Perspectives, An Intriguing Tale of an American Born Terrorist

by Jeffrey Shapiro

  She picked up his hand and threw it back at him, pulled her leg away and snapped, “You think I’m nuts don’t you! Go ahead and close your eyes, but it’s not going away and Matthew’s not coming back. You give me another explanation? Have they found any terrorists? Are there any tracks? Where is all the evidence? Who else could have brought 2 tons of explosives past video cameras and security guards? I’ll tell you who. Jonathan, it was Bob and this God Damned administration! All the people we trusted, people you gave your life to.”

  “Stop it!” yelled Jonathan. “You’re incoherent.” He knew he was handling it wrong, but he couldn’t stand anymore. Carly awoke in the back seat and started to cry.

  Jonathan reached a hand and rubbed her shoulder, “It’s okay sweetie. Mommy and Daddy are just having an argument.”

  “Ask Carly,” said Mary. “She’ll tell you. Carly, is Uncle Bob dead?”

  Carly was still sniffling, “I want to go home. I want my own room. I don’t like moving all around. Daddy, I’m afraid. Can you take me and Bruiser home?”

  “You’re getting her more upset,” said Jonathan.

  “It’s alright sweetie, in a little while we’ll be home again, now you need to try to go to sleep.”

  She let out a big yawn and said, “Uncle Bob’s in Washington.”

  “What’s he doing in Washington?” asked Mary.

  “I’ve already told you that, Daddy. He’s with the elephants and the horses.”

  Mary looked at Jonathan inquisitively, “Do you have something you want to tell me?”

  “Okay, there’s more,” whispered Jonathan. “She’s seen more.” Jonathan told Mary about Carly’s remarks in the cockpit.

  Mary stared coldly forward as Jonathan told her Carly’s comments.

  “You really don’t think there’s anything to what she’s saying?” asked Jonathan.

  “What do you think?”

  “It’s scaring me.”

  “But do you believe it or not?”

  “I don’t know what there is to believe Mary. What the hell does it mean, it’s weird.”

  “I believe her,” answered Mary. “At first I thought she was just emotionally tormented. Jonathan, she sees things, I’m telling you that she sees.”

  “Then, what does it mean?”

  “I don’t know, elephants and horses could mean democrats and republicans. The President is there, so it could be Congress. The most important piece is Bob. She’s right, he’s alive!”

  Rain began to fall on highway 11E and the squeaky sound of the wipers was all they could hear. Jonathan stared at the coal black road with a sense of shock. What if Mary wasn’t crazy? The implications of what she was saying were more than he could digest. Bob alive? The administration destroying federal buildings?

  Thirty minutes passed before he finally spoke, “I’m talking out loud and I’m not agreeing with you, but are you saying that you believe that they staged Bob’s death?”

  Mary answered softly, “Jonathan, somebody did. Look at the emails between the Director and the President. And where’s Bob in all of this? He’s the action man. They needed someone to execute their plan. You don’t think the President and the Director are going to get their hands dirty. And where’s the body? There are no autopsy files, no pictures, a substitute in the casket, a new identity, with all of Bob’s credentials.”

  “Mary, slow down. It doesn’t make any sense. Let’s just take it one step at a time and go over the facts. I talked to Bob just before the explosion and he was in his office, his secretary said that he was in there.”

  “Did you see him?”

  “No, I was in my office with Carly.” “How can you be sure he was in there if you didn’t see him? She could have transferred the call. Don’t you have your secretary forward all your important calls to your cell when you’re not there? I can’t tell the difference when she does that.”

  “Nancy said that he had gone to the bathroom.”

  “Maybe that’s a standard line. Or maybe she thought that he was still in the building, but he had left. What does your assistant say when you’ve stepped out?”

  “Okay, agreed she could have. But we don’t know that she did, so I’m going to need more proof. What I can’t figure out is why you’re so sure he’s alive.”

  “You don’t know much about a woman’s instincts, do you? I know that he’s alive,” answered Mary. “And I know that he’s wrapped up right in the middle of this.”

  “Mary, you are the one who told me he was dead. Six months ago you were convinced. I just don’t see the evidence that would so clearly change your mind. You went to his wake and his funeral, remember. The President’s eulogy, is he in on it too?”

  “I think he is.”

  Jonathan began to get frustrated with her, “Mary, they don’t have funerals for people who are alive. There are certain things like funeral homes and embalming, and death certificates. They would have had to have had a lot of people involved in this and that’s not like the agency. The more people who know, the more likely a leak.”

  “But we didn’t find any of those things on the agency’s computer.”

  “I told you that they don’t upload everything. You were convinced at the time. You cried at the hospital, told me every detail. People were crying, if what you are saying is true, this would have to be one helluva conspiracy!”

  “The biggest in the history of mankind and there are probably not as many people as you think who know anything about it,” snapped back Mary.

  Jonathan blurted out, “Impossible! It would be impossible to pull something like this off.”

  “The terrorists do it every day and without any inside help. Imagine how easy it would be if you knew all the schedules, had control of security and could use America’s most powerful computers to do whatever the hell you wanted.”

  “Not as easy as you think.”

  “But Jonathan, there was nothing in the agency database. You said it yourself; they would have had autopsy photos, a coroner’s report, DNA samples. Look at the emails? We can use the operation to solidify support from the American people…..everything is set for a July execution….. We are all set, the operation will be complete today. There will be no one left to testify and all tracks will be erased. Jonathan they planned this for at least six months!”

  “Those emails could mean a lot of different things. We didn’t have time to see if there was another operation, which there probably was and what about his wife Sarah? If she grieved as much as you say, she deserves an academy award for “Best Actress” for her performance at the funeral. You told me that she was completely devastated. There isn’t anyone who can act like that.”

  “That’s because she’s not in on it; she believes he’s really dead.”

  “Not even the CIA is that inhumane. They wouldn’t do that to his wife and kids.”

  “You know as well as I do that they would, and without hesitation. Look at what they did to you! These people are animals. They will do anything if they thought that they were on a mission of national importance.”

  Jonathan pounded the steering wheel with the side of his fist. “Mary, you’re off base! Here’s the reality. Bob’s dead, the agency doesn’t know what in the hell is going on and is off on a wild goose chase thinking that one of their best agents and his wife and seven year old daughter had something to do with killing 2000 people. For crying out loud Mary, wake up to the music. This God Damn government has its head up its ass!”

  “Or is a helluva lot smarter than you’re giving them credit. Don’t you think it strange that Bob’s kids were out of the building?”

  “That could be purely coincidental.”

  “There’s an awful lot of coincidences.”

  “It would never stand up in court.”

  “That’s what they’re counting on. I think when there are enough circumstances that all lead to the same conclusion, you call that evidence.”

  “Circumstantial evidence. But what about the compu
ter and software and memory? Who sent that to us?”

  “I think they did,” answered Mary. “It’s the perfect decoy. It keeps us busy and they know exactly what we’re doing, Jonathan; they’ve set you up again and now they have the focus of the entire nation on you, while they plan another attack. We fell right into their traps.”

  “Right, so they just send me a QX-4, the Blue Heron programs, the Hologram program and all the personnel directories of the agency. Why would they send me that? Mary, this is getting more and more farfetched. I think we need to focus our attention somewhere else.”

  “I think I’m right on target…..I think we need to find Bob. I have a confession to make, I sent Alex Moore an email.”

  “You did what! Come on Mary, I told you not to mess around.”

  “I couldn’t resist. I was in the Director’s email and I sent him an order.”

  “Under the Director’s email?”

  Mary nodded.

  “I’m afraid to ask, but did he answer?”

  “I don’t know, I sent it just before you got home. Can we check when we get to Virginia?”

  Jonathan shook his head no. “Mary you’re losing it. Listen you have to pull back and let me handle this. I’m trained to fool these guys.”

  “Please believe me, it’s a conspiracy. You’ll see when we go back in to the computer.”

  “And what about the other emails? I suppose it’s them warning us about them?”

  “It’s all a distraction,” answered Mary. “They probably mean nothing. They just want to keep us confused and occupied until they fulfill the next step in their plan. And they are going to do it again.”

  “And that’s more nonsense, why would they do it again? If it’s as you say, they’ve gotten away with it and have everything they want.”

  “Do they?” answered Mary.

  “Look at the administration, record approval ratings, a unified Congress. What else could they want?”

  “There’s a lot more to gain. Another attack would give the President complete control of this country through the military. He could set himself up as the fascist that he is, suspend elections.”

  “Mary, you’re not serious. What do you think this is, Nazi Germany?”

  “Do you think the Germans knew what was happening?”

  “You’re talking of a repeat of the 30’s in Germany. And I think you’re crazy. What about the deposition? They found someone who is attached to terror.”

  “Jonathan, that’s as big a farce as the rest of this. That’s their link to the terrorists. They will leak that to the press after the attack and it will draw all the attention away from them. We need to find Bob and get some answers from the agency.”

  Jonathan just shook his head.

  Chapter 18

  It was 1:00 a.m. and all of the executive staff at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, had gone home. There were intermittent lights in the buildings, like a hundred candles flickering through the carved holes in a huge jack-o-lantern. In the depths of the complex the technical teams continued through their second shift, with another group preparing to begin at midnight. Bill Reed sat in his office, exhausted from the stress, staring at the wall, drinking his 3rd glass of Scotch in the last hour. It had been a hellacious day and he struggled with the report he was preparing for the President. The report outlined the whole ordeal with Jonathan Anderson and concluded that the Andersons would be found responsible for July 15th and with their deaths, the affair was now under control. He waited patiently for Harry Davidson to call and confirm that the Andersons were aboard the CIA plane that had crashed in the Ozark Mountains before releasing the letter. His phone rang and the caller id illuminated Davidson’s cell number. He took a long drink from his glass of Scotch, letting the phone ring 5 times before picking it up.

  “Go ahead,” he said.

  “Sir, this is Davidson, I’m over the crash site; there’s a massive forest fire, and it may take days, even a week to find any wreckage.”

  “Is the fire contained?” asked Reed.

  “No sir, the Department of Forestry is out here with 3 helicopters with buckets, but the heavy stuff is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. It will take a fleet of water tankers and a large ground crew to get this fire under control. I would guess that there’s at least 25 square miles of raging fire down there. Something definitely happened.”

  “Have you found the impact point?”

  “Negative, but this is pretty dense woods here and the flames are at least 50 feet high, lighting up these big pines like Roman candles. It’s getting dark so we may have to suspend our search until the morning.”

  “What about the ELT, the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder? Are you picking up any signals?”

  “No sir, nothing.”

  “Explanation?”

  “There’s none sir. Those devices should have withstood the impact and the fire.”

  “Do you have any evidence other than the tower broadcast or the fire that the aircraft went down?”

  “No sir.”

  A shiver crawled down the Director’s spine as he thought about the possibilities; “Keep looking. Is there any possibility that the plane didn’t go down and that this is another one of his diversions?”

  “It’s possible sir, he could have dumped fuel. But I’m not sure how he could have ignited it over a specific area. However, at this point I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

  “If he didn’t go down, where could that jet have gone in the past 5 hours?”

  “Anywhere in North America, sir, but if that happened, we’ll find him. It’s pretty difficult to hide a Lear 45. Do you want me to contact Flight Service and put out a national probe. We could have every airport, FBO and pilot in North America looking for that plane."

  “Not just yet,” answered the Director. “The media will get their hands on it, and we’ll have a nationwide panic on our hands. Say your prayers Davidson that the plane went down and that the Andersons were on it.”

  The Director pushed the Presidential letter aside.

  Chapter 19

  “Where are you going?” asked Mary awaking from her stupor as Jonathan took the Occaquan exit off I-95. The windshield wipers continued their melodic pace, and the reflections from the street lights and other traffic made visibility difficult giving an eerie feeling of being awake in a dream world. Even worse was the decrease in temperature which caused the rain to freeze into intermittent patches of ice that looked like shiny “wet spots.”

  “To the last place that they would ever look for us,” answered Jonathan in a fatigued and monotone voice.

  “Jonathan, you’re not going back to our house in Occoquan?”

  “Yep.”

  “Why would you take us back there? It’s going to be crawling with agents and cops and bugs.”

  “I think we’ll be okay. Besides, we promised our little girl that she would be in her own room tonight. Mary, wouldn’t it be nice to spend at least one more night in our own bed.”

  “What about all that surveillance equipment they put in there?”

  “I’m betting that it has mysteriously vanished.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I can’t but I know procedure and they’re thinking we won’t go back. Once a place has been vacated, they don’t leave that stuff hanging around. It could get into the wrong hands. But I’ll sweep the place just in case. Do you still have the keys?”

  Mary dug into her purse and pulled out the garage door opener, “One better,” she answered.

  “Is there anything that you don’t have in that thing?” asked Jonathan.

  Mary smiled. It was refreshing for Jonathan, because it was the first time he had seen her smile all day.

  Mary hit the opener and the garage door rolled up. Jonathan’s Corvette and Mary’s 530i sat in the garage just as they had left them.

  Jonathan picked Carly up as if he was lifting a bouquet of flowers. He carried her and Bruiser down the hallway
and laid her gently in her bed. As soon as her head hit her pillow, her little eyes popped open, “Thank you Daddy,” she said.

  “For what, sweetie.”

  “For bringing me and Bruiser home. Can you get Brownie for me please?”

  “Which one is Brownie, dear?”

  Carly eyes showed disappointment in him, for not knowing her stuffed animals by name. “He’s in the net, the one with the red bandana.”

  Jonathan handed her Brownie.

  “And Grubby and Fluffy and……” Back and forth he went until Carly had virtually every one of her stuffed animals around her, under her and on top of her. All that Jonathan could see was her little nose and mouth. She let out a loud satisfied sigh and drifted into a peaceful sleep. Jonathan bent over and gave her one last kiss and then tiptoed out of her room.

  Next, Jonathan led the two blindfolded pilots downstairs to the large recreation room and unshackled them. He cut the duct tape with his pocketknife and ripped it from their mouths and then from their eyes and ears. The tape made a horrible noise as it tore away hair and skin causing each of them to scream. Both were terribly disoriented and had to sit down to regain their equilibrium and let their eyes adjust to the light. Jonathan talked to them directly. “You guys can hang down here. The upstairs door is locked; there are no windows, so there is no place for you to go. If you scream, I’ll tape you back up. The bathroom is the second door on the right and I’ll order you some pizza and wings and there should be beer and soda in the refrigerator. This will all be over in a day or two, so don’t do anything stupid and you will be released unharmed. If you try to escape, you’re going to force me to do something I wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

  “I don’t know who you are, but do you realize that you have kidnapped Federal Agents,” said the co-pilot. Jenkins gave him an elbow as if to say, “Shut up!”

  “Oh, so you’re Federal Agents, I didn’t realize that,” answered Jonathan. “That changes everything. I should probably kill you and dump you in the river.”