“She’s one of those professional DC hostesses. After Tom gets the court order I bet we find old money and catering bills out the wazoo,” Rutledge replied.
“She may have met Mero at one of these gatherings you speak of.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this socialite hosts fund raisers for some supposed Middle Eastern charity, payable to Mero. I wonder how many of these ignorant dunces with Islamo-guilt are giving money directly to al Queda.”
“America is certainly an accommodating target. I read in the newspaper today about an Arab group suing the police department in some West Coast town because a police officer made a derogatory remark about Islam.”
“Look at the Saudi’s exporting their Wahabi sect of Islam here. Their only mission is to kill Jews and enslave or convert everyone else. All of the 911 hijackers and most of the known al Queda terrorists are followers of Wahabism. We all just laugh it off like hey, no big deal. They really don’t mean it.”
“Yes, but they do mean it, Jen. I think America needs a secret police.”
“That’s what we have you and Cold for.”
“The two of us for the entire country?” Rasheed asked, not sure for a moment if Rutledge was really joking.
“It’ll be just you when Cold goes back to Iraq.”
“I will retrain young Pete to be a more cold-blooded operative. He and I will be a veritable scourge on these betrayers of Islam.”
“I was kidding, Kay.”
“Perhaps you should not be kidding. Did you know originally I was ordered to only answer to the Cold Mountain?”
“No,” Rutledge said with obvious surprise. “You’re making that up, right?”
Rasheed looked up smiling. “I am not. They wish deniability but our leaders have grown restless. What the Cold Mountain did while acquiring a new son for me was just what we were put on this team for.”
“You mean sanctioned assassinations?”
“I believe the word Director Aginson used was preemptive situation control.”
Rutledge laughed abruptly. “Well, Cold certainly accomplished that. If you take up where he left off you’ll get Tom in trouble.”
“My actions do not depend on the state of your boyfriend’s affairs.”
“You’re going to get us in trouble if you keep up this ragging. You know, maybe I should talk this over with Ansa, seeing as how she’s a much more liberated woman since coming to America.”
“Do not bring my wife into this conversation, infidel. That is not funny. My Ansa has taken this new freedom of expression much too far for my taste.”
“Heh, heh, heh… your reaction tells me I may have a new weapon in my arsenal. Perhaps we could come to some type of arrangement, Kay.”
“I do not bargain with Terrorists.” Rasheed held up his open hand, palm outward, toward Rutledge. “Talk to the hand, talk to the hand.”
Rutledge slapped at Rasheed’s hand.
“Don’t you wave me off, Kay.” Rutledge choked back laughter. “Another thing - don’t think for a moment of using Pete as a surrogate for whatever zings you have in mind against Tom and me.”
“You are out of line, Agent Rutledge. I will…”
“You won’t do anything, newbie,” Rutledge interrupted. “Now, for your own good, get to work.”
“I will not forget this slight. You will know retribution at the worst possible time.”
“Just so you have the guts to do it in my face, Kay, I don’t care.”
“You will,” Rasheed promised.
“Don’t recruit Pete to do the deed either. Things have a way of evening up. I…”
McDaniels walked into the office. He smiled at Rutledge and Rasheed, giving them a little wave of acknowledgement. “Everything okay?”
Rutledge sniffed the air as McDaniels stopped in between the two work stations.
“Cold, you smell like a French…” Rutledge began. Seeing McDaniels’ laser like look, she stopped speaking and covered her mouth.
“I was briefing Diane on the progress Kay and I made today.” McDaniels ignored the snorts and chuckles from his two companions.
“I bet that was some debriefing. Come look at what Kay came up with.”
McDaniels studied the information covering the screen concerning Marisol before reaching over and clapping Rasheed on the back. “Outstanding. I imagine Tom is in the process of getting her pad wired for sound and fury?”
“The Boss needs to cover us with a court order,” Rasheed replied, his displeasure plain.
“He’ll get it. I hope whoever does it is careful. We don’t want Mero aware of anything. Even one coincidence he notices could set him off on Nancy.”
“Mero’s under 24/7 surveillance too, Cold,” Rutledge added. “He won’t get anywhere near Diane.”
“I’m not worried about him getting near her.” McDaniels pulled a chair nearer Rasheed’s workstation. “I’m worried about one of his minions blowing her head off from a roof half a mile away or even walking right up to her car while it’s stopped at a traffic light.”
“Mero would want to question her first.”
“If that’s true, Kay, I got nothing to worry about.”
“Meaning if Mero tries to have her taken and questioned, you…”
“No more about that, Jen,” McDaniels cut her off. “Any word from Aginson dealing with the material he can feed Nancy to give to Mero?”
“Not that I’ve heard. I doubt we’ll be privy to the information Aginson allows leaked.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“It appears young Pete did well to keep Mero alive.”
McDaniels waved a hand in defeat. “Yes, Kay, Pete did okay. How’s he doing at Tamara’s?”
“Very well.” Rutledge filled McDaniels in on her earlier comments concerning Donaldson and Tamara.
“The more involved he gets, the better.”
“What did you two do to that girl anyway… strike that… I don’t want to know. Maybe you could give Marisol a dose before Mero visits her again.”
“Nancy was a traitor and knew exactly what she was doing. This Marisol from what you have on the screen appears to be another liberal lamo, wanting to have an oppressed minority on her arm for parties and fundraisers.”
“After Dillon and Tamara, I’m not taking anything for granted. I knew Dillon pretty well. To think she helped with that warehouse disaster is unimaginable. She knew a lot of those guys.”
“Anybody still on the Pete and Nancy watch?”
“We’re concentrating on Mero,” Rutledge replied. “Tom thought it best to reduce the surveillance team on Pete to just one agent on a rotating basis. Nancy hooked Mero so well, Tom didn’t think we’d need two agents working out of the apartment.”
“Just so there’s someone to monitor Nancy’s place when her and Pete are here at work.”
“There will be. What do you have in mind for Diane?”
“Wrap this case up as fast as possible,” McDaniels answered.
“Nothing extracurricular, I hope.”
“I meant we will end this cell and I will stay with Diane until it’s over.”
* * *
The black Dodge van stopped near the alley between the apartment buildings. As the driver shut off the engine, a black clad figure exited the passenger side of the van. He looked around at the alleyway before checking the locked gate between the buildings with a night vision ocular. He cursed the light snowfall under his breath. Looking at his watch, he saw it was nearly two in the morning. After returning to the van, the man gestured confidently at his companions.
“It is clear,” he said in Arabic. “There is only a cheap lock on the gate. The fire escape is within reach.”
“I do not like this. The man she hangs around with is a giant and she has a dog,” The man in the backseat said.
The man who had went outside of the van laughed as did his companion next to him. “You talk as though you have never killed before, Hasib. We will be in so fast they will
be dead in seconds.”
“I know,” Hasib replied, “but these dogs many times begin howling even as we stand in the hallway. I am saying this would be easier without the dog. It may wake the man. Why do we not have any information on him yet?”
“We have not had the time. With the losses we’ve suffered our information sources are limited. What of you, Umar?”
The driver shrugged. He was a heavily built man in his mid thirties, the same age range as his companions. “Now is not the time to wonder about these things. It is best to get them done. I am more worried about keeping the woman alive long enough to question her.”
“That will be my job,” the man in the passenger seat replied. “The…”
“Yes, Sami,” Hasib interrupted, “but how? The woman will surely be hit if we spray the room upon entry.”
“I did not say spray the room,” Sami said with some irritation. “I know this job is not as we would normally do something of this magnitude. Bashar was explicit. We must find out how much this Reskova woman knows. She may discover our high up link in their department otherwise. Bashar thinks the bitch has engineered our loss of the Russian network as well as the warehouse fiasco. I tried to convince him to wait. He thinks with his contact we may be able to hit something even more shocking than a school.”
Umar opened his door. “Come, let us get this done. No more talk, Hasib. Are you with us, or not?”
“I am not a coward,” Hasib replied angrily, opening his door as well. “We have been together a long time. It is my duty to speak up if I see weakness in our plan.”
“Stay focused, Hasib,” Sami ordered.
Hasib cut a link out of the chain securing the gate between the buildings. After closing the gate behind them, the three men pulled the fire escape landing down from its perch. Within minutes they were crouched outside the door leading into Reskova’s apartment hallway. As Hasib bent quickly to the task of breaking into the door lock, the door swung into him with violent force, catching him full in the face and pitching him back against the railing. He dropped to his side, clutching his shattered face.
Sami, who had lurched backward into Umar, swung his machine pistol toward the huge figure in the doorway but far too slowly. He felt something slice into him and rip upwards from his groin to his breastbone. Sami screamed in horror, losing his grip on the weapon in his hands as he felt his entrails spilling out of the ghastly wound. McDaniels snatched the man named Umar up as if he were a child. He pitched him bodily over the railing. Umar had little time to scream before he hit the pavement seven stories down. With a violent twist, McDaniels snapped Sami’s neck, quieting him forever.
Reskova awoke, hearing the door to the apartment opening. She reached for McDaniels, but found McDaniels’ side of the bed empty. Reskova jumped out of her bed, grabbing for the Glock 9mm in her nightstand drawer. She noticed Dino at the closed bedroom door, whining and glancing back at her. It was only then she heard McDaniels repeating her name at the door so as not to alarm her.
“Diane, it’s me,” McDaniels repeated.
“Cold?” Diane said finally, stroking Dino as she came to the door.
“Don’t be alarmed. I have a visitor with me.”
Reskova put on her robe quickly. She opened the bedroom door, allowing Dino to rush past. The dog growled and sniffed curiously at the unconscious body McDaniels had dragged through the entrance. Reskova called out to Dino who immediately retreated to an at attention position near her. McDaniels released his hold on Hasib’s clothes before closing the door.
“I already called Kay. He has reluctantly agreed to another burial detail.”
Reskova peered at the shattered face of the man at McDaniels’ feet as the man breathed raggedly through his mouth. “Cold, he ain’t dead yet.”
McDaniels chuckled in appreciation of Reskova’s remark. “His two partners are. I have this guy’s hands and feet plastic tied. Have Dino watch the prick for you while I clean off the fire escape landing.”
Reskova spoke one word to Dino. The dog leaped from her feet to the fallen Terrorist’s head. Dino lay down with his mouth near the man’s throat. Reskova followed McDaniels into the kitchen where he pulled a bucket from underneath the sink. He filled it with cold water.
“You’ll never get away with this, Cold. CSI will be all over you,” Reskova joked.
“So don’t call them.”
“How did you know?” Reskova crouched next to McDaniels while he pulled sponges and ammonia cleaner from where he retrieved the bucket.
“I didn’t. I’ve been camping out on the landing after you fall asleep though,” McDaniels admitted, whistling appreciatively at Reskova’s legs where her robe had fallen away. “It’s what I would have done if I thought I was protecting an information source as important as Nancy. Mero has to have been watching you for a while.”
Reskova moved into McDaniels as he straightened away from the sink with the cleaning equipment. “How long do we have before Kay gets here?”
In answer, McDaniels gripped her behind and lifted her onto the sink cabinet. “Long enough.”
* * *
Twenty minutes later, a fully clothed Reskova answered the light knock on her door. Kay walked in. He waved at her tiredly.
“Hi, Boss,” Rasheed greeted her, taking in the scene with Dino and the dog’s now groaning prisoner. “Where is the Cold Mountain, or should I say Shaun of the Dead?”
Reskova laughed, shifting the Glock to her other hand while she gave Rasheed a welcoming hug. “Very funny, Kay. Cold’s down the hall to your right at the fire escape landing, cleaning his mess up.”
“At least he did not add janitorial duties to my grave digging. Do we not have some kind of cleanup crew like in the movies for handling these dead bodies that keep turning up?”
“I’m afraid not, Kay. Contrary to popular belief even special sections of the FBI don’t cover up murders.”
“Naturally, Pete the newbie is on special assignment.” Rasheed walked to the door again. “I will go see if Shaun of the Dead needs my help or has special instructions for our funeral arrangements.”
“Don’t get Cold too upset, Kay. He was right again as usual.”
“Do not let him fool you, Boss. Cold creates these situations so he can say he knew they were going to happen in advance.”
Rasheed closed the door on his way out, smiling at Reskova’s laughter he could still hear. When Rasheed reached the door leading to the fire escape landing he knocked on it rather than barging through it. Hearing McDaniels tell him to come out, Rasheed opened the door to the inner landing. Seeing the door to the outer landing propped open and McDaniels spraying the railing with a spray bottle, Rasheed joined him on the outer landing. Rasheed looked over the railing. He saw the two bodies in the snow.
“Why do you have to wipe everything? Let us throw the two you pitched off the balcony into the van and get this over with.”
McDaniels straightened. “One needed a little help before he flew down to join his comrade. I’m done anyway. Did you have any trouble getting the body-bags from my place?”
“No, they were right where you said they would be. That is a very comfortable warehouse you live in.”
“It’s a loft, Kay. It suits me.”
“The only thing sleeping in that place is all of your secrets.” Rasheed followed McDaniels into the hallway toward Reskova’s apartment.
“My secrets? Oh, you mean the bags and the other stuff we’ve confiscated.”
“Yes. Next time let us take out someone rich so we will have something nice to confiscate.”
“I’ll make a note.” McDaniels let them into Reskova’s apartment.
McDaniels walked to where the groaning man rolled in pain on the floor.
“What is your name?” McDaniels asked in Arabic.
“Has…Hasib… Hasib Nakhuda, ” the man answered nasally. “I…I am badly hurt. You… must take me to a hospital.”
Reskova looked at McDaniels quizzically when
both he and Rasheed laughed at something the man said. McDaniels shook his head. Rasheed bent down near Hasib. He clutched a handful of hair in his hand, yanking the Terrorist’s head up.
“We must transport you somewhere, scum. I am going to release your feet and help you up. Do not make any more of your embarrassing noises. You sound like a woman.” Rasheed shook Hasib’s head slightly for emphasis.
Rasheed released the plastic tie from Hasib’s feet. He lifted the man up roughly as Hasib cringed away from Dino who followed his every movement closely.
“Do you speak English,” McDaniels asked Hasib, who shook his head in the negative.
Rasheed smiled happily at Hasib. “You will be coming with us then, little Hasib.”
As Rasheed began pulling Hasib toward the door, Hasib turned his head toward McDaniels.
“Wait, I speak English. Will that make a difference?” Hasib asked in nearly perfect but nasal English.
“It all depends on how cooperative you are,” Reskova answered him. “I will take you with me if you wish to be cooperative. Otherwise, you go with them.”
“I…I am a prisoner of war, am I not?”
“You wish,” McDaniels replied, disgust plain in his voice. “You will never see the light of day or ACLU lawyers if that’s what you mean. If you are blessed, you may be sent to the detainment camp at Gitmo. Worst case, you give my boss here the runaround. Major Rasheed and I get you for a time then before we bury you in pig’s blood. What’ll it be? We won’t ask again.”
“I will go with your boss. I told them it was foolish to try this.”
“Who did you tell?” McDaniels asked.
“The men you killed. Our intel on this was very bad. Who are you?”
“Who sent you and your deceased friends?” McDaniels ignored the question.
“A Syrian,” Hasib answered after a moment’s hesitation. “His name is Bashar Mero. He…”
“Very good,” McDaniels interrupted, continuing in Arabic. “Save the rest for my boss. Perhaps you will live after all. Do not hold back, Hasib.”
“They will execute everyone I have ever known if they find out,” Hasib said miserably.
“Your days as a Terrorist are at an end. Future days in your life will depend on how valuable you turn out to be in the next few hours. We will make sure no one finds out what happened to you or your friends. It will be as if you all disappeared.”
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