Anyway, Payne opened the door and was surprised to see Jones standing there, smiling wider than Yong-Su with a Tootsie Roll. A grin that told him something good had happened.
“You gotta see this.”
“See what?”
Jones led him next door, where he’d been watching the interview on one of the monitors. “While you were glancing at your notes, I cross-referenced the black stone and the word heaven. And guess what? I got a hit. Something that makes a lot of sense.”
He pointed to the image on his computer screen, an ancient stone building surrounded by a sea of people, all of them dressed in white robes. “What do you know about Islam?”
Payne shrugged and took a seat in front of the computer.
Jones said, “That’s the interior of the Great Mosque in Mecca. To put it simply, it’s the center of the Islamic world. When Muslims pray, that’s what they face. Not the mosque itself, but the ancient stone building in the middle. It’s called the Kaaba. It’s their most sacred shrine.”
Payne stared at the picture, focusing on the massive granite cube that towered above the thousands of people who filled the courtyard. It stood close to fifty feet high and was covered by a black silk cloth, decorated by gold calligraphy embroidered in Arabic.
“Go on.”
Jones tapped a few keys, zooming in on one of the cornerstones. “According to Islamic tradition, the Kaaba was built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, the same prophets from the Old Testament. While searching for rocks in the hills of Mecca, they came across a pure white stone and immediately recognized its worth. To them, its greatness was so obvious they used it to anchor their building.”
He zoomed in closer, focusing on a black stone that was embedded five feet above the ground in the east corner of the Kaaba. The stone was roughly twelve inches in diameter and framed by a silver band that was fastened to it with silver nails.
“Remarkably, the stone has turned color through the centuries. What used to be pure white is now pure black. Some true believers attribute it to all the sins it has absorbed over the years. Of course, most scientists have a more pragmatic view.”
“Which is?”
Jones leaned back in his chair. “It’s a meteorite.”
“They worship a meteorite?”
“They don’t actually worship it. But it is sacred to them.”
“An actual meteorite?”
“That’s the theory. Then again, there’s no way to know without testing it—something the guardians of the mosque won’t allow. Still, it fits all the facts. Over time, a lot of meteorites change from white to black because of oxidation. Plus there’s a major impact crater at Wabar, which is close to Mecca. When it hit the desert, it blasted molten sand high into the air, where it cooled, then fell back to the earth as chunks of glass. It was literally raining glass.”
“Glass?”
“Some scientists think the Black Stone is mat substance, known as impact glass. Meanwhile, others feel it’s part of the meteorite itself. Either way, the Black Stone fell from heaven.”
“Just like Schmidt said.”
Jones nodded. “Unfortunately, that’s not everything he said. He also mentioned that he wanted to send it to hell. And that’s the part I’m worried about.”
“How so?”
“This stone is in the middle of a massive mosque in the center of a protected city. It’s constantly surrounded by armed guards and thousands of devout Muslims who would fight to the death to defend it. No way he’s going to get into a gunfight.”
“True.”
“Therefore, in my mind, that leaves Schmidt with only one viable option.”
“Which is?”
“He’s gonna blow it up.”
36
In Saudi Arabia, where oil is the lifeblood of the economy, tanker trucks are a common sight, rolling throughout the region both day and night, a constant reminder of the nation’s wealth and its place in the global market. The trucks are so commonplace that they blend into the scenery like desert wildlife, barely registering when they stream past in large convoys.
Even when they are driving somewhere they don’t belong.
Trevor Schmidt and his crew had counted on this when they took over the Abraj Al Bait water facility the night before. Their assault had been remarkably easy. One armed guard during the takeover. Another guard during the shift change. No other workers were present due to the hajj celebration and because the facility was not scheduled to open for another six months. Everything about the place was functional—the generators, the reservoirs, the compressors. The only thing missing was the liquid to pump.
But that would soon be rectified.