The casual discussion of mass murder turned Max's stomach. He couldn't fathom what drove people to such insanity.
It must be the Brotherhood's influence. They didn't care how many humans died in the pursuit of their goal of world domination.
"How many cells are there in the city?" Onegus asked.
"Four. Each cell has its own targets and timetables." Rashid straightened in his chair, clearly proud of being part of something he considered important. "We have fighters from the special forces to assist us."
Onegus and Max exchanged a quick glance. "Special forces?" Onegus asked. "What makes them special?"
"They're the elite," Rashid said, his voice taking on an almost reverent tone. "The best of the best. Stronger, faster than normal soldiers. They can do things that seem impossible."
"Elaborate," Onegus commanded. "Give me an example."
"I've seen one lift a car like it weighed nothing." Rashid's eyes shone with admiration. "And when they run, they are faster than cheetahs. They are enhanced, but no one knows how. It's classified." He leaned forward as if to tell them a secret. "Sometimes their eyes glow in the dark. Like animals, and sometimes it looks like they have fangs. Maybe they are jinn."
Doomers. As Max had suspected, the Brotherhood was behind this barbaric plan to cause mass casualty events in Los Angeles.
"How many of these special unit soldiers do you have?" Onegus asked.
"Two or three per cell. They are in charge of the operation. We follow their orders."
"But you outrank them, right?" Max asked, picking up on something in Rashid's tone.
The guy's face twisted with resentment. "Rank means nothing to them. They have authority that comes from higher up. We have to obey them."
Of course they did. The Doomers were probably thralling them to follow their commands.
Onegus leaned back. "Let's go back to Colonel Fareed's missing wife. You said that he thinks rebels took her."
Rashid nodded. "He's been going crazy since his wife disappeared."
"He's searching for her?"
"Not exactly searching," Rashid admitted. "He thinks the rebels took her, his daughters, and the rest of his wife's family as retaliation. He's been interrogating every rebel sympathizer he can find." A slight smirk crossed his face. "Personally, I think she ran away. The colonel is not an easy man to get along with, and his wife was a hardheaded woman. They didn't get along. But then the daughters went missing first, and Soraya was distressed. But seeing them here, dressed like Western whores..." He shook his head. "That proved that I was right, and they had all escaped. The daughters going missing first must have been staged, and Soraya put up a good act."
Max could feel his temper rise at the disgusting display of misogyny, but he kept his expression neutral.
"Back to the cells," Onegus redirected. "Give me the locations of all of them."
Rashid recited addresses without hesitation, and Max memorized them even though everything was being recorded and they could get the transcript later.
"What's the timeline for these attacks?" Onegus asked.
"Soon. The first one is scheduled for two weeks from now. A big concert in the Glen Helen Amphitheater." He waved his hand. "That harlot Lasusa will be shaking her half-naked ass, and we will send it straight to hell where it belongs, along with all the little harlots that shake their asses to her music." Pride colored his voice again. "Los Angeles will burn, and America will remember that the Islamic Republic's reach is long."
Chills ran down Max's spine as he imagined the carnage. The Glen Helen had a capacity of tens of thousands, and Lasusa was known for filling up stadiums, mostly with preteen girls and their moms.
"Do these special unit soldiers stay with you, or do they stay somewhere else?" Onegus asked.
"They have their own rooms, but we all stay together in the rented mansions." He grinned. "No one thinks to look for revolutionaries in expensive houses."
Revolutionaries, right. Mass murderers. Monsters. That was what they were.
"Where do you store your explosives?" Onegus continued with the questioning.
"With us, of course. We can't just leave them lying somewhere for someone to find. They are not dangerous without the detonators."
Onegus continued the interrogation for a while longer, extracting every detail about the planned attacks, the cell structures, communication protocols, and the enhanced soldiers and their habits. By the end, they had a comprehensive picture of a terror network with embedded Doomer operatives.
