by Terry Keys
And before I knew it, Rokan was running. I turned back to the front door and swiveled around to find him. He was in an all-out sprint around the back of the building. I took out my phone and frantically called DeLuca.
“He’s headed your way!” I yelled as she picked up.
I heard a plastic crackling noise. Something had fallen to the ground – maybe her cell phone.
I made it to the corner of the building and slowed in case Rokan was there waiting for me. Slowly, I poked my gun then my head out around the corner.
“Freeze!” I heard DeLuca shout.
Then I heard Rokan yell out, “Allahu Akbar!”
Just as I rounded the corner, I saw Rokan lift his gun to his head and fire one round into his skull. DeLuca and I both reached the body at the same time. A pool of blood had already formed under Rokan’s head and was rapidly spreading on the concrete.
“Can’t say I’m surprised it ended this way,” I said.
“Yeah, I would’ve been shocked if it had ended any other way.”
Chapter 41
Several HPD units pulled up within minutes, and one of them barricaded the body. A few others began to work the growing crowd.
I took off toward the restaurant. “I’m going back in to get what we came for,” I said.
“How will you even know where to look?” DeLuca asked.
“Honestly, I won’t. I know he had dancers brought in. I’m sure they only host that type of activity in one or two rooms. I mean, the place isn’t that big. We dig until we find the needle.”
“Let’s say we find it—then what? You looking for prints? She was probably wearing gloves. Maybe we could trace the—”
“Well, hopefully we have prints. It would have been extremely odd for a dancer to put on gloves. Unless maybe it was a part of some costume. That would be a great way to cover up the fact that she needed gloves on. And yeah, trace what? Remember, this needle was filled with air. I want to lift some prints if any exist. Fingers is already running facial recognition on the girls who came here and the girls who murdered Yoshida. Once we get a hit, maybe we can find out who they met with and put a trace on the money.”
My phone chimed as a new text came in. It was from Fingers – I accessed it.
“Got a location on the phone that sent Rael the video of his wife being assaulted. Coordinates are at the Afghan-Iran border.”
That was the best news I’d heard in two days.
“No ID on the owner yet?” I text him back.
“No.”
I’d have to call the president as soon as I left here.
DeLuca and I scoured the room the waitstaff pointed us to.
“Is there something we can help you find, Detective?” the manager asked me.
“Looking for a needle. Would have at least been yay big.” I demonstrated with my hands about ten inches apart.
“One of my workers found a needle like that. She brought it to me. No one could say where it came from. It was thrown out in the dumpster. And I’m afraid that was picked up already.”
“You’re sure?” DeLuca quizzed him.
“Yes, positive. I’m sorry. I didn’t know that it had some importance.”
“It’s no problem. You couldn’t have known,” I said, patting him on the shoulder.
DeLuca and I finished up and headed back to the lab.
I phoned the president and put her on speaker.
“Twice in one day, Mr. Porter?”
“We may actually have a location.”
“Let me dial you on a secure line.”
A minute later, my phone rang.
“So tell me what you have, Detective. I’ll decide how good the intel is.”
“A video was sent to Rael’s phone a few days go.”
“Phone? What phone? I don’t remember any talk of a recovered cell phone.”
I was afraid of this. I knew telling her about the location of the transmission meant I’d have to spill the beans about the phone Rael offered me up.
“Rael told me about a phone he stashed. I’m pretty certain we discussed it back when I was in DC. We’ve traced it to the Afghan-Iran border. We know exactly where it was sent from.”
“So what’s your plan?”
“I want to send in a SEAL team like we did when we killed Osama bin Laden—without the helicopter crash. There’s a two-story compound, and we’re just starting to set up a profile of the house and area. This operation would usually take a few days or weeks to plan out.”
“I’ll see what military help I can get you. If you say you need a SEAL team, I’ll make it happen. You’ll need to work with them on this operation every step of the way. And you’ll have hours, not days, here, Detective. I’ll have someone contact you very soon.”
Chapter 42
After we got back to the lab, I had Fingers show me everything we had on the location of that cell phone transmission to Rael’s phone.
“How close can we zoom in to that compound?” I asked.
“Well, thanks to Google Earth, we can get a good ground view of the entire compound,” Fingers replied.
I took over the controls and went around the entire complex. I studied every window and door around the entire building. We had to find the best breach point—one that got us the quickest access with the least amount of resistance.
My cell phone rang. It was a DC number that I didn’t recognize.
“Porter,” I said.
“Detective Porter, this is Captain Link with the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Division. I’ve been in communication with the President.”
“Yes, sir, I’ve been expecting your call.”
“Detective, this has been classified as a kill-or-capture mission for El Printo and any other militant operatives that we find in this compound. The president has named the mission Operation Blue Star. We will be tying you in with officers from the CIA at Langley in about ten minutes.”
“Okay. What do you need from me?” I asked.
“For starters, I’ll need you to tell me everything you know about El Printo, his team, and their operation.”
I spent the next fifteen minutes filling Captain Link in on what we had found out, along with the information that Rael had given us.
“Captain, I’m going to place you on hold for a minute.”
I muted the phone and set it down beside me.
“DeLuca, I need you to meet Mullinski and Khalid at the station. Rael should be arriving from DC any minute now. Take the three of them to my office and lock yourselves in. We will get you linked in, and you can follow from my computer. I’ll want Rael’s eyes and ears on this.”
“What the hell are you thinking? He’d be privy to a live, ongoing U.S. military investigation and operation,” Mullinski said.
“Detective, if we fail there won’t be a U.S. I understand your concern, but there is more at stake right now than ever before in this country’s history. Let me know when you get everyone set up.”
“Captain Link, I’m back with you,” I said as DeLuca headed for the door.
“Good. I have Admiral Redder, the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command at Langley, on the phone.”
“Detective Porter, Admiral Redder here. We have two four-man teams in the air. ETA is one hour. That’s not much time for an operation of this magnitude. We have the coordinates sent over by your guy and a 3D image of that compound.”
Fingers reached over and muted the phone. “Sounds like we’re hunting bin Laden all over again,” he said.
“Bin Laden killed thousands of Americans and planned to kill thousands more. El Printo is planning to kill millions of Americans and wipe the United States off the map.”
I unmuted the phone.
“The plan, Detective, is kill or capture these monsters and end this tonight,” Captain Link said.
My phone chimed as DeLuca called in. I made the three-way connection.
“I understand, Captain. I know you guys aren’t keen on surprises, but we’v
e got one that I need to share. A former member of El Printo’s team turned himself in earlier this week. I got a chance to interrogate this man myself. I believe he can be a valuable asset.”
“Detective, you want a former terrorist to sit in on one of the most important missions in U.S. history?” Admiral Redder asked.
“We may only get one shot at this, Admiral. I understand the stakes, and if I hadn’t talked to this guy myself, I’d feel the same way. This guy has been through a lot and put his family through even more. I don’t think he would have if his heart hadn’t changed. If we’re going to catch these guys, we are going to need all hands on deck.”
Hesitantly they both agreed.
“Detective DeLuca, will you bring Rael in please?”
I waited a second to give them time to get settled.
“Go ahead Rael, Detective Porter can hear you,” DeLuca said.
“Hello,” Rael said.
“Rael, it’s Detective Porter. We met a few days ago in DC. Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Detective. How are you today?”
“I’m great. Listen, on the line with us we have Admiral Redder and Captain Link. The U.S. Navy has been kind enough to lend us a few of their bravest men to try to capture El Printo and end this. Right now we are in the middle of an active on-going mission to apprehend them.”
“That will never be possible,” Rael said.
“And why the hell not?” Captain Link spoke up.
“There are men throughout Afghanistan who are watching for American helicopters like the ones used to capture our brother Osama bin Laden. El Printo pays men to watch,” Rael said.
“He ain’t no brother of mine,” Admiral Redder said.
“All men and women are children of Allah, Admiral. Even bad men. Islam is quite clear on that,” Rael said.
I couldn’t believe my ears. Before this operation even got started we were already at behind the eight ball.
“Listen, I don’t pray to no damn Allah. I pray to God. You hear me, Mr. Rael?” Captain Link said.
“What the hell is going on?” Fingers mouthed to me.
“Allah simply means God Captain—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” Rael said.
“Wait a minute. You Muslims pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob too?” Mullinski chimed in.
“Who the hell is that?” Admiral Redder asked.
“Agent Mullinski, FBI,” he said.
“Listen, now that we all know which God everyone is praying to, Rael, can you please tell us anything we need to know before the choppers arrive? We got about five minutes before they land,” I added.
Fingers and I watched the helicopters approach on the monitors in front of us.
“El Printo has paid men to shoot any suspicious helicopters down. Your soldiers are in grave danger. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you,” Rael said.
Captain Link phoned in to the helicopter pilots, warning them about possible rocket launcher attacks and to be on the lookout.
“As soon as you get into Afghani airspace, you will have problems,” Rael said. “Trust me.”
“Mr. Rael, can you please keep it down over there?” Admiral Redder asked.
“Everyone be advised that the president has asked to be included via video conference,” Captain Link told the group.
“Has she been briefed?” I asked.
No one answered, and a minute later she was on.
“What’s our ETA?” President Wilson asked.
“Just crossing the Afghan border now, ma’am,” Captain Link told her.
One minute went by—then two. I covered the phone with my other hand.
“I sure hope Rael isn’t right, or we’re going to have a whole lot of questions to answer,” I said. “Do you hear that?”
Faintly I could hear what sounded like gunshots.
“We’re taking fire!” one of the helicopter pilots yelled out.
Chapter 43
I could hear bullets ricocheting off the helicopters. We watched as the big birds dipped in and out, trying to get the gunmen to miss. I replayed what Rael had told us over and over in my head. My heart sank. If this mission failed . . . I didn’t even want to think about it. Fingers put his hand on my knee to still the mindless tapping that occurred sometimes when I got nervous.
“This is what I tried to warn you about,” Rael said.
Both units fired back, but it was hard to tell if any of their shots reached their targets. And I was sure it was more to scare them off than anything else.
“This is bad, Porter,” Fingers whispered to me.
“We’ve taken a fair amount of gunfire,” one of the pilots said. “We’ll have to assess the damage when we touch down.”
“Captain Link, have a team on standby in case this turns into a rescue mission,” the admiral said. “God knows that’s the last thing we need.”
“Roger that. We are about five minutes out,“ the pilot added. “I can see the compound up ahead.”
Two seconds later, the compound came into view for the rest of us.
“You’ve got about thirty minutes on the ground before it’s as black as all get-out, Corporal,” Link added.
“Can you see the compound, Rael? Is that the place?” I asked.
“Yes. That is it,” he said.
“One of the SEALs will be hooked up to us the entire time, Rael. Anything that you can add will help us out,” Redder told him.
“I will help in any way I can.”
The helicopters touched down fifty yards from the compound. We watched as eight SEALs descended.
The SEAL in front had a camera mounted to his helmet. We’d all gone silent. There was an outer fence that surrounded the compound. The men hurried through it and up to the front door of the compound.
“Abu’s kids often visited us,” Rael said. An obvious reference to the toys that lay strewn around the front yard.
A battering ram was used on the front door, and the men began filing in. In the first room we could see nothing but some sparse furniture. All the noise from the helicopters and the door being kicked in surely would have piqued someone’s curiosity, but so far we saw no one.
Two minutes turned into five. Then five into ten. Every room was searched. Every closet, nook and cranny. No one was there.
“Lt. James here, sir. I’m not certain you can still see what we can here on the ground. We’ve searched the whole place. There’s no one here.”
“Affirmative, Lieutenant. Rael, this is Admiral Reeder. Are you one hundred percent certain this is the right compound?”
“I am positively certain. I was there for many months. They have moved locations. This was done to prevent what happened to bin Laden.”
“Any earthly idea where the hell they’d be moving to?”
“No, sir. I left prior to any discussions of moving.”
“He’s lying!” Captain Link shouted.
“Hey, calm down,” I said. “At this point, Rael’s got nothing to gain by lying to us. Keeping on the move makes a whole lot of sense. If you stay in one place too long, you’re a sitting duck. You know, they know, hell, everyone knows that eventually the United States armed forces will track you down. Lt. James, get back outside and see if those pilots have completed the damage assessment to those birds, and report back to us.”
“Roger that, Detective.”
“Porter is right, Captain,” Admiral Redder said. “And we need to get those boys out of there ASAP, before we get more company.”
“Porter, work with Rael and figure out where these guys have moved on to,” President Wilson interjected. “You found this place. I’m confident you can find the new hiding spot too. Just know you don’t have the luxury of time on your side.”
Chapter 44
Sally Kincer sat nervously on the park bench, waiting for her friend/informant to arrive. This story sounded so exciting. She’d been writing for the NY Times for nearly a decade, mostly on small pieces here and there and a decent-size
d editorial every now and then. But if what her informant had told her was correct, this story could be life changing. It could put her on the map, launch her fledging career. Heck, one day it might lead to a book deal or maybe even a movie contract. She could see herself writing a script for some big-time Hollywood executive.
Sally wondered what her sister would say now. Ever since high school, Jackie had been the sister in the limelight. And when it became clear that she was headed into law and then politics, Sally knew she would forever be considered the underachieving sister. And now here she was, on the cusp of finally getting her due recognition as an investigative journalist. “Eat your heart out, big sister,” Sally muttered with a laugh. Despite how big this story was, it still wouldn’t compare to being the first female president of the United States. Who was she really kidding? Sally sighed.
Marty told her he’d be here with the girl at nine a.m. sharp. Where the hell was he? She looked down at her watch again—9:05. Had something gone wrong? Had Marty been mistaken? Had she been lied to? Marty had never lied to her before.
She looked across the park and saw Marty with a fragile-looking Middle Eastern teenager a step behind him. Sally could feel her face reddening. There she was. This was really happening. This was big. No, this was epic. Everyone would want a piece of this young girl. And after her piece was published, everyone would want a piece of Sally Kincer. Pulitzer Prize here we come.
Sally stood up, smiled, and reached out her hand. “Hi, my name is Sally. What’s your name?”
The girl cowered behind Marty.
“Hey, Sally. She is extremely shy. The poor girl’s been through a lot. Takes a minute, but she’ll warm up to you.” He turned to the girl. “It’s okay. This is the nice lady I’ve been telling you about.” Marty’s phone buzzed but he ignored it.
“I won’t bite, I promise. I think you’re amazing. I mean, everything you’ve gone through and surviving it all. Every little girl needs to hear your story. You’re a hero. A real hero.”
The girl peeked out from behind Marty and stuck out her hand. “My name is Dari.”
“Well hello, Dari. Nice to meet you.”