I never met the people who hired me,” Sterk said as the Troll returned with the cigarette lighter.
“But you know who they are,” replied Harvath.
“That’s just it. I don’t know. All of our transactions were via digital dead drops and wire transfers.”
“So why are you so afraid of them?”
“Because I have seen what they can do.”
“What? The Rome attacks? The Paris attacks?”
Sterk shook her head.
“The hell with this,” interjected the Troll. “I want to know why you were trying to have me killed.”
Harvath motioned for him to be quiet.
“This bitch tried to murder me. I’m not going to be quiet. I want answers.”
“We all want answers,” he said firmly as he turned his attention back to her.
“It’s all connected,” she replied.
“Why was I targeted?” Nicholas demanded.
Sterk looked at him. “There was a certain piece of business we did together. The people who hired me wanted any and all traces of it to be wiped away.”
“And that meant wiping me away as well.”
“Yes.”
“I imagine that it also helped to provide the authorities with a false trail to follow.”
Sterk nodded. “That’s why I had the dogs and the dwarf flown to Sicily.”
“So you knew about the bombings in advance,” said Harvath.
It took her a moment to respond. Finally, she said, “Yes, I did.”
He shook his head. “How do you charge for something like that? Is it a flat fee? Or is it on a sliding scale based on how many are killed versus maimed and wounded?”
It was a rhetorical question. She didn’t bother answering.
“This is about the last piece of business we did together, isn’t it?” said Nicholas. “I sold you the location of site 243.”
The woman nodded. “I was hired to help steal what they were working on.”
“I was actually surprised when you contacted me about buying the coordinates. The level of secrecy surrounding it was amazing. I was only able to get its location; and even that took some doing.”
“What is it?” asked Harvath.
“The more appropriate question would be, what was it,” stated Sterk. “Two weeks ago, site 243 was destroyed.”
“By whom?”
“By my clients. They were able to launch an attack inside China on a Chinese military base and not only kill everyone on the base, but they then tracked down the remaining Chinese intelligence officers who had any knowledge of what was being worked on at site 243 and they killed them as well.”
“This was a Chinese operation?”
The woman nodded. “You wanted to know why I fear my clients. That’s why. Who mounts an attack on a Chinese military base, slaughters everyone on it, and then hunts down high-ranking Chinese intelligence agents inside and outside of China? Who has the skills and the resources to do something like that?”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with the attacks in Rome and Paris.”
Sterk took a deep breath. “The Chinese know that they can’t defeat America on a conventional battlefield. They’ve known that for a long time. To win a war against America, the Chinese would have to engage in unconventional warfare.
“They created a military base in the middle of nowhere in Mongolia with the sole purpose of studying America. Its operatives spoke only English, ate only American foods, read American books, watched American television programs, played American video games, and surfed nothing but American and Western Web sites. It was as close as you could be to the United States while still remaining under China’s umbrella.
“They were steeped in American culture and the American way of thinking. Their job was to study America, find its weaknesses, and develop the most devastating attack they could conceive of. They were encouraged to think outside of the normal military mind-set.”
“And suicide bombers were the best they could come up with?” asked Harvath.
“Look at the impact of 9/11,” replied Sterk. “Look at what it did to America’s psyche and its economy. How many billions were lost? How many billions more were spent preventing another similar attack? Massive governmental agencies like your Department of Homeland Security and the TSA were created as a response. Now multiply that impact across the United States in all new waves of attacks. Pick whatever targets you want: movie theaters, shopping malls, churches, hotels, schools. Your country would grind to a halt, its people paralyzed with fear.”
“But the attacks aren’t happening in America, they are happening in Europe.”
“Not yet.”
“What do you mean, not yet?” replied Harvath.
“Through site 243 the Chinese had created an entire terrorist network. My clients have not only hijacked it, they have activated it.”
“And they are planning on targeting American cities?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know so much?”
“It’s my job. I deal in information. Information is power.”
“And she probably spies on and steals from her own clients,” added Nicholas.
“The bigger the picture I have,” she replied, “the better I am able to connect the dots. When I know what pieces I’m missing, I go after them and secure them. My customers don’t come to me to purchase incomplete intelligence.”
“So in other words, you snuck a peek at what your clients were paying you for.”
“I didn’t get to see all of it.”
“But you got to see some of it.”
Sterk nodded.
Harvath was trying to make sense of it all. “Why would they bother targeting Americans in Europe? Why not move right to attacks on American soil?”
“I don’t profess to understand the mind of the Chinese,” Sterk said with a shrug.
“Try.”
She thought about it for a moment. “The easiest answer is that Muslim attacks in Western Europe erode support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The less support America has from its allies, the deeper it will get drawn into those conflicts. Its military is stretched too thin. Stretch it even further, maybe open up another war somewhere, and all that stretching could lead to a snap.”
It was a good point and one that Harvath and others had grown increasingly concerned about. With the Madrid train bombings, Islamic terrorists had proven that they could influence Western elections and help catapult politicians to power who would withdraw support for American military actions. Why wouldn’t the Chinese have picked up and expanded upon this as well? It was an exceptional tactic.
Aside from a few people who could see what was going on, the Europeans were a lost cause. Rather than fight the Islamists in their midst, they chose to commit cultural suicide. They starved their law-abiding citizens with high taxes in order to gorge an invading army on massive social programs. Europe’s steadfast devotion to the failed religion of multiculturalism and political correctness not only emboldened its enemies, but encouraged more attacks and was hastening its downfall.
The other thing that troubled Harvath was the knowledge that with each attack in Europe, the United States would be focusing more and more of its limited resources abroad. That invariably meant less attention to what was going on at home. Sooner or later, America wouldn’t have enough eyes on the ball in its own backyard, and that’s when its enemies would strike.
“What U.S. cities have been targeted?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit,” spat the Troll.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Sterk insisted. “They’re playing the American attacks close to the vest.”
“How about when?” asked Harvath.
“After the bombings in Europe have all been carried out.”
“How many are left?”
Sterk was silent.
Harvath grabbed her throat and clamped down. “How many?”
“Two,” she finally coughed. “Please. I can’t breathe.”
“Where?”
“Please, I can’t-”
Harvath squeezed harder. “Where?”
“London and Amsterdam.”
“Where in London and Amsterdam?”
“Piccadilly and the Dam Square.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow night. Now, please. My throat-”
Harvath dug his fingers in. “How do we stop them?”
“You can’t. They’re fully operational. The cells have gone dark.”
“The Brits need to shut down Piccadilly and the Dutch need to shut down Dam Square,” said the Troll.
Sterk could no longer speak. She shook her head.
Harvath relaxed his grasp.
“It won’t work,” the woman said as she gasped for air.
“Why not?”
“Both cells have alternate targets. No one but them knows what they are. If you shut down Piccadilly and the Dam Square, they’ll just move to the second location on their list.”
There was more that Harvath wanted to know, but Carlton needed this information right away. He stepped to the other side of the warehouse and pulled out his phone.