Tsunami Connection by Michael James Gallagher

answering machine asked for a
message. As per his own instructions, he said, "Airport in 84 hours."
    The person, who checked the message machine every 24 hours
at 8 am, verified the time of the call. This phone operator then automatically
ordered a Learjet to be waiting in two days, February 5, 2011, for a man using
a pre-arranged code word. Ironically, Mubarak was the word arranged at a time
when no one could have imagined a time without President Mubarak. Shafiq took
the contents of the locked box, his three legends, and left Kamal's home
without saying goodbye.

MINYA
DESERT AIRPORT
    February 5,
2011
    The city of El Minya lay on the
Nile, not too far from Cairo. It serviced the Eastern Desert oil industrial
complex. Shafiq fit in seamlessly. His suit, though light colored for an
oilman, was appropriate to the climate. His arrival by helicopter completed the
picture, suggesting a visit to a drilling rig deep in the desert. He had pulled
in many favors to get the helicopter ride; many more than would have normally
been required for such a favor, but these were not ordinary times.
    His arrival at El Minya Airport was internal, so there was
no customs check. He was leaving by a private Learjet under an assumed name.
The transport was provided by his old friend, Hakikah, at Royal Dutch
Petroleum. Shafiq was using documentation that would see him through to
Argentina and freedom from the turmoil that his Egypt had become. The flight
was a forty-five minute hop. Arrival in Be'er Sheva, welcomed by his old
partner, Yochana, would be a breeze.
    The Learjet settled down in Be'er Sheva, Israel, and an
armor-plated Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows pulled up beside it. The man
disembarking from the plane in Israel covered his face with large dark glasses
and a baseball cap, sporting USS Ronald Reagan on its brim. The cap had what is
often called 'scrambled eggs′ at its base. He was dressed in khaki pants
and a crisply ironed thick black cotton shirt, but his military stance and
posture led any but the most interested to believe he was a visiting American
Military officer. In the airport hangar in Egypt, Shafiq had stenciled an
American flag on the port side of the aircraft, now facing the airport
buildings. The passenger side door opened and Shafiq slipped into the frosty
air-conditioning of the Cadillac Escalade. Once the door closed, he took off
his cap and sunglasses. Yochana leaned over from the driver's seat and embraced
him, somewhat more warmly than he was expecting. She raised her hand before he
could speak.
    "You are accomplishing a miracle for me. Your actions
are my thanks. Now tell me what you have arranged."
    "I contacted an old adversary of yours. Do you remember
Michael MacAuley?" said Shafiq.
    "That bastard is on our most wanted list. He was
spotted in Aceh Province several times since 2006, but like all the terrorists
seen entering Indonesia since the Twin Towers went down, they seem to elude us
once they are in the jungle."
    "He has the ability to accomplish what you asked. That
is why I used him. I have the keys to his sister. He becomes surprising easier
to manipulate when it comes to her safety. It is a card I've played carefully
but successfully once before."
    "Maybe you are right, but still, how can you trust
him?"
    "I own him."
    "You?"
    "In 2009, when I bought weapons for you in Afghanistan,
he and I were there at the same moment. Call it serendipity, happenstance. My
American counterparts had picked him up in a raid on a Taliban enclave near
Kandahar. The thing was that they didn't know who they had, and MacAuley was
heavy on the denial. As well, he was carrying a valid Canadian passport under
the name of Kenny, John Kenny, a primary school teacher, supposedly on a
fact-finding mission for an obscure, oddly funded, small, non-governmental
organization headquartered in a small town just east of Montreal. If my memory
serves me, the name of the town was North Haterick or something like
that."
    "He certainly