Altair also understood this and said to al-Darwish, “Perhaps you should leave Marib province before the government forces—or the Americans with their drones—come here to find you.”
The Panther did not think Altair should have said that with Nabeel present. In any case, he replied, “It is acceptable for men in our situation to hide, but it is not acceptable to run.” He vowed, “I will remain here.”
Altair responded, “As you wish.” He thought Bulus ibn al-Darwish would be wise to remove himself from this province, but al-Darwish was not wise; he had acquired in his youth the arrogance of the Americans whom he so hated.
Altair also understood that if the prisoner, Rahim ibn Hayyam, had revealed the location of The Panther, he may also have revealed the plans to attack the Sheraton Hotel in Aden—if he knew of these plans. And Hayyam might know from talk in the camp. And Bulus knew this, and yet he had said nothing to the council, and he had not halted the plan to attack the hotel. Truly this attack could end in disaster if the Americans were alerted.
Altair took al-Darwish aside and asked him about this.
The Panther replied, “Even if Hayyam is speaking under torture, he would not know of this plan to attack the Americans in Aden.”
Altair disagreed. “Soldiers in camp talk, my friend.”
The Panther told Altair, “We have many watchers at the Aden hotel, and they report no increase in the security there. No army troops have been dispatched to the hotel.”
Altair thought about this, then said, “The Americans may have chosen not to ask for additional soldiers.” He explained to al-Darwish, “They may be waiting for the attack, and they may welcome it. Just as they did at the Hunt Oil installation—and as they may have also done with the ambush.”
The Panther did not reply.
Altair said to him, “Do you not see? This is how they conduct war. You think you are surprising them, but they are surprising you, Bulus.”
The Panther replied, “That is not true. You will see.”
Altair looked at Bulus ibn al-Darwish. Clearly this man did not have the wisdom or patience of his forefathers. In Yemen, war is a slow thing, a never-ending struggle against the invaders and also against whoever sits in the palace in Sana’a. But al-Darwish, al-Amriki, did not understand how war was done in Yemen. And Altair was not going to tell him again how it was done. He would discover that for himself—and become either a great leader, or a dead man.
Also, Altair knew, this man was dangerous. He killed those who disagreed with him and those who proved him wrong. Altair did not fear The Panther, but perhaps he should.
Altair returned to Nabeel and asked him questions about what he had related, and Nabeel stressed that his watchers had been thorough, and that they kept in contact by cell phone with friends who watched outside the embassy, and friends in the Sheraton Hotel. Even the proprietor at the Old Sana’a restaurant had called an assigned telephone number to report the presence of the Americans.
The Panther nodded in approval. He had gone to great lengths to build a telephone network of friends in each town and city in Yemen. These friends, who asked only a few rials for their trouble, numbered in the hundreds, and most of them, he thought, did not know or care whom they were reporting to when they called the telephone number assigned to them. Some of them would be surprised to learn it was Al Qaeda who wanted this information about the movements of the Americans and British, and also other Westerners—but most understood who was paying them. There were so few Westerners in this small country that they could be tracked by only a few hundred friends. The Panther believed that his network of informants was even larger than that of the PSO, who in any case were more interested in Yemeni political opponents than in Westerners.
Also, The Panther knew, the number of Westerners who came to Yemen for tourism, business, and aid work was smaller each year as the security situation became worse for them. And this was the purpose of his attack on the Belgians. Soon, he thought, the number of Westerners in Yemen would be reduced to the embassy staffs—and also the American spies and military men in Aden.
Nabeel was now speaking of the embassy party on the Sunday night. Two of the Yemenis working in