“They sure played that close to the vest,” Jenna said. “Not a peep about it this morning at the White House.”
“Remember our friend from the Northeast Bureau?”
“Sure.” The up-and-comer.
Nicci smiled. “He wants a sound bite about USEI’s plans, since you’re on the task force that’s considering whether to actually recommend using the technology.”
“I can give him something, as long as it’s just about the technology. I won’t go into any of the task force’s work.”
Though she knew almost nothing about the USEI tanker, what Jenna would have most liked to say was that somebody should have stopped the ship before it set sail. She found it hard to believe that any good would come from this voyage.
She Googled Sang-mi’s father. But after quickly scrolling past a spate of stories about his defection, she found little. No updates. No reaction from North Korea. No statements from U.S. officials. And certainly nothing about his wife and pregnant daughter. Jenna could conclude only that he was a small fish in a mighty big diplomatic pond. In other words, if he was a spy, as Dafoe had suggested, the North Korean had cast the perfect profile.
* * *
Parvez returned to the palm grove, where Adnan’s footprints stood out in the shaded sand. As he stared at the outline of his friend’s feet, he saw the astonishing shape of the immediate future. It was such a stunning vision that Parvez found himself holding his breath for several seconds. In those incendiary moments, he knew exactly how he would become the architect of the greatest martyrdom in modern history. Just an hour ago, he’d heard a shortwave radio report about a tanker heading to the Maldives, loaded with iron oxide for a year-long attempt to slowly lower the Earth’s temperature. The BBC said that Maldivian sailors would be hired once the ship arrived in Malé. And Adnan was a fully licensed seaman.
The ground beneath Parvez’s feet trembled, as if the Earth itself were waking to the weight of what would come to pass, but he saw that it was only the front loader taking another savage bite of the earth. More sooty smoke drifted over him, invading the island as surely as the salty water that had stained the floor of Adnan’s house. The man in the white hat probably planned to take away all of Dhiggaru, load by load, till nothing was left. Who can stop me? he might have thought. The island was home to so few: Adnan and his mother, Khulood; and two old fishermen who’d always kept to themselves.
And me. Parvez added himself with a smile. He’d learned so much about resistance and jihad from the religious leaders of Waziristan. They’d fought the Russians, the Americans, the Afghan army, and the Pakistani military. The war against nonbelievers was spreading everywhere. Even in America, Muslim men heard the call for jihad and became true martyrs.
Parvez knew that Allah—who else could inspire such divine greatness?—had shown him what to do. Nothing that Parvez had planned for diamond island could match a martyrdom that would be watched by billions. But he would continue that plan even as he undertook this much greater calling, which would need the help of jihadists from Waziristan. Not many; a few could bring to life the vastness of the vision Allah had granted him. Soon, the religious leaders whom Parvez most admired would know that a humble cleric from the Maldives had proved worthy of their company.
Parvez quickly followed the trail of footprints to Adnan’s house. He found his old friend eating cold rice and fish.
“What is it?” Adnan stood. “You look so happy.”
“I am, my friend. Allah has blessed us with a vision.” Squeezing Adnan’s hand, he told him about the tanker. “You are a seaman. Show them your papers and they will hire you. Then you can wear the vest on board.”
“But they check everyone. I can’t get on board without being searched.”
“You will have help. Jihadists will get you onto the ship, and then you will hold the world’s attention like no one ever has before.”
“What about diamond island? My mother?”
“Yes, I will continue to plan for diamond island, but the tanker will be here soon; and it is coming for you and all that you can give Islam. Paradise truly awaits you.”
Parvez explained that the Americans planned to dribble the liquid fertilizer into the sea over many months, “But you will blow up the tanker. It will fill