Kindle Edition
Amazon
Claude Bouchard Books
CreateSpace
Category:
Mystery/Suspense
Publisher: Claude Bouchard
ISBN-10: 0986666556
Pages: 256
Copyright: 2012
ISBN-13: 9780986666551
Price: $4.49 (eBook)
Book #6 of the Vigilante series
As a result of information gathered via electronic surveillance by intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Canada, a budding terrorist organization, the Army for Islam or AFI, is suspected of planning an attack, its target possibly NYC, Burlington, Vermont or even Canada's famed Montreal...
When four foreign students from Pakistan with known ties to the AFI's Montreal cell arrive in the area on New Year's Eve, Discreet Activities' head, Jonathan Addley, along with Chris Barry and other DA consultants are more than willing to take on the additional workload.
...After two of the DA team members die violently in an AFI related suicide-bombing, the job becomes getting revenge on those responsible for this Holy War...
Excerpt
Chapter 1 – Thursday, December 30, 2010, 10:22 p.m.
“I still don’t see anything,” said Chris Barry as he surveyed the building nestled in the trees through compact, night-vision binoculars.
“That’s either a very good sign or very disappointing news,” Jonathan Addley replied, scanning the area as well.
“How did you end up pinpointing this place?” asked Chris. “You never mentioned the specifics.”
“The address was transmitted in bits and pieces in a series of emails which both we and Homeland Security intercepted,” Jonathan explained. “In fact, the components of the address were the only things in the emails. Once we pieced it together, we confirmed the rental with the realtor’s records.”
The building under observation was a large cottage located at the foot of the ski slopes of Mont-Sutton in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. A fifteen minute drive southbound along Route 139 led to the small border crossing near Richford, Vermont, and then anywhere within the United States beyond. Part of a consortium of rental units managed by a local realtor, the cottage in question had been reserved two days earlier for the period of December 30, 2010 to February 28, 2011 by Mahmood Buzdar, a twenty-one year old foreign student from Pakistan attending Carleton University in Ottawa, the nation’s capital.
Having arrived in Canada on a student visa in August of 2009, Buzdar, a quiet, practicing Muslim, never attended or demonstrated any support for the pro-Muslim protests on and off campus. However, he had been picked up by the government’s radar when, through electronic surveillance, authorities had established definite links between Mahmood and some unidentified alleged members of the Army for Islam, or AFI, which had cells based in both Montreal and Toronto as well as in a number of American cities.
“Do you really think they’d use Sutton as a home-base for an attack on New York City?” Chris questioned.
“I think it’s a bit of a stretch myself,” admitted Jonathan, “But other messages on Facebook and Twitter by the same players during the same time frame mentioned The Big Apple, a different kind of New Year’s Eve celebration and showing North America how to start the year with a bang.”
“The realtor confirmed that Buzdar picked up the keys?” Chris enquired, his eyes never wavering from the cottage.
“Yep, at about ten this morning,” replied Addley. “There are tire tracks in the snow so someone was here earlier today but not since I had the cameras set up out here.”
“I still don’t see anything,” repeated Chris with some concern. “I hope nothing went wrong.”
“Let me check with Cat,” said Jon as he activated the voice dialler on his Bluetooth. “Cat Connor… Any visuals on your side?- No, nothing here either and I’ve gotten no reports of any cam sightings from Surveillance… I’ll give it a couple of minutes more and then we’ll be going in.”
He cut the connection and addressed Chris. “Cat and Jeff have nothing to report either.”
As he finished his sentence, a voice behind them murmured. “Both of you stay very still if you want to be around to celebrate the New Year. Now, I want you to spread your arms away from your bodies and turn around slowly.”
Chris and Jonathan froze then complied, turning inch by inch until they faced the grinning Leslie Robb.
“Nice touch with this silent approach and capture of two senior operatives, Leslie,” Addley commended with a smile, “But did you get the job done or did you chicken out and hide somewhere while we were waiting out here, suffering in the cold?”
“Are you kidding?” Leslie laughed. “For one, it’s barely below freezing so you’ll get no sympathy from me. Secondly, while the lot of you was out here, standing around and enjoying the fresh country air, I was in there, working under pressure and fearing for my life.”
“The kid’s got definite acting skills,” Chris commented as he winked at Leslie.
“So, it’s all set up?” Jonathan asked, becoming serious as he activated his Bluetooth again.
“Cameras and mikes in every room of the place,” Leslie nodded.
“We didn’t see you coming or going,” Chris informed her with pride. “Neither did Cat or Jeff.”
“I’ve had excellent teachers,” Leslie smiled as she blushed.
“All good?” Jonathan asked into his mouthpiece. “Excellent.”
He cut the connection and turned to Leslie. “Congratulations, Ms. Robb. You’ve passed yet another test. All systems are go, both visual and audio and, as Chris just mentioned, we never saw you, which is quite impressive.”
“Thank you, gentlemen,” Leslie replied with a slight bow of the head.
“Well, folks,” said Chris. “Now that the work is done, let’s round up Cat and Jeff and return to my humble abode for celebratory refreshments.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Leslie grinned.
|
