by Terry Keys
“Thank you, Doctor. I can live with that answer. Now, pull both of those bodies out and search them from head to toe. Find me those needle wounds.”
I left my cell phone number with her and headed back to Fingers lab.
Chapter 37
I made it back across town fifteen minutes faster than I should have. I wasn’t normally the flash-your-badge-to-get-out-of-a-ticket type, but today I would have.
When I arrived at the lab, DeLuca was there waiting for me. I knew how devastated she must be. I’d been in her shoes, and you wanted to know everything—the good and the bad. This was definitely the bad.
The door swung open, and both DeLuca and Fingers were staring at me. Their faces showed devastation and a slight tinge of anger.
“What happened?” I asked.
Fingers pointed at the monitor. “Just watch.”
“Americans, this officer made a mistake tonight. We have tortured this man for several hours, and still he has not given up the name of his partner, the man who was with him when we captured him.”
Paul was kneeling in front of Rokan Sheth. His mouth was gagged, and it appeared they’d put something in his eyes so he couldn’t blink. That was a smart move, because otherwise he would have been sending me Morse code. His face was swollen and puffy, and his nose appeared broken.
I felt my blood boiling inside of me.
“We will give this man one day’s time to tell us or he will die. All praises to Allah!”
“Why do they want your name?” Fingers asked.
“If they capture me, maybe their torture tactics work. But they have to know who I am first. And because Paul isn’t talking, they have no one else to go after. He is their only source of intel right now. They want to know what we know about them.”
“So what now?” DeLuca asked, wiping tears from her face.
“Now I need a favor.”
I took out my cell and punched in Mullinski’s number.
“Let your superiors know that I’m close to a real cause of death, which I believe will help me zero in on them. I need a favor.”
“Okay. What’s the favor?”
“I need you to make a call to the main guys over at the FBI in Washington. I need Rael here in Houston.”
“What? He’s in segregation for a reason. Anyone finds out he’s here in Houston, out of jail, they’ll kill him.”
“Once they find out where he is, they’ll try to kill him anyway. The bottom line is, he’s worked with these guys. Hell, he was one of them. If anyone’s going to know their next move or maybe even identify players in these videos, it’s Rael. We can use him. We aren’t getting a darn thing out of him right now. The guy fled his country to help us. Let’s let him.”
“Could take a while, you know?”
“You know we don’t have a while. Do what you can do, but make it happen.”
I hung up with Mullinski and turned my attention back to the video.
“Play it again,” I said.
“We’ve watched it twenty times, David,” DeLuca said exasperated.
“Well, play in twenty-one times. We’ve obviously missed something.”
“There isn’t anything to miss. Listen to me, will you? You’re just torturing yourself. You did what you had to do. Maybe—”
I smashed my hand into the table, “Maybe what? Say it. Maybe if I hadn’t left him he’d be here right now? Is that what you want to say? Don’t you think I already know that? Don’t you think I feel bad enough already without you rubbing it in?”
I got up and stormed for the exit.
“David, would you calm the hell down? No one blames you. Where are you going? Come back,” I heard DeLuca yell after me.
I climbed into my truck and slammed the door. She hadn’t said it. The chief hadn’t said it. Neither had Mullinski, but I could see it on their faces.
Paul had been captured, and it was my fault.
Chapter 38
The night air across the Afghan border was a cool fifty-nine degrees. Hasan rode with Abu and Wadjet to their new hideout. Hasan had been tracking the hits on the video they’d uploaded a few hours earlier, and he was pleased.
“Abu, our video is getting many views. Allah is pleased with us.”
Abu nodded. He stroked Wadjet’s long black hair. Hasan couldn’t help but notice, and again his emotions flared up. Nothing was more important than the mission. That is what Abu had been preaching. Hasan wondered how much of what Abu said actually applied to him.
After all, his kids weren’t being groomed to be soldiers. They were taking other men’s children and asking them to blow themselves up.
The next hour went by in much the same fashion. Hasan wondered if he should speak up, but he knew how that would end. And unless he wanted his daughter to end up like Rael’s had, he’d better keep his thoughts to himself.
He stared out the window.
“Hasan, is something bothering you, my friend?” Abu asked.
Had it been that obvious? Was the disgust that Hasan felt inside showing on his face?
“Everything is great, Abu. Allah is good and he is in control.” Then he turned back to the window.
“Hasan, we have been together many months. It seems like something is bothering you regarding the mission.”
“What could be wrong, brother?” Hasan fought hard not to look over at Wadjet.
Abu smiled and dropped it—for now. Something was bothering Hasan, but if the man wasn’t ready to talk about it he couldn’t make him.
“Soon this phase will be over, Wadjet will be in play, and you will be the ruler of many American cities, Hasan.”
Hasan nodded, never looking away from the window.
Twenty minutes later, the caravan arrived at the first of two gates. A man wielding an AK-47 approached the vehicles and gave them a once-over. He waved them through to the next gate, about twenty yards ahead. The guard there also swept the vehicle and motioned them through. Finally, the truck stopped in front of their new home. The three of them waited for the door to be opened.
“The security team has swept the entire surroundings?” Abu asked.
“Yes, everything is ready for us,” Hasan replied.
The group went inside the two-story compound.
“Hasan, please show me to my living quarters. Wadjet, come with me. You will be rooming with me until you leave tomorrow.”
Before he realized it, Hasan clenched his fists. He’d become instantly enraged again. Abu noticed but pretended that he didn’t.
“Follow me, Abu.”
Hasan left the two of them in Abu’s new room and closed the door slightly harder than he intended to. He stopped in his tracks as the door suddenly opened behind him.
“Hasan, come.”
Hasan slowly walked back. “Yes, Abu?”
“Are we ready for Wadjet’s final day of training tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Yes. Everything is arranged.”
“What about her travel plans and her target package? Have all of the details been discussed?”
Hasan nodded. “The operation will be flawless. I will hear from Rokan later today, and the final plans will be made.”
Abu put his hand on Hasan’s shoulder. “You are a good soldier, Hasan. I trust you with my life.” And with that, he closed the door.
Hasan always had everything done. He was Abu’s right-hand man for a reason. And he had never failed a mission that Abu had given him.
The next morning a knock on Hasan’s door woke him.
“Sir, you have a note delivered to you from a Mr. Rokan Sheth.”
Hasan sprang to his feet and bolted to the door. He snatched the letter from the courier’s hand.
“Thank you. That will be all,” he said, sending the man away.
The message was just how Hasan liked it—short, sweet, and with no plan-altering news. The cop Rokan had taken hostage did concern Hasan a bit, but not too much. He’d just end up being another dead American they could use in recruitin
g efforts.
Hasan sent a message back to Rokan via courier. Thirty minutes later, Abu and Wadjet emerged from Abu’s room. Hasan took Wadjet over to the team that would give her final instructions.
“Wadjet, do you believe you are ready to carry out your mission?” Hasan asked.
“Yes. This will be a great victory,” she said.
Hasan turned to see Abu standing behind him.
“Is everything going according to plan, Hasan?”
“Yes. We have begun phase two, and we will soon launch phase three. America will never forget this. The world will never forget.”
Chapter 39
I’d been driving around aimlessly for thirty minutes when I decided to call Mullinski.
“You calm down yet?” he asked.
“I’m fine. How is the request to get Rael here in Houston going?”
“Still working on it. I told you it would take some time.”
“I’m all out of time. We are all out of time.”
“You already interrogated this guy once. Like I said before feels like a huge waste of time.”
“I did, but I have some new questions for him. My gut tells me he could be a huge asset.”
“My gut tells me you’d be making a huge mistake.”
“Well, your gut is a lot bigger than mine,” I said, smiling.
“I’m glad to see someone has their sense of humor back at least. I’ll call Washington and see what I can do to speed things up.”
“No. Call and make it happen. I need him here.”
I hung up and punched in Dr. Bergmand’s number.
“Detective, are you some sort of mind reader too?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“I had my phone in hand ready to dial you. So, I did find what are most likely needle puncture wounds on both men. Yoshida’s and Awad’s wounds were on their legs about midway up. Very small, which could have easily been written off as mosquito bites, ant bites or even just little pimples.”
“So how do you know they aren’t any of those things?”
“I can’t be one hundred percent certain, but they are consistent with one another. And this time I was actually looking for puncture wounds. These men died due to an injection of air from a needle.”
“We’ve got the rest of the leaders hidden now. This won’t happen again.”
I texted the president and asked for a secure line that I could call her on. My phone rang less than a minute later.
“Tell me your close.”
“I’m closer. I do know how they died.”
“Well?”
“They were both injected with a needle full of air.”
“What?”
“Causes a heart attack and leaves virtually no evidence. The coroner had to check the bodies twice just to find potential puncture wounds.”
“And you’re sure about this?”
“As sure as the doctor who told me. The evidence matches.”
“I don’t know, Detective. Seems like a stretch.”
“It’s called an air embolism. Only these weren’t cause accidentally, like when a diver decompresses too quickly. These were man-made.”
“Thank you. I have to run. Oh, and one more thing. I just want to remind you what’s at stake here. China has given us forty-eight hours to find these guys or they are . . . as they say, ‘coming to help.’ And the Russians, I’m hearing from intel, are mobilizing forces in a possible attempt to overthrow a weakened American government. This needs to end, Porter, and fast.”
I knew that after this was all over, my texting the President of the United States or anyone close to her would come to an abrupt end. It’d probably cost me a visit from three or four black-suited, sunglasses-wearing, serious-looking men. After that phone call, I’d actually welcome her losing my number.
I called DeLuca and told her to meet me back at my office. With the new information regarding Yoshida’s death, I wanted to go back to the restaurant in Chinatown.
After I scooped up DeLuca, we headed that way.
“So where are we going?” she asked.
“Back to where it all began.”
“Okay and what are you hoping to find this time that you didn’t before?”
I filled her in on what Dr. Bergmand and I had found out.
“What did Paul find out about Awad’s death? Did he see any video? Take any pictures?”
My head sank. “There were a few things he wanted to tell me, but we never got a chance to have that conversation.”
DeLuca paused for a second before finally responding.
“Okay, so Fingers gathered intel? We can talk to him when we return.”
“If needed. I have a good feeling that we are about to find a needle in a haystack.”
Chapter 40
We arrived in Chinatown and headed for the Fu Fu Café . From thirty yards away I could see that they were up and running again.
When we walked in, a greeter tried to seat us.
“We won’t be staying long. Can you get us your manager please?” I asked. I felt really good about our chances of finding some evidence here.
A young, pretty Asian girl arrived about a minute later. “How can I help you, sir?”
I flashed my badge. “My name is Detective David Porter. I need to get back into that room where Mr.—”
She interrupted. “I know where you want to go. Follow me.”
She opened the door and flipped a light switch on. “Here goes. Several men have been here. One came earlier today too.”
A lump rose in my throat. “Someone else came here today?” I asked.
“Yes. Another officer,” she said.
I took out a picture of Rokan Sheth and showed it to her. “Was this the man?”
She took the picture from me and studied it. “Yes. That is him. Is everything okay?”
“No. He took the piece of evidence that I came to get. He’s covering his tracks. That man isn’t a cop at all.”
The girl put her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry. Have I done something wrong?”
“How long ago was he here?” DeLuca asked.
“Umm, he left fifteen minutes ago maybe.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I gave her my card and asked her to call me if he came back again.
“I will. I promise I will. Again, I am sorry.”
“It’s okay. He would have fooled anyone,” I said.
“So what’s the play?” DeLuca asked as we climbed back into my truck.
I said nothing. Instead, I thumbed in Fingers’s number.
“Porter, what’s up?”
“The name of the restaurant where Awad was killed? Never mind the name. Send me the address now. Have to fill you in later. Pull up the CCTV cameras around there now and start recording.”
“Rokan is covering his tracks,” DeLuca said when I hung up the phone.
“Yes, and I’d bet a million to one he’s headed to”—I looked down at my phone—“Pho Thy.”
“I’ve been there, really good pho. It’s right behind Almeda mall.”
I floored it. Rokan had a head start on us, but I had Fingers surveilling the place.
“It’s a forty-five minute drive from here,” DeLuca said.
“Gives us plenty of time to catch up to him. We only need to make up fifteen minutes, right? And that’s why I have these.”
I dangled a set of lights and slammed their magnetic base onto my truck.
“And I presume the plan is to take him down at all costs?” she asked.
“We can’t let him get away this time. There’s too much riding on it.”
“Do you think they know about us removing the chips?”
“That’s a good question. I’d guess no, because the chips hadn’t moved.”
“Here’s something to mull over. They kill a few leaders like they did, and what’s the first move that America makes?” DeLuca asked me.
“To get them all to one location—a safe house.”
/> “Bingo. And if they’re all in one location, I don’t have to take them out one by one anymore,” she said.
“So you’re thinking . . . get them all in one place and then boom?”
“Why not? They forced your hand without forcing your hand. It’s extremely clever. And it worked. If you hadn’t found those chips and had them removed, well, they’d all be ticking time bombs—literally.”
My phone rang as I bobbed and weaved my way through the traffic.
“Porter, how far are you from the restaurant?”
“Less than five.”
“You might want to speed that up a tad. Looks like your friend Rokan Sheth just showed up. How’d you know he was going to be here?”
“Lucky guess. Be sure to keep the cameras rolling, okay?”
I disconnected with Fingers.
“Pull over there,” DeLuca said, pointing to an abandoned building.
We jumped out of the truck and sprinted for the restaurant.
“You take the back door. I’ll go in through the front. This guy’s going to be shaken and caught off guard here,” I said.
“Cornered animals bite. I got it.”
I nodded.
I waited long enough to give DeLuca time to get to the rear exit. Being a nearly twenty-year veteran on the force, I’d been in many gunfights. But each time could be my last, and I always kept that near the front of my brain. The nervousness that came along with that had started creeping into my mind.
The approach to the front door was solid glass. The whole thing was a giant window, which meant if I wasn’t careful in my approach, Rokan would see me. And thanks to the news conference a day earlier, he’d recognize me for sure.
I pulled on the glass door and stepped inside. I had my weapon drawn, but I wasn’t holding it out where it could be easily seen.
Suddenly, two gunshots whizzed by me and slammed into the window to my right. The sound of glass shattering deafened my ears. All the patrons jumped up to run outside. Some started yelling. Three men bumped into me trying to scramble out of the restaurant. I yanked my head around when three more shots fired into the window in front of Rokan.