Chapter 84

The weekend was quiet. We ventured to the truck stop several times each day just to check on things.

I looked over the intel intercepts several times a day. General Bashir was still posting so much I began to wonder if they knew we were listening and feeding us misinformation. But then there were the other sources we were using to double check as much as we could, said the same.

One of those things was the Paris subway system. Louis Boucher - the commander of the French police we were working with - was sending the EIT group the daily surveillance videos from the subway stops in the area of the training compound. Robert was running all the pictures through the facial scanners and comparing them to Interpol and our other sources.

Robert and Tom were getting hits from the video; some were from Germany, England, Spain and Italy and they were apparently staying in the training compound. They were seen getting on and off the subway stop by the training center.

They made a trip every other day, always carrying large boxes and bags when they returned. Louis had undercover agents getting on and off at different stops trying to put together a map of the subway rides.

It had taken two weeks to put the map together, plus some connections from General Bashir and his brother in the Paris mosque helped.

In one of the communiqués the general had asked if several people by name had arrived as scheduled. Omar Alhalmi, Fahd Samaha and Maged Alsabahi were the names he had asked about.

Timely research showed they were from the Halabjah area of Iraq that bordered Iran, which was the notorious smuggling route through the mountains during the never ending wars. It was through this smuggling route that the deadly IEDs made their way to Iraq.

Then he asked another time if the materials were showing up in a timely fashion. In another General Bashir implied there may be special guests to the send-off on the 23rd.

On Monday we had an early meeting on the truck stop weekend that left the girls on an emotional high - sales had been exceptional. There had been over fifteen hundred applications for the discount gas credit card backed by Midwest Bank; those would be regular customers.

I warned the girls to be prepared for a letdown, that the gang - buster sales would not continue. The gas discounts and curiosity had brought a lot of people to look who may not end up as regular customers.

Next up was the meetings with Andy and Robert - it was crunch time. Wednesday was the 21st. We spent three hours going over reports, the subway video and messages from the General. Also Tiam was back, handling part of the communiqué transmissions.

Tiam had disappeared from the postings shortly after Harrisburg. The number of postings to different cells had picked up. I was ready for the lunch break and another mug of coffee

After lunch we decided the Paris mission was a go and Andy began issuing final orders to put everything together.

The 747 was going to pick up two hundred men and their equipment from Fort Dean on Wednesday morning of the 21st. The 747 was then flying to Morton to pickup seventy five more including Andy and myself with gear. It was then flying on to Paris and would land just after dark at the French Air Force base at Bagnolet.

Bagnolet was just ten miles from the Muslim section where the compound and the mosque was located.

Another fifty men from Fort Adams at Loures Portugal were to arrive around the same time. All of us would spend the evening in the base barracks.

The French Air Force had cleared out one of their barracks at the base for the JBG personnel to use for the two days we would be there. The base was operating at 50% staffing so there was little problem.

Thursday the 22nd we would orient the entire group to the mission and the French armored personnel carriers and other vehicles we were going to use.

Maps of streets would be studied closely and the few drivers Louis was going to supply were going to meet their right seat commander and work out any last minute details. Thursday evening was early to bunk for everyone.