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The slim man made a gesture with his hand and McNab followed him until they stood beside the landing gear.
“An American 727 was stolen a couple of weeks ago from Luanda,” McNab said.
“I saw that.”
“There is some reason to believe it’s either on the ground, or was, at Abéché, Chad. I’m supposed to find out if that’s so.”
“And retake it? Or destroy it?”
“My orders right now are just to see if it is, or was, there,” McNab said.
“Orders subject to change, of course.”
“I don’t think they will be. If retaking it was on the agenda, I would have been told, I think, to send a crew with my people. If they wanted to take it out, sending in an unmanned aerial vehicle would be a lot cheaper and less risky than this.” He pointed to the C-22.
The slim man didn’t say anything for a long, thoughtful moment.
“That’s it, General?”
“That’s all I have, Your Royal Highness.”
“And the basic plan?”
“Drop five people on Abéché. From a Royal Air Maroc transport overflying Chad en route to Jiddah. Have them find out what they can.”
“How are you going to get them out?”
"A C-17’s about two hours behind me. I’m going to use that.”
“So all you want to do is fly to Jiddah?”
“And back here.”
Again, the slim man thought over what he had heard.
“Is that somehow disturbing to you?” McNab asked.
“Why was the airplane stolen? Do you know, can you tell me?”
“I can tell you that we think it was stolen by a Somalian group who call themselves the ‘Holy Legion of Muhammad. ’ ”
“Never heard of them,” the slender man said. “Somalian? ”
“Neither had we, Your Royal Highness,” McNab said. “There are two possible scenarios, neither with much to support them. The first is that they intend to crash it into the ka’ba in Mecca . . .”
“That’s absurd!”
“It sounds absurd, Your Royal Highness, but, on the other hand, the airplane—if it is in Abéché—is within range of Mecca.”
“The Holy Legion of Muhammad?” the slim man repeated and then raised his voice and called, “Satu!”
The bearded colonel walked quickly to them.
“Your Highness?”
“One moment,” the slim man said. “And the other scenario, General?”
“That they intend to crash it into the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia,” McNab said.
