Death Toll Rising

by Terry Keys

  Chapter 23

  My plane touched down and I phoned Paul who was at the airport waiting for me.

  We man hugged for a second, then we both piled into his car. “Do you ever sleep?” Paul asked me.

  “Not nearly enough. And don’t start, please. You’re starting to sound like Miranda.”

  “So how nervous did the president make you?”

  “Could’ve been worse, I guess. My main concern is solving this case. She wants these guys bad. I just hope I . . . we can find them. It took us how long to find bin Laden? Will it take us that long to find El Printo?”

  “About that,” Paul said.

  “What about that?”

  “Fingers and I have been trying to find something online about El Printo, but so far no luck. We’ve found some chatter about God’s Warriors but nothing worth mentioning. Kinda scratching our heads at the moment. It looks like they have deep ties to Saudi Arabia. From what I can tell, they’re a branch from the ISIS tree. Same cause. They recruit young boys and gear them up to die for the cause.”

  “But nothing on El Printo?”

  “Not much. As far as I can tell, he’s a ghost.”

  “That’s not a mistake. They are evolving. We cut the head off Al Qaeda and ISIS is next. Any time you attack one of these factions, you start at the top. That only works when you know something about the guy. Keeping their number one hidden keeps him off our radar. It’s hard to catch a ghost.”

  “There is a bit of good news.”

  “Spill it.”

  Paul turned into my driveway and killed the lights.

  “We are close to finding a residence on Rokan Sheth. Like really close. Like I’m waiting on my phone to ring with an address from Fingers.”

  “Good work. You can fill me in on how you tracked him down later. I’ve got a bit of intel for you too. Something that Rael whispered to me during my interrogation of him.”

  I stepped out of Paul’s car and closed the door.

  He buzzed down the window. “Well, what did he say?”

  I reached into my pocket. “He hid his cell phone at the airport in DC when he touched down.”

  Paul’s eye glowed in the darkness. “Did he tell you whose numbers might be on it?”

  “No. And it’s a burner phone. But you know, like I do, there’s tons of information we can get off this thing. I’m hoping we have a phone call to Hasan. Something we can use to triangulate Hasan’s number and send a team in to apprehend them.”

  “There’s one problem,” Paul said.

  I frowned. “What?”

  “Didn’t you talk to the president about what you knew or didn’t know? What about the chief? Everyone’s going to wonder how the hell we found Hasan’s number, don’t ya think?”

  “I’ll deal with that. I thought we had a real problem. You scared me for a second. The answer will be simple: good detective work. Good night, ol’ friend.”

  “When we gonna pull the info off the burner?” Paul asked as I walked away.

  “Phone’s dead. I’ll charge her up tonight and text you in the morning. We’ll head straight to Fingers’ lab.”

  Chapter 24

  Abu sent a boy to find Hasan. “Have him bring Wadjet with him. I want them both here in five minutes.” Abu spoke with power and conviction. The boy ran fast, as he did not want to be punished.

  Abu knew the group had camped out here long enough and needed to move. He also wanted to check on Wadjet’s progress. It had been several days since they’d began rewiring her brain. The first step was to make her hate her father for abandoning her, which wouldn’t take much, and to hate America and everything it stood for. Abu knew suddenly changing a plan that had been so long in the making was risky. But he simply could not pass on the opportunity to use the girl to inflict more harm on America. The superficial Americans would never be able to see past her beauty.

  Abu looked up as Hasan and Wadjet entered his doorway. He set down his iPad to greet them.

  “Come in, Hasan. You and Wadjet have a seat.” Abu gestured at the ground in front of him.

  Wadjet stared down at the floor and followed about a foot behind Hasan.

  Abu addressed her first. He reached down and cradled her face. “Tell me, girl, how has your time here been?”

  She gnawed at her fingernails. Her nervousness was to be expected. Her father was gone. Her mother had been raped and murdered. What they were asking her to do would be hard for anyone.

  Hasan patted her on the shoulder. “It’s okay, Wadjet. Abu is on our side. He is our leader.”

  Abu tilted her head toward him. “Do not be afraid of me, girl,” he said. “I want to see you succeed. I want to see you kill our enemies. You were sent to us as a gift from Allah. Your story will soften their hearts. Your beauty will blind them. And your brains will cast them out.”

  “She is almost ready, Abu. We have spent many days now going over her plan. As she is a girl, it will be much easier for her to get close to our enemies. She will not be seen as a threat. The Americans will let their guard down. She will be treated like royalty. And Wadjet will prey upon them like a lioness.”

  Abu’s face lit up. “I am pleased to hear these things.”

  “I will kill many Americans,” Wadjet whispered.

  Hasan smiled. “Yes, you will.”

  “We need to discuss a few things, Hasan. Is Rokan still in play? Will he deliver the weapon of choice to Wadjet?”

  Hasan nodded. “Rokan and I had communications again today. He is working on a plan for Wadjet. Rokan has never let us down.”

  “This is true. In one day’s time we will move our camp. I have reached out to a few brothers who will help us with the move. I fear we have been here too long.”

  “But no one is looking for us, Abu. I believe another move may draw unwanted attention.”

  “How can you be sure that no one is looking? We have heard no word from Rael, no? Maybe he has reached the Americans. And two world leaders have died on American soil. Someone is looking. Everyone is looking.”

  “The Americans are foolish, Abu. Even if Rael made contact, they would never listen to him. They would probably just lock him up.”

  “Hasan, do not underestimate our enemy. Maybe they did arrest Rael. Maybe they are torturing him for information. Maybe he is willingly giving them information.”

  Hasan nodded.

  “Go. Make arrangements for our move,” Abu ordered. He was frustrated by Hasan’s attitude.

  Hasan slowly stood and gestured for Wadjet.

  Abu raised his hand to stop them. “Sit. I want to tell you a story.”

  Hasan and Wadjet sat back down.

  “It was nearly twenty years ago when I lost both of my parents. My uncle Mohammed had joined forces to help the Americans in their fight against Iran. My father would not get involved. He was asked many times. My father only wanted to live in peace. When America was finished with the need of my uncle, no help or monies were ever sent to him. The fortune he was promised never came. Instead, they tell him he is lucky to even be allowed to live. My father and uncle were very close. I listen when he tells these things to my father. There were many who told my uncle not to get involved with the Americans. Many despised him. He put his life on the line to help them. And for what? Only to get nothing in return. After this happened, he began helping any group that opposed the Americans, mostly with monetary donations. Finally someone ratted him out. Someone like our friend Rael.”

  Hasan had again become angry and his face tightened. “So what became of your uncle?”

  “Because my father and mother were never involved, my uncle thought a meeting in their home would go easily undetected. He did not know that an informant had given him up, and he was being watched. That night a man high on America’s target list came to meet my uncle. You must understand that my parents had no idea my uncle was planning this. My uncle also brought along his two sons, ages seven and ten. After the guests arrived, my father sent me to the store f
or wine to entertain the guests. While I was gone, a drone strike killed both of my parents and my uncle too. They also killed my litter sister.”

  Hasan reached out and touched Abu on the leg. “I am sorry for your loss, my brother.”

  “The Americans’ intel and surveillance would have told them that my parents were there. And my sister. They would have also seen my young cousins. They did not care. They saw an opportunity and decided everyone else would be collateral damage. My parents were real people, good people. Not just America’s collateral damage. Have you heard how America views collateral damage? It’s okay as long as the end justifies the means. My father did nothing wrong. My mother did nothing wrong. My sister and my cousins did nothing wrong. They would have killed me too, had I not left for the store. This is my story. It is not the only story like this. I do not cry. I fight. We will fight. I will fight until I no longer have a breath in my body.

  Both men stood up. Abu embraced Hasan. “Let us finish the work that we started so many years ago, brother.”

  Hasan nodded. Wadjet got to her feet to follow Hasan.

  Abu reached out and grabbed her hand. “No, you will stay with me tonight.”

  Hasan looked warily at Abu. “Is there anything else required of me, Abu?”

  “No. Go and ready the men for the move.”

  Abu had been admiring Wadjet’s beauty. Now he would take her into his bed and satisfy his desires.

  Abu reached down and took her by the hand. “Come with me. You will be my queen tonight.”

  Chapter 25

  The next morning I rolled over to hug Miranda only to realize she’d already gotten up. In order for her to sneak off without being noticed, I must have been sleeping really hard. A heavy whiff of Folgers caught my attention. My alarm clock read eight forty-five, much later than I’d planned on sleeping. The faint sound of a hair dryer being used down the hall piqued my curiosity.

  Had I forgotten about some event today? I put my feet into my slippers, tossed on my robe, and ventured out. The blare of Linkin Park’s “Crawling” stopped me when I reached Hilary’s door.

  I poked my head into her room and motioned for her to turn down her radio. “Good morning, princess. Mighty early for you to be up and at it already.”

  She eyed my robe and slippers. “Chris is coming over for breakfast today. Supposed to be here at nine. Remember?”

  “Yeah, of course. How could I forget?” I smiled.

  I needed to get over to Fingers’s lab and get Rael’s cell phone recon underway.

  I took a quick shower and threw on my work clothes. I made it to the bottom of the staircase with five minutes to spare and caught Miranda laughing at me.

  “So I hear someone forgot about Chris’s breakfast meet-and-greet today.”

  I walked over and hugged her from behind. “Yes, but I see my beautiful wife didn’t. Thank you.”

  “You’ll tell me all about your visit with the president?”

  “Yes. But right now I have to get in and get going on this.” I dangled Rael’s cell in the air.

  The scowl on Miranda’s face told me I wasn’t going anywhere until I met Chris and had a bite, even if it was a quick one.

  “You know how much this means to Hilary.”

  I heard Hilary clear her throat, letting us know she was on the staircase.

  “No, Mom. If he needs to go, I understand.”

  “Why would you think a silly thing like that? I mean, I gotta eat. Might as well take a few minutes and eat here. Get to meet Chris too.”

  She rolled her eyes. Clearly she’d heard more than I wanted her to.

  “Run up and grab your sister for me, and I’ll help your mom finish up here.”

  The four of us sat around the dinner table staring at the biscuits, eggs, grits, sausage, and bacon laid out in front of us. I fidgeted impatiently as the clock neared 9:10.

  “He said he was on his way twenty minutes ago. If you need to go I understand, Dad.”

  “I have a few more minutes. It’s okay. Really.”

  Finally our doorbell rang. Hilary hurried over to get it.

  Miranda and I followed her, and Karen wasn’t far behind.

  “Hey, you. Get in here,” Hilary said, opening the door.

  “Everyone, this is Chris. Chris, this is everyone.”

  Chris half waved to us. Then he reached out to shake my hand. “Nice meeting you, Mr. Porter. And sorry I’m late. They have a roadblock set up not too far from here. Then a few more guys stopped me when I turned in. Guess you must be a pretty important guy, Mr. P. I can call you Mr. P, right?”

  I nodded. “It’s nice to finally meet you as well, Chris. We’ve heard so many good things about you.”

  We all made our way back to the table. I walked over to the window and opened the blinds a little. Sure as shit, there was a group of squad cars out front. I figured the FBI or Secret Service didn’t want to have to answer to anything happening to me.

  “So, Chris, do you live around here?”

  “Yes, sir. About ten minutes away.”

  “And I hear you’re quite the football player?”

  He turned and looked at Hilary, who found my question amusing.

  “Yes, sir. I have a few offers to play already.”

  “That’s good. Education is very important. I wouldn’t be where I am today without my education.”

  We chatted for another ten minutes and then I excused myself. I hated to run out on the young man, but the cell phone was burning a hole in my pocket.

  I kissed each of the girls and then Miranda.

  “Going to be late tonight for sure. Probably for the unforeseeable future.”

  She nodded. “I know.”

  I’d already texted Paul and Fingers and let them know I’d be there by ten. I had a missed call from the chief and two texts from Mullinski.

  When I turned into the gate, I noticed Paul’s car parked in the driveway. I got about ten yards from the front door and it swung open.

  “Got you a new toy, Fingers?”

  “Yup. I waste precious time walking over to let you in every time you swing by.”

  Paul had a smile that was a mile long. “You ready to suit up?” Paul asked.

  “Suit up for what, exactly?”

  “Just got a possible address for a Mr. Rokan Sheth.”

  A chill ran through me. I looked over at Fingers who was nodding, a sly smirk on his face.

  “Checking now to see if any CCTV footage in the area may have anything,” Fingers said.

  “Looks like he works for a small investment firm downtown,” Paul said.

  “Well, the last thing I want to do is blow this thing and let Rokan get away. Let’s find him and tail him for half a day first.”

  Paul shook his head. “Well, you know they aren’t just twiddling their thumbs. We know they’re planning the next phase of whatever they got going. The longer we let him roam, the more of this they carry out.”

  “I agree, and ninety-nine out of one hundred times I’d say let’s get him now. But we know he’s just a cog in this wheel. Maybe he leads us to something or someone. We tail him a few hours and then arrest him. Here’s the other thing, the moment he disappears off the grid, you can believe El Printo will know about it. What happens then, when they know we’re after them? Maybe they burrow in even deeper. It’s a gamble either way. Tonight I plan on interrogating Rokan Sheth, so let’s make it happen.”

  “Got it. I’ll work on Rokan,” Paul said.

  “Fingers, let’s see what the hell we can extract off this phone.”

  We plugged Rael’s burner phone into one of the laptops. I hoped we could find out where this phone was purchased and get any pictures, videos, phone calls, or texts we could. If it was anything like phones I’d gotten in the past, there wouldn’t be much on it. These guys were very good about deleting messages—even taking it a step further and deleting them from the phone’s memory, which required a few more steps. If Rael had been planning to leave
for days or weeks before he did, maybe he’d left some gems on purpose.

  I loved watching Fingers light up when he was working on a project. I wish everyone was able to find their passion in life. I’d found mine, and it was clear that Fingers had found his.

  He pushed his glasses onto his nose. “So today is just turning out to be your lucky day all the way around.”

  “Why? Whatcha got?” I asked.

  “Well, a few phone numbers for starters. Which means maybe I can get a position—big maybe. These calls were made days ago, and it’d take a while too.”

  “Okay. Maybe they turn up something. What’s that?” I asked, pointing to what appeared to be a video.

  “It looks like a video file in an unread text message.”

  “Click on it,” I said.

  Fingers clicked on the file, and we waited for the video to play.

  Chapter 26

  I didn’t want to believe my eyes. Someone had sent Rael a video of a woman being raped. Every man in the room had his face covered—every man but the rapist, who in my mind had to be one of the leaders. We watched in disgust, listening as the woman screamed and cried in horror. And in order for me to get every detail I could, I knew I’d have to watch this more than once.

  My stomach knotted. The video was only fifteen seconds long, but it left us all speechless.

  Fingers rolled his chair up next to me and patted me on the shoulder. “Sometimes—most of the time—this job is pretty shitty. People don’t realize that.”

  “We’re going to catch the maggots. Play it again,” I said.

  We watched again, looking beyond the characters on the screen to the walls. We were looking for anything in the room that could tip us off as to where these maniacs were.

  “You know this is probably Rael’s wife, right, David?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure of it. Looks like they were sending him a message. His phone had probably already died. Doubt he’s seen it.”

  “You going to show this to him?” Fingers asked.