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expect communication between the exterior sets and the guarded backlot gate. Guer-rero sm
hearing Hakim's curses as he strug-gled with dead weights greater than his own, and sped toward
perimeter cyclone fenc-ing. Outside the fence was the access road, de-serted except for a s
foreign sedan and a larger car towing an old mobile home. These vehicles were motionless.
Guerrero slapped the button in plenty of time but was not gratified. He slapped it again,
pressed it with a rocking motion as he tapped the brakes hard. Five meters of cyclone fen
peeled back as the bangalore torpedo at last ac-cepted its microwave signal, and Guerrero felt
pressure wave cuff the van. He angled through the hole, negotiating the shallow ditch with elan,
exulted in his choice of a vehicle with high ground clearance. As he made a gear change, accelera
toward escape, he could see Chaim in his outside rearview, dutifully tow-ing the decrepit mo
home into position to block immediate pursuit along the access road. For once, Chaim Ma
performed above ex-pectation, the mobile home teetering for a mo-ment before it rolled onto
side, a barricade stretching from the ditch to the opposite side of the road.
Talith waited for Chaim in her small car, the only vehicle of their regular fleet that was not a
Guerrero waited for nothing, but tossed quick glances to check the possibility of air sur-veilla
Van Nuys airport was soon sliding past on his right, and they would be vulnerable until he reac
the state university campus where their other vans waited.
Minutes later, Guerrero eased the van into a campus parking lot. Hakim was ready with the c
and together they wrestled their burden, the bulk of a refrigerator, from their vehicle into the rear
somewhat smaller van. As Hakim urged the smaller vehicle away, encouraging its cold engine
curses, Guerrero wheeled the kidnap van across the lot and abandoned it along with his vend
uniform. It might be many hours before the abandoned van was noticed, among the hundred
recreational vehicles on the campus. Guerrero knew what every undergraduate knew: a recreati
vehicle was lim-ited only by what one defined as recreation.
He moved then to his last vehicle change, flex-ing his hands in the thin gloves as he waited for
engine to warm, for the flow of adrenaline to subside, for the next item on his private agenda
had carefully planted Hakim's fingerprints on the abandoned kidnap vehicle after wiping away
own. On the other hand, Hakim had given him only a public rendezvous some kilometers to the w
in Moorpark and not the location of the new Fat'ah site which, Guerrero knew, might be in
direction. Hakim's monolithic insistence on sole control was a con-tinuing problem, but Guer
had to admit the little palo blanco was thorough. He checked the time and grinned to himse
wouldn't do to be late picking up Chaim and Leah. Guerrero's mas-ters were thorough, too.
By six PM, Hakim was so far out of patience that he fairly leaped from his seat in the Moor-
bus station at his first sight of Guerrero. The Panamanian bought a newspaper, saw Hakim st
then ambled out into the street. It was too dark to read the fine print but, waiting for Hakim to c
up, Guerrero saw that they had once again made the front page above the fold. Fat'ah still
friends in print media whether they knew it or not.
Though Guerrero walked slowly, Hakim sounded breathless. "I told the girl to m
ren-dezvous," he said, as they paused for a stop-light. "And you are four hours late!"
"The Americans had other ideas," Guerrero growled convincingly. "Talith and Chaim tried to
a blockade."
"Escape?"
"I was lucky to escape, myself. They were cut down, Hakim."
Hakim's voice was exceedingly soft. "This you saw?"
"I saw. It may be here," he lied again, brandishing the folded newspaper, ready to grapple with
Iraqi if he saw his cover blown. Hakim Arif only looked straight ahead, and fashioned for hims
terrible smile.
They walked another block, forcing them-selves to study the window displays, checking
surveillance as they went. "The hostages will be conscious again soon," Hakim said as if to him
"They will be noisy, no doubt. Your delay forced me to inject them again." Then, as a
possibility struck him: "Was your van com-promised?"
Guerrero gave a negative headshake, very much desiring to keep his own vehicle. "It is just ah
there," he indicated. "Do I abandon it now?" Always, he knew, Hakim was perversely biased aga
an underling's suggestion. He had seen it work many times for Leah Talith; but Talith would u
no longer.
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