Battiglia to Follow the American

My counterpart, I'll refer to him only as Battiglia, will be keeping an eye on Evan, mostly for his protection, but also to see who from al-Qaeda will come calling. We've begun looking into Molotov's reference to an ivory cross in Crete. We've been scouring information regarding anything to do with crucifixes or crosses made of ivory and, not surprisingly, there isn't much there. We're looking into certain rumors about there being an immense crucifix carved out of Indian ivory brought to Italy by a fourteenth-century traveler and author by the name of Pirandello. It seems that the cross was given to Pirandello to present to Charles IV as proof that a certain Islamic leader of that time was tolerant of Christianity and its practices in his land. The cross served as a symbolic treaty of sorts between this Islamic leader and Charles IV. It remained in the Holy Roman Empire's possession until the late 1500's when it disappeared. It was believed to have been stolen from Luxembourg, and secreted away to a monastery in Crete, somewhere along the coast of the Gulf of Merabellou. In the mid 1600's the monks possessing the ivory cross were forced to rebuild their monastery deep inside a cave due to the military operations in Crete wagered against the Venetians by the Ottoman Empire. As far as the myths indicate, the cross is still in this monastery. The monastery as well as the cross may not even exist. Whether these diamonds are somewhere here, in Italy, or in some cave in Crete, we don't know. But we are positive of one thing; since Molotov passed this information on to Evan, we're ahead of al-Qaeda in this race for their diamonds. If they don't get them, that would be the end of their Pandora Plan, or at least it would be a major setback. They'd have to secure other funding. Luckily, it was in Evan's arms that Molotov died and not somebody working for al-Qaeda. Also, we learned this morning that Evan's girlfriend's brother was killed in a drunken driving accident last night. The funeral's Saturday. I plan on attending from afar. One more thing is my amazement at the fact that the information I've been posting on my web log since I've been in Rome is for the most part going unnoticed. Strange that while I was in the States I was being tracked down with nearly every word I typed. I'm being sarcastic, but truly it's as if my activity over here is going completely unnoticed Stateside. Which, I suppose, is both a blessing and a curse. More later.

The American Found Molotov Last Night

Last night, while walking back from his girlfriend's flat in Trastevere, Evan found Molotov. Molotov, as we had already surmised, was badly injured by the Saudis before he managed to kill them. According to my counterpart here in Rome who, along with the Trastevere Polizzia, interviewed Evan this morning at the crime scene, Molotov died in Evan's arms. He told him not to trust someone named Arnout and to look for al-Qaeda's diamonds in a cross hidden in a monastery in Ayios Niklaus, Crete. My counterpart is convinced that Evan was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He's also convinced that he knew nothing of Molotov prior to last night and that he is now, like myself, in grave danger.

Tong Killed in Car Crash

I followed the American, his grilfriend, and his girlfriend's brother to a restaurant called Il Palazzo Osteria near the Palatine. After dinner the three of them got into the brother's car, a sleek little Qvale Mangusta. I followed them in my rental at a safe distance, but Tong appeared out of nowhere and tried to run them off the road. The girl's brother made some impressive maneuvers near the catecombs of St. Callixtus and Tong crashed into the median, careening off the road. His car burst into flames with him still inside. At this point I think it safe to say that the American, Evan, has an incredible amount of dumb luck.

Also, I received a communique earlier this evening from the plant in Berat. Ijaz is still at the camp. Supposedly he wants to wait until this business in Rome is finished. By the way, the plant is the same individual who we in the agency had "stationed" in the al-Qaeda camp in the Rod Para Mountains, known as Meivand (named because of its proximity to a village of the same name, 30 miles west of Kandahar). Meivand, which was destroyed by U.S. warplanes, was one of al-Qaeda’s largest training camps in Afghanistan, with infrastructure to support up to 700 fighters. The plant had been under cover as one of the instructors at the “school” there. His lessons at Meivand focused on terror attacks, but were interspersed with instructions on firing missiles, laying and mapping mines and tactical fighting in the mountains. Some of his lessons were dedicated to learning al-Qaeda’s code, and copious notes in notebooks left behind by his students were filled with keys to the terror organization’s secret language, a paper trail that is helping America and its allies undermine the al-Qaeda network.

More on the American

As far as I have learned the American, Evan, is not tied in any way to Molotov. I think he may be the unfortunate victim of circumstance. By taking the photograph of the Saudis in St. Peter's he has somehow been implicated in this whole affair. The Italian woman he's taken up with is a woman by the name of Albina Soriano (both of them pictured). I have been following them to see if there are any other al-Qaeda operatives on their trail and, I am sorry to say, there are. Namely, there is an Asian operative by the name of Liguo Tong (pictured from 1996) whom I know quite well from his time as a hitman for Jun Guoliang, one of China's most notorious drug lords and black marketers. He is on his latest and (most likely) most lucrative mission: find the diamonds that Voltaire had stolen, turn them over to Harakat-al-Mujadin or al Qaida or whatever they're calling themselves these days, so that they can fund their "Pandora" operation. So far Tong has not made contact with the American nor his lady friend.

News and Rumor

News and Rumor

Evan, Molotov's (Possible) Partner

The American Embassy in Rome forwarded me the American's passport information. He's taken up with an Italian woman in Trastevere. I followed him to her flat where he stayed for roughly 2 hours this afternoon before returning to the Moderno. Will continue to follow him this evening.

Saudis Murdered

This morning I received word from my contact in the Rome polizzia that the Saudis who were trailing Molotov and the American are dead. All indications point to the fact that they confronted Molotov and he killed them both. But they must have wounded Molotov very badly as there is a lot of blood trailing away from the crime scene. I must find him before long. I cannot risk him dying before I find out where al-Qaeda's diamonds are. I'm going to trail the American, Evan.