On the Heels of Evil

by D. E. Daum

  Jane jumped on that. “Terrorists don’t get lawyers, not since 9/11, not since the Patriot Act. Terrorists get longevity at detention centers. Terrorists disappear.”

  “Christ, lady, I ain’t no terrorist. I know about terrorists, but I don’t know them. Terrorism is my hobby.”

  C’mon Mariam, time for the good cop.

  “You know Starbird, if Mr. Pruitt is telling the truth, we could use his help. I’ve been looking through these scrapbooks, and he does seem to know extensively about terrorism.”

  Good girl!

  “Maybe Dar here was just keeping a record of all the atrocities he planned and carried out.”

  Dar was incredulous. “You can’t believe that. There are hundreds of newspaper articles there, dating back to my high school years.”

  Mariam said, “All right, Dar, if I’m to believe you, I need proof. How can you help us?”

  “Well Mrs. ‘Right Hand of Allah.’” Kelly cringed. “Terrorism has been a hobby of mine for years. There isn’t much that you can’t ask me about terrorism that I don’t know. Go ahead, ask me anything you want.”

  Mariam thought for a minute. “Tell me about Free Arabia.”

  “Free Arabia used to be led by a psychopath named Khalid something or other. Assad, that was it. Anyway, he preferred to be called ‘The White Cobra’ but he disappeared. The remaining members have renounced violence and swore fealty to your husband.”

  Jane decided to back off for a while. “Do you communicate with terrorists?”

  “Yes.”

  “How?”

  “Chat rooms, e-mail. It’s not hard.”

  In Arabic, Mariam said, “To do that, you must speak Arabic.” Pruitt nodded. “Do they think you’re a terrorist?”

  “They’re not all terrorists, most are just fundamentalists. I do not lie to them. I simply say I’m curious,” answered Dar.

  Jane jumped in. “For the record speak English,” then she went on, “Dar, if you knew of an upcoming terrorist attack, but wanted more information, what would you do?”

  “I would get on-line and snoop around in the most radical chat room I know. I wouldn’t ask questions, that might make them clam up. I would just observe what is being said and reinforce what is said.”

  Mariam’s turn. “Dar, that sounds great. Have you been in any such chat rooms lately?”

  “Yes, I have. Not much is being said, but I get a slip here and a glimmer there. It’s getting nutty.”

  “What do you mean ‘nutty’?” asked Jane.

  “Actually, there was talk of a nuclear strike, but I discount that. I’ve heard it from time to time, but it never materializes. The other thing, more believable but ambiguous, was some kind of mass assault in multiple hotels. There was even mention of casinos. Is that why you’re in Las Vegas?”

  Jane huffed, “We’ll ask the questions, Dar. Were the names of hotels or terror organizations mentioned?”

  “Like I said, it was all quite vague, and a lot of it is coded, but I’ve been doing this since Khobar Towers, so I’ve gotten a feel for it. It’s kind of like the Russians used to do in the old Soviet Union with that party rag called Pravda. From what I understand, the readers got their information not so much from what the paper said, but by what was left unsaid. It’s sort of like that in these chat rooms.”

  “So tell us what your intuition tells you,” said Mariam.

  “My intuition tells me that the chatter is real, or you wouldn’t be questioning me in Las Vegas.”

  “And if I were to grant you that your intuition is correct, what more could you tell us?”

  “If I told you anything, it would be an educated guess.”

  Jane smiled, and said, “Hey, Dar, this is Vegas. Everything is a crapshoot. Tell us what you think.”

  “They’ll hit a minimum of four hotels, all big ones. Pick the biggest and fanciest, and you’ll have them.”

  “Good.” said Jane. “Do you have any idea who the assailants will be?”

  “Not really. Here you can use common sense to fill in the blanks. It’ll be those groups that hate America the most. The obvious ones are Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda in Iraq. Second and third choice, Hezbollah and Saddam Brigade. Islamic Jihad and Sword of Allah too, might be involved. I doubt if it’s any of the Al Qaeda patrons or the Palestinians.”

  Jane asked, “Dar, if we set you up at a computer, could you eavesdrop on the terrorists?”

  “I could try. No guarantees.”

  “Okay Dar,” said Jane. “We’re going to take a break. Can I get you anything?”

  “Maybe a sandwich and a soft drink. I haven’t eaten since yesterday. If we’re going to be much longer, I could use some coffee.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  Chapter 5

  When Jane and Mariam joined Kelly, Jane asked, “What’d you think?”

  “What’d I think? What I think is great move, Jane! The fellow recognizes Mariam right out of the chute. Now he wonders what the wife of the Right Hand of Allah is doing here and if I’m around somewhere. Do you have any more ideas?

  “Mariam, do me a favor and ask Jimmy to drop everything and get all the information he can on our skinny Santa Claus here in the next twenty minutes.”

  When Mariam left, Jane spoke, “Sorry, Kelly. You were right. I never foresaw the man recognizing Mariam. Maybe that’s why you’re in charge instead of me”

  Now, Kelly felt bad. He reached out and pulled Jane to him, hugging her. He said, “The reason I’m in charge is because you were not available. No one is more worthy of this job than you are, even if you do have an injured boob.”

  Jane pulled away and kicked Kelly in the shin. Smiling, she said, “You almost crossed the line there, Mr. Rhamsy.”

  Mariam, who’d just returned, kicked Kelly from behind. “You, sir, would have a wife with no boobs if it weren’t for Jane.”

  Jane wiped the smile off her face and went back to her original question. “What do you think?” She pointed with her thumb at Dar Pruitt on the other side of the one-way glass.

  “What’d I think? What I think Jane, is . . . I’d pay to see what you look like with one boob.”

  “You son of a bitch! You’re insufferable.” She smiled again and hugged him.

  “Seriously, I’m so relieved that you’re all right. I kept requesting updates of your condition from Mariam, Hayden or from whomever I talked to. When I found you, you were incoherent and a bloody mess. I was heartbroken.”

  “He really did. He must’ve called me a dozen times about your condition,” added Mariam.

  Kelly laughed, “But when you said, ‘the motherfucker broke my eardrum.’ I knew you’d be okay.”

  Jimmy walked in and did a double-take. “I’m not interrupting anything, am, I?”

  Mariam said, “You think I’d let anything go on with me right here?”

  “No, I guess not. I have a preliminary finding on Dar Pruitt, Saleem. He’s thirty seven years old, grew up in Long Beach, received a Bachelor of Science from UCLA and a Masters Degree in Political Science from Cal State Long Beach. He is a self-proclaimed expert on terrorism in general, specializing in the Middle East. He speaks fluent Arabic and Farsi, and here is a red flag—he’s adopted Islam.”

  “He was in the Navy after college, served nine years achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander working mostly in Naval Intelligence. When he got out, he went to work, primarily as a consultant, for both the Brookings Institute and the Hoover Institute. He is now on the staff and doing research for the Potomac Institute for Middle Eastern Studies.”

  Kelly said. “Sounds like our guy is for real. Shall we see what he can do?”

  “Saleem. Aren’t you worried about his being Muslim?” asked Jimmy.

  “No more than I would be about you being a Baptist.”

  Chapter 6

  At 3:00 P.M. Kelly had a state of-the-art computer with an oversized screen installed in a private office. Everyone was curious as to what Dar would find, if anything. In
addition to executive office chairs for Dar and Jimmy, Kelly installed additional chairs around the computer. Kelly had a replica screen set up in his office, as he was not yet ready to make his presence known to their guest.

  Dar’s number one student was Jimmy. Jimmy had, on occasion with mixed results, tried to gather information from chat rooms and now had a chance to learn from an expert. Cool at first, because of Dar’s adopted religion, Jimmy warmed up to his new friend after viewing Dar’s performance. Dar was also likeable. Kelly himself was beginning to warm to Mr. Pruitt. He had little doubt that given enough time, Dar would provide a revelation. Dar said to Jimmy, “What do you think, Jimmy? Have you got the handle yet?”

  “I think so.”

  “You know, there are other extremist chat rooms that I can’t cover while I’m on here. Why don’t you bring your desk and computer in here and I’ll get you onto another room?”

  Jimmy replied, “Sounds good to me.”

  As Jimmy started to get up, Dar said, “If you have any other computer savvy people around, we could get them on chat rooms as well.”

  Kelly heard this and going to the door of his office intercepted Jimmy. “I heard what he said, and it sounds good. Who else could do this?”

  “Well, there’s Sally, obviously, but she’s not here. Let’s see . . . Steve Vaughn might be able to handle it and if you could spare Jane, she’s a natural.”

  “Done. Do we have two spare computers with Arabic keyboards?”

  “Actually no, but Jane and I both have our own personal laptops with adapters. Steve could use my computer, but he’ll need to watch Dar for an hour or so, until he gets the hang of it. Dar is really good, by the way.”

  As Jimmy was leaving, Kelly saw Reynolds and called him into his office. “Did you get a list of the major hotels yet?”

  “Yes, Boss.” He pulled a list from his pocket. “The top hotels in terms of casino revenue are Bellagio, Mirage, MGM Grand, Las Vegas Hilton, Caesar’s Palace, Venetian, Bally’s, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Paris/Las Vegas, Excalibur and New York, New York.”

  Kelly sat down, fingers from his right hand combed through his hair. “That’s all? Shit! Well, at least we don’t have to cover NYNY. Did you inform Metro about our strong suspicions?”

  “Yes, and they would like to set up a meeting to go over the plan.”

  Kelly rose and sat on the corner of the desk. “All right set it up for 8:00 A.M. in our conference room. How many regular agents do we have here right now?”

  “About twenty.” Reynolds folded the list and put it back in his pocket.

  “I wish we had more.” Kelly shook his head. “How many ‘special ops’?”

  “About a hundred.” A smile formed on Reynold’s face. “And from what I can see they’re mean bastards.

  Kelly returned to the chair. “Good. And we’ve checked the registration and have been nosing around these hotels?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing concrete yet, Boss. Visual, nothing. By registration, a few possibilities but that’s just those with Middle Eastern names. We’re checking them out now. We’re also checking any calls made in or out of their rooms”

  Kelly rose again and put an arm around Reynolds and they began pacing. “Good! If you find any of them, don’t try anything. Report it to me. Understand?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “And I want the ‘special ops’ distributed evenly around each of those hotel casinos, on two twelve-hour shifts, starting at midnight.”

  Reynold’s cocked his head. “But aren’t we expecting them to move on the following day?”

  “We are, but I’m not about to take chances. Oh, gambling is okay for the ‘ops.’ They have to blend in, after all, but under no circumstances are they to drink.”

  Reynolds nodded. “I understand sir.”

  “Good. Are there any possibilities here at the MGM?”

  “As a matter of fact there are. There’s a party registered in the high rise, Room 1347, under the name Abul Hasim. That in itself may not be suspicious, but he’s been registered for three days and has refused maid service each day. Then, there is an Omar Rhyym, in room 610, who has used an escort service twice, with two escorts each time. One of the escorts told a desk clerk that she and the other girl ah . . . entertained eight men in that room.”

  Kelly stopped. “Why didn’t you tell me about these sooner?”

  Reynolds stopped and turned to face Kelly. “I just found out a few minutes ago. I was going to have a couple of our men check it out first.”

  “I’ll check out these two. You and the other men concentrate on the other hotels. Meanwhile, get me a room above, below, or beside these two rooms. If none are available, have the people moved.”

  When Kelly finished with Reynolds, he went looking for Jane to suggest she chat awhile. When he found her in her room, she was using her laptop, already on a chatroom. “I was going to suggest you do that. Find anything yet?”

  “Jimmy already beat you to it. Haven’t found anything yet. Must be a church-approved chat room. I have come across a couple of lonely gays, looking for loving. Are you interested, big guy?”

  “No thanks. You and Mariam have convinced me that heterosexuality is the wave of the future.”

  “This room seems to be a waste of time. I think I’ll swi…I think I spoke too soon. Look at this, Kelly!”

  Chapter 7

  Jimmy walked in on Kelly. “Saleem, remember that phone number you gave me?” Before Kelly could answer, he went on, “I found out it’s assigned to an import company in Philadelphia, but was forwarded to a cell phone, so I didn’t mention it. I put a trace on the number and just found out the cell phone is here.”

  Kelly thought about it and decided that since the number was germane to the operation, it would be logical for whoever it was to be here for the fireworks. “Can you do better than that? Vegas is a pretty big burg.”

  “You didn’t let me finish. The cell phone is within two blocks of here.”

  “Really, that’s great. Can we narrow it down any more?”

  “No, but maybe you could check the registries of the Tropicana, NYNY, Excalibur, and this hotel. I have the name of the individual. The import company is Trans-Mediterranean Imports, and the owner is Dubal Hasim. I checked on him, but he’s an elderly man, over seventy. The cell phone is another matter though. It’s registered to his grandson Abul Hasim.”

  “That’s it.” Kelly jumped up and startled Jimmy, who shrunk back from the big man. Kelly grabbed Jimmy by the shoulders and said. “You did it. If this pans out, you’re in for a promotion!”

  * * * *

  Kelly located Reynolds. “Phil, did you get a room adjacent to the two rooms, like I asked?”

  “Yes, I did. Here are the keys. They’re both to the right of each of the subject’s rooms. I had the occupants relocated.”

  “Good, who’s the guy we have that’s an electronic wizard?”

  Reynold’s head bobbed. “Oh, you must mean Chuck. Chuck Schultz. Why?”

  “I need him to feed a micro-video cam into each of those rooms on the double. Can he do that?”

  “I think so.” Reynolds look confused. “I’ve been looking for Starbird. Have you seen her?”

  “Yes, I sent her with Haman on an errand.” Kelly started to turn away and stopped. “Oh, one more thing. Can we get someone to let us monitor the calls to and from those rooms on house phones?”

  Reynolds shrugged. “I don’t know. Everything is electronic these days. No operators. Chuck might be able to rig something up though. I’ll talk to him.”

  “Let me know when that’s ready.”

  While he was waiting for the video feeds into the hotel rooms, Kelly received yet another call from Santani. “Yes, Nick?”

  “Our perp, Rhamati, has been picked up.”

  “I need him here. Can you leave Bishop in charge, down there and bring Rhamati to me?”

  “You’re going to have to pull some strings to get him released to me, Saleem. This kid br
oke some laws here.”

  Kelly was getting upset, “Nick, who has him, and where are you?”

  “The Long Beach Police have him. That’s where I am. I’ve tried to get him for us, but they’re not budging.”