This time, Angela interrupted to ask if they knew if Ronnie was still in DC Metro Police custody.
“You’re ahead of me, I was just getting there,” said Josh. “Many of you know most of this, but I want to bring you up to date. If this had been any other case, the DA might not have even pursued the case against Ronnie because all of the evidence was circumstantial. There were no prints or other hard evidence, and the only witness was an old man who could easily have been discredited in court. However this was no ordinary case, and no one bothered to call the DA. Instead, DC Metro transferred Ronnie to the offices of the secret service. Sadeem Ali, once the head of one of Iraq’s most gruesome torture camps, took over the questioning using methods similar to those he had employed years earlier when he had interrogated prisoners in his native country.”
“How do you know all of this General?” interrupted Tony.
Josh told them what had happened to Ronnie in pretty vivid detail, considering he wasn’t there.
“I have an informant with the secret service, a good man who once served under me. He told me that Ronnie was going to break. He had no doubts. He understood the risks he faced, especially regarding consequences of his involvement. Not only did he risk his life, but he had a good career going with a nice pension. He risked everything because he strongly felt that our cause was just and his action necessary. I would have preferred extracting Ronnie but that wasn’t possible. During the night, he mercifully shot and killed Ronnie and then escaped.
Now there were gasps in the room from almost everyone. Neither Qasim nor Makim showed any emotion.
Nicky, on the other hand, had tears in his eyes as he listened to Josh’s explanation. He appreciated the sensitivity that Josh had shown by phoning him in advance of the killing, but he took it especially hard, given that he was the one who had dragged Ronnie into this. And how was he going to face Tina?
“I know what you’re thinking,” injected Josh, “but you have to understand what we were dealing with and what Ronnie was going through. Trust me when I tell you that Ronnie was not going to survive under any circumstances. Tommy said that once they got the information they wanted from Ronnie, they were going to kill him. Over his two-day incarceration that included no sleep at all, Ronnie was hung upside-down, deprived of air, kicked, whipped, and beaten. Tommy had no doubt that more beatings, electric shocks, and even the possibility of being sodomized were in Ronnie’s future. Sadeem Ali treats his dog with more compassion and Sadeem has the reputation of getting prisoners to do anything he wants them to do including killing their best friends. This situation was not going to end well.
My informant is in hiding right now as the Secret Service is undoubtedly looking for him. I spoke to him this morning, and he’s in a safe house that I had arranged in advance in DC, thinking that we might need it for Ronnie if the situation was such that he could not get out of DC and needed a place to hole up. The plan right now is for him to stay there unless he hears from me telling him that it’s safe for him to leave. I won’t do that until we’re in complete control.”
“One final item for discussion is Ronnie’s wife. I don’t know her or have any personal feelings about the situation. We don’t know what she knows about Ronnie’s mission or who hired him. My real concern is whether she’ll keep quiet if she does know.”
“Well,” started Nicky, “I’d be surprised if she knew anything about his mission. I’ve known Ronnie for a long time, and he was a tight-lipped son of a bitch about his assignments. Tina was used to it and wouldn’t have pressed him. However, I’m sure that she knows that me and Ronnie had a meeting in Philly. I guess if the feds pump her for information and she mentions my name, it won’t be too great a leap to consider me as the guy who hired him. They won’t be able to prove it. But I ain’t takin’ any chances. I need to lay low for a while ‘til I see how this shakes out. But first I’ll get hold of Tina to make sure that she’s ok and see if we need to worry.”
“Good idea. We don’t need any problems.”
Nicky interrupted. “What about the money, General? We promised Ronnie another twenty-five G's when he completed the job. I say we give Tina the money.”
“Well, that would be a nice gesture, Nicky, except I don’t have the other $25,000 to pay her. I only had the front half and assumed that we’d figure something out later.”
Nicky was obviously pissed off. “Are you shittin’ me? You told me you had the dough. We hired a guy and didn’t have the money to pay him?” He stood to leave. “If she freakin’ knows about the money, she’s gonna want it, or she might try to get even.”
“Technically, Ronnie is not around to collect, but I’ll see if there is some way to get the money if I have to. Hopefully, I won’t. It’s not a high priority.”
Nicky stormed out of the room.
With that discussion over, Josh ended the meeting with a final warning. “We can’t afford to be lackadaisical or get sloppy. As always, stay off of your computers regarding our mission. Be careful about what you say to the others, especially outsiders, about our meetings and plans. We can’t afford mistakes. There is a shredder outside the door. Shred your agendas before you leave.”
He turned to Tarif.
“I need to know everything that Abbas knows, what he is thinking, and what his plans are.”
Chapter 49
Sadeem Ali hated middle of the night calls. He arrived at work within a half hour along with about ten other agents on the on-call list. He screamed at everyone within earshot to go out and find that ass wipe, Tommy Whitehead. Tommy had just shot and killed, Ronnie Tartaglione, his best hope of finding out why he had assassinated Omar Khalid, who had ordered the hit, and what the “bigger” plan might be. He was sure that the killing of the White House chief of staff was about something much greater than this one outwardly meaningless act. After two days of interrogation, Sadeem had stepped over the line by waterboarding Ronnie Tartaglione. Although many considered it torture, to Sadeem, it was an old and very effective method of interrogation. After days of enduring extreme hot and cold, psychological games, solitary confinement, sexual humiliation, and some other techniques that failed to produce any results his prisoner was finally ready to crack.
Why would he do this thought Sadeem? Tommy was one of his best men. Hell, last month he participated in classes on sensory deprivation and bombardment as a means to break a person during interrogation. In fact, he was recently involved, with Sadeem, in using those methods to break prisoners.
“Dip the fingers in sulfuric acid and pull out all of the teeth.” Sadeem then gave the orders for Ronnie’s body to be cut up in small unidentifiable pieces and disposed of quickly. He then swore everyone to secrecy.
He could not let the White House know that someone killed Ronnie. He had to convince the president that he had somehow escaped and that the Secret Service was going to find him and bring him back for even more brutal questioning. The president would be angry, he knew, but he felt that he would accept an escape better than he could a murder because with an escape, came hope; hope that he could be recaptured, interrogated, and would provide answers that President Abbas wanted.
With butterflies in his stomach, Sadeem hesitated before picking up the phone to make his call. He looked at the clock. It was just after 3 am. “Crap, he’s not going to like me waking him up at this hour with this shitty news.”
After three rings the president answered the phone. Sadeem gave him a story he had concocted about the prisoner asking to use the restroom and then escaping through the bathroom window. It was a little far-fetched given the security that they had at the dungeon, but he felt confident that the president would buy it. Sadeem thought Abbas took the news about as well as one could expect. He hung up and, sinful as it was, decided that he needed a drink. It was early in the morning but in this job a small amount of alcohol to calm his nerves seemed defensible.
At the White House, the president was furious. “Damn it,” shouted Ahmad as he slammed down the
phone. Why was it that all of these bullshit phone calls happened during the night? Sadeem was a good man who did an outstanding job. Until now, Ahmad had complete trust in him. But he didn’t believe a word of this crazy story about Ronnie Tartaglione escaping from the dungeon. That wasn’t even remotely believable and if he couldn’t trust Sadeem, who could he trust?
Chapter 50
It was 7 am and Ahmad was already seated behind his desk in the oval office. He was still fuming.
He clicked on the intercom for Julia and, without even the slightest pleasantry, said: “get me Victor Sanchez at the FBI. I need to see him here right away.”
“Yes, Mr. President, right away.”
Victor Sanchez was the 35-year-old lead agent for The Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. While he didn’t have a fancy title, Victor was an important man in the FBI. His responsibilities included leading the Criminal Investigative Division, Cyber Division, Critical Incident Response Group, International Operations Division, and the Office of Law Enforcement Coordination. Victor reported directly to the Deputy Director of the FBI and was the leading resource if you wanted to get something done about the real criminals in the country. He had a reputation for being the kind of guy who would leave no stone unturned to get to the bottom of any crime or mystery.
After a minute or so, the intercom beeped.
“Mr. President, Agent Sanchez will be here in 15 minutes.”
Time passed quickly as Abbas went over the recent events and jotted down some notes for his meeting with Sanchez.
Agent Sanchez arrived in exactly 15 minutes as promised. The president told Victor about what had happened with the sniper and Sadeem’s story about his escape.
When he had finished, he said “Victor, Sadeem didn’t seem like himself. He had a slight hesitation in his voice, like someone who was lying. He was trying to cover his ass. Every bone in my body tells me that Tartaglione didn’t escape at all. I think someone killed him to keep him quiet. The question is who, and who was that person working for?”
“What would you like me to do, Mr.President?”
“I’m concerned about Sadeem. He’s a good man and has been loyal to me. But I think he’s worried about something. I need you to see what you can find out about the sniper, Ronnie Tartaglione. Don’t spend too much time worrying about whether he’s alive or not. And, I don’t care about his possible whereabouts. Like I said I believe he’s dead. If he’s not, those at the Secret Service who believe Sadeem’s story will be looking for him. I could not care less about this one man. He is like a speck of sand in the desert. What was Ronnie Tartaglione doing? That’s what is of most importance. Find some relatives or friends; people with whom he might have confided. Start with a wife or brother; anyone who can help. Sadeem gave me a brief bio on him, but there isn’t much. He’s a retired Army Master Sergeant, who was one of the best snipers the military had until he retired a couple of years ago. He was originally from Philadelphia so I would start there and I want you to keep this off the books for now.”
“Yes Sir, I will.”
“If you have to, arrange to go to Philly yourself to investigate. Maybe you can make up a story to explain being out of the office? I trust you, Victor, but I don’t want another FBI office involved unless we have no choice.”
“Thank you, Sir. I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Is it alright if I take my partner along?”
“Can he be trusted?”
“Yes Sir, I’d trust him with my life.”
“Very well but share information on a need to know basis. I’m not sure who we can and can’t trust at this point. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Mr. President, I understand perfectly. I’m on it.”
Abbas felt a little more relaxed after Sanchez left. He knew the kind of man Victor was. He was like a pit-bull when it came to these sorts of things. He wouldn’t stop until he found out everything he possibly could about Ronnie Tartaglione and his end game. By the time Victor completed his investigation, he would know the type of underwear that Ronnie had worn, and he would be able to tell how many times he had gotten laid in the last week. More importantly, he felt confident that Victor would find out who had hired him. There was no doubt in his mind that Victor was the right man for this job.
Chapter 51
Inside a small chapel in South Philadelphia sat 10 of Angela and Tony’s closest friends. They watched quietly as the couple, standing before Father Quinn and in the presence of God, stated their intentions.
Angela had always wanted a garden wedding. But neither she nor Tony wanted to wait until springtime and the frigid February temperatures that hung on through March made an outdoor wedding impossible.
There was a small reception in the church hall but there would be no honeymoon. Immediately following the reception, the newlyweds left for a meeting in Queens. They had dinner at Bruno’s in Queens before heading over to the Jewish Center. They were the first to arrive.
Because of Shabbat, the meeting was called for 9 pm. Saul was there shortly after 9, and by 9:15 the leaders from both the Philly and New York contingents had arrived. Josh was glad to see Saul back in the group. The three men from Boston had declined to attend the meeting. Josh sensed a bit of an undercurrent at the last meeting, and it was obvious that Saul and Qasim preferred not to attend meetings together. Josh had suggested that there was nothing to be gained by Qasim and his brother driving down from Boston. He could brief them later on what had been discussed and get their feedback at that time. Saul seemed especially pleased with that solution.
While Josh usually opened the meeting, this night Saul began by greeting everyone. Today he made a slight deviation from the usual agenda by announcing the marriage of Angela and Tony and breaking out glasses and two bottles of champagne. He raised his glass to congratulate the newlyweds. Everyone clapped and Nicky jokingly told Tony that he didn’t think he had the balls to go through with it. While there hadn’t been a lot of time for camaraderie, these little niceties helped bind them together, almost like a family.
Saul then introduced the general. It seemed a little silly to Saul since everyone knew him by now but it was a small sign of respect for their commander.
Josh began by telling everyone how the organization had grown. “I’ve been in constant contact over the last several months with leaders in every major city, and I can tell you that there are millions of Nationalists ready to take to the streets and that they are led by thousands of leaders just like the people in this room.”
“Our biggest challenge has been keeping our meetings and plans covert as people have a tendency to talk when they shouldn’t. The stakes are high and it seems as though everyone has done an excellent job of keeping our secrets. My friends at the NSA tell me that there has been no out of the ordinary chatter. I’ve spoken to each leader and stressed the importance of keeping our plans secret because it’s time that we shifted into high gear on this. We have to act before Abbas can put up a defense.”
“The first part of the strategy resulted in successfully removing Omar Khalid from office, and that has helped us with the rest. Tarif has been able to keep us informed of what the president is thinking, and it appears that, with Ronnie’s death, Abbas has lost what he felt was an invaluable way to gather reliable Intel. Now he seems to be fishing around, hoping that something will surface. My fear is that is exactly what will happen. Tarif has warned me about the president. His behavior has been erratic. He’s a very shrewd but paranoid man who believes that something is going on. While he hasn’t been able to pinpoint particulars, Tarif believes it’s just a matter of time before he goes totally bonkers trying to smoke out potential threats and squash any resistance movement. So it’s time for us to act boldly and decisively. We want Abbas to believe that his only worry is some unrest among a few dissenters. In short, we want him so distracted by overt acts of civil disobedience that he doesn’t see what’s coming.”
“The second part of the plan begins on Monday, July 4th at 080
0 EDT. We’ve selected that date for obvious reasons. Besides the symbolism, it won’t seem unusual if there is a lot of activity in and around our major cities on Independence Day. It also allows the Joint Chiefs, who are with us, to be able to take time off without any suspicion. They will work from the command and control center at my house on Long Island.”
“The sympathizers will begin their pivotal roles with peaceful protests in the streets of our major cities. We’re talking about what Abbas has defined as civil disobedience starting in Boston, New York, Philly, Baltimore, Washington, Atlanta, Nashville, Raleigh, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Phoenix, San Diego, LA, San Francisco, San Jose, Portland, and Seattle. Thanks to contributions from some of my overseas friends and allies, many of our people will be armed. However, they are under strict orders to maintain peace throughout the protest even as it escalates when police and guardsmen arrive. Our goal here is to make these events seem spontaneous and coincidental, like the many anti-war protests that have occurred over the years. There will be some hurling of rocks and bottles to create havoc, but violence beyond that is to happen only in self-defense. While each of these groups will be operating independently from those in other cities, it will look like a coordinated effort to the authorities, and more importantly, to President Abbas. There will undoubtedly be some panic among city officials as they watch their police units spread thin and contemplate petitioning their state officials for National Guard support.”
“The protests scattered around Washington will look the same as those in other cities but with a more highly concentrated effort around the capitol. We have identified several key people in the administration, Congress, and the military. Those friendly to our cause will play a big part in our plans. Others, while not directly involved, will nonetheless be protected. We’ve also identified those sympathetic to the president. They will be isolated and neutralized. Obviously, the president, his entire cabinet, and General Elway Bishop, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs will be targets for ouster. We’ve already identified their replacements who have agreed to fill these important roles. You will hear a lot of rumors and some will be true. We do have snipers and bombers with IEDs positioned throughout the city. Hopefully, we can have them stand down as the intent is to have a bloodless transition. However, I think it would be naïve of us to think that this mission will be carried out with no casualties. Like I said, as a precaution, we have people positioned in the Capitol Building, Pentagon, and The White House prepared to act combatively if necessary.”
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