“Acruise missile is a fairly expensive way to deliver a 1,000-pound package.” Jambaz read through the report he had found on the internet. He wanted to learn more about the weapons his cells had stolen from Pakistan, and he was fascinated to see how much they could cost.
Up to a million dollars for each one, a higher price for more sophisticated models with a longer range, and we got three of them for free, he mused. As for the 1,000-pound package, it had turned out to be a rare gift indeed.
He scrolled down and saw a picture of the GLCM, Ground Launch Cruise Missile launcher, which appeared to be a truck with a big trailer equipped with four long shafts to hold the missiles. It could be elevated to the proper angle for firing. Best of all was the accuracy of this type of missile. The article said, “It can fly 1,000 miles and hit a target the size of a single-car garage.”
He was proud of Lashkar-i-Taiba for figuring out how to steal these things. It was the most important mission so far in their grand scheme. Yet, these were only the first of many sophisticated weapons they would control when they won their jihad. He thought again how one day they would control the entire nuclear arsenal of the country of Pakistan.
Then they could target the Americans because they knew the spineless western leaders would never use their own nuclear weapons. When the U.S. had dropped the atom bombs on Japan, the world was aghast. And since that day most every American has been afraid of nuclear power. Even though the hawks in their Pentagon kept writing papers about when it might be necessary to use those weapons, somebody always leaked the papers. Then after the press printed all the leaks, the plans were blamed on some lower level bureaucrat making a mistake. No, they would not use nuclear weapons again. And so, they would be a perfect target for blackmail. Every country in the world would force them to negotiate, not retaliate.
In the meantime, his group had a war to start and a war to win. There was much to do. Different cells had different orders. Jambaz had his own assignment, and he was frustrated by his failure so far. He did not want to report this to his leader or the other members of his cell. He hoped they would have patience, for the task was a complicated one.
He switched over to his new encrypted program to check for any new messages from Abbas Kahn. Yes. There was one today. He quickly went through the motions and keystrokes and read the instructions. “Do not believe the reports in the newspapers about failures at Bandaq Technologies. These are lies. All lies to confuse the competition.”
“We say again, you must acquire their system. However, as I instructed before, if this is not possible, you must make certain that no one else acquires it. This means the scientist must be stopped before she is able to reproduce this Q-3 and make it available to her government or any other entity.”
He hadn’t been able to get any information on how this Q-3 project worked, nothing from her computer. And he had no idea if she had survived the car crash. Today he would find out and by tonight, Inshallah . . . the scientist would be stopped once and for all.