Read Online A Murder of Crows by Terrence McCauley - Free Book Online

might be, what he looked like or where he had been born.
    OMNI’s analysis of all descriptions gathered by all of the leading intelligence agencies throughout the world put Jabbar at about sixty, but it was an educated guess at best. No one knew what sect of Islam he followed or if he was even a Muslim at all.
    Every intelligence agency in the world wanted Jabbar, but only one had issued a shoot-to-kill order on him.
    The Mossad, who were keeping quiet about Bajjah being in University custody in exchange for interrogating him later.
    The Jabbar network was a web within a web spanning the entire planet. And Bajjah had given Hicks a way to track it.
    Hicks had never paid much attention to Jabbar before. He’d always figured the Barnyard or another foreign agency would get him one day. Someone would talk or Jabbar might slip up.
    But now, Bajjah may have given him a direct link to the most wanted man in the world.
    Hicks figured this should be more than enough to give the Dean the leverage he needed to get the Barnyard to back away. And if not, he still had a hell of a problem on his hands.
    And so did the University.
    “What the hell is the matter with you?” Roger asked. “You’ve uncovered a network directly tied into Jabbar. A link no one else seems to have. You should be doing back flips right now.”
    Hicks still hadn’t told Roger about his run-in with Stephens and the Barnyard. It had only happened earlier that morning. He could have sworn it had happened a month ago.
    Hicks grabbed the whiskey bottle and refilled Roger’s glass. Bad news was a lot easier to take with a whiskey chaser.
    “Uh oh,” said Roger. “If you’re pouring, this must be serious.”
    Hicks filled his glass. “You have no idea.”

“G IVE ME all of the details on the prisoner interrogation,” the Dean said. “Assume I do not know anything.”
    Hicks told him about the ten names Bajjah had given them and the results of both OMNI scans. But he made sure he followed the Dean’s rigid format while he did it.
    Roger usually watched porn on his tablet and made vulgar gestures to distract Hicks during these conference calls. But that evening, Roger was quietly attentive—like a boy on the first day of school. He hadn’t even touched the whiskey Hicks had poured for him earlier. Hicks understood why. Finding out you’re a target of the CIA tended to have a sobering effect.
    It took Hicks fifteen minutes to summarize the results of the Bajjah interrogation and the link to Jabbar. He told the Dean about the deal he had made to kill Bajjah if he had cooperated. He also reminded the Dean that Tali Shaddon of the Mossad was scheduled to interrogate Bajjah at the end of the week. Hicks made sure to not suggest the Jabbar information should be enough to get the Barnyard to back away. The Dean liked to arrive at his own conclusions in his own time, lest he felt like he was being led to make a decision.
    The Dean was quiet for a time after Hicks finished his report before saying, “I watched your entire interrogation on OMNI as it happened, James. Exemplary work. Roger, my compliments to you and your staff on an effective rendition. I believe this is the closest anyone has come to confirming the existence of the elusive Jabbar.”
    Hicks saw Roger looking at him. He knew Roger wanted him to ask the Dean about using Bajjah’s list as leverage to get the Barnyard to back off. But Hicks knew the Dean didn’t like interruptions. Hicks would have to wait for the right time to raise the question.
    The Dean went on. “Are you certain Bajjah’s followers are not planning another attack?”
    “I’m fairly confident they’re not, sir.”
    “Fairly confident fails to make me entirely confident, James. Explain.”
    “Since we’ve already convinced Bajjah he’s been in custody for a couple of years, we couldn’t appear too concerned about plans for attacks that were supposed to be years old. It might’ve made him suspicious about the length of