When the first fire truck arrived, disrupting our interviews, Phil and I had both talked to a couple of groups. We got together away from the others and compared notes. We had essentially heard the same story from everyone we had talked to. We went to find the fire captain. While we were briefing him, the police and a team from Homeland arrived. We handed our notes over to the Homeland team and headed back to Phil’s SUV.
On the way to the car I was struck again by the uncomfortable feeling my investigation might have triggered this disaster. Did Bednarik know what I had found out so far and panic into instigating this bombing? If I could have put together a strong enough case to get them arrested, would it have prevented this? I didn’t like the possible answers.
We had turned onto 16th when Phil glanced at me. “You’re being awfully quiet. Did these deaths affect you that much?”
I shook my head more to clear it than to deny my feelings. “No it’s more that I keep wondering whether Bednarik did this. If so, did I cause these deaths? The bomber made it clear he wasn’t wearing the vest because he wanted to. … Someone had told him what to do and probably told him if he wanted to live he had to deliver the message. Then they double-crossed him. Was it because of me?”
“Huh? You think your investigation might have caused this? How?”
“I started this investigation because someone had almost killed me and it pissed me off that they were going to get away unpunished. I wanted to get back at them. I wasn’t so much looking for justice, I was looking for vengeance. Then Wells got into the act and pissed me off even more …. He reminded me he was doing everything he could to shut down teleportal development. I had to keep him from following through on that threat and the damage it would do. That made me too determined to quit.”
“So you think your investigation stirred things up enough that Bednarik decided to plant evidence that a terrorist group was operating in the DC area.” It wasn’t a question.
I swallowed hard. “Exactly. We were lucky today. Only seven people died and another ten were injured out of two hundred fifty some in the congregation, but I can’t help but feel guilty over those numbers.”
“But you don’t even know if Bednarik had anything to do with it. Didn’t the witnesses say ‘they’ were forcing him to do it? Sounds like more than one person to me. It may have been a coincidence.”
“God, I hope you’re right. But a wise person once said that when it comes to investigating murder there are no coincidences.”
Chapter 32
“This just in. A group calling itself Americans for Allah has claimed responsibility for today’s church bombing. Police have confirmed that, as these people clam, the explosive used was dynamite and that they are trying to track down this cell.”
– Lester “Tex” Houston, Channel 12 News
Day 14, 10:00AM
I expected Phil to take me directly to Homeland’s main office to give my description of Caldera to a sketch artist. Instead he drove me to a nearby police station that he said had the best sketch artist in DC. He introduced me to the captain, and they both accompanied me to their artist. The image she put together was surprisingly accurate. As a matter of fact the facial recognition software took only a few minutes to come up with three possible suspects, and one was the Caldera I had seen. It gave his name as Robert Lewis Calderon. He was wanted for drug trafficking and suspicion of a double homicide. And his last known location was Seattle.
Phil pulled a chair up next to me and dropped into it. “That’s good to know. We can keep him under surveillance when we find him and maybe nail some would be bombers.”
When I turned away from the computer to look in his direction, he asked, “So what’s next on your schedule?”
I hadn’t really thought much about what to do next. My whole effort the last few days was to find Caldera—Calderon—and get the goods on Bednarik. I now knew that tracking Calderon down would be dangerous and unproductive. I’d leave that to Homeland or the police. The only thing I could come up with was to confront Gardner about his drug dealing and see if I could scare anything useful out of him. “I don’t know. I feel burned out after all this. I believe I’ll go home to think this business through again. Am I really accomplishing anything or just muddying the water?”
Phil took exception. “No way are you muddying the water. If nothing else you’ve identified another hood who needs watching and probably saved lives in the process.”
I appreciated his vote of confidence, but I still couldn’t help wondering if I was wasting my time. “Thanks for saying that. I wish I had your conviction. What I am going to do is see if I can get any more out of Gardner, but that’ll have to wait until tomorrow. If that turns out to be unproductive, I’ll seriously think about throwing in the towel. I’ve run out of ideas.”
Phil looked mildly surprised. “I think you’d be doing yourself and everyone else a disservice if you give up. Besides, I take it you’ve thought of some new questions for Gardner?”
Before I answered, I looked from Phil to the captain and back to Phil. I didn’t want to say anything that would get the police after my witnesses until I had gotten the most I could out of them. Yes, Gardner was dealing, and I couldn’t ignore that, but for now he might know something I could use. I answered, “He’s been naughty. I think I can use that as leverage to get more detailed answers. I’m sure he wouldn’t want the school to know about it.”
Phil shrugged. “Okay. Give me a minute here to work with the captain to discuss how we’re going to handle Calderon. Then I’ll drive you back to your car … and make sure no one has put a bomb under it.”
◆◆◆
Day 14, 11:30AM
I kept thinking about that last statement all the way to my car. Surely I wasn’t in any real danger, but I didn’t complain when Phil looked the car over and under very thoroughly before he let me anywhere near it.
“I couldn’t find anything, but be careful. If you spot anyone following you, drive to the nearest police station. Then call me.”
I slid into the driver’s seat. “Thanks, I think. … By the way, I probably won’t need you tomorrow. If I do, I’ll call. In the meantime maybe you can catch up at work.”
I watched him walk away before I started the engine. He waved and climbed into his SUV.
Chapter 33
Dr. Friedlund on Channel 15: “Even now, twenty years later, we are still having repercussions from the introduction of teleportals, but overall most everyone has adapted.”
Rebecca Williams guest hosting on Channel 15: “And what has been the effect on government or governments?”
Friedlund: “Strangely enough, local sovereignty still reigns. Attempts to establish a worldwide government are in the talking stage, but Germans still want to be Germans and Israelis still want to be Israelis. Some countries have combined, notably the US and Canada have become the North American Union.”
Williams: “How do you explain that? I would have expected teleportals would bring about homogenization.”
Friedlund: “Oh, it has. Obviously, people can travel wherever they want, so passports and visas have become obsolete. And people also live and work wherever they desire. The one common law all countries have adopted is income tax. That and a common currency. If you live in one country and work in another, you pay the same income tax but it is split between the two countries.”
[He smiled.] “As for explaining national loyalty, how do you explain a preference for a particular sports team?”
– Channel 15 News
Day 15, 8:00AM
Monday morning. All my head scratching the night before had left me with two things I wanted to check as soon as I could. It was too early in the day to quiz Gardner again. He had classes until around five. That left me with another visit to Sal. The amount of C4 I was now looking at was close to forty pounds. If that old building hadn’t been built so rugged, that amount of explosive would have taken out the whole block, and it couldn’t have been brought in under a
coat – at least not in one load. I needed to check out video of the days before if they were still available.
I wasn’t sure I really wanted to deal with Sal again. I mean I felt sorry for the guy. He probably didn’t realize it, but he spent so much time alone that he came across as a creep when he did have company. Nevertheless, I wanted to look at those videos.
Sal was only too happy to help me. He sat me down in front of the monitor and got me started. When the video came up, he asked, “Anything else I can do for you?”
I looked at the screen in front of me and realized what a monumental task I had. There were several days of video to check, a lot of it frame by frame. Even though Sal made me uncomfortable, I certainly could use his help. “Maybe you can. I’m trying to spot whoever planted the C4. I suppose it had to take place fairly near the time of the explosion. Otherwise, there would have been too much chance of it being discovered. Any ideas you have that would help me narrow the search faster would be appreciated.”
He nodded. “What’s the time frame we’re looking at?”
“I’m not really sure. Maybe the day of the explosion, but it could have been a day or two before.”
He nodded again. “And what are you looking for?”
“Anyone carrying in something big enough to contribute to forty pounds of C4.”
He sat down at the neighboring terminal. “Tell you what, you take the day of, and I’ll take the day before. I’ll let you know if I find anything that looks suspicious and you can tell me if I’ve found it. That way we can search twice as fast.”
“Great. Let’s do it.”
I started searching the video of the morning of the explosion. I fast forwarded until there was movement. Then I stepped through frame at a time until everyone left. Then I’d repeat the process. The morning of the explosion there was a lot of activity. Viewing it took me more than an hour, and I had nothing to show for it. Sal seemed to be making greater progress, but he came up empty too.
Just to be sure we weren’t missing anything we swapped days and ran through them again. Still nothing.
Sal finished what he was working on and got up before I was quite finished with my assignment. He smiled nervously. “Hey, I’m gonna order a pizza, and there’ll be enough for two. Care to join me?”
I started to say, “No thanks,” but I realized I was starving. Instead I said, “Thanks. I am hungry.” He headed to his office. I finished up my run through the day before the explosion and stood up to stretch.
Lunch with Sal turned out to be unexpected. I found out he was actually quite shy, but he had a wicked sense of humor. We talked for over a half hour, and much of the time he had me in stitches. By the time we got back to the monitors, I felt refreshed, and I had a greater appreciation for him.
We had barely sat down when another customer was at the door. Sal apologized and left me on my own to look at the day preceding the explosion.
Over most of the video for that day people came and went randomly. I recognized Reid, and a few others seemed familiar, but none of them looked suspicious. I was about ready to give up when I saw what I was looking for. A few minutes after Reid left for the evening, two cars that had been parked down the street drove up, one of them a black Boxster and the other a Plymouth. My heart thudded. I’d seen both those cars before. A man got out of each car and retrieved cardboard boxes that they carried to the entrance.
I stared at the screen, trying to identify the men, but after replaying the video frame by frame several times for each camera, I had to give up. They both had worn hoodies and didn’t face the cameras, so it was impossible to tell for sure who they were. The big man could well have been Bednarik; in fact, considering the hoodie, everything I could see about him fit his description. And there was also something familiar about the smaller man.
Wait a minute! Was this the same man who left the building a few minutes before the explosion and drove off in a battered Plymouth? That driver had left the building not long after Gardner finished arguing with Reid. And this guy had a set of keys that opened the door to the building. As Reid’s partner, Gardner would have had keys, and he had a beat up Plymouth. I digested what I was seeing. Could I be looking at Gardner? It sure seemed like it.
I continued watching. A few minutes after carrying the boxes in, both men walked out without them. There was no doubt about what I had seen. Those two had to have delivered the explosives. The big guy must have been Bednarik, and he had an accomplice, from the looks of it Gardner. I sat there stunned. I had more than I was looking for.
Sal was happy to download the footage onto one of the jump drives I had accumulated. I thanked him and headed for the police station where officer LaMotte worked.
◆◆◆
Day 15, 4:00PM
LaMotte was still at her desk, pushing paper and looking frustrated. Even so she smiled when I walked up.
“You don’t look too happy, Mary.” I pulled the jump drive out of my purse and handed it to her. “Maybe this will cheer you up. Whoever set the bomb had an accomplice.”
When she had seen the video, she pushed back her chair. “I admit I like your idea, but unfortunately this doesn’t prove anything.”
“I realize it isn’t hard evidence, but it’s a piece of the puzzle. Each time the big guy came he left something behind. The first time he even had help. Don’t you think this merits looking into?”
“I do, but Capt. Romero is the one you have to convince.”
“Are you ready to try again?”
She stood and smiled wryly. “Sure, why not? It’ll be more interesting than this paperwork.”
Romero frowned at us when LaMotte knocked on his door frame. “You two again? Things haven’t changed, you know. Homeland says hands off.” He waved us in. “Have you come up with something new, or are you just wasting my time?”
We walked him through the accumulated evidence, and I concluded with, “Yes, the evidence is flimsy, but one thing is certain: the explosion wasn’t the result of a matter/antimatter reaction. If the explosion isn’t properly investigated, it’s entirely possible two people will get away with murder.”
“Is that it?”
I tried not to look as frustrated as I felt. “Isn’t that enough?”
Romero sighed. “Look, I agree with you, this needs to be investigated, but my hands are tied.”
LaMotte spoke up. “Can’t you at least prod Homeland? Find out if they’re investigating it as a homicide?”
He actually grimaced. “I could, but they’ll just tell me to mind my own business.”
I thought of Phil. “Homeland assigned Phil Kaminski to keep me out of trouble. I know from the help he’s already given me that ‘keeping me out of trouble’ doesn’t mean keeping me from finding anything meaningful. We’ve turned up solid information. Doesn’t that suggest Homeland is frustrated too?”
Romero shook his head as if to clear it. “But they have their orders.”
“Look, those orders have effectively been nullified. Homeland has to know the president specifically gave me permission to investigate this explosion. I think it would be worth trying to see if someone in Homeland has the cojones to order a proper investigation. I can’t imagine their orders could override finding a murderer.”
Both Romero and Mary spoke at the same time. “The president what?”
I pulled a copy of the authorization with the president’s signature and seal on it out of my purse.
Romero examined it briefly and handed it to Mary. She looked at it wide eyed and then handed it back to me.
Romero hesitated as if he were savoring what he had seen. Finally, he said, “Alright, I’ll give it a try. Now, get out of here.”
As Mary and I walked out the door, we high-fived.
◆◆◆
Day 15, 5:00PM
Heady with my success at convincing Romero to go to Homeland to get them to change their ruling on investigating the explosion, I drove to Gardner’s dorm. On the way I tried to think of an
effective way to approach him. While I was now seriously concerned that Gardner might have been involved in the bombing, he had seemed more than willing to point a finger at Bednarik. I knew I couldn’t bring up that concern up. It would silence him as effectively as telling him directly that I knew he was dealing. It seemed no matter how I tried to put pressure on him to get him to talk I was pretty sure it would just put him on the defensive. I finally gave up and decided to wing it.
Luckily, I found a parking space near the dorm. I walked into the community room and all the talking stopped. Everyone was looking at me, including Gardner. He got up with an angry look on his face and stormed over to me. I could tell he was serious: his face was red and a blood vessel was pulsing in his temple. He grabbed my right arm and tried to forcibly lead me out the entrance. I shook him loose and glared at him. He stood with clenched fists at his sides. He spoke in a low hiss, like he was part snake. “Lady, you’re in big trouble, and you got me into big trouble as well. Come with me. … Now!”
I rubbed my arm where he had grabbed it and continued glaring at him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He led the way out the front door before speaking again. He turned to face me with his clenched fists on his hips and glared back at me. “After you interrogated him, Quincy went straight to Coach Brewster and told him everything.”
“So?”
“So Brewster called the cops, and they drug me in and questioned me. I denied everything, and they didn’t have any real evidence so they couldn’t hold me, but now they’re going to be watching me all the time.”
I suppressed a smile. “Well, when you put it that way … You shouldn’t have been dealing drugs.” I said with no sympathy.
He tensed, almost like he was thinking about hitting me. Then he slumped. “These guys I work for don’t leave loose ends … any loose ends. That means they’ll come after you as well as me.” He brightened a little. “Hey, I guess that means it ain’t all bad.”
Damage Control Page 23