it all, and every day she talked herself out of it, considering the huge risk her departure would pose to their plan, to Robert and Melanie Wilton’s lives, to their overall mission.
Her phone rang, scattering her dark thoughts. She didn’t recognize the caller ID.
“Hello,” she answered neutrally.
“Alex, this is Blake Bernard. Can you talk?”
“Not really,” she replied, aware she continued to be under surveillance.
“Can you at least listen?” Blake asked.
She verified the encryption status on the phone. It was working.
“Yes, that I can do.”
“Clarence came back with some findings. There are several others names associated with the name you gave us, Mastaan Singh. Clarence ran some database searches looking for anyone traveling at the same times and same places as Singh, for several of his travels. He matched credit card charges, hotel stays, and wherever available, any type of aviation activity, whether commercial or private.”
“Great news, please go on,” she said enthusiastically.
“We were able to ascertain that there is, in fact, a network of sorts that you have uncovered. They’re organized as money makers and money movers. The money makers are Singh and one other man by the name of Ahmad Babak Javadi. These two have organized a network of charity organizations across Europe, operating as Eastern Africa Relief Fund, for which they continuously fundraise. They do it right, and they have access to celebrities and influential people, being able to raise significant amounts of money at events throughout Europe. They receive corporate donations in the hundreds of thousands, even millions. Each event raises several million dollars. Clarence and I can only speculate as to the reasons why some corporations donate so generously, but we have nothing solid yet.”
“Very interesting,” she said, careful with her words, in case her followers were dining within earshot of her. “I wonder about that, too.”
“We’re still investigating that angle. Money movers, now. The movers we found are Karmal Shah and Muhammad Sadiq. Shah has a prosperous deli business operating out of Prague and operates a Piaggio turbo prop airplane that can take him anywhere with significant cargo on board. The other mover, Sadiq, has a Sea Ray 470, and his favorite destination is the Bahamas.”
“So how does this work?” Alex asked.
“From what we’ve seen, the two money makers raise funds and send them legally to Somalia, in Mogadishu. All seemingly legit so far. From here on it turns interesting. Cash is withdrawn and just disappears, but the dates coincide with Shah’s Piaggio’s shopping visits to the area. His business conveniently imports delicacies from Africa, among other places. In other cases we have seen cash going to a bank in Bahamas, from where it disappears again, dates coinciding with the voyages of Sadiq’s Sea Ray. We are assuming that the purpose is to get the cash into the continental United States, untraceable, and this is how they do it.”
“Fascinating,” she said, “and very useful.” She took notes discreetly on a post-it pad she had in her laptop bag.
“A couple more interesting things to note,” Blake continued. “They are very discreet, these people. They cover their tracks well. We almost missed the money movers completely. They made only one mistake, allowing us to connect the movers with the makers. The money makers, when they organized a fundraiser in Zurich, used Shah’s deli business in Prague as a supplier. They ordered caviar and truffles from Overnight Delight and had it shipped to their location, on ice, the next day. Big mistake, sloppy work, but we were grateful for it. Another note, looking at these people’s accounts, they’re not your typical person of interest for terrorism, Alex. They are all powerful, wealthy business people. I cannot comprehend why someone like that would get involved in terrorism and what they could be planning. Their status is probably the best cover a terrorist could hope for. No one expects it; no one sees it coming. Clarence was thinking that those corporate donations we can’t explain might very well be their own companies’ network of vendors, being encouraged to donate. We’re still exploring that angle.”
“Are we missing anyone? From this party?”
“Not sure. Clarence said he’ll keep looking. The more they travel and use their credit cards, their passports, or their identities anywhere in the world, we can narrow down on other associations. You remember how the association search worked, right? With each move, it eliminates coincidental travelers and pinpoints those people who always happen to be in the same place at the same time as our targets. It becomes very precise