show.”
James nodded. “According to what the home team told us, the conspirators seem to be on the ball. Any investigation pointing in their direction gets flagged and bogged down with paperwork.”
“So they do have monitors internationally, as well as moles?” Assid asked. “How big is this conspiracy?”
“Probably small,” Encizo said. “Whoever the leaks are, they’re probably just garden-variety bureaucrats with open palms and the willingness to look the other way or misplace paperwork.”
“A couple of smart people with a good bank account can do as much as a worldwide organization,” James said. “We work on brains and connections ourselves, so we can see where holes can be exploited in any security system.”
“A bribe or two in the Egyptian government, and they have the drop on us if we go outside the family,” Assid mused. “That explains why they’re working with the Muslim Brotherhood.”
“The local muscle they’ve hired don’t know what’s really going on, likely,” Encizo offered. “But the conspirators have given them the promise of their goals of confusion and government disarray.”
“That’s worked well enough,” Assid said. “Despite the fact that the Brotherhood didn’t get the robots anywhere near Inshas, the press caught word of an attempted attack. People are nervous, and they’re calling for an end to Egypt’s development of nuclear energy.”
James nodded. “The same news leaks have shown up across Europe and the United States. Israel was smart enough to clamp down a hard moratorium on printing the news about the Negev incident, so your neighbors aren’t getting frightened and antsy yet.”
Encizo frowned. “Israel isn’t nervous over Israeli nuclear energy. But you just have to know that the Inshas attempt is all over their headlines. Just imagine that your neighbors had a gas leak, Cal.”
“I’d be worried about fires or monoxide poisoning in my own house, just because of our proximity,” James muttered.
Assid’s brow furrowed in concern. “So even though we’ve been incident free, at least as far as a reactor being threatened with a critical incident, just the very act of stopping their infiltration accomplished whatever goal our enemy wanted? That’s insidious.”
“That’s the type of Machiavellian manipulation that we encounter on a regular basis,” Encizo sighed. “I miss the good old days when if it wasn’t simply a local group of psychotics, then the ones responsible were the KGB holdouts.”
“Or Nazi revivalists,” James mentioned.
Encizo rubbed his forehead, tracing the faint scar he’d received on a mission years ago. “Thing is, with the world in such flux today, there are dozens of groups with the money and motive to pull this kind of panic mongering.”
Assid nodded. “This could easily be a ploy of the Saudis to dissuade their customers from abandoning oil for nuclear power.”
“Not necessarily the whole Saudi government,” James said.
Assid sneered. “I wouldn’t put it past those fanatics. They’ve given their nephews millions in order to fulfill their religious fantasies of Islamic dictatorships.”
“You’re Muslim, aren’t you?” Encizo asked.
“And you’re Christian. Does that mean you endorse homophobic freaks who claim that tidals waves are messages from God that Christians aren’t murdering enough gays?” Assid asked.
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