“There was a minor wrinkle.American forces noticed some of the activity in a remote area.Inquiries were made.Fortunately, Sabera was working for US intelligence at the time.She managedto intercept the messages and muddle up the translation in order to buy time.”
“That’s what got her dismissed,” I murmur.“We heard about that.”
“Pity, but such things happen.And I can’t blame her for wanting to keep her secret a secret.As someone who spent entirely too much time in Kabul, let me tell you, the walls’ ears have ears and no story would make the rounds faster than one of discovering hidden stashes of untold wealth.Natural-born intelligence officer, that one.I would’ve recruited Sabera the moment her mother died, had I known.”
“So Sabera’s mother stumbles upon a system utilized by corrupt officials to store their ill-gotten gains.Sabera learns of it and takes it one step further—she thieves from the thieves.But how does that help her?She clearly doesn’t have any money now.”
“Kabul fell.More abruptly than anyone saw coming.Well, more quickly than the Americans saw coming.There were those of us in the intelligence community…” Lilla sniffs delicately.
“And the stashes of wealth?”
“Ostensibly, still there.”
“In Afghanistan?”
“According to Sabera, yes.To make it more interesting, she and her partner in crime, Jamil, were the only ones who knew the entirety of the relocation, and Jamil died the day Kabul fell.Meaning Sabera, and Sabera alone, has that information now.”
“She is the key,” I murmur.
“Exactly.A walking and talking map for X marks the spot.Except what is a young Afghan female going to do with loot that requires extraction in a Taliban-run country?”
I don’t have to think about it: “Wheel and deal.Exchange what she can’t use for something she wants even more.”
“Brilliant!”This time Lilla does clap her hands.“Have you ever contemplated spy work?”
“No need.My current job is dangerous enough.”
Lilla leans forward.Her expression has turned serious.“The one thing Sabera wants most in this world—her brother.She’d thought Farshid had died when the Taliban seized Kabul, but she now believes Farshid is being held in a torture camp somewhere inside of Afghanistan.”
“A torture camp?”Daryl begins.
“The international community has known about them for decades,” Lilla supplies briskly.“Including, I might add, that none of the prisoners last very long, certainly not four years.”
Daryl and I gaze at her wide-eyed.Torture camps.Just when you thought a regime known for its horrific violence couldn’t get any more horrific or violent…
“I did some research of my own, starting with Sabera herself,” Lilla begins.
“Her medical records,” I murmur.“You unearthed news of her hospitalization, mental health issues.You’re the one who left the file for Captain Kurtz.”
Lilla stills for a second, then another smile splits her face.She seems pleasantly surprised I connected the dots between the records and her handiwork.
“Pity, but Sabera and pregnancy don’t exactly get along,” she murmurs.
“You think this is all some kind of psychotic episode?”
“Possible.By the time I arrived in the States, it appeared Sabera had already left the apartment she shared with her family.When I tracked her down to the resort townhouse, however…” Lilla frowns.“My first thought—she looks so much like her mother.I’d seen photos, but still… Something about how she holds herself,the angle of her head.I hadn’t expected the way it would hit me.I wanted to say yes to everything she asked, very silly in my line of work.”
“Did she say why she was at the townhouse—what had made her go into hiding?”
“I’d assumed a spat with the hubby.Glowering old codger.Not really my concern.I was more focused on what Sabera had to say about her mother.That there’s more to the string of abandoned mines than Sabera had first deduced.Something about her mother planting a code within a code.Sabera was willing to hand all of it over to me, including the current location of the plundered wealth, in return for rescuing her brother.Which, even she understood, might prove a smidge difficult for an international intelligence agency, the Taliban being, well, the Taliban and all.”
“I see the issue,” I agree, while Daryl nods beside me.“You agreed?”
“To bringing Farshid back from the dead?Why, poppet, thank you for having such faith in me.Trust me, nothing would make me happier than assisting Maryam’s son.Realistically, however…” Lilla arches a brow.“Sabera, however, is definitely her mother’s daughter.Just to sweeten the pot, she mentioned she believes the other still-secret mining locations involve large stashes of rare earth elements.Which, as you seem to know…”
“Every government in the world wants.”
“Including my own.Not that Britain would be in position to harvest such materials given relations with the current regime.On the other hand, ensuring the Taliban—and the Chinese, who are meddling everywhere!—donothave access to REEs would be considered quite valuable as well.According to Sabera, the trick to locating these massive sites of a massively important resourcejust happens to include Farshid.Only her brother knows how to unlock the code to the second half of her mother’s riddle.Something about her mother always referring to them as—”
