by David Archer
He looked at Sam and his eyes were filled with terror. “A man is here, to see me,” he said. “If I don't go, he will come in here looking for me, and he will kill us both! I will not tell him you are here, and maybe you will help me to save my mother and sisters?”
Sam made a split second decision. “Go,” he said, and the boy sprinted up the alley. Sam stood as far into the shadows as he could until the boy was out of the alley, and then began moving quickly up it. He got to the end and was able to hear Jamal talking to another man.
“I just had to go to the bathroom, and I thought the alley was best,” he was saying, and Sam breathed a sigh of relief. Jamal went on. “No one has been here all night, except for one man who parked inside and then walked out. He went down the street that way, and never came back.”
“You're doing a good job, Zayan,” the other man said. “I will send someone to take over for you when the sun is coming up, but do not leave your post again, do you hear? When I saw the car empty, I thought you had been taken, but I was speaking to your uncle on the phone and he said to let him call you and find out where you were. I understand the need to piss, but next time, piss your pants before you leave your post.”
Jamal seemed scared as he said, “Yes, sir, I will. I'm sorry.”
“Good,” the man said, but then there was silence for a moment. “Zayan, where is your gun?”
Sam knew the kid had blown it, somehow, and was about to step out and confront the man, but Jamal said, “Oh! Oh, no! I set it down when Uncle called, because I was going to the bathroom, and I only have two hands! I'll go and get it, I'm so sorry!”
The man burst out laughing. “Go, get it now while I'm here! Be quick!”
Sam snatched the gun out of his waistband and had it ready when Jamal came running into the alley, and shoved it into his hands. He kept his own gun pointed at the boy, and put a finger to his lips, but the kid's eyes only showed gratitude and trust. Jamal ran back out of the alley with the gun in his hand, and the man laughed again.
“As I said, next time, piss your pants! That gun is far more important to you than your little pecker, but you put it down rather than let go? Allah grant that you learn from this, boy, or next time I'll break a finger!”
Jamal said, “Yes, sir, I'll never put it down again, I swear!”
Sam heard a car door, and then an engine starting. He stayed in a shadow as the man drove away in a nondescript sedan.
A second later, he saw Jamal stick a hand out into the alley, holding the gun by its barrel. His face followed, and Sam reached out to take the gun from him again.
“If you had not given it to me,” Jamal said, “he would have come in here, and you would have had to kill him, or he would kill both of us. I did not know what you would do, but I said the only thing I could think of. I hoped that if he came with me, you could stop him in time, so we would not die, you and I.”
“Jamal,” Sam said, putting his gun away, “that was pretty good thinking. Now, tell me all you can about your uncle and where he is.”
Jamal nodded. “My uncle, he owns a business and he lives in an apartment above it. We all live there, my mother and sisters and I, and his two sons, my cousins. When I was only a baby, my father brought us here, but he died a few years ago in a car accident. My mother moved us in with her brother, my uncle, and we have lived there since then, but he is an evil man. He makes us do things, especially my sisters; and me, he makes me carry messages and things. He has been part of this plan for a long time, I know, but he has never made me do anything like this before. Never before did he give me a gun and tell me I must kill someone.”
Sam nodded; he knew there were thousands of kids like Jamal, forced to go along with the evil of their elders. Some of them were able to escape, especially if they got help. Sam hoped Jamal and his sisters might be lucky, if they could live through this night.
“Okay, who was the man who came here?” Sam asked.
Jamal grimaced. “I don't know his name for sure. My Uncle calls him Ibrahim, but I have heard others call him by other names, so I don't know which one is real. He is not the man who is in charge, I think, but he is high in the people who are involved, because he carries important messages and my uncle listens when he speaks.”
“Then he's probably a lieutenant in the organization. Sit in your car, I've got to make a phone call.”
Jamal got into the car, and Sam stepped into a doorway where he would not be visible from the street. He called Harry.
“Okay, here's what I've got. The watcher is a kid named Zayan Jamal, and he's been forced to watch the bomb because his uncle, Mahmoud, is holding his mother and sister hostage. Uncle is part of the cell, but not high in it, and from what it sounds like, I think the girls are being used a sex slaves, and this kid is a message boy. He says this is the first time he's ever been given a gun, but his orders were to keep anyone from getting to the bomb, even if it meant killing them. He's spilled his guts for me, and he's begging me to help him save his mother and sisters.”
Harry sighed. “Boy, you get into the worst messes. You think you can trust this kid?”
“Yeah, I do. I had him down the alley interrogating him, and his phone rang. I let him answer, and he didn't even try to give me up, but then when a higher ranking goon showed up here at his car, he had the chance to set me up and didn't. I trust him; he wants to live in this country, and to save his mom and sisters. I want to help him do that, if I can, but I agree, the mission has to come first.”
Harry was quiet for a minute. “Sam, is there anyone on the police force you trust completely?”
“Yep. My old partner, Danny. Why?”
“If you can get him to keep an eye on the bomb and make sure no one moves it, then I think you should go after Mahmoud. Take him if you can do it alone, but don't let on in front of anyone else that it's about anything other than him. Nothing about the bomb, or the cell, you're just after him because he owes you money or some such crap. When you've got him alone, then make him talk. We want the people at the top of this thing.”
“You got it,” Sam said, and hung up, then dialed Dan Jacobs' cell number.
“What are you doing calling me when you're on your honeymoon?” his old partner answered.
“Danny, I don't have any time for questions and answers, but I need your help. How fast can you get to Twelfth and Corona?”
Dan hesitated only two seconds. “Nine minutes,” he said.
“Get there, then. I'll explain when I see you.”
“You better!” Dan said and hung up.
Sam went back to Jamal. “I've got to go down the street to meet someone, a good friend who is going to come and watch that bomb for me. He won't bother you, and you don't need to pay any attention to him, but he'll keep an eye on you, too, just in case Ibrahim comes back and gives you trouble. Then I'm going back to get my truck and go after your uncle. I'll get your mother and sisters to somewhere safe as soon as I can. Give me your cell number.” He punched it into his phone and saved it, then said. “Here are your keys and your gun. Tell me how the building is laid out where your uncle is.”
Jamal nodded. “It's a two story building, with a store on the main floor and the apartment upstairs. You can go up a flight of stairs on the back of the building to get to the back door.” He took a key from his keyring and handed it to Sam. “That key will open the back door, and it leads into a storage room. No one inside will hear it open. My uncle will be in the living room, with my mother and sisters. No one else will be there right now, I think. My cousins are out of town right now. If you go in the back door, you will go through the storage room into the kitchen, and there is a door to the right that goes into the living room. When you come into the kitchen, you will be able to see my uncle's big chair.”
Sam was listening intently, but he interrupted. “What will your mother and sisters do if I come in suddenly?”
Jamal smiled. “They are Muslim women living under the rule of a fanatic,” he said. “They
will do nothing unless you, as a man, tell them to.”
“Okay,” Sam said. “I want you to stay right here until you hear from me. If you betray me, I'll hunt you down and kill you. Got that?”
Jamal nodded vigorously. “Sir, I will stay right here, I won't move, I won't do anything. Please, help my mother and sisters, and I will be your man forever!”
Sam nodded. “I might just hold you to that!” he said, as he turned to go and meet Dan.
The police detective showed up right on time, and got out of his car to shake Sam's hand. “You wanna tell me why you’re here and acting all mysterious, instead of making whoopee with that little beauty of yours in Hawaii?”
“Got drafted,” Sam said. “I'm temporarily on loan to the Department of Homeland Security and working on this whole terrorism thing.” He showed Dan his HS identification, and his old partner whistled.
“Sonny boy, when you go whole hog, you do with a big pig! So how can I be of service to the Federal Government?”
“Here's the deal, and it really is top secret at the moment. The Denver bomb is in the exit gate of the parking garage behind me, and I need it to stay there. There's a kid sitting in a car outside, watching it for the terrorists, but he's being forced and has switched sides. Don't mess with him unless you absolutely have to, or if someone is giving him trouble; I said you’d keep an eye on him, okay? Just don't let anyone go into that guardhouse and take that bomb out of there, got it? And yes, that means use any amount of force necessary, including lethal.”
Dan looked at the gate and shook his head. “Something told me I shoulda stayed home and not answered that phone,” he said. “How on earth did you get mixed up in this?”
“Stuck my nose in where it didn't belong. I saw something funny when we were leaving for our honeymoon, somebody putting a big ugly bag into the plane's luggage bay at the last second. When we got to the airport at Honolulu, I saw an ISIS-type picking it up, so when the bombs were announced, I remembered it. Tracked him down and found the bomb, and now it looks like this is where the cell is that sent them all over the country, so I got brought in as a contractor.” He sighed. “I've got to go and track a lead on finding that cell, but I didn't want to leave this bomb unguarded, so when they asked me who I could trust on the force, I naturally thought of you. Up for it?”
“Heck, yes,” Dan said. “You know I got your back, any time! Let me get into the garage and I can watch it from in there.”
Sam nodded. “Good, you can give me a ride. My hip is killing me!” he climbed into the passenger seat, and Dan drove into the garage. He parked beside the Ridgeline, and Sam got into it and drove out the wrong way, so that he didn't have to break out through the gate.
9
The ride out to Pecos was about half an hour long, but Sam wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone. He had to find the place, reconnoiter it and look for possible guards, then figure out how to get to Mahmoud without drawing too much attention to himself. He thought through the description Jamal had given him, and prayed the boy was right about no one else being there.
He found the building with no trouble, thanks to the big sign that read “Mahmoud Imports” across the front of it, then went and parked half a block away. He got out and walked slowly toward the building, infrared glasses on and working. There were red blobs up on the second floor, but none down below, and he saw none anywhere else in the area.
Most people would have been out of the city, he knew, trying to escape the nuclear bomb that was supposed to be there. It made a sick sort of sense that the very people behind them would be unafraid to remain, knowing how small the actual range of devastation would be, while most Americans would only think that any nuke would be like the ones that wiped out Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War Two.
Sam walked into the alley behind the building and saw the stairs where Jamal said they would be, so he climbed them as quietly as possible and found the back door. There was no window in it, so he put his ear up close and listened, but heard nothing. He took out the key Jamal had given him and slid it gently into the lock, turning it slowly and listening for any sound. Nothing. Sam turned the knob and the door opened on oiled hinges, so he slipped inside and closed it quietly behind him. He could hear a television not far off.
He drew the silenced automatic and held it at the ready as he moved through the room full of boxes and jars. When he got to the doorway leading to the kitchen, he paused and peeked carefully around it, spotting the balding head of a large man in a recliner through the further doorway to the right, just as Jamal had said he would. Once again he listened, but the only sounds were from the TV set, so he steeled himself and walked quickly through the kitchen to put his gun against Mahmoud's head.
“Make a move I don't like, and you're a dead man,” he said as he looked around the room. A woman and two teenaged girls were sitting on a sofa, and simply looked at him as he held the gun on Mahmoud.
“What do you want?” Mahmoud asked. “If it's money, I have very little here.”
“Money we'll talk about, but not here,” Sam said. He turned to the women. “I am taking this man with me. Do not move from where you are until someone comes for you. Do you understand?”
The woman nodded without saying a word, and after seeing her do so, the girls also nodded. Sam turned his attention back to Mahmoud.
“I want you to get up very slowly, with both hands where I can see them. Don't turn around until I tell you to.”
Mahmoud was nearly six feet tall and remarkably obese, weighing in at probably three hundred and fifty pounds, Sam guessed. He rose slowly, his hands out at his sides. With the gun still at the back of Mahmoud's head, Sam stepped around the chair and patted him down, but he seemed to be unarmed. A glance at the chair showed Sam a large revolver tucked down beside its cushion, and he pushed Mahmoud further from the chair, then reached down and picked it up. It went into his waistband at the back.
“Now, you and I are going outside,” he said, “so walk slowly ahead of me. If you try to turn or run away, I will kill you without hesitation. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Mahmoud said, as he began walking haltingly toward the kitchen. He turned into the storage room and opened the outside door, walked out onto the landing and waited for Sam before starting down the steps. “I do not keep money here, not even in the store,” he said. “We are a mail order company, we sell our wares on the internet. Very little do we sell from here.”
Sam waited until they got to the ground, then put his glasses on and looked around while he kept Mahmoud in place. There was still no sign of anyone else around them, so he pushed Mahmoud toward an open garage in the alley. When they got inside, he said, “Turn around.”
Mahmoud turned to face him. “If you do not want money, then why have you taken me from my home?” he asked, his voice shaky, and Sam realized that he was absolutely terrified.
He smiled. “I'm here because Ibrahim is concerned that you are not worthy of our trust. He sent me to see what I think.”
At the name of Ibrahim, Mahmoud's face took on a look of sheer panic. He tried to speak, but only stuttered, so he closed his mouth and tried again. “I am faithful to Allah,” he said, “and to our great cause! Why would he doubt me, when I have done nothing to cause doubt?”
“Someone has leaked information,” Sam said. “There are those who know of the plan, and where the device is hidden. Your nephew is not the only one we have watching; there are policemen snooping around, and someone has told them where it is. Ibrahim feels that it may be you. Were you paid for that information? How much?”
Mahmoud was beginning to cry, just as his nephew had done earlier. “Allah, preserve me,” he said, “I have told no one anything! I do nothing that I am not told to do! I beg of you, you must believe me!”
Sam smiled at him and raised the gun so that Mahmoud was looking into the silencer. “No,” he said, “I really don't have to believe anything you say. Maybe Ibrahim is right, and we should just kill you now
.”
Mahmoud dropped to his knees, his hands clenched together as if in prayer. “No, please! I beg of you! Ask Noori, or Mohsin! They will tell you, I am faithful!”
Sam scowled at him. “We don't even know where they are, right now, so they may be just as filthy as you are.” He suddenly pulled the gun back a bit. “Wait,” he said. “Maybe you know where they are. Do you?”
“No, if they are not in their homes, I do not know where they could be!”
Sam stared at him for a moment, then smiled again. “Okay,” he said and shoved the gun at Mahmoud's face once more.
The Muslim tried to duck behind his own hands. “But wait!” he cried. “I can find them for you, I am sure I can! If you will only allow me a little time, I will go and find them and bring them to you!”
Sam pretended to think it over. “No, I don't think Ibrahim would like it if I let you go. I think he wants you dead, so maybe I'd better just...”
“I can drive you to them!” Mahmoud all but screamed, his tears streaming down his face. “I can take you to them! I know I can! If they are not at home, then they must be with Dawid! They must be at the core house! We can go there and you can ask them! You can ask Dawid himself! He knows I am faithful, he brought me in!”
Sam thought for a moment. “I don't think you even know where the core is,” he said, and aimed at Mahmoud's head once again. “Say goodnight,” he said.
“In Edgewater!” Mahmoud screamed, “Teller Street and Twentieth Avenue! The big white house with the pillars, I do not know the address, but I have been there with Ibrahim many times! Take me to Dawid, and he will tell you that I can be trusted! It must be Ibrahim who is selling us out, and he is trying to put the blame onto me, but I would never do such a thing! I am faithful!”