I would like your permission to marry Sarah.” He waited for a simple yes or no.