Chapter 4: Intelligence Base (Part 1)

  After arranging all this, it was almost eight o'clock, and there was still an hour and forty minutes before Major Mack would arrive downstairs, during which time other things could be done.

  He came out of the bedroom, sat down on the sofa in the living room, and there was a pack of Marlboro cigarettes on the coffee table. He took one out, lit it up, got up and walked to a door, pushed open the door, this is the original Lem's office, extremely luxurious, file cabinets, computers, scanners, copiers and other modern office facilities are all available. The desk was very wide, with a swivel sofa chair, on the opposite wall there was a huge optoelectronic display screen, he sat down in the swivel sofa chair, pressed a button, the left rear wall slowly moved, revealing a deep blue metal door, above the door there was a black electronic sensing area.

  He placed his palm on the sensor area, and with a slight humming noise, the 'door' slowly slid open to both sides.

  He walked in, and inside was almost an arsenal. A whole wall of cabinets contained neatly arranged weapons: handguns, rifles, sniper rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, as well as night vision goggles, bulletproof helmets, bulletproof vests, desert combat uniforms, and combat boots for a full set of personal equipment. There were even several tubes of lightweight rocket launchers. But this was not an arsenal, it was a spacious elevator room, the private elevator room of General Lehm.

  He placed his palm on the sensor area, and the elevator door opened. He walked in, and the elevator descended for about a minute before stopping. He exited the elevator and entered a grand hall, where security was tight, with guards stationed every few meters.

  This is a US military intelligence base in Iraq, also known as the CIA's headquarters in Iraq, located more than 30 meters underground.

  Many places under Baghdad were hollowed out by Saddam, originally used to resist after the US military occupation, but unexpectedly the US military occupied Iraq like entering a deserted city. So, the US military made targeted transformations of these underground tunnels.

  The residential area of the US Embassy in Baghdad's "Green Zone" has underground tunnels crisscrossing beneath it, which the US military has divided into three areas: one is an intelligence research center where all intelligence is collected and analyzed daily before being transmitted to Washington's Central Investigation Bureau and the US military headquarters in Iraq; another is an intelligence personnel training center responsible for developing and recruiting local Iraqi personnel as intelligence personnel, where Brieza also received training; and the third is an intelligence development center that actually conducts screening and interrogation of captured Saddam loyalists and anti-American armed elements to extract valuable intelligence from them.

  Lyme strode towards the intelligence base, his leather shoes making a "click-clack" sound on the ground, echoing eerily in the enclosed space. He walked through a dimly lit corridor and entered the information management hall of the Intelligence Research Center. Inside, it looked like a satellite control center, with over ten rows of long, rectangular computer workstations, various electronic instruments glowing brightly, a large electronic display screen covering an entire wall, and a light-electric demonstration platform in front. More than twenty employees, dressed in white coats, were busy at work. A major rushed over, and Lyme ordered: "Major Thomas, please retrieve the Briza file immediately."

  "Brie cheese?"

  "The Dossier of Iraq's Interim Foreign Minister Barham Salih!"

  "Yes!" Major Thomas saluted and ran to a workbench, "Annie," he called out to an intelligence analyst, instructing her to open the Brizza file. Annie was a sharp woman in her thirties, proficient in her work, who dragged over a keyboard and tapped a few keys, and immediately on the electronic display screen appeared a bald-headed man with a neatly trimmed beard.

  Laim walked over to the female analyst's workstation and sat down, intently staring at the screen.

  Bouriez's personal history, family members, social relationships and other text and image data appeared on the screen one by one. The information was very detailed, even including Bouriez's preferences for "fat" women, his habit of picking his nose with his index finger, his fondness for Chanel perfume, as well as his clumsy way of tying a tie and eating apples without peeling them.

  "Hold it." A video caught Lem's attention. Annie froze the image, which showed Bouriez attending a party with five Iraqis. One of them had a hooked nose and a full beard - it was "The Messenger". Next to him was a woman who was beautiful and charming, in her thirties, laughing loudly as she hugged "The Messenger".

  Lem asked: "Who is this woman?"

  "Breeza's daughter Imani," Annie said.

  "Pull out Imani's file."

  Imani, 'female', 31 years old, daughter of Breeza and his first wife Izdihar, studied at the University of Orléans in France, was detained for seven days by police during her school days for participating in street riots, worked as a saleswoman and tourist guide in France and Syria, had a Jordanian boyfriend but broke up after one year, returned to Iraq with her father Breeza in May 2003.

  "Who are the others with Briza?" Lime asked, pointing at the image on the screen.

  "No, we don't have any information on these people." Annie shrugged and spread her hands.

  "Dispatch local intelligence personnel to conduct a 24-hour covert surveillance on Imani." Captain Rhyme ordered Major Thomas.