Page 25 of Silver Fire

“Which one? He has plenty of enemies, but none of them would benefit from the demise of Sophie Leroux.”

“Postulate,” Viktor said curtly.

Tim sighed and Maia smiled inwardly. The analyst worked on facts, not scenarios based on assumptions.

“From Maia’s descriptions, we could say they are mostly black—African Americans.”

“Or African extremists,” Maia replied. “Christopher Blackstone is rumored to be involved in some of the conflicts there, didn’t you say so, Viktor?”

“Difficult to confirm. Hearsay,” Tim said.

“Gut?” Maia prodded.

“Work this scenario out Tim. The Abu-Haxa Brotherhood is one of the widespread terrorist organizations operating on the African continent targeting mostly mining communities.”

“They also consider themselves freedom fighters,” Tim replied. “The only thing linking Blackstone, Leroux and Abu-Haxa is zefinium mining. Leroux is less than a percent of Blackstone Mining revenue, it would not dent their profits.”

“Factor in her father’s research,” Maia said. “What if weapons-grade zefinium becomes a mainstream commodity, can you extrapolate the business growth?”

“The most is ten percent. You’re talking about freedom fighters here, they do not do strategic business goals,” Tim retorted. “They’re addressing an immediate threat.”

Viktor sat back in his chair, his eyes thoughtful and then he stood up and paced around a couple of times before turning back.

“What if they know of this research of Dr. Leroux’s father that can create an explosive device that, for all intents and purposes, functions as a city-wide demolition bomb. Their goal is to make sure Blackstone would never get his hands on this and use it against them.”

Maia’s eyes widened. “Blackstone won’t blatantly use a bomb.”

“No. But I know of several outfits in Africa that are unscrupulous enough to use a zefinium bomb to clear out villages that stand in their way,” Viktor said. “It’s brutal over there, Maia. Half the time, the world has no clue what goes on in the depths of Africa. As far as the general public knows, it’s a jungle and not a place where living, breathing people exist. Genocide happens and no one blinks an eye.”

“Do we have any data on the members on the Abu-Haxa Brotherhood?”

“Inconsequential. Mortality is very high. I have a file on several of their high-ranking lieutenants, but we haven’t updated it in a while and are not sure if they’re still alive,” Tim said.

“Run facial recognition on passengers exiting flights coming in from South Africa and Somalia through Dulles and BWI,” Maia instructed. “In the last two weeks. If no hits, go back four weeks.”

“That’s going to take forever,” Tim grumbled.

“That’s why it would be a good idea for you to start immediately,” Maia said sweetly.

The analyst stood up and cast a resigned look at Viktor, who chuckled softly. “You haven’t changed, Katerina, you are still as pushy as ever.”

“I’ve learned from the master,” Maia teased.

“Touché.”

“So, how are Braden and Thalia working out for Dr. Leroux?”

“I’ve heard no complaints from Dr. Leroux. Connelly is grumbling about Lockwood,” Viktor replied.

“Jack said Derek is smitten with Sophie. I still have to see it to believe it,” Maia said with a grin.

“I’m with you there.”

“I think I’ll drop by Silver Fire Research,” Maia said as she stood up to leave. “Maybe I can get more information out of Sophie.”

* * *

Derek slidinto the booth at the diner facing the Trident Building. Jack had called him early this morning to meet him for breakfast. Their regular server, Bonnie, dropped by with a carafe of coffee and handed him the specials of the day.

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