Twitch read as she researched. “Dario Sava is the oldest of eight children of Surinamese mining magnate Rodrigo Sava and his wife, Nasarra. He was raised in Paramaribo and educated in England. Withdrew from Oxford in his second year to undergo treatment for testicular cancer. Looks like he made a full recovery. MBA from Wharton. After that, he returned to London to work on the commodities exchange. Huh.”
“What?” Nathan urged.
“He left the London job when the Emir of Qatar appointed him to a coveted Defense Ministry post.” The group waited as Twitch worked her magic. “Now we’re getting somewhere. Sava’s mother was Nasarra al-Malik, a member of the Qatari royal family. She met Rodrigo Sava in Riyadh at a symposium on oil exploration. According to this bit in a London tabloid, her family initially forbade the courtship, but Qatar is fairly progressive as Muslim monarchies go, and at Nasarra’s insistence, they reconsidered. The family lived in Suriname but remained close to the Qatari side. The Emir, Dario’s great uncle, accurately pegged him early on as a brilliant strategist and born diplomat.”
“Plus, it wouldn’t hurt to have a government official with ties to another potentially oil-rich country,” Finn theorized.
“Good point,” Nathan echoed.
“I met him,” Jack spoke softly. “At a diplomatic event, the opening of a collection of artifacts at the museum in Doha. He and his wife were there as representatives for the Emir. We exchanged a few words about the exhibit I believe, then moved on. I remember because that was the night I collapsed. It was the beginning of the end of my appointment at the Embassy.”
Twitch continued to type. “The story gets weird after that. Sava’s behavior became increasingly erratic. He had to be forcibly removed from a summit with OPEC after insisting that Qatar would become a nuclear power. Within a year he had been removed from his government post. He moved back to Suriname and has since become one of the most clever and elusive arms dealers in South America.”
“What about his wife?” Emily asked.
“His wife, Tala, is the daughter of an American horse breeder from an old-money Baltimore family and a Jordanian diplomat who died of a heart attack when Tala was a child. Tala met Dario Sava when his Qatari uncle purchased a racehorse from Tala’s family. They married quickly, and she went with him to the Middle East and then to Suriname when he burned his bridges in Qatar. No kids. They lived together in Paramaribo until she died...” Twitch searched the screen, “. . . ten years ago. Complications from lupus.”
“So, he goes from being a high-level government official to a ruthless arms dealer in a year,” Tox recapped.
“And not just any arms dealer,” Nathan continued the story. “He’s notorious for leading law enforcement on wild goose chases and conducting transactions right under their noses. He once offloaded a truck full of stolen Russian AKs at an open-air market in Damascus in broad daylight, while a SEAL platoon raided an abandoned house outside the city. Smug bastard.”
“You’re saying he has a bioweapon in some form, and he’s going to try to smuggle it into the country using smoke and mirrors?” Emily asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, there’s no better way to make the U.S. look incompetent than turning it into ground zero for a biological attack.”
“You’re sure they had no children?” Jack asked. Twitch double-checked and nodded. Jack rubbed his jaw, searching his memory. “When I met Tala, I think she was pregnant.”
“Hold on a second.” Twitch was scrolling through something on her screen. “Two weeks after you left your post in Qatar, Tala Savo was hospitalized. She had a D and C.”
“What’s that?” Tox asked.
“Dilation and Curettage,” Ren offered. “It’s performed after a miscarriage.”
“Confirmed,” Twitch added. “She suffered a miscarriage at seventeen weeks gestation.” She looked up at the room through her glasses. “The cause is listed as complications from the Varicella Zoster virus. She had chickenpox.” The same chickenpox that had waylaid Jack Webster.
You could have heard a pin drop.
Nathan scrubbed his face. “I think we know why Savo wanted Emily.”
Ren added, “Between his cancer and her health issues, her chances of carrying a baby to term would have been slim. There’s no way to know for sure chickenpox was a contributing factor.”
“True, but with all the frustration and helplessness that comes with infertility, that was an obvious focus for his rage,” Tox spoke with uncharacteristic sensitivity.
“An eye for an eye,” Ren nodded.
“Between his testicular cancer and her autoimmune issues from lupus, that pregnancy was probably their only shot,” Twitch added.
“Oh God, I feel awful.” Jack Webster cupped his face in his hands.
“Dad, you couldn’t have known. Should we blame me for giving them to you, or my friend Lizzie for giving them to me?”
“Not to mention that lots of people have fertility issues, and very few turn to international terrorism. You bear no responsibility for Dario Sava, Jack.” Nathan stroked Emily’s back as he reassured her father.
“Thank you, Nathan. It’s just such a shame.” Jack Webster looked around the room at the men who had probably seen more human suffering than anyone should and collected himself.
Charlie took over. “The CIA has had a man inside Dario Sava’s organization for eighteen months. Spent a year doing shit jobs for suppliers and lieutenants. About a month ago, he was moved into security on the Sava compound. That’s a crucial time for maintaining cover—everybody watches the new guy. Nevertheless, he did confirm a lab on the compound, but no actionable intel, and nothing to indicate the presence of a level three or four biohazard. My source is due to check-in,” he glanced at his watch, “at the top of the hour. I’ll have him update you as well, North.”
Finn looked up from his phone. “I need to head back to Philly in the morning.”
“How’s your mom?” Ren asked.
“On the mend, but the other driver fled the scene, so on top of her medical care, there’s a shit ton of paperwork dealing with the locals and insurance.”
“Go,” Nathan waved him off. “We’ll call you if we need you. Thanks for the backup.”
“Any time. You know that, North.”
Nathan nodded in agreement.
“Okay, let’s keep digging.”