by K. J. Dahlen
“Tell me something, Mr. Smartass,” Jasmine argued. “How did you get Ali’s lists?”
Michael smiled. “A friend of mine broke into Ali’s apartment five and a half years ago. He didn’t know what he was looking for but at the last minute, he just grabbed what he could. He was murdered the next day, so he didn’t even realize what he had. I saw that file today.”
Jasmine stumbled over to a chair and sat down. “Your friends name wouldn’t be Davey Little Wolf, would it?”
“Yes, it would.”
Jasmine’s jaw tightened.
“Oh, by the way, your warehouse in the bay went up in flames about three hours ago.”
Jasmine’s eyes widened.
“I guess payback is a bitch, isn’t it?” Michael told her as he stood and followed Kenn out of the room.
Michael and Kenn went to the communication room and watched the video of Jasmine as she thought about what Michael said.
“Do you think your plan will work?” Kenn asked.
Michael nodded. “I do. I think she’s pondering exactly what she thinks we need to nail Ali. She doesn’t realize we already have enough to stop him without her.”
“But now you got her wondering if she’ll live to see it,” Harper surmised. “Did Davey really have the lists you told her about?”
“Yes, he did. Davey had an elimination list. Her and Jethro’s names were on that list,” Michael admitted. “What I didn’t tell her was Ali planned on executing her and Jethro as an act of giving the people a little bit of their hope back. He was going to offer them as a way of controlling the outrage of his take over. He would have made their deaths a public execution. Ali has evidence that Jasmine and Jethro were the ones behind the tragic bombings and assassination of President Travis. “
They all watched as Jasmine looked directly into the camera and asked to see Michael.
When Michael opened the door to the interrogation room, she glared at him. “Were you telling me the truth earlier?”
Michael sat down and nodded. “Yes, I was.”
“Ali was planning on killing me and Jethro all along?”
“He was going to make your deaths a public execution. He was laying the blame on the destruction that’s coming on your shoulders. You and the handful of others he’s conned into blowing up the major cities.”
Jasmine was quiet as she absorbed what he was telling her. “That sounds like him. I should have known Ali would lie and cheat. Have you ever met him?”
Michael shook his head.
“He’s a very dynamic leader. He can suck you in and make you believe every word he says. He seduces you into doing his dirty work for him, that way he can deny everything. Nothing ever sticks to Ali.”
“That may come natural as he is part of the royal family. He was raised that way.”
“Any way you slice it, I’m through. I betrayed my country and the price I’m going to pay for that is with my life,” Jasmine said. “You’ve already taken the most important thing in my life away from me when you murdered Jethro. I no longer care what happens to me but maybe I can help you nail Ali and the others.”
“Why would you turn completely around like this?” Michael asked.
“I never really trusted Ali.” Jasmine shrugged. “But I loved Jethro. I’ve done many things in my life, some good, some bad. Jethro was the one thing in my life I could depend on. I know you’ll never understand the things I’ve done with and for him and that’s okay. You don’t have to understand me.”
“What does this have to do with betraying Ali?” Michael asked.
“You may not know this, I’m sure Ali doesn’t realize that I know it either but I overheard a conversation he had with one of his people. Once he takes over the government, he plans on executing the entire government. All the senators, congressmen and everyone else that has to do with the way our government is set up. He’s going to become a dictator worse than Fidel. Once that happens, he said he would finally get revenge on the man that took his uncle’s hearing. He plans on publicly murdering the family of Drake Carrington. He’s going to wipe out the entire family. He’s letting them believe they are going to be in on the new government, but Ali and the rest of his family still blames the family that brought injury to one of their own.”
“So you’re telling me the Carrington family are to be murdered for something that happened forty years ago?” Michael asked.
“Every single one of them, wives, children and grandchildren too.”
“Do you have any proof of what you’re telling me?”
Jasmine sat back and sneered. “Yeah, I got proof and I’ll hand it over to you, but you have to promise me something.”
“What?”
“I want you to kill Ali with your own hands. It’s fitting, don’t you think?”
“Why do you think it’s fitting?”
“Ali ordered the murder of your wife and daughter. He may not have done the deed himself but he ordered it.”
Michael felt the pain in his heart. “Jethro said Nick Carrington slit their throats.”
“Nick may have done the deed but Ali ordered it done,” Jasmine assured him.
“Let me ask you this, how much courage does it take to murder a frightened woman and child?”
“Nick Carrington was raised in Syria where death has very little meaning. He grew up seeing the ravages of war near his home every day. He joined his cousins when he was seventeen. The United States was a whole new experience for him, but he knew how to kill without a conscious.”
“What proof do you have?”
“A recording of the original conversation.”
Michael sat back in his chair and stared at Jasmine. “Now how in the hell do you have a recording of the conversation where Ali is proclaiming to take revenge on the family of the person that allowed his uncle to lose his hearing?”
Jasmine reached up and removed her necklace. “Jethro gave me this necklace seven years ago. Isn’t it beautiful?” She handed him the pendant.
Michael noticed the detailed butterfly embedded in a backsplash of shimmering gold. He handed it back to her and asked. “What does a pendant Jethro gave you got to do with this?”
“Jethro was a communication genius. He knew we were in a dangerous situation with this group and he wanted an edge, so he put a microphone in the pendant. The butterfly acts as a recorder. All I have to do to record is push the butterfly to turn on the recorder. Whenever I was around the others in the group, I recorded everything. Jethro later downloaded the recordings. Ali never knew about them but we have his whole plan taped. I have seven years of secret meetings, and every murder Ali ordered are on those tapes.”
“And you’re willing to turn them over to us? Why?”
“I’m going down anyway and I want to make sure I take Ali with me.”
“What if I told you as a member of the Syrian Royal family, he may have diplomatic immunity? All we can do is kick him out of the country.”
“He’s planning a terrorist act on our shores. No one here knows who he really is. As far as the world knows, he is Alex Daniels, not Ali Ruden. As Alex Daniels, he has no such immunity.”
“Again, I ask you why are you so willing to turn completely around and give us the information we need to destroy the Viper Crew?”
Jasmine sat back in her chair and smiled. “I’ve already told you, I have nothing else to lose right now. The things I did are part of me and always will be. I realize you and the others may not trust me, hell I don’t know if I would trust me, but if I’m going down, so is Ali.”
“Okay, so tell me where these taped conversations are and we’ll see just how far we can trust you,” Michael said.
“In the apartment on 23rd St. you’ll find a secret door in the living room. This door will lead you to a room that’s filled with recording equipment. The taped conversations are there…”
When she hesitated, he waited a moment.
Then she added, “…You might want to pay attention to Apr
il 1, 2004. I think you’ll be surprised at what you find there.”
Michael got up and went to the door. He turned to look at her but she was staring off into the distance. He just shook his head and closed the door behind him. Harper and Kenn were standing in the hall when he looked up.
“What do you think? Do you think she’s on the up and up?” Kenn asked.
“There’s one way to find out. If the tapes are there and contain everything she says, then maybe this is her way of taking Ali down. She knows he can hide behind immunity and probably walk away from everything. If we can find the evidence she claims to have then we’re in a better position to keep him here to stand trial.” He turned to Harper. “Can you see if the tapes are really there?”
Harper nodded.” I’ll take a team with me.” She turned to go, then turned back and stared at Michael, “And if they aren’t there?”
“Then we’ll know she’s lying, won’t we?”
Chapter Fourteen
An hour later, Michael found himself looking at thousands of CDs retrieved from Jasmine’s apartment on 23rd street. Harper found the room exactly where she said it was. Box after box littered the table. The CDs went back seven years.
He looked over at Harper. “What do they say?”
“We only listened to a few but they say everything she said they would,” Harper admitted. “We still don’t know if we have all the players though.”
“We’ll let’s find out.” Michael walked out of the room. He went to the room where Jasmine was waiting for him.
She stared at him for a moment then blurted out, “Ali hates you in case you didn’t know.”
“Ali doesn’t have to love me and believe when I say I don’t much care for him either,” Michael said.
“No.” Jasmine shook her head. “You don’t understand. Ali really hates you. His feelings go way beyond anything I’ve ever seen before.”
Michael frowned. “I wonder why that is?”
“I think it might have something to do with a woman named MonCali. He has a shrine to her in his apartment.”
Michael stood up abruptly and his chair fell over as he stared at her. “Did you say MonCali?” he whispered as his mind raced back in time. Fifteen years to be exact.
“Who is this woman?” Jasmine looked curious. “Ali once told us he was hunting the man that murdered her and when he found him, hell wouldn’t want his soul when he was done with it.”
“What else did Ali say?”
“I’ve known Ali for seven years. When he got confirmation that you killed her, he went ballistic. He vowed he would kill you with his own hands.” She paused for a moment. “But he wanted you to suffer before he ended your life. Your wife and child were innocent victims of Ali’s rage against you. He murdered them without compassion because he knew their deaths would hurt you, and it did. Ali watched as you suffered and he was very pleased when you left D.C.”
Michael moved toward the door. When he joined Harper and Kenn in the conference room, he went to the window and stared out over the city.
When he didn’t speak for a moment, Kenn asked, “Who the hell is this MonCali?”
“MonCali was one of my first assignments as a sniper, fifteen years ago. Davey and I were in the Marines and had just been shipped to Afghanistan. Intel routed out a cell working in the area supplying guns and bombs to a terror cell. We were assigned to take out the cell. We found where the cell was hiding but when we got there everyone was gone, everyone except a woman. We didn’t know it at the time but this woman was a high priority on the FBI’s list of wanted people. She didn’t give us much choice. Davey was wounded in the crossfire when I shot her. She died cursing me. It was only later, I found out who she was.”
“Who was she?” Harper asked.
“Her real name was Cali Rudan. She was one of the wives of the royal family. She had a double life; as MonCali she could move around places that wouldn’t harbor a royal. She was reported to be a heartless monster. Wherever she went, there was chaos and when the dust settled, thousands were dead. Her methods were brutal and taking her out was a blow to the jihad.”
“Why would Cali’s death bother Ali so much?” Harper asked.
Michael turned to look at her. “Cali was his mother. She was the king’s third wife and she bore him two sons, Ali and Jahez. After she died, the royal family closed ranks and explained her death as an accident. “
“How did Ali find out it was you that murdered Cali?” Kenn asked. “That info should have been blocked to anyone else.”
“I don’t know how he found out. As Alex Daniels, he could have gotten the info from any high ranking official.”
“What about this brother, Jahez Rudan?” Harper asked. “Do we have any idea where he is at this point?”
Michael shrugged. “I’ve hadn’t had enough time to concentrate on anything except the Viper Crew.” He paused then added, “I think we need to check out Jack Travis as well. This is the second time his name has come up in the same breath as the Viper Crew.”
“You don’t think Jack Travis is part of this group do you?” Harper asked. “Jack is the all-American boy living the dream. He’s the first man at the White House!”
“I just want to make sure that’s all. I don’t want there to be any surprises down the road,” Michael said. “You guys run down Jack and I’ll run down Jahez.” He sat down and opened his computer. Injecting the flash drive Micah had given him, he began running down the Rudan royal family. Bringing up the same photo as before, he identified all fifty two members of the royal family. One by one, he searched and printed the faces of everyone in the family. When he was finished, he taped the faces up on the wall. Ali and Jahez’s faces he printed a little bigger. As he stood back to study the faces he noted the similarities between the brothers.
Going back to his computer, he began running down Jahez’s activities. He was very political in his country. At a very young age, he spoke out against the Western way of life. His playboy existence did little or nothing to bolster his politics and he fell off the grid eighteen years ago, about the same time, Ali came to America to go to college.
Michael sat back in his chair and thought about Jahez for a moment. About that time, Harper came back. She opened a file and began telling him, “Jack Stephan Travis was born in 1956 to Ed and Jane Travis. Ed was a teacher and Jane was a counselor. He excelled in school and played high school football where he was quarterback. He went to Stanford on a football scholarship. He studied pre-law and graduated at the top of his class. During the summer after graduation, he lost his parents in a traffic accident. He went on to Yale to finish his law education and began his career shortly after graduation. He met Georgia Landon while he was still in college. They got married and two years later, their daughter Chloe was born. Georgia began running for the Senate shortly after that. It wasn’t until their sons Matt and Aaron were born that she set her sights a little higher.”
“That’s just the outside. I want to know more about the man himself,” Michael prompted.
“Why? I mean why are you looking at Jack? There has never been any reason to suspect him of anything.”
Michael turned to look at the picture of the royal family. “I don’t know. There is something missing here.” He turned to her and asked, “Can you get more on his childhood? Find out what you can about his parents and schools.”
“What did you find about Jahez?”
“Not much. He was very political at a young age but he completely disappeared eighteen years ago. There has been no sign of him since.”
“That’s odd.”
“Yes, it is,” Michael agreed.
“Are you sure he’s missing? Could he be dead?”
“There is no record of his death anywhere and he’s not in any of the family pictures after the early ‘90s. That’s about the same time Ali came here to go to college. Then there’s something Jasmine said. She said she found it odd that Jack and Ali were whispering in a foreign language.” He paused
and looked up at her, “I don’t know what it means but I’m going to find out.” He stood up and stretched. “I need a break.”
“I’ll check deeper into Jack’s background.”
When Michael got back to the offices, Harper handed him a file. “Jack Travis had an accident in his junior year at Stanford that broke his leg. The injury was severe enough to end his football career. This happened just weeks before a car accident killed his parents. He went on to finish his law degree at Yale. Otherwise, his childhood was the same as every other kid’s.”
“How bad was the break?”
“A compound fracture that needed surgery to put in a metal rod. He was on crutches for months. Even now, the metal rod is still in his leg.”
“I have something to check out then I’ll be back.” He went to the conference room and fired up his computer. He began punching keys and before long, he had the information he needed.
Kenn joined him. “What did you find? And what were you looking for when you asked Harper to check into Jack Travis’ past?”
Michael handed him a report and waited until he read it. When Kenn closed the report, Michael turned his head and stared at him.
“How accurate is this information?”
“I checked with a friend at Bethesda. The Jack Travis sleeping in the White House as we speak has never had a broken leg like the real Jack Travis did eighteen years ago.”
“What else did you find?” Kenn asked.
“The accident that killed George and Melinda Travis wasn’t an accident at all. Forensics pointed out the paint of a separate car was found on the back bumper of the Travis car. They were forced off the road.”
“Who do you think the imposter really is?” Kenn asked with a sigh.
“I’d rather not say at this point. I don’t have any proof, but I’m willing to bet the Jack Travis in the White House is a close relative to Ali Rudan.”
Kenn stumbled away from him a step or two. “What are you talking about?”