Page 55 of A Moment Never Forgotten
“Keep or kill?” SOG two asked.
“Clear the perimeter, permanently.” He pointed inside where heat signatures glowed. Obviously, the director of operations for the CIA had a lot more pull than he did as a Navy captain. Although he’d been able to request satellites for specific missions, he’d never gotten one spur-of-the-moment.
“Keep Joseph Lambert, that fucking traitor is mine.” The growl in Hennel’s voice left no room for discussion. “SEAL one, secure your mother. Colonel, Captain, deal with Matthew. When the area is secure, I’ll come in.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Berit felt very woozy.
Drugged.
But she heard Noah’s plan of attack through her earbud. She’d do what she could to help them.
“Lambert, where the hell am I? This place looks like a warehouse.” She heard a jet fly overhead so close she wanted to duck. “I feel like we're sitting right on the tarmac.”
“I am not Joseph Lambert. I am Abd al Rashid, nephew of Nassar al-Jamil, the true caliphate of the New Islamic State.”
That explained a lot. “So, what’s all this stuff?”
Abd smiled as he ran a hand up and down stacked boxes. “This is one of many of my warehouses across the United States. I control three camps, similar to American boot camps, but we feed our recruits’ minds and hearts with the word of Allah.”
She raised her eyebrows. “If I’m reading the words on that box correctly, now mind you my Arabic is rusty, but I’m pretty sure that says C-four. What the hell are you going to blow up? Or are you going to start a war?
The man laughed. “Oh, there will be a war. One that will bring America to its knees and make it repent for its endless sins. You, and women like you, are the reason that I’m doing this. American men will see their way to Allah, and under the direction of my uncle, the world will live in peace.”
She huffed. “Not if you’re a woman. American women will never be subjugated. They have been raised free with equal rights of a man. You’re crazy if you think that any woman is going to give that up, wear an abaya, and walk three steps behind her man.” She laughed. “A man she has to share with several other women. Polygamy went out hundreds of years ago.” She tried to shrug, but her hands were zip-tied to the sides of the chair. “Except for the Mormons. They’ve been trying to keep the practice alive for years.” She cocked her head to the side. “Did you make a deal with the Mormon church? Are they in on this new America, too?”
When he didn’t answer she changed the subject. “Where is all of this stuff getting shipped off to? Iran?”
He laughed. “No. It will be used right here in the United States in ten days. The arrogant Americans who embargoed Iranian oil will learn what it is like to have oil production shut down.”
“Are you going to do something to the refineries?” Berit prayed that every word they said was being recorded on the micro SD drive in her watch.
Since she’d heard the plan, the rescue team had said very little. She hoped that meant that they were about to save her…and Matthew. She was trying desperately to keep Abd, or Joseph, or whatever the hell he wanted to call himself, distracted.
He was a coward. He could have shot her a hundred different times, but instead, he brought her to this warehouse where Dr. Peterman was doing something to Matthew. Lambert, the name she would always think of him as, wanted the doctor to inject her with something lethal. He refused to leave Matthew's side until the procedure was complete. Berit knew she had at least until then.
“You didn’t answer my question. Are you going to attack the refineries?” She knew she was pushing him. She could also see he was getting flustered. “You’re going to kill me anyway, so why not tell me all about your grand plan?”
“Yes. Refineries. What better way to bring the United States to its knees?” He gave her a smug look. “This country has been sucking at the oil teat of the Middle East for a hundred years. Suddenly, the U.S. doesn’t want Iran to have the nuclear capability of others around the world. They threatened to quit buying our oil if we continued making nuclear weapons. Politics. Just an empty threat. Then the new president followed through. There was an embargo placed on Iranian oil. Our economy started to fail.”
He paced back and forth in front of her. “It’s time the United States feels our pain.”
“Well, that explains the C-four. What about all these food provisions?”
“The New Islamic State has been building an Army inside the USA for years. You have to feed an army. We have soldiers embedded in every community, coast-to-coast.” He laughed. “Many of them belong to the National Guard. They won’t fight against their own brothers. They’ll turn their government-provided weapons on the men they’ve trained with. Their loyalty is to Allah.”
“You really believe this crazy plan of yours is going to work?” Berit was a little scared that he could actually pull it off. She wondered how many hundreds, thousands had he trained, and were ready to fight for his cause.
He strode over and backhanded her. “Shut up, you stupid bitch.”
She could taste blood. Although her nose was bleeding, she didn’t think it was broken.
“Fucking bastard. He just hit her.” She thought that was Logan.
“You’re doing great, Berit. Everyone is almost in place.” That was definitely Noah Hennel.
“Do you like hitting women? Especially defenseless ones? You’ve tied me up. Obviously, I scare you. You know I could kick the shit out of you if you hadn’t tied up my legs.”Keep feeding them as much information as possible.
