quote:

Ep6-1
Evidence #68
Ammunition casing. Something felt odd about the gun battle at the base of the dam. I had missed enemy targets, but the men still died. I chocked that up to the chaos of war; friendly fire or a lucky ricochet. Then I found a spent shell casing. Enough countries have adopted NATO ammunition standards that a single bullet can’t tell a story. China refused to adopt these standards in favor of their ‘superior’ ammunition, and that’s how I knew this bullet belonged to Trinidad. The only question now; does this story have a happy or tragic ending? –Gabe Logan

Evidence #69
Truck fender. Lian used too much C4. Her job was to create a topside diversion assisting my covert entry into the dam from below. Lian knows better, but she was rushing things. I knew it was a mistake to bring her on the mission. She’s way too close to things, and wants to save Shen, even at the peril of our entire mission. What she doesn’t realize is that now that she’s in harm’s way, I’ve got something personal at stake as well. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #70
Body. The dead security guard stashed inside the control booth had a tattoo from prior service in the Syrian Republican Guard. Unlike Iraq’s force of the same name, this military division had a proud connotation. Retired now, he thought his job as a civilian security guard would be a safe way to earn a comfortable living. The technique used in cutting the throat indicates CSS training. This can’t be Lian’s work; it must be Trinidad’s. –Gabe Logan

Shadowed Intel

Evidence #71
Guiding Angel. Logan destroyed the transformer substations, but never realized the danger he was truly in because I eliminated waves of enemies before they could overtake him.

Logan will die soon enough, but not before leading me to Shen.

I’ve been behind him the entire time, providing surgical but surreptitious assistance with my blade and my rifle. The CSS psychological profile indicated that Logan is trusting to a fault. He is still wearing the tracking device I planted on him at Gebel Tyorma; as he sat, drugged in the interrogator’s chair, I moved close, straddled him, and teased him with my similar appearance to Lian Xing. –Trinidad

Evidence #72
Sharpshooter. My sniping accuracy at Ash Shaddaha shows why I hold the academy record for long range marksmanship. CSS agents can kill up close with their hands, or from over a mile away with perfect accuracy.
Martial arts were invented in China, but so was gunpowder. –Trindad

Ep 6-2
Evidence #73
Destroyed turbine. I’ve seen the design of Shen’s device. The counter-balance to its simple design is the amount of power required to achieve the perpetual charge. Three turbines had been running past capacity for days, causing this turbine to crumble under the strain. Bitar’s close to achieving his holy vision, and for the first time since I’ve known him, he’s gotten excited and lost his patience. To date, that patience and stoicism had been his deadliest weapon. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #74
Tracking device. The device is Chinese, but the electronic map was universal enough; a GPS tracking receiver. This is proof that Trinidad is somewhere in the dam complex. The target she was tracking isn’t moving; probably dead. Why did she ditch the receiver? Did she find what she was looking for? My question was answered soon as I started walking away: the receiver made a loud beeping noise and the target started to me. She was tracking me. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #75
Employee badge. The dead power room engineer had never been part of al-Jamil. His only mistake was coming to work at the Nah al Khabur dam on the same day al-Jamil commandeered the dam to charge Shen’s devices. Even Bitar recognized the need for a skilled engineer to manage stresses on the dam machinery as they tried squeezing every ounce of energy out of the turbines. The cut throat is the same as the security guard’s. CSS handiwork. Trinidad is here. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #76
Cordell’s financial records. The courier was carrying several discs that didn’t seem to have anything to do with NIOC business. Teresa cracked the encrypted files on a microdisc and discovered something interesting: all of Robert Cordell’s personal financial records going back ten years. Of special interest was an order, issue to Cordell’s blind trust, to dump 30,000 shares of stock in World-Cal Petroleum, early last year.

I had wondered about Cordell’s involvement with Night Watch and the Rhamani case. I know that Cordell was a hard ass, did whatever it took to ‘get the job done.’ But it never occurred to me that he would profit personally if World-Cal got the Egyptian pipeline contracts. IT now makes sense why Cordell was working so hard to discredit our case.

Code: JTS C9F S8DR –Gabe Logan

Ep6-3
Evidence #77
Broken glasses. I recognized the broken glasses as those worn by Trinidad in Kuranca. Her eyesight must be terrible. The prescription was strong, so she’d certainly be working at less than full capacity without them. They had fit her well, so how did she manage to lose them? It appears she was caught by surprise, and lost them in the struggle. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #78
Security code 898. On a hunch, I entered a familiar code into the dam’s security network. I’ve seen 898 tattooed on the neck of every al-Jamil true believer. Code breakers have been unable to decipher the significance of that number. But, code breakers are logical creatures. That’s the strength of Bitar’s symbol, he’s not logical. He’s crazy. Agency code breakers, like Teresa, can crack 128 bit encryption like it was children’s Sudoku. But they’re incapable of getting inside Bitar’s head, even to understand three simple digits.

Evidence #79
Dog-tag. Lian didn’t trust me a month ago when Shen first contacted her. And she still doesn’t trust me, even after I risked my life to rescue her from Bitar’s desert bunker. It was a mistake to bring Lian on this mission. After her diversionary attack, she abandoned her post to go after Shen, and has been incommunicado since. These dog-tags are hers. I returned them to her after I rescued her. Did she lose them in a fight, or was she trying to shed them for good? The Lian Xing that I used to know would never have dropped her Agency tags. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #80
Letter from Rhamani. ‘Bitar, you take things too far. Your zealousness has blinded you to the harm you cause to your own people – your own brothers! I plead you to rethink this plan. I want the Westerners gone from our lands, as much as you. But the Suez Canal is important to us all. Destroying it would do irreparable harm, not just to myself but to the entire region.

Come to my home in El-Gouna straightaway, and forestall any action on the shipping lanes until we have spoken. I will make my case to you; that with the West I have a partnership, but with al-Jamil I have an alliance. –Fawzi Rhamani’

I was outside Rhamani’s mansion the day of that meeting. And he didn’t make a very strong case for their alliance because Bitar gutted Fawzi like a goat. –Gabe Logan

Ep6-4
Evidence #81
Blueprints. Accessing dam security files on the computer terminal, I found plenty of evidence trying dam officials to Bitar. I uploaded blueprints and financial records describing rapid facility retrofitting and construction of four quantum harness ports. All of this took place in just one week’s time, with government officials supplying resources and manpower. Tonight I’ll take care of Bitar once and for all. But the government officials assisting al-Jamil aren’t off the hook. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #82
Target list. Of all the X-Z-2 devices Bitar forced Shen to construct, most were permanently entombed inside al-Jamil’s desert bunker. The surviving four had been rigged to charge at Nahr al Khabur. Bitar fled with one device when I reached the charge room. Some might call it cowardice. Bitar is many things, but coward isn’t one of them. He was simply cutting his losses, trying to ensure at least one device could be delivered onto its target. The map he left behind had four US cities circled in red. –Gabe Logan

Evidence #83
Letter. Shen dropped this letter as we left the charge room. ‘Lian, if you are reading this then I am already dead. Please carry no guilt, as I have given Bitar reason enough to kill me. I risked a much worse fate leaving home to prevent my work being used for war. I misjudged the world when building the X-Z-2; but now Bitar has misjudged me if he thinks I can be scared into making his bomb. Please know that I only regret this ending, and the pain I have caused you. Your husband, Shen Rei.’ –Gabe Logan