Charlie went up a small ladder to reach the ledge directly below the roof from which protruded a communications tower. As Charlie crawled on his stomach along the ledge, he noticed the elaborate stonework that decorated the Market Street side of the building.
A dozen griffins lined that entire side of the ledge. The griffin was a mythical creature with a lion’s body and an eagle’s head and wings, often symbolizing Christ’s majestic power over both land and sky. Charlie recalled that the griffin sometimes served as a symbolic defender of the Church. I hope that these griffins can defend me this evening, he thought as he paused to catch his breath.
Wondering why the sniper had not shot at him for almost a minute, Charlie peeked out from behind one of the griffins. That is definitely Sam, he realized with some sadness as he got a clear view of the man with the rifle on the ledge of the building on the north side of Market Street.
Charlie noticed that the ledge upon which Sam stood was lined by a number of gargoyles, hellish creatures that seemed to stare defiantly at the griffins directly across the street. I wonder whether the architects planned it that way, Charlie speculated. Well, at least Sam is amongst friends.
As he supported himself against a griffin, Charlie was able to get some surreptitious looks at Sam. He noticed that Sam’s head was tilted slightly upward. He thinks that I moved up to the roof since it is the highest level, Charlie realized. That is what he would have done if he had been in my position. That probably would have been the smart thing to do. That would give me a better angle from which I could shoot down at him.
It certainly would have been smart of me to have gone up there. However, now it would be too dangerous to try to get up there. Let’s see if I can turn my misstep to my advantage.
Five seconds later, Charlie saw his opportunity. While remaining behind the gargoyle, Sam stood up in order to get a better view.
Charlie sprang up with his gun aimed directly at Sam, who saw him just a fraction of a second before Charlie fired three shots. Two of the bullets shattered the gargoyle’s head, its hideous visage crumbling into fragments and dust. The third bullet flew through the empty space where Sam had been an instant earlier. Sam’s lightning-fast reflexes had kept him alive.
Sirens from numerous police cars grew steadily louder. I need to leave now or I will be captured, Sam realized. Besides there is no longer any reason to kill this detective, his partner, or my own partner. My cover is blown, and my career in the FBI is over. Sam Troutman is no more; from this moment on, I am Saud Tariq and jihad is my life.
I will leave this country in the morning. However, I still need to kill Fatima and Dennis Sandhaven in order to try to stop the Intelligent Agency program. Our scientists in our secret laboratory have almost perfected a doomsday virus, but the virus will be worthless if Intelligent Agency is activated; Intelligent Agency can easily defeat our doomsday virus. I must stop Intelligent Agency.
With nightfall complete, Saud Tariq descended down the dark stairwell and vanished like a phantom.
While Saud Tariq made his escape, Charlie cautiously moved into the open, keeping his gun trained across the divide that had separated him from his foe. Charlie knew that Sam could have feigned a retreat in order to draw Charlie out into the open.
When he was convinced that Sam was actually gone, Charlie headed down toward Jenny, David, and the numerous police officers who were beginning to swarm up both buildings and all over the surrounding city blocks.
“Charlie!” Jenny ran into his arms. “I was so afraid that you had been killed!”
“I’m a bit surprised that I am still alive. I was overmatched both in firepower and in skill.” As Charlie withdrew from her hug, he looked at David. “The sniper was Sam Troutman. I got a clear look at him.”
David shook his head. “Unbelievable. Sam killed Robert Webber. This is like a nightmare.” He pulled out his cell phone. “I need to make a couple of calls. With all these sirens wailing, I won’t be able to hear out here, so I’m going back inside.” David went into the office building in which the FBI offices were located.
Charlie and Jenny conferred with other detectives and police officers who had arrived, anxious to hear their account of the sniper attack.
About twenty minutes later, David emerged from the office building and approached them. “The big shots are on the way here,” he declared. “Some FBI officials and the top government computer experts are taking redeye flights to St. Louis tonight.”
“Why?” Jenny asked.
“They want to get that Intelligent Agency program running as soon as possible. The computer experts want to meet with Fatima and Dennis Sandhaven tomorrow morning.”
“That’s fast work,” Jenny said.
“Yes. And, with some luck, Intelligent Agency will be up and running by tomorrow afternoon. The anti-viral, anti-biological warfare program will be safe then because it will be stored on dozens of mainframe computers all around the United States. Sam and the other terrorists won’t be able to stop it.”
“Great,” Charlie said.
“Speaking of Fatima and Dennis, where are they?” David asked.
“They are staying in two rooms at the Holiday Inn on Hampton Avenue. Sergeant Mitch O’Brien and two other police officers are protecting them.”
“Good. When the computer experts arrive in the morning, I will have them brought directly to that hotel. We can set up a temporary computer lab in one of the hotel’s conference room and get Intelligent Agency activated.”
Charlie glanced at the time on his cell phone. “Jenny, you and I need to get over to the Holiday Inn. We are scheduled to be the overnight bodyguards.”
“Charlie, you were almost killed about a half hour ago!” Jenny exclaimed. “You should go home and get a good night’s sleep. We can get another cop to take over your guard duty tonight.”
“I’m irreplaceable, my dear,” Charlie said, grinning wryly. “Haven’t you figured that out by now?”
“Actually I have,” Jenny laughed.
Meanwhile, about a mile away, Saud Tariq had successfully slipped past the small army of police that had converged near Union Station. After boarding a Metrolink train heading west toward Shrewsbury Station, Saud sat down, took out his cell phone, and made a call.
“Hello, Agent Troutman,” Franklin Kincell answered. “I’m surprised to hear from you tonight.”
“Yes, well, I’m surprised to be calling you. Listen, I don’t have much time.”
“No, I don’t suppose so,” Kincell chortled. “You’ve gotten yourself into a very difficult situation.”
“You already know about that?”
“I try to keep on top of things. I’m sorry that the information that I provided didn’t help you more. However, I do still expect to be paid.”
“You’ll get your money, but I need some additional information. I need you to find out where Fatima and Dennis Sandhaven are staying.”
“It might be possible for me to obtain that information for you. Unfortunately, due to your present situation, I must insist on immediate payment. I want an additional one hundred thousand dollars. And you still owe me a hundred thousand dollars for the information that I sent you earlier this evening.”
Damn this miserable little toad, Saud thought silently. I wish that I could kill him myself, but I need to get out of America tomorrow, so one of my brothers will have the pleasure of squashing this toad.
“Agent Troutman? Are you still there?”
“Yes, Franklin. The money will not be a problem. I will have the money electronically transferred into your bank account right now. I’ll call you in a few minutes after I complete the transaction.”
“Good. And, while you are doing that, I will begin searching for the information that you need.”
“All right. I’ll speak with you shortly.”
Using his cell phone, it took Saud about ten minutes to transfer two hundred thousand dollars into Franklin’s bank account. He wondered whether there would be some
way to retrieve the money after Franklin’s death later this week.
After completing the transfer, he called Franklin, who then requested some additional time in order to verify that the money transfer had been successful and to complete his research.
While Saud waited an additional fifteen minutes, he became impatient and was about to call Franklin again when his cell phone rang.
“Agent Troutman, I’ve verified that the money has been transferred into my account. And you will be glad to hear that I found out where they are staying. I intercepted a text message that Agent David Hummel sent to your FBI superiors and to several computer experts with the NSA, the National Security Agency.”
“Thank you,” he said sarcastically. “I was aware what the NSA acronym stood for. Where are they staying?”
“At a Holiday Inn on Hampton Ave at Wilson Street. It is near Highway 44.”
Saud smiled. This little toad named Franklin is good at what he does. I hope that his honor was worth the money that I sent him.
“Do you have a room number at the hotel?”
“No.”
“The room number does not matter. The information that you gave me will be sufficient. You have done well.” Saud surprised himself by adding that compliment at the end.
“Thanks. Well, I guess that you will be leaving the FBI, but you know how to reach me. It has been a pleasure doing business with you, Agent Troutman.”
“Thank you, good night.”
After completing his call with Franklin, Saud called Maulana Hafsa, Shaukat Khan, and Sharif Saffa. To each of these three persons, he gave the same message: meet me in the parking lot of the Shrewsbury Metrolink Station as soon as possible. Bring all of your weapons. It is a night for jihad.
Chapter 16
Double Jeopardy
Jenny and Charlie parked on the lot of the Holiday Inn on the east side of Hampton Avenue. There was a Drury Inn on the west side of the street and a Red Roof Inn on Wilson Avenue next to the Holiday Inn. All three hotels did a good business; the proximity of the interstate highway as well as Forest Park and its many attractions helped fill the hotel rooms.
They walked through the lobby and took the elevator up to the third floor. Charlie and Jenny brought the police officers on plainclothes duty up-to-date on the events of that evening.
“I’m glad that you are okay, Charlie,” Sergeant Mitch Cooper told him. Mitch had just arrived a few minutes earlier and was going to share the overnight guard duty with Jenny and Charlie.
“Thanks, Mitch. It was a close call.”
“Hopefully the remainder of the night will be quiet.”
“Let’s hope so,” Charlie agreed. “We only need to get to morning. The cavalry is on the way and will be here in the morning.”
The three police officers who had been on duty for the past eight hours departed. Charlie and Mitch settled into the room with Dennis Sandhaven, while Jenny went into Fatima Cedar’s room.
Fatima looked up from her laptop computer upon which she was intently working. “Hi, Jenny.”
“Hi, Fatima. I’m glad to see that you are hard at work on that Intelligent Agency program. Some top computer experts from the federal government are on their way to St. Louis at this very moment. In the morning, they want to meet with you and Dennis in this hotel’s conference room. The government wants to bring Intelligent Agency online tomorrow.”
“You’re kidding!”
“No, really. The program is ready, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but everything is happening so swiftly!”
“More has happened than you know about.” Jenny proceeded to give Fatima a detailed description of everything that had happened that evening.
Fatima listened with rapt attention. She was shocked to hear about the murder of the FBI official and about Charlie’s rooftop battle with Sam Troutman.
“Charlie is a hero!” Fatima declared.
“Yes, he is,” Jenny agreed.
“Jenny, you must marry this man. I will allow no dissent.”
“Well, then I guess that settles it,” Jenny laughed. “In the morning, I will inform Charlie of your proclamation about us.”
“Good.”
“You’ll be pleased to know that a number of other persons share your opinion about Charlie and me.”
“It is not just an opinion. It is the way things must be.”
“I don’t disagree,” Jenny said. “He is my partner, my best friend, and my hero. I guess that I might as well make him my husband also.”
Fatima smiled and nodded sagely.
In the adjacent room, Charlie recounted the same tale for Dennis Sandhaven and Mitch. Charlie, though, humbly downplayed his own role in the evening’s events. Just as Charlie completed his narrative, his cell phone rang.
“Hi, Charlie,” David said. “I’m coming up in the elevator now. I’ll be at the door in less than a minute. I didn’t want to startle you by just knocking on the door.”
“Good idea.” Charlie walked over, unlatched the door, and waited for David’s arrival.
After admitting David to the room, he locked the door and latched it again. Charlie introduced David to Mitch, and the two men shook hands.
“Charlie has been telling us about his gun battle with your former partner,” Mitch told David. “I can tell that Charlie is being too modest.”
“Charlie is a modest man,” David said. “He probably saved us all.”
The men conversed for several more minutes. Then Dennis set up his laptop computer on the desk and logged onto the Intelligent Agency program. He wanted to make some last-minute preparations for the early morning arrival of the computer experts.
David stood up. “I’m going to go buy us some sodas and snacks. I’ll buy some for Jenny and Fatima, too. Do you want me to stay on guard over there?”
“That will be fine,” Charlie said. “Mitch and I will hold down the fort in here. I’m going to stay up all night. I might come over there in a couple of hours and trade rooms with you.”
David grinned. “I’ll bet that you will. You don’t want to be away from Jenny very long.”
Charlie laughed and rolled his eyes.
David went out of the room and walked about twenty feet down the hallway toward the alcove containing vending machines. A woman was standing in the alcove, scanning the various types of candy available in the snack machine. David assumed that she was a hotel guest staying in one of the other rooms on that floor.
“There are too many good choices,” David said as he approached her. “I always have a hard time deciding what to buy.”
“You won’t need to make any decisions tonight,” the woman said as she turned to face him.
To David’s horror, she was holding a pistol equipped with a silencer. She fired three times. The first shot hit him in the chest, the second in the stomach, and the third bullet missed and hit the wall.
As he collapsed onto the hallway carpet, Maulana Hafsa hurried forward, hoping that the door to David’s room was still open. Seeing that the door had closed, Maulana cursed quietly. Then she remembered that David probably had a key card in his pocket.
She turned and walked back toward his body. If he does not have a key, he must have been planning to knock on the door so that the cop could let him back into the room.
Maulana had surprised David, and now she was herself in for a surprise. In spite of being wounded, he managed to draw his gun from his shoulder holster while Maulana was looking toward the room door. Now, after she took two steps back toward him, he fired one shot that pierced her thigh.
His gun was not silenced, so the sound of the gunshot reverberated through much of the hotel. Maulana collapsed in pain on the floor just a few feet from where David lay.
Charlie came bolting out of the room, his gun drawn as he looked wildly in both directions for other attackers. He rushed forward, picked up the gun that Maulana had dropped, and bent down to examine David.
Two seconds later, Jenny came rushing out o
f her room. She held her pistol in one hand and her cell phone in the other hand.
“What happened?” she asked excitedly.
David groaned. “She ambushed me. She was pretending to buy candy.”
“I don’t see any blood on you,” Charlie said. “Where are you hit?”
“Thank God for body armor,” David said, placing his hands gingerly on his shirt beneath which was the bulletproof vest. “I think that I have some broken ribs, but the vest stopped the bullets.”
Jenny went over to Maulana, who was holding her wounded leg and moaning. “You’ll be all right,” Jenny told the woman. “I’m going to call an ambulance.”
Jenny dialed 911 on her cell phone, waited for a few seconds, looked at the screen, then dialed again. “Charlie, I can’t get a signal.”
“Perhaps your phone’s battery needs recharging,” Charlie suggested as he pulled out his own phone.
“No, it should be fine. I charged the battery this afternoon.”
Charlie tried calling 911 from his own phone. “I can’t get a signal either. This is weird. We are in the middle of the city.”
“Perhaps the hotel’s walls are interfering with the signal,” Jenny suggested.
Mitch was watching the doorway of Charlie’s room. “I will try calling from the room phone.”
Several hotel guests down the hallway were looking out the doors of their rooms. One man stepped into the hallway.
“Was that a gunshot?” the man called to them. “What’s happening?”
“There has been a shooting,” Charlie said. “We are the police. Go back into your rooms and stay there until we tell you that it is safe to come out.”
“Oh!” The man went back inside, and the other room doors closed.
“I doubt that this woman is here by herself,” Jenny said. “There could be a hit team coming in behind her.”
“Who is with you?” Charlie asked.
In spite of her pain, Maulana managed a cackling laugh. “I am the anvil upon which the hammer is descending.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’ll know the hammer when you see it,” she continued to rave. “Actually, you probably won’t see it. You will just die. You have already seen it, but you don’t know that you have.”
Moonlight Warriors: A Tale of Two Hit Men Page 10