"I cant make anything out of this…."
Joop looked confused to the lines on the screen and frowned. His eyes tried to search for a pattern in the work code that was given on the screen. Sharpe had made a snapshot of the screen of the laptop, but it didn't made sense for Joop. The program did, but the program language wasn't.
"Can you make heads or tails out of it?" Joop asked to Method, who leaned over from the operations chair towards the screen. " 'cause I cant make any out of this. It's like it's really incomplete…"
Joop shook his head and stared away from the screen, looking out of the van towards his other troops. Poacher and Dude had returned without any problems and had briefed quickly on what had been going on. Poacher actually confronted Joop with the fact that the explosives he had found were part of a diversion. They were powerful to serious injure and kill a person, but not as powerful to actually hurt the building. Well it would be hurt and severely damaged, but there was no chance on collapsing. This surprised Joop, but made him also more confident. It meant also that the people actually were not coming for a suicide mission.
Dude was standing in front of the van, cleaning his riffle while he stared down, and Poacher was somewhere further, leaning against a building. They were both actually processing the death of Jamal in their own way. Poacher seemed to have more problems with it then Dude, which was actually not surprising, since Poacher knew Jamal from way back, when this division in the military was created.
"Joop?"
Joop turned around and Method pointed to his left screen. He had apparently ran the pictures that Sharpe had taken from his prisoners against the international watch lists and there was a match. The green word 'match' bleeped in the screen while a picture of him to compare was lighting up. The picture that Sharpe had taken from Ahmet had found it's match
"Meet Ahmet Aswiri…" started Method. "Born in Iraq, in 1978, raised in Libanon and Israel. He is a computer hacker that programs viruses for terrorists. Contacts with Al-Qaida, Red Ribbon and FARC, on the wanted list since 2003 after hacking into the CIA's main server to delete his andAbu Laith al-Libi record from the CIA and wanted database!"
Joop frowned.. "Laith al-Libi? … that somebody high in Al-Qaida if I am not mistaken!"
"Yes," continued Method. "The attempt failed, according the file, and ever since on the run for Homeland Security, CIA, FBI, you name it!"
"I understand, but what is he doing up there then? Black Sun is small time for him if he has contacts with those big groups!"
"You can ask him later when you have him in your interrogation!" Method replied cynical.
"And it doesn't explain why a hacker is at the crime scene. There is more then this!"
Joop sighted, trying to figure everything out. At that moment somebody stepped into the van. Joop shifted his position and looked towards the new person.
"Hello Ace. Glad that you join our party!"
"Party?" Ace chuckled, "It looks more like a action-horror movie here!"
Ace talked in his typical Australian accent. His broad smile over his face would give everybody a good mood or at least a smile, but this time it couldn't cheer up Joop. He lost Jamal, and there was a chance Dorvalla wouldn't make it either, although Biker was pretty optimistic.
"Hows Dorv?" Joop asked.
"Biker has him in surgery." Ace replied. "He said something has protected him from the blast. He has scrap metal in his back, but nothing fatal. The reason why Dorv was actually out for a minute, was for Biker an easy one to determ. The pressure of the blast smacked Dorv against the wall, the pain couldn't be processed by his brains, so he his lights went off"
"Other wounds?"
"Bruised arm, but he looks fine further. But then there is off course the emotional and psychic side of the patient. No one knows how fast that heals!"
"Post-Traumatic Stress?" Method filled in.
"Exactly!"
"Dorv is a fine lad, Joop…" Ace said, "Don't worry to much about it now, he is fine and will make it!"
Joop nodded and moved his hand over his face, just to rub his eyes as he was staring to the screen. "Still, we have this puzzle!" he sighted as he was watching the screen of Ahmet and his record on it
Ace moved in closer to the screen of the computer and the data that was on it. "Where is this picture taken?"
"Sharpe just took them inside, while he kidnapped our suspect!" Method said, after looking at the picture Ace was referring too… "My best bet would be somewhere on the top floor!"
Ace stared to the picture and started thinking… "I seen this before, cant recall where…" he mumbled.
Suddenly an icon in the taskbar cought Ace's eye.. "Ehh Joop? I think we have a problem if someone was busy on that computer…."
"Why?" Joop shifted his attention towards the screen and suddenly he realized Ace was right. The laptop was linked to the internet
Joop watched with big eyes to the screen and tried to figure out what could happen.
"Okay, think with me for a second, all! If this guy is on the internet, he probably wont use it to read the online newspaper!"
Ace chuckled. "I guess not!"
"Broadcasting something maybe?" Method suggested
"Probably, or cyber terrorism!" Joop replied, "But we don't know for sure! I mean, how can we see from here what he is doing. We don't know where his connection is going, nor where he got it from!"
They all were thinking for a moment, all not really sure either what to say or what to do.
"We don't, but Ninja might know!" Method brought up. "Ninja also single handed rewrote the training program."
"If you think he can do it, call him in!" Joop said and walked away, out of the mobile command centre. Joop looked over all his soldiers and tried to get a mood reading from them. As he had seen Poacher and Dude, he obvious also checked others. White Eagle, Godlike, who were still keeping an eye on the building, watching through their iron sights, were sitting behind a few crates, taking everytime a five minute shift. Further he checked also a few others who just arrived at the scene, such as Poker, Vergo and Mixx. Joop didn't felt like briefing them and gave Ace that task. When Ace started the common story, he thought for a minute. "RC-Rally, where are you?"
Rally looked up, sitting on the ground next to one of the old abandoned warehouses. The property where the camp was build on had many divisions, many warehouses and because of innovation and reorganisation, some buildings were abandoned.
"I am here, sir!"
Joop looked into the direction and found RC-Rally sitting on the floor. He nodded and walked to him. When he reached the soldier, Joop sat down next to him and stared for a moment to the building. Then he looked to OBrien, who was on the floor somewhat away from them. He was suffering.
When the explosive had gone off, Jamal had been blown up in tiny pieces, covering the area. OBrien had felt allot of blood, body parts and vital organs all over himself from Jamal. Next to that, OBrien had suffered also severe damage, but because of his shock, he never treated them. He was bleeding, although you couldn't see it, because half his gear was red from Jamals blood.
"Take OBrien to the nearest hospital. We don't have place anymore for him to be treated. Biker needs the surgery room and the extra space for the beds. We have no clue how bad Spark, 3rd, Sil, Sharpe and Backstabber will be when this is over, and Biker has already his hands full on Dorvalla at the moment!"
Rally nodded and stood up, walking to OBrien. OBrien was, as always, stubborn and tried Rally to convince he was fine. None of this was actually true, but he didn't wanted to know the horrifying truth.
Joop nodded as he saw Rally helping OBrien up. OBrien was walking difficult to the Jeep that was been made ready. Rally helped OBrien into the vehicle and the stepped behind the steering wheel and drove off in the direction of the main entrance / exit from the base.
Joop kept sitting on the floor, sighting, and reached into his front pocket, grabbing a cigarette and a lightener out of it. He lit up his cigarette and inhaled the nicotine from it. He needed his cigarette bad right now. He always smoked when it got tough for him, and so it was now. The cigarette made him relax, and he closed his eyes for a moment and felt some relief.
Could he have done it different? Joop didn't think so. He had send in the most experienced people. He knew he could rely on all of them, but yet, faith seemed to had turned against them. It was like they knew all of Joops steps. The mines, the strategic placed persons. It was like they studied the building for ages. It seems like this was planned all along.
"Sorry to bother you, Joop!" Method said, who was walking towards him. He waited till Joop gave him permission to go on. "We reached Ninja, and he is on his way to the base. "According the schedule, had a few days on-leave. We reached him on his cell. He said he will be here in about 30 minutes!"
Joop sighted. "Then it might be too late, and maybe the terrorists have succeeded in their plan, what ever that might be!"
"True that!" Method replied… "But we can ask Sharpe or Backstabber to 'disarm' the laptop"
"That might trigger an alarm for them. As far as they know, everybody is out of the building. If they realize the laptop is gone as well two of their technicians, or soldiers, or what ever they are, they might realize they are infiltrated and kill Silantia, Sparky and 3rd!" Joop thought out loud and walked slowly back to the Mobile Command Centre.
He stopped again and listened to Ace, briefing the new comers. Then he looked again to White Eagle and Godlike, who were still watching the building.
"Any news?" he asked them.
White Eagle, sitting on the ground shook his head. "Besides the fact they are all regrouping on the third floor, they are keeping themselves quiet!"
"Only fire when they fire on you, Eagle and Godlike!" Joop replied and sighted. "I don't want to provoke actions now that might kill Silantia!"
White Eagle and Godlike nodded both after hearing Joops plea and returned to their assigned jobs. Godlike glared through his Iron-sight again while White-Eagle sat down again on the floor, against a crate and took a sip from his bottle of water.
"I swear, Method.." Joop said while he walked again to the Mobile Command Centre, "I am going to lose my mind soon if we don't get Sil out there soon!"
He stepped on the small stairs of the Mobile Command Centre, then threw away his half smoked cigarette and sighted… "Here we go again!"
"You dont look to well, Joop" Method said while he looked to the face of the man in charge of operations. He scanned the temporarily commanding officer of the America's Army division from head to toe, and concluded Joop had better days.
"Would you?" Joop replied as he looked behind him, seeing how Ace was still briefing the new soldiers on the battlefield. He could see the shock on their face about the loss of Jamal, how Dorvalla was in the hospital and how Silantia, 3rd and Evilspark were in costudy of the enemy.
"Think about it for a second, my friend," he continued as he sat down in a chair, putting his head between his hands and rested it on his knees, "I am leading at the moment a commando force just excisting out of 2 great soldiers. I am there contact point. Hell, I lost one, almost three great soldiers. My Commanding Officer is hold hostage, a two men squad has been captured, and the enemy is busy on the internet, spreading news, uploading virusses or doing something else, as in broadcasting something.."
"We don't know, Joop, don't assume doom scenario's right now!"
"Ow I do, I have too. If I wouldn't, everything can happen and we are not prepared to it. Hell I have to concider the fact that maybe Dorvalla and Obrien still die, that we find the bodies of Sharpe, Backstabber, Silantia, Evilspark and 3rd when the enemy surrenders or get away…."
"How bad is Obrien?" Method asked while he watched the screens, trying to determine in Thermal view who was where, but because of the thick walls, it was only clear when somebody came near the window.
"I don't know. Honestly he is at the moment not priority!" Joop replied helpless. He sighted and closed his eyes for a minute.
It became silent in the mobile command centre. The command centre was build within a truck. It was a perfect base to start out, it had every facility a command truck could wish for. Although it was small, it was high-tech. It certainly was worth every penny General Darkstar had spend on it. The computer screen flashed over with all kinds of data. If you sad in the operator chair, you had view over 9 different computer screens, two televisions and you had access to the internet, via satellite connection. Further the truck had a nice storage with frag grenades, smoke grenades, flash bangs, M4a1 riffles, Automatic Riffles, and body armors. All standard issued thanks to the investments from people who were higher in the military food chain.
Method stared to the lower screen, following a heat signature that was standing near a window. The red-orange-yellow-blue figure was watching outside, since he stood there for the last 2 minutes. Method noted it down on the paper that lay in front of him. He tried to discover a routine, so it would be easier to escape for the five inside. But there was no pattern to discover. Off course not, this was a guerrilla group. They weren't trained on patrol protocols. Only those who were in the army, or high profiled security companies did that. They had the money to instruct their people………
Method blinked, thinking for a second, and then pulled one of the keyboards towards him, and started typing on it, trying to go with the flow of the internet connection. Browsers popped open and closed again, series of data streamed over the screen, while Method worked further, without blinking or hesitating.
"I think I know what they are doing, Joop!" said Method after a minute while he was still working on the keyboard as fast as he could.
Joop stopped staring to the ground, and looked up. "What do you mean?"
Methods hands were in a blur of motion all over the keyboard, while he still was watching the browsers in front of him. Joop followed the browser and frowned. "Explain please!" he said, actually more demanding.
"Well, I kinda got the idea while I was looking for a pattern of patrolling. Curious isn't it how an idea can pop while you do something totally different," Method responded, obvious not seeing how Joop almost lost his patience.
"You see, how do Black Sun get their money?" Method returned a question to Joop
"How the hell should I know. That's not my concern!" Joop said, a bit frustrated, but decided to corporate with Method and started thinking out loud, "Well Black Sun is a Guerrilla movement, created for the sole purpose to regain their land back here, just like the E.T.A. and the IRA. Although they don't do suicide attacks they fight as group. Maybe they smuggle stuff, or take ransoms…."
He stopped, and looked to Method, who surprisingly had a little smile over his face.
"I ll be damned…." Joop said softly. He turned his face towards an other screen, where the picture that Sharpe made, of the weird inscription, was still displayed.
Method pointed to a number that was repeated over and over again. "You see this?" Method asked as he pressed his finger against the screen at a series of numbers. He didn't wait till Joop responded, because he was to excited about his discovery. He pulled up on the screen above a browser. The screen above it contained the internet browser of and the number was inserted there. The hits that came up led to an over-sea bank.
"These numbers indicate it's an offshore bank," continued Method. "That's why Ace recalled them. He has worked in the past with a Navy Seal team that infiltrated an offshore bank in Argentina!"
Method had pulled up Ace's file on another screen, making a selection in Ace's file, so Joop could see it.
"Ace, get in here!" Joop shouted outside, and saw the one who was called responding inmideatly. Ace jogged quickly to the truck and stepped quickly inside. He watched quickly to the screens and then looked questioning to Joop, as he saw that Method was way to busy figuring quickly the data out.
"Offshore bank, Ace." Joop said, "That's why you recognized it!"
Ace looked to the screen and nodded. "Yeah, this is an offshore bank number. The first four numbers are the numbers of the country, although I am not sure which one …."
Method frowned as he pressed the enter key on his keyboard.
"We have to go to Panama?" Ace asked as he watched the outcome of the screen. He looked towards the numbers on the screen and then to a Google hit : Mcas Banco de Panama, Panama City, Panama.
"To who belongs the account?" Joop asked, but Method shook his head. "That's for Ninja to find out, cause I am not hacker. I probably cant get in their system. Too complicated, and they will snatch me in seconds. Ninja is probably way better in it!"
Joop sighted, "Well at least one mystery is solved, but this answer brings only a zillion more questions!"