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Ciresi looked at his watch and said, “We should go downstairs and get a cup of coffee,” Ciresi said.

“Good idea.” Smith handed Rapp his business card and said, “My mobile number is on there. Traffic is really bad out there. When the prisoners arrive, please give me a call.”

Rapp nodded slowly and then said, “Will do.”

CHAPTER 71

KARIM sat in the backseat of the Town Car, directly behind Hakim. It seemed to him that his friend was in a rather glum mood, considering how successful the day had been. He was used to being the one who brooded in an angry-faced silence, and found it rather uncomfortable when the shoe was on the other foot. He did not like his normally upbeat friend casting a pall over their victory. Karim wanted to clear the air, but there were only a few minutes before they got to the facility. There would be plenty of time after the attack, but they would not be alone. Ahmed would be with them.

Ahmed was the only one Karim would let live. They were close enough now to use radios, so Karim toggled the button and said, “Thomas, how does everything look?”

Four seconds later the radio crackled and a voice said, “Good. More people are arriving every minute.”

Karim frowned and wondered if security was being increased. He would normally never ask such a question on an open channel, but at this point there wasn’t much the Americans could do to stop them. “Has security increased?”

“A few more people are out patrolling the grounds, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“Good. We will see you shortly.” Karim set the radio on the seat next to him and looked at Hakim’s reflection in the rearview mirror. “The RV is ready?”

“Yes.”

Karim thou

ght of the plan. With any luck they would be in Canada by tomorrow afternoon. An RV loaded with provisions was waiting for them at a pole barn in Ashburn not more than twenty minutes up the road. “And how far can we make it before we have to stop for gas?”

“Iowa.” Hakim offered him nothing more.

Karim was sick of his friend’s pouting. “What is wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me. You are like my brother. I know when something is bothering you. Tell me. I want to hear it.”

“You have changed.” Hakim hit the turn signal and took a left onto Dolley Madison Boulevard.

“We all change as we grow older.”

“Not always for the better.”

“I am not sure I like your implication,” Karim said.

“And I know for a fact that I do not like how you have brainwashed these young men.”

“I have brainwashed no one. These men are great warriors who are about to give their lives in the greatest struggle of our time,” Karim said with absolute sincerity. “Do not demean them.”

“I am not demeaning them. I am demeaning you. You have embraced this cult of death where you gleefully offer up the lives of others. And for what? To satisfy your own…” Hakim shook his head and stopped short of finishing his thought.

“Say it!” Karim demanded.

“I don’t want to.”

“Say it. I order you to tell me.”

Hakim looked back in the mirror at his childhood friend. “We have always been equals. I see that is no longer the case.”

“We are equals, but not in the middle of an operation. There can be only one commander.”

“There are only two of us in this car. Just two friends who grew up together. One of us seems to have forgotten that.”

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