Kate and Buck both nodded. So we kicked this around awhile, and after about ten minutes Buck said, “All right. It appears we’ve been handed an opportunity. So in the absence of any new or contradictory information, I think our first excursion into the countryside from Aden will be to Marib.”
Obviously.
He continued, “If The Panther is not there, we can at least see those magnificent pre-Islamic ruins.”
Who gives a shit? You wanna see ruins? Go to Newark. I pointed out, “We really won’t know if The Panther is still there, but if we stay there looking for him, I’m sure he will know that. Also we now know that The Panther has assets around Marib, including a tribal sheik, so even if he moved because of this attack, he’ll return to meet us on his turf.”
“Precisely,” agreed Buck. “And we can see the ruins while we’re waiting for him.”
“There you go.”
Brenner commented, “Now we know where to set and bait the trap.”
Bait? What happened to lure?
Buck said, “Assuming Colonel Hakim is thinking along the same lines, don’t be surprised if we see him there.”
Right. Could get crowded at Marib. And we could scare off The Panther. But I was betting that John Corey on The Panther’s turf would be irresistible to him.
Buck next brought up the subject of the possible Al Qaeda attack on the Sheraton in Aden and assured us, “The FBI SWAT Team, the DSS men, and the Marines at the Sheraton are on full alert, as are all American personnel in the hotel. Also, we are officially notifying the Yemeni government at the highest level about this possible attack, so they have no choice but to increase their security around the hotel.”
I, of course, remarked, “That will make us sleep better.”
Brenner assured us, “You’ll never sleep as well as the Yemeni Army.”
Funny. But not.
“The last time the Sheraton in Aden was attacked,” Buck said, “was before the Americans were there. During one of the civil wars in the eighties. A rebel group lobbed a few mortar rounds into the hotel.” He added, “The Communists ran South Yemen in those days, and they allowed alcohol—which is the best thing I can say about them. In any case, this rebel group was fundamentalist, and the cocktail lounge offended them.”
I reminisced, “When I was at the Sheraton, we made up fun names for the cocktails.” All right, I’ll tell you. “High Explosive Mojito. Martini Mortars. My favorite was the Incoming Cosmo.”
No one thought that was funny. I guess you had to be there.
Anyway, Kate asked Buck, “Is there any other place for us to stay in Aden?”
“No. The Yemeni government has given us two floors of the Sheraton, and that’s our operational base in Aden.” He assured us, “I wouldn’t worry about this too much.” He added, “Unless you start to see Arab guests checking out.”
Funny? Maybe.
Kate also asked, “Do we have an evacuation plan?”
Yes, the breaststroke.
Buck replied, “We’ll ask Doug Reynolds, who is Ed Peters’s DSS counterpart in Aden.”
Buck then said to us, “Final subject. The road trip to Aden. We haven’t notified the Yemeni authorities of our movement, so, theoretically, Al Qaeda will not be tipped off that we are taking a convoy to Aden tomorrow morning. In that respect, we aren’t advertising this trip in advance with the hope of making contact with Al Qaeda—but as soon as we leave the compound, cell phones will be ringing all over Sana’a and along our route, so our movement will then be known.”
Brenner continued Buck’s thought and said, “The longer we’re on the road, the more chance that Al Qaeda will try to set up an ambush or roadside bomb along our route.” He added, “It will be obvious that we’re headed to Aden. But if we maintain good speed, and maybe vary the route, we should be able to stay ahead of anything they try to plan.”
Buck reiterated, “It’s not as though we’re trying to get into a fight with them, but it may happen, and we are prepared—and we may be able to kill or capture a key Al Qaeda leader.”
That sounded a bit optimistic, but since we were driving to Aden anyway, I guess we might as well kill some bad guys on the way. Right?
Buck had some good news and said, “We may be crazy, but we’re not stupid. So we’ve arranged to have two Predator surveillance drones on station along our route.” He informed me and Kate, “They have infrared