Sleeper's Run

EPILOGUE

The crowded streets of Casablanca can be a hassle to navigate for tourists. Street hustlers abound, pestering them for money for all kinds of goods and services. Women in particular are subjected to constant harassment from the local men, even when they're not wearing revealing clothes.

The pretty Western woman walking down the street wears a buttoned-down shirt, jeans, and boots. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail and her eyes are covered by shades. But her casual clothes do not hide her striking figure. A rather aggressive grifter has been bothering her for the last half block, offering in broken English to be her tour guide.

The woman stops and turns around to face the hustler. "No!" says Trishna, her eyes burning through her sunglasses. "Fous le camp!" she says wishing she could actually speak Arabic instead of her limited knowledge of French.

The man hesitates for a moment. There's a certain confidence about her body language that tells him this woman is not one with whom to trifle. The man mutters an insult and walks away. A local man scolds him and waves him off. The two con men by the corner waiting to approach her change their minds immediately. Trishna sees a small café and finds a seat inside, looking to rest away from the intense Moroccan heat.

"Kuub shaay, rajaa'an," Trishna says to the waiter in her best Arabic. Even though she has only been in the country for two days, she has already learned a handful of useful phrases.

She places her things on top of the small table to keep an eye on them. There's a travel guide, a notebook and a copy of Time magazine. The cover reads "The Sleeper's Run," and has the silhouette of a man running away from a broken window. Out this week, the article was written by the controversial French journalist, Basem Marin, after a month of investigation. Trishna sips her tea while she browses through the exposé once again. She has read the piece at least three times, even though she knows it's a stream of lies splashed with a few droplets of truth. Reading about Eric makes her feel closer to him.

"Shoukran bazzef," Trishna says, doing her best to pronounce it correctly when the waiter brings her tea over. She then returns to her magazine.

It claims the explosion at the warehouse was a product of a gunfight between Eric Caine and agents from the Qatari State Security, acting on information from the FBI. Five State Security agents and Eric himself lost their lives. Only the badly charred, partial remains of three men were recovered; none of them could be identified. The authorities believe that between the explosion, the smoke, the chemical fumes, and the fire, no one could have survived. It took over six hours for the firefighters to put out the flames.

The investigation was further complicated by the numerous private inquiries from insurance companies and businesses whose wares were lost during the incident. With millions of dollars in damage, the afflicted parties sought closure and compensation.

The reporter also speculates that Eric Caine was a hired assassin working for Michael Singleton, a CIA officer with a long history of rogue operations. He was presumably under the employ of Rafael Montenegro to topple the Venezuelan government.

Singleton was caught by a joint sting operation between the FBI and Qatar's State Security. He was trying to sell American secrets to supposed members of a terrorist cell. The reporter believes Caine wanted to blow the lid on the whole conspiracy—that's why he tried to contact him in France—but the reasons for this friction between Singleton and Caine are still unclear.

Thanks to Singleton's arrest, Rafael Montenegro was detained in connection with the assassination of the Venezuelan President, due to the evidence provided by the FBI. This marks unprecedented cooperation by the American government. Montenegro's son, Antonio, was charged as a co-conspirator and is awaiting extradition to Venezuela after completing his sentence for possession and use of cocaine in France.