There were no actual witnesses to Samantha’s assault, which must have happened before the Greenview Parks volunteer greeter, doing her rounds, found her in a traumatized condition at 8.30 PM, and called for the nearby hospital ambulance.
Samantha was found with her hands tied behind her back, struggling to loosen the cloth rag with which she was tied.
From her report made to the hospital authorities and the police, the nurse had seen no one else in the vicinity as she approached the bench area after circling the jogger’s path.
She said that she could hear the playful shouts and voices coming from other parts of the park, especially from the playgrounds and courts.
It was a normal scene that people were always walking, running or chasing one another across the park.
Samantha’s attack was not a spontaneous incident. The perpetrator must have been familiar with the park surroundings and planned it after closely observing Samantha’s movements over a period of time. In that case, the rapist must have noticed that she was accompanied by Jonathan or Elaine on some evenings.
The question then arose: Could the assailant be someone known to one of them?
What brief description Samantha had provided after her attack was at best skimpy. The man was more than six feet tall, wore a full balaclava, whereby she could only see his eyes and mouth.
Although it was a warm evening, the rapist had rolled down the mask covering his dark color polo-neck sweatshirt with full sleeves.
When she first managed to escape from his hold and run, she remembered feeling the terrible impact on the back of her neck which had stunned her into semi-consciousness.
She was barely conscious when she felt being dragged to a darker, isolated place under the trees, away from the bench and the lamp post.
Jonathan was personally aware that the overgrown trees in the park provide a thick cover, blocking lights at night. He remembered someone having once remarked about the Greenview Park, “When it's dusk, it's really scary in there."
Samantha wasn’t able to know the color of his eyes, only remember the
piercing gaze – cold, distant and domineering - from the deep-set glare and the cruel twist of his thick lips.
He hadn’t uttered a word throughout as he punched her viciously across the face and body, keeping her in a state of semi-consciousness while she whimpered and moaned with pain. Finally, he had sexually assaulted.
The next thing she remembered was the lady greeter finding her, and later being admitted into the hospital ward for Rape Crises victims.
Had he used any kind of a weapon to threaten or restrain her? No, she hadn’t noticed any.
Bradley then turned to the police investigation reports.
The newspapers and T.V. channels had covered the news, and more so because Samantha worked for the D.A. office, but the interest had died down after three days.
When the detectives went to the park asking questions, some people recognized her after being shown Samantha’s picture, but they couldn’t add anything useful to the investigation other than that they sometimes saw her at the park.
The police then naturally diverted their attention towards the errant homeless class.
Despite the nearby Men’s Homeless Shelter, some of the homeless preferred to make their home in the Greenview open green space.
They made themselves a public menace to the visitors, particularly women with children. You’d find them taking up residence on benches and putting up a homeless encampment with tents and beds.
The troublesome ones were often found drinking, squabbling and fighting, giving rise to all sorts of petty crimes and even major assault incidents.
In the folder, the first police suspect was one of these homeless guys. He had no alibi of any sorts. The two homeless guys who offered to testify against him, probably considered him as their sworn enemy. It was a weak case, not fit for criminal prosecution.
Compared to Samantha’s scanty description of her rapist, this 43 year old Andre Poinsteur, the homeless, was only 5.11” tall, and weighed 175 lbs. He was near bald, had a gray bushy mustache, shifty bloodshot eyes, and a puffy face with a leery smile.
The two witnesses, also homeless men, had reported that they had seen Andre loitering around the crime scene at the time. Therefore, It must be he who committed the rape because Poinsteur had a previous conviction of rape in another State.
Police record confirmed that he had last served the maximum ten-year sentence for sexual molestation not amounting to rape.
It was also true that Andre was twice before suspected of attempted molestation of an older woman and a school girl at the northern end of the park. The cases had to be dropped for want of sufficient evidence and any witness to testify against him.
Reading the reports now, Jonathan thought there might be some truth in the statement made by the two homeless against one of their kin.
Was it possible that Andre had witnessed the whole episode of Samantha’s rape, presumably unnoticed from nearby, and later was seen approaching her to take advantage of her helpless condition? He must have run away and hidden himself after seeing the woman greeter approach Samantha.
Apparently, the police hadn’t given much credence to the two homeless men’s testimonies since Andre’s statistics greatly contrasted Samantha’s description of the assailant.
Andre was held in police custody as an alleged suspect and released within 48 hours after the Prosecutor declared that there was no sense in bringing charges against him for lack of any corroborative evidence.
Jonathan made it a point to personally question Andre at his last known Men’s Homeless Shelter address or C/o Greenview Park.
“Mr.Bradley, thought you would you like a cup of coffee?” Randy walked into Detective Liza’s office with some hot black coffee in a Styrofoam cup, handing it to Jonathan.
“Thank you, Officer Nogart,” said Jon careful not to show his dislike for the notably bland taste of coffee you’d expect at the police stations across the country.
He glanced at his wrist watch. He had been going through the files for almost 45 minutes now.
Considering that he still had an hour or so before leaving for the FBI office, Jon decided he might as well finish with the police folder to complete his preliminary observations, before looking into the other avenues of investigation.
“Would you need any help from me, Mr. Bradley?”
“I have gone through more than half of the case file, including the follow-up reports. Another half hour or so, I will have finished covering the paper trail of the case as it stands today.”
“For physical forensic evidence, we would need to approach the Crime-Scene Division,” Randy stated.
“Not needed for the present. I have gone through the Supplemental Crime Reports which have all the relevant forensic details of the physical evidence available. Let’s leave DNA matching for later, after the police have a strong suspect.”
“Alright then. I shall come back in half an hour’s time to return the folder to the Records Division.
Jonathan applied his mind this time to the other alleged suspect, Samuel Morse.
This man appeared to be a repeat sex offender, starting with statutory rape, for which he had only served a four-year sentence in jail on third degree rape charges.
Morse was suspected in four other cases of varying degrees of sex sexual molestation. But the cases were dropped either because the lack of consent couldn’t be proved, DNA match was insufficient, inconclusive or the victim was latter not willing to press charges.
There was a fifth case against Samuel Morse brought by a supposedly housewife who turned out to be a call girl. He said he had consensual sex with her and wouldn’t pay her when she demanded money. The lady judge threw out the case.
Samuel, however, was a close match to Samantha’s description of her assailant, being 48 years old, 6.2 ft. tall, with a massive, muscular built weighing 225 lbs., short brown hair and small dark eyes.
The irony of it was that the man, a previous college professor, had been married with two children, later to be divorced.
Since the last four years he was said to be a regular participant in one the NYSATA sponsored reform programs.
Presently, Samuel was reported to be living with a younger woman and working in the office of a garment distributor in the Garment District, Manhattan.
Morse had been questioned by the Detective Liza but had an unshakable alibi.
On the day and time of Samantha’s attack, he had been at the Cinema Village, on 22E 12th St., watching a 6.55 PM time slot film with his girlfriend and another couple. They had all vouched for him.
Further, the police had verified the 2 hr. 9 min duration of the film and the timings of the before and after shows scheduled at 3:35 PM and 10.10 PM respectably.
The police lineup of suspects hadn’t taken place yet, due to Samantha’s recuperation.
Jonathan made a note to look into the NYPD’s database of sexual offenders for other suspects.
Rape kits — swabs and specimen collected during the victim’s examination after the rape — in the case of Samantha, remained to be tested for a genetic match with that of her rapist. The Police had obtained none of the latter kind till date.
Samuel Morse, however, was a close suspect candidate for his DNA testing that could identify or eliminate him as the perpetrator for indictment in the first degree.
Meantime, Jonathan decided he must make time to personally interrogate Samuel Morse before eliminating him from the list of suspects.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
FBI Counterterrorism Unit,
Broadway, NYC - 2006
Monday - 11.30 AM
Arriving at the FBI office, located on the
26 Federal Plaza, Broadway, 15 minutes before the scheduled meeting, Jonathan Bradley was able to exchange notes on some of the important developments regards the two criminal episodes, with his FBI colleagues, Allan Banks, and William King, who, as usual, were already present.
Sharp on time, walked in the Special Agent-in-Charge, Steve Turner but he surprised them by bringing along the FBI’s Assistant Director in Charge, Diego Gonzalez.
The Assistant Director was assigned to the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, based at the J. Edgar Hoover Bldg. in Washington DC., as a part of the JTTF, a Joint Terrorism Task Force, which included the other specialized US Enforcement Federal Agencies.
A minute later also stepped in two NYPD detectives assigned to the JTTF.
“Bad business, gentlemen…,” began Gonzalez, assuming a serious countenance in contrast to his handsome Hispanic looks complimented by a full head of black curly hair, and displaying a set of strong white teeth as he grinned at them, “We have been at the receiving end. Too much flack already from the bureaucrats, politicians and the media. “
He paused to look at each of their faces. A graduate of the FBI National Academy at Quantico, the 52 years old Diego was otherwise a quiet and unassuming man but deceptively tough and relentless. At the Academy, Diego had an unbeaten record for rifle marksmanship.
“As always, everyone demands explanations when things go wrong… So, what went wrong with the terror cell operation?”
“We had a close surveillance going on Sir, “ Steve Turner came in. “We knew the identity of the four terrorist suspects. One was on a visit visa sponsored by the Lebanese Educational Trust run by American Shiites in New Jersey, two on student F-1 visas of a university of New York and the fourth a Saudi-American, the oldest of the three terrorists, and presumably their leader.”
“How long had the operation been going on?” the Assistant Director asked.
“For a year almost. They came to our notice through a Lebanese-American informant. The FBI had been running him for some time.
“His father rented out a detached house to them owned by him in the Yonkers neighborhood. He himself lived apparently alone in the adjoining house. We investigated the landlord . He appeared to have no links with suspected extremists, but was a devout Muslim fundamentalist.
“We were, moreover, tipped by our informant sources about the possibility of an unidentified mastermind, supposedly a Lebanese-Hezbollah, suspected to be running this terror cell.
“We were hoping to trap this terrorist in the event that he met with the others of this Jihadist gang.
“Although we managed to bug the place, they probably were aware of it since we overhead no talk or discussion to link with their suicide mission. They probably did it elsewhere.”
“How did your team learn about their plans to suicide-bomb the two Synagogues after taking hostages?’
That Diego sought direct answers to questions which may have already been reported to him before, was understandable.
As the Asst. Director, he had a huge responsibility and agenda of counterterrorism cases in operation in joint participation with several of the US Enforcement Federal Agencies, to keep track of the finer details of each operation under his jurisdiction.
“Through our usual source of the FBI underground agents and paid informants who have infiltrated some suspected extremist groups. For this, some of the credit must go to Jonathan Bradley, and his two colleagues here, who have overseen the intelligence gathering and surveillance.
“It was too early for the terror-cell to complete their destructive arrangements,” Jonathan commented.
“Moreover, two of our Arab informants in this case were suspected of being double or triple agents, reporting to the CIA and the Mossad as well.”
“How so?” One of Diego’s eyebrows shot up.
“You’d know, Sir. How the friendly agencies are inclined to go off on a tangent.”
The Asst. Director gave Jonathan a bemused smile.
“My information,” continued Bradley, “is that the Mossad were impatient. They did not want to risk letting the Jihadists continue with their plan to bomb the Synagogues. Their foremost concern was the impending threat to the lives of the Jewish hostages and their places of worship.
“The decision was taken in Tel Aviv, and the Mossad undertook the raid on the terror-cell by flying in the Kidon, their assassination team, and flying it back when the deed was done.
“I believe the CIA was aware of the Mossad’s date and time of the attack. The information was leaked to us after it had taken place,” contributed Steve Turner.
“If you had the house under surveillance, how come your men failed to detect the Mossad team arriving at the location?” questioned the Assistant Director.
Jonathan was expecting the obvious question.
“These officers were not from the FBI, but NYPD surveillance detectives. They were recalled that night by a call put through their Assistant Police Commissioner’s office. Probably acting under the direction of some higher-up in the CIA.”
“I see.” Muttered Diego González thoughtfully.
“I understand you served with the CIA before.”
“Yes, Sir. Mostly in the Middle-East.”
“How would you continue with the investigation now that the terror threat from this Yonkers terror-cell is taken off our hands?”
“We keep the second part of the investigation going on, that is tracking the mastermind. I have always felt that the bombing of the Synagogues could have been a diversionary tactic to camouflage the undertaking of a larger terror plot of international ramifications. Therefore, the capture of this Hezbollah mastermind is of paramount importance.
“If I am right, he became an international terror fugitive after going into hiding in 2003.
“I suspect the man is a Lebanese Christian Phalangist, once a prominent businessman, involved in the international arms trade, with his main office in Beirut, Lebanon. Obviously, he has shifted his allegiance to the Hezbollah, masterminding terrorist acts on their behalf and supplying illegal arms for their overseas terrorist activities.
“In 2003, I was involved in an operation in Beirut to uncover the identity of this mastermind in a combined operati
on with the British Intelligence Agency - MI6 there. After being seriously wounded in the same covert operation, I was repatriated to the U.S.A., ” Bradley concluded.
“The CIA must be following up with the operation to pursue the Hezbollah mastermind considering that he has not been caught or eliminated till date.” Diego shared his opinion.
“I agree. They must be. But, the CIA always keep their cards close to the chest.”
“I have a question which skipped my attention earlier. How did the extremists manage to get such a large quantity of weapons stored despite the house being under surveillance?”
“They were seen receiving a delivery of packed wooden crates in the SOHO furniture company van,” answered Allan Banks.
“Our men went to the SOHO furniture firm and obtained a copy of the delivery note, and verified that the transaction was genuine. The only suspicious part was that the payment was made by cash. $3750. Possible that the consignment was switched somewhere in transit.”
“It is also possible that the weapons were stored before the tenants moved in. Either the landlord was himself involved or the earlier tenant was responsible.”
And, before we could investigate further, the Mossad raided the place.” stated William King.
Steve Turner, who had been listening most of the while, said, “Mr. Gonzalez, as far as the public is concerned, the Yonkers terror plot is now an open-and-shut case, merely involving two drug trafficking gangs. Certain areas of that suburb are known for drug dealing. The NYPD will probably label the closure as such.”
“You’re right, Steve. The FBI already has too many things in hand. Let those in the CIA echelons responsible for looking the other way, sort it out at the diplomatic level, for allowing the Mossad to create this mess on American soil.”
“Sir, you are perhaps aware of the recent homicide of the former CIA operative, Mr. Eugene Lewek at his residence in the Greenwich Village. I have my suspicions that his death is somehow linked to the Mossad’s raid on the terror-cell,” said Jonathan since he wanted to talk to the Assistant Director about this case.
CROSSFIRE: Ex-CIA JON BRADLEY Thriller Series (TERROR BLOODLINE Book 1) Page 12