Summary:

Kid and Nikov travel south to Western Sahara, a disputed land which Moroccan Government has printed it as Southern Morocco, yet still having sporadic battles with the Polisario and Sahrawi rebels. In there, Kid and Nikov discover a secret by surprise from a Polisario member, which lead them to head to Paris for a new route. But when they c0me to Paris, something has gone into the way they do not expect about.


15:05

Ad-Dakhla, Western Sahara

Kid and Nikov took their own map and traveled there, at least with Arabic script "Southern Morocco". They understood the sensitivity of their trip since Morocco has always rejected the Polisario, a militant group demanding for independence from Morocco. Having helped the SEALs and Saudi Force to capture Ahmad Al-Salih, they just wanted to stay alone and to figure out how the money of the Saudi millionaire could be spent for.

Kid distrusted the Moroccan authorities, but neither he trusted the Polisario officials. Meanwhile, Kid's own Mesopotamian Arabic conflicted with Moroccan Darija, so he had to take a moment to understand what the Moroccans said. And he was asking a local cleric.

"هل أنت متأكد من المسجد؟ هل هو آمن؟" (Are you sure about the mosque? Is it safe?)

"بالتأكيد ، أصدقاء أمريكيون. المسجد على ما يرام لا أحد في الداخل ، ولا يزال مفتوحًا." (Sure, sure, American friends. The mosque is quite okay. No one is inside, and it is still opening.)

"Alright, thanks."

Kid switched between English and Arabic several times. They just stood in front of a local mosque, painted in lighter white. The Annasr mosque, yes, was their location.

Kid could not speak Moroccan Darija in spite of his fluency in Arabic, so he had to try with several dialects closely to Moroccan, such as Egyptian and Sudanese. Unlike Spanish, Arabic is more complicated since Arabic speakers tend to be more isolated unlike Spanish one.

"I hate this kind of Arabic."

"(No problem. Just head in and ask for the man.)"

Inside the mosque, a local cleric arrived. He welcomed Nikov and Kid warmly, with his fluency in English impressed them.

"Welcome, foreigners. What are you doing here?"

Impression was not the only. Kid and Nikov took a bit risk to see the option from the onward. Kid replied politely.

"We come in peace. May Allah guide you."

"So, what take you there?" The cleric, who dressed like a local Iranian mullah but actually not Iranian, smiled.

"Sir, so … do you know about … Ahmad Mohamad Al-Salih?"

The cleric, this time, turned eyes on. The name of the millionaire turned to be important on keeping Kid and Nikov to the run, but surely it was not the end.

"I guess you talk about … the millionaire?"

"How do you know he is rich?" Kid caught up from the eyes: "How?"

The cleric, standing in calmness, realized the need to provide reality over the activities of the Saudi millionaire and his fair connection. Also, he was quite pure by the eyes, so he knew the reason of the appearances of Kid and Nikov there.

"I guess … your other reason, is to investigating the money laundering of Ahmad Mohamad?"

"So … you are …" Kid got surprised.

"I'm a member … of the Polisario."

Kid and Nikov were all stunned. Stunned to meet a member of the Polisario group, a resistance group fighting against Morocco, right in the city that under Moroccan control. It assumed that, Polisario has more men in the region even though 75% of the region is now under Moroccan.

The cleric honesty, wearing in black of the ayatollah, quite contradicted to his activities, hence less people knew his real life. Kid and Nikov asked the name of the man.

"Cleric, what's your name?"

"Ibrahim Fuad Ghazouali, Polisario financial chief in the city."

Ibrahim Fuad Ghazouali represented his name when he turned into the mosque's working room, where he carried a Dell computer within him. He soon allowed Kid and Nikov to sit together. As the light was still shining, the mosque became more beautiful, yet nobody knew who were inside.

"So, what makes Polisario to have such tie with a corrupt Saudi millionaire?" Kid questioned the cleric and the cleric didn't get nervous. Ibrahim also explained about Polisario to Kid and Nikov.

"Polisario often receives money from any kind of donation, both in and abroad. But we never support any kind of terrorist movements, nor even violence, and has distanced from Al-Qaeda, Taliban, or even other Iran-backed militants."

"Then why Ahmad Mohamad Al-Salih came to there?"

"He carried … a weird offer." The Polisario chief of finance in the city quietly added, in fear his mosque could be raided by Moroccan police.

"(Offer?)" Nikov looked curious.

"He carried throughout a henchman named Taha, said that joining his revolution and to build a new national caliphate. He claimed it would be different from ISIS, Al-Qaeda, etc. They would be united as one."

"So he carried a lie and your leadership believed it?"

"Polisario is in struggle for financial exchange, so this support became a needed condition. From this point, the Saudi millionaire, often did it through the hand of Taha, sent money for us and to build more arms. But at the same times, he did dirty double deal with the Moroccans."

"How was it gone?"

"The money sent for us … actually, also being discovered several times by the Moroccans and, as we demanded him to know how, he told that the Moroccan Government is trying to approach to Saudi Arabia for new investment. But from the words 'approach', we began to suspect he played a double deal for his own Daesh dream."

"So he fooled you to make sure he could carry a state of his own, without realizing the vampire's teeth?"

"For the last time, we struck to the question to Taha, Ahmad's chief financer, but he had disappeared. We don't know where's he, and is there any possibility of fear in the future or not."

"Do you know about Taha, the henchman of Ahmad, as you often speak his name?"

"Taha … did address about him for us once, and the only time."

"Did he tell where was he from?" Kid became hurried.

"I dunno, he didn't tell about his location." The cleric, Ibrahim, breathed long with depression.

"Fuck …" Kid stood up, and he looked to the window of the mosque. A lot of disappointment, Kid could not bear more from this stuck.

Meanwhile, Nikov was more confident. He soon pressured Ibrahim Fuad to give him the computer, in which he believed he could track the location of Taha. Although skeptical, Ibrahim gave the computer to Dora-nikov.

And Nikov was correct.

He looked about the financial support from the man named Taha, and quite quick to notice about the bank. In there, he looked on the Byblos Bank, and this gave an impression that, it must be from a country in Francophone world.

"(Do you see the Byblos Bank? It's our target.)"

"Yeah, I know. But he used VPN, and we could not have anything else."

"(No, I mean, when he used VPN, he often forgot that … he often thought he would be safe, so if we tracked back from the time he didn't use VPN …)"

"You mean, he is careless?"

Nikov nodded, and the evidence soon grew up. By contradicting the time he used VPN and other moments, it showed several short of times he conflicted together in his own.

And in there …

"(Voilà!)"

"What?"

Nikov had used contradicting VPN times analysis to see the use of Taha and this moment meant a lot of conflicting time of Taha showed up. One side, it showed himself in …

"(He used VPN to fake his location in Wrocław, Poland. Using VPN with Polish address faked us to believe he was doing it in Poland.)"

Kid this time got amazed, and he looked onto Dora-nikov, as the Russian pal examined quite well than expectation. For Dora-the-Kid, it's time.

"His real location was in …" Ibrahim Fuad Ghazouali got understood from this moment.

"In fact, he did it from Paris. So, he was in France." Kid noticed: "So … he had done all the time in France until the arrest of Ahmad Mohamad Al-Salih."

Increasing determination put Kid and Nikov to make a final showdown, as they saw their opportunity. From this point, the Polisario official admitted, he was not prepared. Kid and Nikov forgave that.

"France … so, what the hell Taha did in France?"

"(I don't know. But we will have to find out. But let's be sure, Paris is an amazing place for love …)"

#####

Paris, France

A romantic and beautiful country with famed culture, even the language of the people there was romantic as well. Sometimes, walking in Paris brought many feeling. And so was Versailles, and touristic behavior of French people.

Just another day in the country, of course, unless this was about a week before the famed Paris Fashion Festival. And they knew what to do.

Except …

"Well, I am not very good a French." Kid admitted: "Shit."

"(Strange. You can speak very well Italian and Spanish, yet not in French. Really?)"

Dora-the-Kid and Dora-nikov were in the Tuileries Garden, where they just walked out from the noise of the city's landscape. Kid could not speak fluent French and he had to rely on Nikov, who was much better in French than Kid.

"(Then, which kind of French words you want to speak?)"

"Anything."

"(Oui.)" (Yes.)

Telling about this, Kid and Nikov just continued walking away. They did not want to be in trouble but their goal was to find Taha, the henchman of Ahmad Mohamad Al-Salih in France with all cost as possible. But where was Taha remained unknown.

On the Lost List they recovered, Ahmad Al-Salih's money was distributed in varieties. Outside Polisario, other groups needed to be analyzed because it was all encoded. They contacted to a man, a black man, who was in the United States aftermath.

"Anthony, can you just help us one thing?"

"Yes, Kid?"

"Some of Ahmad Al-Salih's money distributions might have traveled elsewhere. We've met a Polisario official who admitted the money banking from him was beyond the border and it could have been distributed to terrorist groups elsewhere." Kid expanded his wary: "We must examine immediately. I have some names that had been encoded so we needed to break the code in order to figure the names and activities."

"No problem." Anthony, the Afro-American young man, with glasses, claimed: "I can handle it."

"(Concong?)"

"Yeah. The best option for us now."

Anthony, real name was Anthony Concong, came from Ghana but emigrated at the age of one. Anthony himself was a renowned encode breaker and hacker, and somehow Kid and Nikov, on only two years, established wealthy relations with him. His whereabout was kept in secret.

For Kid and Nikov, they just saw it okay, and, from the statue of Mercury riding Pegasus, Kid threw a sandwich for Nikov, with both shared the lunch meals in the simpliest way.

"Maybe … that's the best to do in France."

Night

Also in Paris, but in somewhere else, …

"Cela doit être fait sans aucun compromis. Maintenant ou jamais." (This must be done without any compromises. Now or never.)

Someone was talking beyond as he closed all the doors and covered with curtains to evade being discovered.

"Pouvez? Nous aurions pu le faire ensemble. Au lieu de cela, vous essayez de cingler comme si c'était le vôtre." (Can? We could have done it together. Instead, you try to berserk like it is your own.)

"Nous travaillons pour l'avenir du califat et sa restauration. Il ne s'agit pas du premier ou du deuxième jour, c'est une longue lutte jusqu'au jugement final." (We're doing to work for the future of the Caliphate, and its restoration. It is not about day one or two, it's a long struggle until the final judgement.)

While he was arguing from the computer with someone else, suddenly, he heard about the door being opened and then, a man came in.

"Qui c'est?" (Who's that?)

Paris has always been famed for nightlife, and it could have been in that way. With the man inside, however, he had to carry a pistol already.

He feared it could be something against him, because no one could open the door so freely.

"Y a-t-il encore quelqu'un ici? Je ne plaisante pas, présentez-vous!" (Is there anyone still here? I am not joking, show up!)

But as he was about to pull the trigger, suddenly, something came out and it put him down. Of course, it didn't kill him, but it hurt him a lot.

Yet, there was no sound so nobody heard it.

Meanwhile, a voice came from the shadow talked to the man. And a heat discussion would be expected.

"Je te l'ai dit, mais tu t'en foutais. C'est une punition." (I've told you, but you didn't care. This is a punishment.)

"Attends, tu es …" (Wait, you are …)

The man, now injured, tried to grovel from the back and took the pistol, but he got another bullet hit into the ground. By then, the opposing man kicked the injured's pistol, a German-made, out from the ground.

" En outre, ceci est le cadeau de votre propre bâtard. Regardez de plus près, s'il vous plaît." (Also, this is the gift from your own bastard. Look closer, please.)

The man grabbed from the bag a box, and then he showed to the injured man an evidence. But just looking it, the injured one was shocked.

"Aucun! Comment osez-vous, vous touchez à notre organisation, fils de pute!" (No! How dare you, you touch on our organization, son of a bitch!)

"Quelle organisation? Rien ne peut plus me faire peur." (Which organization? Nothing can scare me anymore.) The standing man with his similar German-made pistol continued to aim into the temple, but carried with a muffler, kept stressing words: "Pour le gérer, je ne prends que quelques minutes. Mais avec vous, vous pouvez aller en enfer et attendre le juge du Prophète." (To handle it, I only take few minutes. But with you, may you go to hell and wait the judge of the Prophet.)

"Le calife viendra, et votre propre bêtise aura votre fin. Souviens-toi de moi? Dites ça au puissant Allah." (The Caliph will come, and your own silliness will have your end. Remember me? Tell that to mighty Allah.)

As the injured man was about to laugh hard, hoping to gain attention, the mysterious gunner shot into the injured's temple, before leaving with a box that was shown to the already dying man lying on the ground groveling into the table where he with his computer were at work.

That man left from this moment and the lying one … no longer breathed or talked …

#####

A day next

Paris, France

Kid still took a little look on French-English and French-Spanish vocabularies, because it might be the only few options to help him solve his French problem.

"Je suis … je suis … haizzz …"

"(Still have enough troubles with, friend?)"

"No. But if this is about French, the weirdest Romance language, then it's because of a lot of Germanic and Celtic words."

"(Huh, still pissed off with the past.)"

"Quite of. But … there is no reason to hate French. It's still romantic anyway."

"(Got it.)"

Kid and Nikov laughed hard together and they kept walking on and on. Their only wish, was just simple: trying to get rid of people from the List of Abdulla.

But without tasting some French breads seemed not fun. They had bought it for their own.

Surprisingly, Kid and Nikov heard about something running very fast, and they had together assembled in a street elsewhere. After losing a while, they soon discovered …

"Wait, armored … police vehicle?"

People there spoke a lot of French words but with the situation increased, Kid soon took a moment until …

Of course, to notice, Kid and Nikov were walking around the Seine river, and they were on the street of Quai Branly. But the more police and ambulance vehicles, the more concerns from Kid and Nikov to mention that …

"What's going on?"

From this point, the car series drove into the street of Bourdonnais, or, Avenue de la Bourdonnais in French. Kid and Nikov had to run immediately in fear of something bigger and bigger waiting them about.

And after they arrived in, they saw a problem emerged alongside and within few minutes, they soon headed into the street's building and soon, they entered into a building at the Bourdonnais.

From this point, Kid and Nikov recognized the police and ambulance vehicles were permanent there.

"So, it is … the area we looked for?"

Kid and Nikov ran up there and quite disturbing the police a bit, which the police was forced to intervene. But Kid showed his confident: "Let me investigate with. We live there and sleep there."

Okay, much to surprise, Kid and Nikov had taken hotel Eiffel Kensington, the hotel located opposite to the place where the police was investigating. As Kid and Nikov approached inside, they discovered …

A black man, which body lied on the ground and the head near a table, was found dead.

Which, it caught to Kid and Nikov's eyes about a brutal murder in Paris.