The Panic Zone by Rick Mofina Read Free Book Online Page B

now with two police officers. The cops with Salelee telephoned her, allowing Salelee to hear her plea for him to cooperate for the sake of their children.
    Salelee was prepared to cooperate.
    â€œWhat was he really doing at the embassy?” Lancer wanted to know. The Tanzanian police asked him.
    â€œThe Lions wanted information to target it for a bombing operation on the Independence Day as declared by the Lions.”
    â€œThat is not the full plan, what is the operation?”
    â€œIt is a separate operation.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Lancer asked Craig, who conveyed the question.
    â€œAn attack,” Salelee said.
    â€œHow do the Lions know of this attack?”
    â€œWe have a small role.”
    â€œWhat is that role?”
    â€œWe passed coded e-mails, spam, lottery announcements and appeals for large cash transfers. Information relating to the operation is hidden in a few of the millions of spam we send out around the world.”
    â€œWhat is the nature of the operation?”
    â€œAn attack.”
    â€œAn attack against the United States?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAny other countries?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œMany, most countries.”
    â€œAnd the weapon is through computers—cyber?”
    â€œNo, some of the communication from one group to another is through the spam. We know nothing of the weapon.”
    â€œWho is behind it?”
    â€œWe don’t know. We were paid great sums through gobetweens.”
    â€œWho are they?”
    â€œWe don’t know.”
    â€œWhat is the weapon—is it planes?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œBombs? Suicide bombings?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œHostage takings?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œNuclear or chemical, what is the weapon?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWho is behind it?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    â€œWhen will the attack take place?”
    â€œSoon.”
    â€œWhen? Days? Weeks? Months?”
    â€œThey told us that it is too far along for anyone to stop them.”

CHAPTER 9
    Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    A phone rang and Jack Gannon awakened in a strange room. He looked at the walls, the sunlight streaming through the shutters.
    He lifted the phone.
    â€œGood morning, Mr. Gannon. This is your wake-up call.”
    â€œThank you.”
    Piece by piece, it all came back to him as he rubbed his face. He took two aspirin, shaved, showered, dressed, grabbed some breakfast, got his bag and headed to the bureau. When he arrived, Luiz, the news assistant, was the only person there.
    â€œWhat’s going on, Luiz? Where is everybody?”
    â€œMuch has happened. Mr. Archer is interviewing an official with the Departmento de Polícia Federal. ”
    â€œThey’re like our FBI and Estralla is with the Civil Police?”
    â€œYes. And Mr. Porter and Ms. Turner are interviewing people about the Colombian narco connection to the bombing.”
    â€œPorter said the victim list might be released today?”
    â€œYes, but not yet. Not officially. Mr. Archer wants me to help you follow today’s major story. JB has obtained the list.”
    â€œJB—what’s that and what did they get?” Gannon switched on his laptop.
    â€œJB has broken the story identifying all the bombing victims,” Luiz held up a newspaper, Jornal do Brasil, with the main headline: Caras dos Mortos, over a gallery of ten head shots superimposed on a photo of the ruins of the Café Amaldo.
    Gannon did not have to understand Portuguese to see that the newspaper had beaten its competition by obtaining the victim list in advance.
    Gabriela Rosa and Marcelo Verde were on the newspaper’s front page, staring back from WPA file photos.
    Luiz blinked back tears, staring at the newspaper.
    â€œSeeing it now in the paper like this is hard,” Luiz said. “Gabriela was kind to me, she helped me write travel features for WPA. She took me out for lunch on my