Midnight Sun (114 page)

Warner shrugged and held out a paper.
Tonia
snatched
it
from
his
hand
and
looked
at
it
.
“
Damn,
that
man
is
hairy.
Is that even a man
,
or
is
it
a
skinny
-
assed
S
asquatch?
”

“
Kharzai
Ghiassi
is
his
name,
”
Warner
said.

Tonia's expression sharpened. She stared diligently back at the page.

“
He
’
s
the
one
Tony
was
calling
about,
”
she
said.
“
He
’
s
gone
rogue
or
something.
”

“
Yeah.
And
he
’
s
out
for
revenge.
”

“
Well,
with
all
the
security
we
’
ve
got
on
that
park,
I
can
’
t
imagine
anyone
getting
a
shot
off.
”

“
When
I
was
in
Afghanistan
the
second
time
,
there
was
a
story
some
of
the
Special
Forces
guys
told
about
a
guy
named
Seirim
Al
Gul
. T
he
name
means
Hairy
Demon
.
He
was
supposed
to
be
a
CIA
plant
who
made
it
all
the
way
up
the
chain
in
one
of
the
al-
Qaeda
splinter
groups.
He
was
known
to
appear
all
a
sudden
in
the
middle
of
a
group
of
soldiers,
give
them
some
really
useful
information,
then
vanish
without
leaving
a
trace.
One
time
,
he
popped
into
the FOB
—that’s
a Forward Operating Base
—un
announced
and
left
a
package
for
the
SF
commander
then
disappeared.
When
they
opened
the
box,
it
was
the
head
of
one
of
the
ten
most
-
wanted
Taliban
fighters
in
the
country
,
with
a
note
saying
‘
Happy
Yom
Kippur.
’
”

“
Happy
Yom
Kippur?
”

“
Yeah,
the
captain
was
Jewish
and
it
was
the
holiday.
”

“
So
you
think
the
Hairy Demon
is
this
same
guy?
”

“
When
I
saw
the
picture
,
I
immediately
thought of him
,
”
Warner
said.
“
That
guy
sure
looks
like
the
image
I
had
from their description
of
Al
Gul.
”

“
Well,
if that’s what he still
looks
like,
”
Tonia
held
out
the
picture
and
circled
his
face
with
her
finger
,
“
it
should
not
be
hard
to
find
him
in
a
crowd.
”

“
Let
’
s
hope.
”

Chapter
2
6

Delaney
Park
Strip

Downtown
Anchorage

Thursday, June 23
^rd

5
p.m.

All
along
the
Delaney
Park
strip area
,
maintenance workers labored to clear the park in preparation for the following morning's gathering under the watchful supervision of highly visible members of the Anchorage Police, Alaska State Troopers, FBI, Secret Service, and National Guard Military Police.
At
the
west
end
of
the
strip
,
a
group
of
young men
who
looked like
college
students
all
wearing
thigh
-
length soccer
-
style
shorts
and
matching
neon green
T
-shirts
with
black
-
and
-
red
lettering
declaring
their
group
as
the
Hornets
complained
to
a
police
officer.

“
Come
on,
dude,
”
said
one of the young men. “
You've
seen
us
out
here
practicing
on
the
same
day
every
week.
The
citywide
Ultimate
Frisbee
tournament
is
next
weekend,
and
we
need
to be ready. The guys we're up against are killers!”