“What about the other guy that Aaron shot? Can you get his phone?”
“He’s barbecued inside the VBIED.”
“Okay, just try to locate the woman’s phone. If you can’t find it, you can’t find it, but the Ghost’s still out there, and this might be our last lead.”
She said, “Okay. We’re moving. I’ll call with an update.”
Shoshana was bouncing off the walls wanting to know what had happened. I gave her the CliffsNotes version, and she became angry, saying, “What was Aaron thinking? No terrorist is worth his life.”
I said, “Yeah, well, he may have saved a bunch of folks who would have otherwise died. If they’d have evaded us and simply parked that car at any crowded intersection it would have been a bloodbath.”
Glowering, she said, “I’ll talk to him when he gets back. That was very risky. It could have been a crowded intersectionandhim and Jennifer.”
I didn’t envy Aaron, but gave up trying to convince her of the nobility of his act. I said, “Their vehicle is totaled and about to be examined with a microscope by the police. It’s your cover that’s on the rental agreement. Is there any issue with that?”
She said, “No. Not at all. We’re on a thin, throwaway cover. Mossad will burn it when we’re done. We just need to leave here before our names get introduced on a watch list in travel databases.” She returned to the television, saying, “It was worth it to stop the attack. How long before they get here?”
I said, “They’re not coming back right away. I sent them to see if they could find the cell phone the woman was using.”
She whipped her head back to me and said, “Why? They might get entangled by the police, and we’ve stopped the attack. Are you that fixated on the Ghost?”
I said, “It is because of the Ghost, but not because I’m fixated on him. There are two other attacks planned, in the United States and Israel, which shows a deep well of planning and infrastructure. I don’t see a simple car bomb made out of locally purchased fireworks as the main event down here. According to Jennifer it wasn’t even that big of an explosion, and where were they intending to use it? How could they have targeted any of the VIPs at the ceremony? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Shoshana may be stubborn as hell and completely sure of herself, but she was also incredibly smart. She took in my words and said, “So you think this bomb was just to make us let down our guard? A diversion?”
I said, “The only thing I know for sure is that the Ghost is a skilled killer. When I caught him years ago, he was placing shaped charges on the shaft stanchions of the tallest elevator in the world, in Dubai. That was aprecise, targeted killing. He doesn’t do mass attacks with homemade car bombs. If he built a VBIED down here it would be a robo-taxi with facial recognition software.”
Jennifer came on the net, saying, “Pike, this is Koko. We found the phone, but we had to evacuate. The police showed up and are rounding up witnesses.”
“Are you clean?”
“Yeah. Someone’s going to give our description, but we’re clean so far.”
“Give me the number before the last one called. The one before initiation.”
She read out a number, and it was new—not one of the ones from the cell phone we obtained in the park. I repeated it to Shoshana, saying, “Get that to Veep. Tell him to see if he can find it.”
Jennifer said, “Are we coming back to you?”
“Yeah. You want me to send an Uber?”
She chuckled and said, “I’ll make Aaron get it. He’s the reason our ride is totaled.”
I said, “See you soon,” then saw Shoshana stiffen in the seat as she spoke with Creed. She said, “Are you positive?”
Then said, “We have to go. Keep that phone locked.”
She threw off the headset and leapt up, saying, “He found the number. It’s inside the Jewish center right now.”
Chapter 66
The Ghost had managed to relax during the interminable wait for the first speaker to begin. The only close call had come not from security, but from an Argentinian news crew trying to kill some time. The cameraman came over smoking a cigarette and asked something in Spanish. The Ghost replied in English that he didn’t speak Spanish.
The man looked at him quizzically, then in broken English, asked, “You make your anchorman carry your batteries? I wish I could get mine to help.”
The Ghost said, “My assistant got food poisoning. Ramzi said he’d help. It’s no big deal to work as a team for us.”
The man flicked his cigarette to the ground and stepped on it, saying, “You come all the way from Lebanon for an Argentinian ceremony, and you don’t speak Spanish? How are you going to cover this?”
