by N R Brooks
I walked the rest of the way to my car, got in, and drove home feeling like I had taken down a giant. Today had been a whirlwind of emotions from the lowest of the low to the exhilarating high of breaking and entering. Things were finally starting to get interesting.
Chapter 24
For the next two days I thought about what I would include in the letter I would write to the FBI. I could only remember the names of the four pilots that would fly the planes into their respective targets, and two men that had actually been in the US since 1999. Their names were Nawaf al-Hamzi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, and they had been training to become pilots in San Diego and somewhere in Arizona but due to their evident ineptitude and failure to show any sort of proficiency in avionics, they were reduced to being ‘muscle-men’ as documents would later reveal. Ironic name for men who were not tall or muscular, and not the least bit intimidating.
The pilots were all in America on student visas. I recall in books I read in the past that they had already been checked by law enforcement at previous times but let go due to the validity of their visas. I jotted a mental strike-through on their names in my thoughts. Nawaf and Khalid would end up being on the same flight, American Flight 77 that would pierce through the walls of the Pentagon. They would be my primary targets in my letter to the FBI.
Another obvious note would be to list all four flights that would fall victim. At the very least, if nobody is arrested before September 11th, I could ensure that there is increased security at the airports that day.
My thinking was if I could take Atta out, this would cause Marwan to bow out at the last minute. He was nothing more than Atta’s lapdog and heeded his every command. If I could strong-arm Atta into calling it off, that may be all that needs to be done. But this was no guarantee. I had to have other measures taken to ensure everything would fall apart for them.
I apologized to Jeni for my seeming lack of focus at work the two days after I returned from my visit to Manhattan. She already knew what happened during my visit since I had told her during our interesting chat that same night. She said she understood and also informed me that Keiko had called her the following night. I had relayed to Keiko that Jeni was completely supportive of us and was aware of what happened—according to the somewhat altered account I gave her. I had given her Jeni’s phone number and said she would call. I was glad to hear the two of them got along and considered one another friends.
I expected to hear a much livelier Keiko tonight when I would speak to her. Jeni said that she sounded much more enlivened after their brief chat. In my younger years, I would have probably had some moronic jealous outburst at the fact that someone other than me had lifted her spirits. Luckily, that version of me was long gone. I was incredibly relieved. It also made me think that I probably should have just talked to Jeni on the phone rather than have her come over that night, then we wouldn’t have had such an awkward few minutes when she impulsively exposed herself to me in an effort to cheer me up. Although, I really didn’t mind it that much. Regardless, it was never spoken of again.
After work, I jogged home and immediately began working on my letter. I included the date of September 11th, the flight numbers, their respective airports they would be departing from, the names of Nawaf and Khalid, and the fact that the CIA knew of these individuals but were not sharing anything with the FBI.
As a precaution, I was using all new paper and envelopes, and I also wore gloves while writing my letter. I wanted absolutely nothing that would lead back to me. I would not include a return address or sign it. I couldn’t risk myself being involved in any way other than the plan I had laid out for myself.
As I was finishing the last section of my letter, I heard a car pull up in our driveway. I looked outside and saw that it was Ziad. Only this time, he had a passenger in his car; a female passenger.
I scrambled to put away the letter and the other materials before Ziad came into the house. I put it on a table in my bedroom and closed the door. Just then Ziad and his female friend came walking in the door to the house.
“Hello, Stan! I am back.” Ziad said as he came in the door carrying both his luggage and his companion’s.
“Oh hey, I wasn’t expecting you back. I don’t think you actually told me when you were leaving and returning.”
“Yes, well I am here. Stan, this is my wife, Aysel.” He introduced us, only he introduced me to her in German.
“Uh...nice to meet you, Aysel,” I said, not knowing if she understood me or not.
“Ah...hello...Stan.” Aysel said obviously struggling to speak proper English.
“She speaks very little English, my apologies. I can translate for you both if you need.”
“Oh that would be fine, but you shouldn’t worry about it. I don’t want to bother you guys while you are here.”
Ziad began speaking to Aysel in German, I stood there not knowing if it was something I should stick around for or not. I waited for the two of them to finish conversing with one another before I said anything back.
“So, Ziad. What are your plans for flight training?” I asked him.
“Aysel and I were going to go down to Miami on Monday so I could get some more hours in. You are welcome to join us.”
“You sure that won’t be a problem? I mean, I don’t want to be a third wheel when your wife is visiting.” Then I remembered he called her his wife, not fiancé. “Wait, your wife? I thought you guys were only engaged. Did you get married when you were in Europe?”
He translated my confusion to Aysel which made her laugh and then clarified for me.
“Actually, we have been married for a while but we never registered in Germany, so legally we are not married, but we have had a small ceremony.”
I vaguely remember reading something about that. “Oh, I see. Well, Mrs. Jarrah, welcome to the USA.” I said to her and kissed her hand as a show of welcome.
Ziad translated what I had said to her.
“Thank...you.” She replied.
“You are very welcome. Anyways, if it won’t be a problem, I’ll join you in Miami. At least that way both of us can get some more time in the sims.”
“Of course, my friend. It will be no problem at all.” He replied, patting my shoulder.
“Sound like a plan then. I’ll let my boss know I will need a couple days off. You guys go have fun together, I need to run to the post office anyways and drop a letter off.”
“Oh, we plan on it. We will be out most of the weekend but will be back in time to pick you up before we leave for Miami.”
“Sounds great. Very nice to meet your beautiful wife. Don’t do anything to lose her, you hear?” She really was quite pretty.
Aysel was German-born, but the daughter of immigrants from Turkey. Her dark shoulder length hair and pronounced cheekbones definitely gave away her Turkish ancestry. I immediately felt bad for her for what she would have to endure after hearing what Ziad had done in my own timeline. Not only the countless hours of interrogation by the authorities but just being known as the wife of a terrorist who would later be associated with one of the worst attacks in history. At least I knew now of one more person that would benefit from my intervention.
Before Ziad could reply to my comment, I went into my room and shut the door so I could finish the last bit of my letter and then leave for the post office so I could mail it out. I would have to stop by someplace with access to the Internet on my way so I could look up where to mail my letter to.
When I finished, I folded it up and put it in the envelope. I took the folded papers that I had stolen from Atta’s bedroom and carefully placed it in the envelope with my letter. Instead of licking the envelope to activate the adhesive, leaving traceable DNA, I wet a q-tip and used it to dampen the glue and seal the envelope.
When I stepped out of my room to leave for the post office, I saw that Ziad and Aysel were already gone. Their luggage was sitting in Ziad’s room unopened. They must have had some plans they were anxious to get started on.
It was none of my business what they were doing. I just shrugged and left the house to get the address I needed and to mail off my letter. I only hoped it would be taken seriously when it arrived.
Chapter 25
Jeni had no problems with me taking that Monday off to continue my training in the flight simulators. After these next few hours, I would be that much closer to flying commercial aircraft. That doesn’t mean I would be able to just hop in a 737 and fly it. I could fly one but only after being hired by one of the many airlines in the US and climbing the ranks. That didn’t bother me at all though. The fact that I would finally accomplish something was good enough for me. I will finally be able to say goodbye to working in gas stations for chump change.
Ziad wasn’t lying when he told me they were going to be gone for the weekend. It turns out he rented a plane and flew himself and Aysel down to the Keys and spent the weekend there. I was a bit jealous that I didn’t think of doing that when Keiko visited. I kept the idea in my head for the next time she would visit.
He kept to his word and was home by late Sunday night. We left for Miami quite early. The car ride was mostly Ziad and Aysel speaking to each other in German which left me in the back of the car to entertain myself. Luckily I brought my trusty old Walkman that I had kept with me since the days of living like a vagrant in Canyon. I spent most of my time listening to music which I was perfectly okay with.
When we finally made it into the Miami area, rather than enjoying ethnic food like Ziad and I did the last time we came down here, he wanted to treat Aysel to some all American cuisine. I had to help with this by thinking of what would be considered the most American food that might not be found elsewhere. Well, what could be more American than a good old-fashioned barbecue?
I did realize that both Ziad and Aysel were Muslim, but I didn’t know exactly how strict they were. I advised them of this, and they shrugged it off as if it were no big deal. They refused to eat pork, but they didn’t worry about whether the meat served was halal or not. Part of me thought Ziad might have spoken up if someone other than Aysel was with us.
After filling ourselves until we were miserable, we finally made it back to the Boeing facility to complete more hours in the flight sim. Due to there only being three seats in the simulators, Aysel sat in the sim with Ziad and the instructor while I did my training alone with my own instructor.
When he came out of his simulator, he came up to me and boasted of how well he had done with his landings. I was surprised because initially, he cared little about learning how to properly land his aircraft. I wondered if my attempts at changing him had been successful. I congratulated him and we filled out our paperwork proving that we completed the hours of training towards our certifications.
The drive home involved much more participation from me than the ride up. Ziad was speaking to both of us and also translating any time Aysel had a question for me or I had something to say to her. He was incredibly happy with his performance in the simulator and spent most of the drive talking about some of the maneuvers he had done as well as how well he reacted to simulated failures. I kept thinking to myself that if he actually does abandon his plans to crash planes, he might have a bright future ahead of him in flying and landing them properly.
Before we knew it, we were already back in Venice and pulling into the driveway at our house. It was already dark out, and I only managed to get the one day off from work. Ziad informed me that he and Aysel would be traveling most of the week, visiting places and just showing her around. I was okay with this. I really had no plans for a while other than working and keeping up with my visits to the gym which I admittedly had been slacking off on lately.
I bid both of them good night and headed off to bed since I was exhausted from the many hours of riding in the car. I only saw Ziad and Aysel one more time before she had to fly back to Germany. She was a very kind woman and seemed very committed to their relationship. I never witnessed it, but I do recall reading about how they would get in fights often and reconcile later on. He would occasionally berate her in how she dressed and even say horrible things. I can’t speak for what happened between them while they were away but from the little bit of time I did spend with them, I can honestly say that she definitely deserved better than that. I only hoped that my plans would make it so she gets what she deserves from him.
Life calmed back down for the next few months. Since I was nearly done with flight training, all I had to look forward to these days was subtly changing Ziad closer to who he was before he was assimilated into Atta’s radical Islamic band. I struggled night after night to come up with an idea on how to handle Atta, but nothing ever came to me. I decided I may have to incapacitate him the night before their planned date. Lucky for me, I know where they will be that evening. I left it at that and focused on Ziad.
The pair of us went out to Shorty’s bar on occasion and just hung out. I found whenever he drank alcohol he was much easier to talk to and he would open up to me. I eventually got him to divulge that Marwan and Atta were leaving Florida towards the end of January. He didn’t tell me where they were going or for how long either because he didn’t know, or because he was purposefully withholding that information. I wasn’t too perturbed by this as it had no effect on my plans anyways.
I mainly focused on getting him to open up about his relationship with Aysel. Since this was key to my whole plan with him. When he would talk to me, I could tell that she was what conflicted him. He was torn between his wife and his commitment to jihad—although he never mentioned jihad outright. If only I could tip the balance towards Aysel and away from any thoughts of jihad or attacking America, I believe Ziad would bow out and go into hiding.
I began buying cases of beer and bringing them home for our ‘chat sessions’. He was a mostly outgoing person on his own, but he was much more reserved when it came to topics of his life. Alcohol was the perfect lure, one which he rarely refused.
Just when I felt like I was making an impact on him, he took another trip to Europe, only this time he was gone for an entire month. To make up for all the extra time I had, I had Jeni bump me up to full-time hours at the gas station. I learned that she and Keiko had been keeping in contact with each other much more these days. I feigned jealousy and asked Jeni if she was trying to steal her from me. She played off it and only gave me a vague answer which could be taken as either a yes or a no. Luckily, Keiko had feelings only for men. Jeni, I was pretty sure, would go either way.
February would be an eventful month for a number of different reasons. In addition to the mysterious ‘black holes’ growing in number at a slow but consistent rate and causing damage all over the world—not just America— Keiko came down just in time to spend Valentine’s Day with me. This time, I planned to take her down to Key West, just like Ziad did with Aysel.
She flew into Sarasota on the 10th, and we took off for Key West that same day. We planned it so I had my things packed when I went to pick her up and we would fly the little Cessna from Venice down to Key West for the weekend and come back on Sunday. Jeni insisted that we not stay an entire week down there because she wanted some time with Keiko too.
While I was looking forward to the weekend alone in a romantic location, the good news she gave me on the flight down there was almost just as good.
“I wish I could have been there for Ian’s funeral. He was pretty much the brother I never had.” I said, knowing she went to it in my stead.
“It was wonderful. I mean, as wonderful as a funeral can be. It was a small gathering, but he had family who loved him dearly.” The memory of it made her look mournful.
“I’m glad you were there. I’m sure he would have understood my absence.”
“Yeah, he would have. I have good news though.” She said suddenly looking brighter.
“Oh yeah?”
“I visited Pops yesterday.”
“In jail?” I asked.
“Yeah. He is still there until his trial finishes. You know how lon
g that stuff takes.”
“Well, what is the good news?”
“He said he may be able to get off the hook since technically everything was done out of self-defense.” She said, trying to remember all the details she received from Pops.
“Damn right it was self-defense! That piece of shit had a gun and used it.” Just remembering that night got my blood boiling.
“Right. So in New York, he can claim self defense under what is called the Castle Doctrine. Since the guy had a gun on the premises and used it, you felt a legitimate threat to your life. In that case, you would be able to use physical force on the intruder. Luckily, you only killed that asshole with the gun. The other guy just got a few scratches and a concussion.”
“That is awesome. I still feel bad that Pops took the blame for me, but what else could I have done? I didn’t mean to kill the guy, but I don’t exactly regret it. Who knows what he would have done to you?” I didn’t even want to think about any ‘what ifs.’
“Yeah. That is why I want you back with me. I am so lonely without Pops around or you…or Ian.”
“Soon, babe. I’ll be back before you know it. Just a little while longer, okay?”
“I know…”
“I am glad Pops might be able to get off the hook though. That is a huge weight lifted off my chest. What about his shop?” I was curious what was going to happen to the pizzeria. I would feel horrible if he lost it.
“He doesn’t know. For now, it is just closed down. If he gets out, he may reopen it, I don’t know.” I could tell she felt bad about the situation too. After all, it was because of both of us that everything happened.