Callsign: Bishop - Book 1 (An Erik Somers - Chess Team Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to you.”
    “What do they want with me?”
    “You remember that picture I sent you of Dawoud and Faiza Abbasi?”
    Bishop nodded. Of course, he remembered.
    “Did you ever ask yourself why the United States Government would have such a picture? Why would a Delta team place cameras inside the home of an Iranian citizen and then monitor his activities?”
    Bishop hadn’t considered that. He had assumed the picture was a fluke occurrence. But now that he thought about it, it didn’t make sense. The picture had been taken from inside the Abbasi home. Why would the US Government be spying on the Abbasis in their house? Unless…
    “Damn,” he said.
    “Yup,” CJ replied. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, Bishop, but your biological father is a terrorist.”
     
    ***
     
    Several miles from the airport, another taxi slowed to a stop outside the Evin Hotel. Two men stepped out of the backseat. One of them went around to the front to pay the driver, while the other pulled out a cell phone and made a call.
    “Yes, he is here,” he said into the phone. “No, we do not have him. He hired a taxi at Imam Khomeini before we could…of course we followed him, but our driver was not… At this moment? We are at the Evin Hotel. Ahmad believes the man might be staying here. Do not worry. If he is here, we will find him and bring him to you.”
    Ahmad stepped toward the rear of the taxi as the car sped away, putting his wallet back into his pocket. He started to speak, but closed his mouth once his partner pointed to the phone.
    “I will,” the man said. “I will. I assure you, we will find him. Do not worry.”
    The first man closed his phone and looked at Ahmad. “He is not happy.”
    “I did not think he would be,” Ahmad said. “What did he say, Massai?”
    Massai shoved the phone into his pocket. “He said we better find Somers soon, or it will be very bad for us.” He narrowed his eyes and stared at Ahmad, wanting to make sure his partner understood his full meaning. “ Very bad.”
    Ahmad paled, then nodded his head. “Understood. We should get to work, then.”
    The two men turned toward the entrance of the Evin Hotel and started walking.
    “Do you think he is here?” Ahmad asked.
    “I hope so,” Massai replied. “For our sake.”
    “And if he is not?”
    Massai shook his head. “We will keep looking. We dare not return without him.”
     

 
     
     
    5.
     
    Bishop felt like CJ had just punched him in the gut. “You sure?”
    “Oh, yeah,” CJ said, weaving around a slow moving truck. “No question. We’ve been watching him for a long time. He’s not just a terrorist, he’s also a top terrorist recruiter. He spent several years recruiting for Al Quaeda, among others. He’s pretty high up the food chain.”
    “Why haven’t you taken him in?”
    “No proof.”
    Bishop snorted. “This isn’t Law and Order . What’s the real reason?”
    CJ looked back at him via the rearview mirror and laughed. “All right, you got me. The reason we don’t take him down is that we like Dawoud Abbasi right where he is. As long as he doesn’t suspect that we’re wise to him, we can completely monitor his operations and keep tabs on every new terrorist he recruits. We’ve been able to neutralize quite a few potential threats with this information. Just last year a finger of Al Quaeda was planning another series of hijackings, but because we were able to stay on top of the people involved and put a stop to it. Probably saved thousands of lives. We—”
    “All right,” Bishop said. “I get the picture. Abbasi is more valuable out here than behind bars.”
    “You better believe it.”
    “What about…” Bishop found the word difficult, but he spat it out anyway, “…my mother. What about her?”
    “She’s clean, as near as we can tell. Dawoud has nine other wives, several of which are actively involved in his recruiting processes—record keeping, contacting families, that sort of thing—but