The Enigma Ignite

As a part of his standard process, Jacques Bruno reviewed the most recent notice on criminals from the Interpol Watch List. Each of the one-pagers identified the culprit, the crime, last known location, possible destinations, and background summary. He had captured many a criminal by consistent review of the watch list. As the Interpol Chief in Zurich, Bruno made it a point to stay briefed and make certain his team kept abreast of current events everywhere in Europe. The Top Ten List changed based on several factors and that included movement between countries.

Two of the criminals added to the most recent list had known affiliations with a splinter militant Islamic group that claimed responsibility for several deaths from bombs in London, Paris, Munich, and Hamburg. One of Bruno’s closest associates in Interpol had been killed in the Paris bombing incident, which made the search for these criminals personal. The two men were identified as traveling together, a last known address in a poor neighborhood in Paris. They had simply vanished the morning of their pending arrest.

Oxnard Kassab, at first glance, seemed unlikely. He was from a reasonably good family in Iran, with some formal education at Oxford, and great interactions with his fellow students from all over the world until illness in his family sent him home. Several years later this devoted Muslim, identified as a leader in an al-Qaeda factional group, became a force against Western cultures. Oxnard was very vocal, very dangerous, and to date, elusive for capture. He had been captured once in London where his prints were taken along with the photograph provided in the summary. His known associates were primarily al-Qaeda affiliated members along with known arms dealers throughout Europe and Asia. Several aliases were listed, so he was apparently connected with someone skilled in providing suitable identity papers. It was noted that he was vehemently against the United States, which was standard for most al-Qaeda members.

The other man was identified as Salim Bashir. His education was unknown but he was also a Muslim zealot with a history of petty crimes, having been arrested in several cities in Europe, but with the ability to pay his fines to avoid incarceration. He had only been jailed for a total of one month for six incidents. His affiliations were not listed nor was there any direct connection with Oxnard outside of the neighborhood in Paris from which he had vanished. With no real evidence, it was presumed they had teamed together on the Paris incident that had killed his friend. At the very least they should both be apprehended and questioned, perhaps providing other leads.

For all the years Bruno had been connected to Interpol, this was the first time a close associated had been caught in the crossfire. This caused him to be more focused on the list from the viewpoint of trying to find leads that others might have missed. He had put out feelers to all his informants to see if additional information could be garnered. After two weeks, no additional information had surfaced, but he kept searching under all the rocks. He’d even detained a few others that fit specific profiles to see if their sources might prove helpful. Like most agencies, Interpol rallied everyone when one of their own was taken out.

Zurich was in a quiet period for international visitors, so Jacques had accepted a lunch invitation from his childhood friend, Quip. They had tried for several weeks to have lunch and catch up on friends and family. Bruno hadn’t seen Quip since Ferdek’s funeral, so he wanted to make the effort. Ferdek had been like a father to Bruno, as well as Quip and Quip’s brother, and had been a good mentors. Bruno knew he could count on Quip for some ideas with regards to how to look for and ideally apprehend these fugitives.