Gauntlet by Richard Aaron Page B

Richard, in a way, by taking his side during those conversations. Now it looked like he’d be coming to Richard’s aid once again.
    “How much did you say is unaccounted for, Richard?”
    “According to my calculations, it’s 4,303 kilos. About 4.5 tons,” Richard answered, frowning.
    “Jesus,” said Jon. “That’s a big pile of camel crap. Play-D Any idea where it went?”
    “Jon, at this point it could be as simple as a clerical error. We’re going over the inventory sheets again, and double-checking against the delivery slips. But I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Too much of this stuff was moved too quickly. I think you should let Langley know, just to put them on notice. If that much Semtex went wandering off into the wilderness, there’s no telling what might happen. And believe me, I just saw an explosion of this stuff that would blow your mind. We don’t want it in the wrong hands.” Richard was speaking too fast, and Jon could hear the stress in his voice.
    “I know,” said Jon. “Lord knows there’s enough nasty stuff floating around below the radar screens these days. I’ll inform HQ. Let me know if something pops up.”
    Richard hung up the phone, immensely relieved that Jon would make the call to Baxter.
    A FTER THAT it didn’t take long for matters to progress. An hour after the blast, a pilot from the nearby airport barracks of Zighan left his home to take his wife up to see the still-smoking crater. On the way, he came upon the body of the avuncular airport master. A call went to the police constabulary in Zighan, who, suspecting foul play, called the constable in Bazemah. Word filtered up and across the various chains of command, and ultimately Richard heard the news.
    A drive along the ancient highway toward Zighan uncovered two Humvees and ten bodies. Soon afterward, they found the Zighan landing strip, and the deserted vehicles there. Ten murders, thought Richard. Eleven if you included the guy at the airport. Someone was serious about this. Someone already knew what the Semtex could do, and they’d gone out of their way to get their hands on some. He’d bet his life that they already had a plan in place for it.
    He was back on the phone to Jon later the same day. “Here’s what I think happened. We found the two Humvees hidden halfway between Zighan and Bazemah. We found the empty Volvo flat-deck at the Zighan landing strip. That Volvo was used by the Libyan army to transport the Semtex. We also found two Toyota pickups at Zighan, and the airport attendant was murdered.”
    “I think I can figure it out from there,” said Jon.
    “Yeah, it ain’t rocket science,” replied Richard. “They had a plane standing by. The authorities are checking for a flight plan, but nothing so far. I’m going to guess they used an old DC-3. They, whoever they are, loaded the stuff onto the plane, and flew off into the wild blue yonder.”
    “Think you’re right. Time for some police work, Richard. Do you have any idea what time the plane might have taken off?”
    “Just a range. There were several loads moved from Benghazi in the past three days. Most of the Semtex was stored up there. The initial indication from the bodies is that the murders probably happened sometime yesterday. We don’t have much in the way of forensics here, Jon. We’re in the middle of the fucking wilderness.”
    “Look, given the seriousness of this, I think we’ll probably get some cooperation from the Libyans. This doesn’t look too good for them, and they’ll want it resolved. Maybe they’ll allow some of our people over to look at the crime scene. It might give us a better indication of what we’re dealing with here. I’ll call Bob directly. This is going to move pretty quickly.” Jon hung up the phone and dialed Robert Baxter.
    Jon knew it would be early morning when the call reached Baxter. He also knew that Baxter would be there. He always was. He worked 70, 80, and 90 hours a week. He had worked