Vlad Feints on the Spot
Chapter 36
The timing couldn’t be more perfect and he was ready to act now before the pieces on the board moved position. The freighter with its ammonium nitrate was moored less than a mile off the Ras Tanura jetty awaiting its turn to dock and unload its cargo. The fertilizer was badly needed by the Saudis to nourish their crops and hold back the encroaching desert. Greenbelts were cropping up all over the country which required high grade fertilizer to sustain them. They had plenty of oil, but had to import most of their food. Perhaps other than castor oil, their domestic products wouldn’t feed hungry, constipated stomachs. Let them eat oil was the battle cry during the early 1970s as gas shortages and rationing ruled America. Vlad hoped for a repeat performance, but this time with much greater force and effect.
The Galicia Spirit LNG tanker was still docked and filled to the brim with liquefied natural gas that had been pumped into its four, large spherical holding tanks on board. It was about to sail to ports in Europe, so now was the time to act.
Vlad drove from his home north of Jubail to a suburb in the southern part of the city. He was mindful of the possibility he might be tailed and took evasive actions to counter any surveillance. He didn’t detect any and felt safe. It was dusk and the remaining light helped him to easily locate his target in the distance: a BP petrol station.
Dressed in Arab garb, Vlad parked a safe distance away from the station and waited until the tanker truck arrived to replenish the underground fuel tanks. He then moved quickly, casually walking by a gas pump and attaching the small block of C-4 plastic explosive, about half the size of a stick of butter, to its bottom cover. The whole operation took less than 15 seconds to accomplish and Vlad still had over 10 minutes before the timed bomb would go off and create a massive explosion and fire.
This act was merely a diversion to draw the authorities and emergency responders to the south of Jubail and away from the vicinity of Ras Tanura. By now, his team had already launched its large, fishing dhow from a small pier just north of the city and heading to its target only 19 miles up the coast. All was going to plan and Vlad was pleased. Soon it would all be over and the world would never be the same. Operation Scorched Earth had begun!
Tomas Becker would soon disappear for parts unknown to his adversaries. He’d be going to the Cayman Islands to watch over his retirement funds and Sven Jensen would travel to Bora Bora in French Polynesia. His pursuers would never find him there, no matter how hard they tried since he never existed in the first place.