by J. B. Tilton
"I don't know what to tell you. The money was an inheritance from my late uncle. I was planning on putting it in the bank the first thing in the morning."
"Hasaan, I believe you," said Scarborough. "But without something to corroborate your story, I'm not sure what I can do to help you. The police detective thinks it's money for a terrorist group. He thinks you're involved with them and you were delivering the money to them. Without something to back up your story I'm afraid it doesn't look good for you."
"But I have done nothing wrong," protested Munif. "It's not illegal to carry money, even large sums of money. And simply because I Arab and a Muslim does not mean I am a terrorist. "
"I know, I know," said Scarborough. "But you see there is one little thing that's been bothering me." He looked directly at Munif. "If this is as innocent as you say, I can't for the life of me figure out why you've been lying to me."
"I . . . I haven't been lying," stammered Munif.
"Who's Stewart Kranston?" Conrad suddenly asked.
"Who?" questioned Munif, very nervously.
"Stewart Kranston," Conrad repeated. "He's the one who gave you the money."
"Stewart Kranston is a genetic biologist," said Jeremy. "He's done some remarkable in genetic engineering that has helped fight many diseases."
"And a man with ties to known terrorist groups," said Scarborough.
"I don't know a Stewart Kranston," insisted Munif.
"Sure you do," said Conrad. "He gave you the money and asked you to deliver it to someone. A Harold Baker. You were supposed to deliver the money to him later tonight."
"How could you know," Munif began and then caught himself. He simply sat staring at Conrad.
"Who's Harold Baker?" Scarborough asked.
"I don't know," said Munif. "Honestly, I don't know him. I never met him."
"So you want us to believe that you're delivering $50,000.00 to a man you've never met? And that you had no idea the money came from a man with known terrorist ties?"
"It's true," said Munif. Jeremy indicated to Scarborough that Munif was now telling the truth. "I never heard of Harold Baker before today. And I didn't know that Mr. Kranston was connected to terrorists. You have to believe me. I'm not a terrorist and I don't have any dealings with them."
Jeremy indicated he was still telling the truth.
"Hasaan, I think you're telling the truth now. But you did lie to me before. That doesn't look good for you. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. You tell me the truth now. The entire truth. No more lies. And I'll see what I can do about helping you. I'll use all my influence with the police detective to see that you aren't charged as a terrorist."
"Okay," said Munif in resignation. "What do you want to know?"
"Why did you have $50,000.00 with you in your truck?"
"Stewart Kranston gave it to me. I knew who he was. Someone at the mosque where I worship introduced me to him a while back. Mr. Kranston came to me today and said he needed to get the money to Harold Baker for some work he had done for him. But he said he was tied up and couldn't deliver the money himself. He asked me if I would deliver it to him."
"And you agreed? Just like that?"
"Well, at first I was suspicious. I mean, who delivers $50,000.00 in cash? But then Mr. Kranston said that only $40,000.00 was for Baker. He said I could keep the extra $10,000.00 for my trouble."
"And you didn't find that just a bit odd?"
"Well, yeah. But like I said, I had no idea Mr. Kranston was involved with terrorists. I thought there might be something shady about the deal. But it was $10,000.00. Do you know how long I'd have to work to make that kind of money? I was going to send most of it back to some family I still have in Saudi Arabia."
"You didn't even think that maybe there was something illegal about it?"
"Yeah, I guess so. But one of the guys I work with cheats on his income tax. Claims his mother as a dependant even though she died three years ago. Another guy takes money out of petty cash and puts in fake receipts to cover it. I couldn't see any harm in doing it. I was only delivering the money after all. And it was $10,000.00. I figured, who'd know? So I agreed."
"Where were you supposed to deliver the money?" Scarborough asked.
"A place in Southeast D.C. I have the address right here. I was supposed to take my share and deliver the rest to this address. Mr. Kranston told me to leave the money in a large box inside the entryway door. He said this Baker would be watching and he'd pick up the money after I left."
"What time?" Jeremy asked.
"Ten o'clock tonight. Like I said, I didn't see any harm in it. I was only delivering some money, not doing anything illegal. And I swear I had no idea there were terrorists involved. If I had known that I would have gone straight to the police. I swear it."
Jeremy indicated to Scarborough that Munif had been telling the truth.
"Okay, Hasaan, sit tight. I'll go have a chat with Peters and see if we can't work something out."
Jeremy, Scarborough, and Conrad left the room and went into the observation room where Peters had been watching the entire exchange.
"I have to hand it to you, Rick. These guys are as good as you said they were. I don't think I've ever seen a suspect crack that quickly."
"Well, he was telling the truth about the money," said Jeremy. "Kranston simply asked him to deliver it and keep the rest for himself. Any idea who this Harold Baker is?"
"I'm having a check run on him right now," said Peters. "As soon Munif mentioned his name. We should have something in a few minutes."
"The question is, what do we do now? We can't just let Munif walk. Even though he really didn't know what he was doing, we can't let him have the money. And in all likelihood he'd go running right back to Kranston and tell him what happened. Besides, it would look very suspicious if we just let him go."
"What if we didn't let him go?" Jeremy asked. "What if he escaped?"
"What are you getting at?" Peters asked.
"Well, what if we told Munif that Lt. Peters was going to charge him as a terrorist? Despite everything Richard tried to do for him? And what if, when he was being taken down to booking, the police officer escorting him should get 'distracted' in some way? What do you think Munif would do?"
"As nervous as he is I'd say he'd run. Assuming he felt he had a reasonable chance of getting away."
"Exactly. Now, we could spend days, weeks even, trying to track down where Kranston is. And Richard is right. Munif is very likely to go back to Kranston to tell him what happened to the money. All we would need is someone to tail Munif and find out where he goes."
"That's not a bad idea," said Scarborough. "We let the terrorists do our work for us, for a change."
"And you expect me to let a suspect just walk out of the station?" questioned Peters. "I can't do that, even for you, Rick."
"To be honest, Glen," said Scarborough, "if this is terrorist connected, it becomes my jurisdiction. It's now a matter of national security and not a local police matter. You have to turn him over to me anyway, and you know it. Especially since you don't have anything you can charge him with."
"I've got the broken tail light," said Peters.
"Versus a terrorist connection? Come on, Glen. You know as well as I do that as soon as the word 'terrorist' came up, you'd be calling me in anyway. How about this? You turn him over to me just as you would under normal circumstances. Once I've signed off on the paperwork he becomes my problem, not yours. And if he should escape after that you wouldn't have anything to explain to your superiors."
"Well," said Peters thoughtfully, "I suppose that once he was in your custody I wouldn't have much to say about how you handled the situation. And an escape while he's in your custody would reflect on your record, not mine. But you think it's really a good idea to let him escape? What if he gets away?"
"You just let me worry about that," said Scarborough. "All I need to know is if you'll turn custody over to me?"
"Well, like you said, I
really don't have any choice. It will take a little time to get the paperwork in order. In the mean time he'll stay where he is. Once custody is transferred to you, you can do what you want."
"Thanks, Glen," said Scarborough. "Now we need to decide the best way for Mr. Muniz to affect his escape."
"I think the first thing we need to do is let Mr. Muniz know that he's going to be charged as a terrorist," said Jeremy. "Give him some time to sit and think about it. That will make it more likely that he'll try to escape. Then we can decide on how best to let him escape without it looking like we're letting him escape."
"Okay," said Scarborough. "I'll go break the 'bad news' to our friend in there. Then we'll figure out the best way for him to escape."
Munif had sat in the interrogation room for more than two hours. He was getting very nervous. Scarborough had told him that, despite his best efforts, the lieutenant had insisted he was a terrorist. He had even called Scarborough's boss who had decided Munif should be brought in for further questioning. And Scarborough said his boss was very adamant that anyone dealing with terrorists was to be charged as one themselves.
Jeremy watched Munif through the one-way mirror in the observation room. He constantly paced back and forth across the room. He even tried the door several times to see if it was unlocked. Finally Jeremy decided that Munif was ready.
They escorted Munif out of the interrogation room to another room where was another man waiting. And older man who had long hair and was unshaven. The man was shackled and sitting in the room by himself. Unlike the man, Munif was not shackled
"Grimes," said the lieutenant coming into the room. "Your ride will be here in a minute. Good riddance to you, too."
Peters left the two in the room alone. The older guy looked at Munif.
"What they got you for?" he asked.
"They think I'm a terrorist," said Munif. "But I'm not. I swear I'm not."
"Hey, kid, I believe you. But nothing I can do about it. I killed a cop. The scum deserved it. He was shaking me down. But they don't care about that. All they know is I killed a cop. But I'll get me a good lawyer. Get off on mental disturbance or something. Spend some time in a nice comfy hospital room and then they'll let me go."
"What about me? Where can I get a lawyer?"
"You kidding? If they think you're a terrorist you won't get a lawyer. They'll lock you in a small cell somewhere and sweat you for anything they think you know. It could be months or years before they decide you don't know anything. I heard about it before. Patriot Act and all. If they think you're a terrorist you ain't got no rights. You'll just disappear somewhere."
"That's not right," protested Munif. "I haven't done anything."
"Don't matter to them." He looked around and then pulled a small key out of his shoe. "I lifted this from one of the guards. Faked a stomach cramp. When he helped me off the floor I just picked his pocket. As soon as they take us out to the van to transport us I'm going to make my move."
Munif watched as the man opened his shackles and then closed them just enough to make it look like he was still shackled. Then he sat patiently waiting for the guards to come back. When they did there were two guards, Peters, and Scarborough. They escorted the two men outside to a nearby waiting police van.
"Okay, Grimes, get in," said Peters. "You'll be making one stop before you get to booking. And I'll be glad to testify at your trial."
"Whatever you say, lieutenant," said Grimes in a sarcastic tone.
He stepped up to the van and put one foot on the bumper. Acting as if he were going to get in the vehicle, he suddenly opened the shackles and they fell to the ground. Then he turned and pushed the lieutenant, knocking him into one of the guards. Without waiting Grimes turned and started to run from the van.
But the second guard was close. He reached out and grabbed Grimes and the two tumbled to the ground wrestling. Scarborough turned to help the guard and when Peters and the other guard gained their footing they, too, tried to help subdue Grimes.
As the five men wrestled on the ground Munif looked around. The street was just a few short yards away. It was dark and once he was out of sight he would disappear into the darkness. He looked again at the men scuffling on the ground and back at the street beyond. The police were so involved with trying to subdue Grimes that Munif was all but forgotten for the moment. Munif suddenly turned and sprinted for the street. Within a few seconds he had disappeared into the darkness beyond and was gone.
"Okay, he's away," said Grimes, suddenly becoming very docile.
The other men stopped fighting with him and Peters helped Grimes up off the ground.
"You were convincing," said Scarborough. "I thought you were actually trying to escape."
"I was," said Grimes. "Had to make it look convincing for your friend. He's probably two blocks away by now the way he was running."
"Not without that tail I put on him," said Scarborough. "Thanks, Detective Grimes. I appreciate the help."
"Hey, anything I can do to help put the bad guys away," replied Grimes. "I just hope he leads to you wherever he's supposed to lead you."
"I'm sure he will. Glen, I appreciate all the help. You have no idea how important this is. I'm sorry I can't tell you more."
"Well, can't say I'm real happy about being kept in the dark," said Peters. "But we're all on the same side. If this helps you catch some bad guys higher up than I figure it's worth it. Say hi to John for me the next time you see him. Tell him to stop by soon. He hasn't been around in a while and I'd like to catch up."
"I'll do that," said Scarborough. "Well, I'd better go get Jeremy and Conrad. We need to see where Munif is going to lead us."
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Munif moved through the streets of D.C. for nearly two hours. He was very careful to avoid any streetlamps whenever possible. And when he saw a police car cruising the streets he would step back into the shadows until it had passed. Jeremy and Scarborough tailed him from a discrete distance. It was simple to keep track of him. Even when they lost him in the darkness Jeremy would use his ability and was able to locate him easily by his aura.
Finally Munif stepped into an all-night diner on the outskirts of D.C. He moved to the back and took a seat in a booth that partially obscured him from the door. He ordered only a cup of coffee and then sat apparently waiting for something. From their vantage point parked outside Jeremy and Scarborough could easily see him while being obscured by the darkness of the night.
"What do you think?" Jeremy asked.
"My guess is he was told that if anything went wrong to come here and he'd be contacted," said Scarborough. "Kranston isn't going to be happy when he learns he's lost $50,000.00. Not to mention Baker, whatever his role is in all this."
"What did you learn about baker?"
"Not much. Chronically unemployed. Holds a series of small, menial jobs but none lasts more than about 6 months. The last address on him was Madison Drive NW and 15th Street NW in D.C."
"I assume you have people checking out that address all ready."
"No need to. It's a fake. That address is the street address for the Washington Monument."
"Oh that's great. Any idea why a man like Baker might want to pay him $40,000.00?
"Well, he's got a small rap sheet. Petty burglaries, breaking and entering, some assault charges. Nothing really major. Spent some time in prison but always goes right back to what he was doing when he gets out. But I'm not sure what Kranston would want him for. Or what he could be doing that would be worth forty grand."
"Kranston has a good reputation in the medical community. Why would he be associating with someone like Baker?"
"I wish I knew, my friend. Maybe if we find him we can ask him. All we can do now is wait and see if anyone contacts Munif. When they do we might get some of the answers we're looking for."
"I hope so," said Jeremy. "The State of the Union Address is only a few days off. We're running out of time."
"I know. I'm not sure what we
're going to do is something doesn't turn up soon."
Munif sat in the coffee shot for several hours nursing his cup of coffee. He kept glancing at the clock on the wall and then at the front door. After a while it became apparent to even Jeremy and Scarborough that no one was going to show up. Scarborough had nearly decided the entire stakeout was a waste of time when Munif suddenly got up and left the coffee shop.
They followed him through the streets of D.C. for a long while. Eventually he arrived at a small frame house in one of the suburbs. Without hesitation he entered the house through a back door. No lights came on after he was inside.