by Ty Patterson
‘Did any of them continue with the intimidation after you returned to the U.S.?’
Jack Minter uncrossed his arms, his face losing its hostile expression. ‘What’s that got to do with Cali?’
‘Oh my God,’ Grace whispered before Jack could answer, a hand going to her mouth, her face turning pale. She turned to her husband, ‘It can’t be him, can it? Tell them, Jack. Tell them everything.’
‘It’s not relevant.’ Jack Minter looked shaken. ‘The UN gave him a clean chit.’
‘Tell them, or I will.’ Grace raised her voice in a quiet warning. ‘We’ve lived a nightmare for long enough.’
Jack Minter ran a hand through his silvery hair with a sigh, sat heavily in a chair and removed his spectacles and polished them.
His face reflected his age and weariness when he addressed the twins. ‘For several years, when we were in Europe, and even when we returned to the U.S., we had a man dogging us. He was a devil. He was our nightmare.’
‘His name was Yusri Azzi.’
From the corner of her eye Meghan noticed Zeb’s body tightening for a second. What was that? Jack Minter’s eyes were on her and not wanting to interrupt him, she filed the reaction away.
‘Who was he, sir?’
‘Is,’ Jack Minter corrected her. ‘He’s still alive. He was a war lord with the Free Syrian Army, one of the opposition groups to the Assad government. He was too radical for that organization and they disowned him. That didn’t deter him. He had a core group of supporters and along with them, he carried on fighting the government.’
Minter took a breath, his eyes distant, remembering the heat and hardships of distant lands. ‘Azzi wasn’t fighting for freedom. He was a murderous, power hungry warlord who was fighting a land grab battle of his own, separate from all the rebel groups.’
‘He came to my attention when his men burnt Syrian policemen on a rooftop in Aleppo. They had captured the policemen and instead of following the Geneva Convention, they tortured them and burnt them.’
‘As if that wasn’t enough, he and his men filmed the atrocity and put it on the internet. The rebel groups couldn’t stomach this, they would lose international support and aid. They criticised Azzi, an unusual step for them.’
‘He claimed his actions were an inevitable outcome of war. I didn’t buy that and started my investigations and uncovered horrors; rape, coldblooded killings of people of different faiths, mass graves.’
No one spoke when he stopped to drink a glass of water. No one moved. He resumed, his low voice taking them back to Syria.
‘I interviewed hundreds of people, witnesses, families of victims in Aleppo, and some in Baghdad, and compiled an extensive dossier.’
‘That dossier resulted in six of his closest men being arrested. Four of them were arrested by the Syrian police, two of them faced war crimes charges and were convicted.’
‘Azzi was finished by the time the trials were completed, a lot of his men deserted and joined the FSA or other groups. A lot, not all. He still had a core group of thugs.’
‘Surprisingly he had sympathizers in various parts of Europe and even here, in the U.S. The notion of a lone ranger is very romantic in some circles. I think these sympathizers funded him. It didn’t matter; my dossier finished his group as an effective fighting force.’
‘My investigation had a cascading effect. More people came forward with charges against Azzi’s men and there were several who were still being tried when we returned to the U.S. Those convicted are still serving time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any evidence against him. People were too scared of him to speak up.’
‘Jack destroyed him,’ Grace spoke up. ‘Azzi never forgave him for that and hounded us. He sent threatening letters, called us in the middle of the night, he even kidnapped us one day.’
‘I didn’t know that!’ exclaimed Percy who had joined them and was listening quietly.
‘We kept it from you, honey, both Cali and you. We didn’t wish to alarm you,’ Jack Minter said uncomfortably, clearly wanting to move away from the subject.
His daughter was having none of it. A mutinous look crossed her face and with her hands on her hips, she challenged him. ‘You can tell me now.’
‘It happened just before Cali moved to the U.S,’ he began uncertainly, ‘it wasn’t as eventful as I made it out to be. You were at school, Cali was at her college, I was just leaving for the office, when these two vans cornered me.’
‘This was in Austria?’
‘Yeah, in Vienna.’
He went on to explain how six bearded men had rushed out of two vans as he was entering his car to drive to his office. Four of them had surrounded him and had hustled him into one van, the two others had brought Grace, kicking and struggling.
It had happened so swiftly, so suddenly, that he hadn’t been able to raise any alarm. Neither had Grace.
The men had bound, gagged, and blindfolded them. They had been driven to an empty farmhouse outside Vienna, where they had been kept the whole day. He had been made to call in sick while Grace had cancelled her engagements for the day.
‘You did as they said? You didn’t protest? Did they threaten you?’ Percy’s face turned red, her voice rising shrilly.
‘They didn’t have to,’ Jack Minter replied quietly. ‘They had two more men, one was outside your school, the other was outside Cali’s college. Those two men relayed live video feeds to a laptop in the farmhouse. One feed showed you entering the school, the other one showed Cali with her friends.’
‘They said they were Azzi’s men. They could reach us anywhere. They told your dad to back off,’ Grace added and rose and hugged her daughter who had whitened and was trembling in reaction.
Meghan went to the kitchen in the silence that followed and brought three glasses of water for the family. They were emptied rapidly and when some semblance of normalcy had returned, she questioned the father.
‘Sir, I take it you didn’t back off?’
‘No, though there were times I wished I had,’ Jack Minter smiled briefly, ruefully. ‘This happened before my final dossier was to be submitted as evidence. I reported the incident to my team leader and they arranged protection for all of us. Discreetly which is why our daughters never spotted them. We investigators have experienced this before.’
Grace returned to her seat, Percy following her, perching herself on the arm rest. ‘Those were tough days, that was an awful job. I was so glad when Jack got this posting. I baked him his favorite pecan pie the day he broke the news.’
‘Ma’am, earlier you seemed to refer to Azzi as if he were still a threat.’
Grace Minter rose without a word, left the room and returned with a plastic folder. She opened it, donned a pair of reading glasses and went through several papers before extracting an envelope.
She handed it wordlessly to Meghan and gestured at her to open it.
Meghan opened it and removed five slips of paper. She sucked in her breath sharply when she read the first one and laid all the slips on a table for all to see.
There was a single line on each of the slips, neatly typed.
They read, You will suffer. Yusri Azzi.
Chapter Twenty
‘Five slips, one sent each year for the past five years. We didn’t receive anything this year.’ Grace’s fingers trembled as they held up the scraps of paper one by one, ‘maybe we’ll still receive one.’
Meghan took one of the scraps and examined it closely. The paper was of the kind that could be found in thousands of stationery or big box stores in the country. All of them were a quarter of a letter-sized sheet, the cut was clean. There wasn’t anything special about the printing. There were no marks, nothing to indicate the slips had traveled thousands of miles.
Beth fingered one and smelled it. No odor, she indicated to her sister. ‘You reported this to the police?’
‘No,’ Jack Minter answered. ‘We were used to these threats, we didn’t see anything special. Azzi had demonstrat
ed that he could reach out to us in any country, but other than that incident in Vienna...’ he trailed off.
‘You are wrong,’ he told Grace softly and when she looked at him in confusion, he explained. ‘We got a letter this year, I hid it from you.’
He went to an inner room and returned with a similar scrap of paper. On it was a single line.
Are you suffering? Yusri Azzi.
Grace’s face collapsed when she read the line, her head rose and she looked at her husband accusingly. ‘How could you hide this from me?’ she started softly and ended screaming.
‘WHY? HE MIGHT HAVE OUR DAUGHTER ALL ALONG.’
She crossed over to him in a single stride and hammered his chest. ‘YOU,’ pound, ‘RISKED,’ pound, ‘OUR,’ pound, ‘DAUGHTER,’ pound.
He caught her flailing arms and held her close and buried her head in his shoulder when the fierce rage gave way to sobbing.
‘He doesn’t have Cali. I’ve checked with our investigators. They’ve made enquiries. I trust them. Our investigators are good.’ He spoke above the sound of her weeping, his face distraught. ‘I hid this slip because I wanted to spare both of you. I know how his evil mind works. He probably heard of Cali’s disappearance and wanted to rub it in.’
He turned to his daughter, a look of pleading in his eyes, for forgiveness, for understanding. Percy’s face was a storm of emotion, anger, and shock warring with each other.
She didn’t meet his eyes; she scowled in the direction of her mom’s tear-sodden face and challenged her dad. ‘You could be wrong, dad. All these years she’s missing, the clues could be right in our home.’
‘No. I trust my investigators better than the cops. Don’t you think I care for Cali? Don’t you think I would’ve moved Heaven and earth to find her?’
Zeb, who had been silent all along, who hadn’t been noticed by the Minters, shifted his weight to another foot.
‘We can ask him,’ he said, breaking the verbal impasse.
All heads turned to him.
‘I know Yusri Azzi.’
They were still at the Minters’ when Chang and Pizaka arrived along with their forensic team, all of who had been summoned by Beth. Sarah Burke arrived along with a fellow agent, Kowalski, one that the twins and Zeb knew.
The living room became crowded but no one minded. Percy offered refreshments, no one took her up. The air in the room was charged, finally there was something to do, somewhere to go, some person to ask about Cali.
The law enforcement agencies commenced their routine of taking fresh statements from the family, wisely refraining from making any accusations of hiding or tampering with evidence.
The forensic team confirmed what Beth had suspected. Standard paper. Standard typing. Computer typing, not typewriter. More importantly, a white-coated technician confirmed that the slips didn’t look like they had traveled across national borders.
More tests were needed, he said, in a standard disclaimer.
Grace Minter wrung her hands nervously at those statements. ‘What does that mean?’
‘Ma’am, if Azzi’s behind these, he’s got a network in this country that’s helping him. There could be prints, we have some clever people who look into paper and prints. There could be clues where these slips came from.’
‘You said something about knowing Azzi?’ Kowalski finished whispering instructions into his phone and aimed his words at Zeb.
‘Yeah.’
‘We’ll talk to him,’ Beth half rose and sat down again when Jack Minter took a step forward.
‘You can set that up?’ he asked Zeb, hope lighting his face and sharpening his eyes.
‘Yes, sir.’
The usual sidewalk conference followed their exit from the townhome; the twins in deep discussion with Burke and Kowalski, Chang and Pizaka, Percy Minter hanging on to their every word, Zeb impassive.
‘His location in Baghdad is well known to our intelligence agencies,’ Kowalski was saying. ‘We’ll need clearances, from State Department, from our own people. I’ll organize those.’
It was a given that the two FBI agents would head out to Baghdad to interview Azzi; Cali had been their agent, after all. Kowalski was Burke’s trusted agent. He was smart, sharp, and crackled with energy. His black hair ruffled in the breeze, his coat tails fluttered around him, and his tie went flying around his neck. He brushed back his unruly hair, it defied him. He gave up.
‘It might take a few days, security has to be arranged, State will have to be looped in, a case has to be presented, but we’ll get there.’
Traveling to Baghdad, a city besieged by terrorist violence wasn’t easy to set up. The State Department had warned against all travel to the country, however, Beth had put forward an idea for their travel, one that Burke had liked and had latched on to.
Jack and Grace Minter had wanted to accompany the Feds to Baghdad to question Azzi. Burke had shot that down immediately. Baghdad wasn’t safe, the Minters’ presence would pose a security risk.
The NYPD cops had wanted to come along. Burke had turned them down too, they’d have to settle for the interview transcripts.
A video interview had been discussed at length and had finally been rejected. Baghdad wasn’t known for high-speed internet. Explosions had a habit of going off in many neighborhoods.
The twins would accompany the two FBI agents. Burke had tried dissuading them and hadn’t gotten far.
‘It was Zeb’s idea and in any case you can’t keep us away. We’re the family’s representatives,’ Meghan had grinned wickedly. ‘We can take care of our own security…and we won’t cost you.’
‘Who’s that man,’ Jack Minter had whispered, loudly, inadvertently, at Percy, as everyone was filing out of their living room.’
‘He’s their driver,’ Percy had replied.
Pizaka didn’t let up. Once they were outside the Minters’ residence, he turned on Burke and demanded that Chang and he accompany them to Baghdad.
Burke blew a hair out of her face impatiently, ‘We’ve been through that, Pizaka. Let’s not start a turf war. You might not have noticed it, but that’s a country torn apart by war.’
‘She’s right,’ Chang blinked his sleepy eyes, calming his partner, ‘we’ve the Chinese gang angle to cover. Cain is dead, but his kill room is still unknown. We can get some real work done while these folks are away.’
Burke’s eyes flashed a smile of thanks at him and then turned and pierced Zeb. ‘You’re quiet. Too quiet. That makes me nervous. Anything to add?’
‘I can arrange your clearances. You can go tomorrow,’ came the laconic reply.
Burke was aware her mouth was hanging open in amazement. She snapped it shut with an audible click of her teeth and erased the incredulous expression on her face. ‘Just like that?’ she asked, hoping her voice was as bored as his.
‘Just like that, ma’am.’
‘How do you know Azzi? You never explained that.’
Zeb turned his back on her and held the door open for Beth to climb in their vehicle. ‘No I didn’t, ma’am.’
Burke watched him drive away, a reluctant smile tugging at her lips. Ever since she and Broker had become a couple, she had come to know all the operatives better and to her surprise, had found she liked them all. They had become friends. Family. Even Zeb, though he still hadn’t lost his ability to infuriate her.
Kowalski stood next to her and polished his sunglasses. ‘You like him, don’t you, boss?’
‘Get to work, Kowalski. Chase Carter for those clearances. Let’s see if he can really deliver.’
‘Aye, Aye, ma’am.’
Broker wandered around aimlessly in Burke’s apartment in DC his phone jammed between his ear and his neck, flicking through channels on the muted TV.
He grunted in acknowledgement occasionally as Burke outlined her day to him. It had become a habit very early on in their relationship, and while many of the FBI agent’s days weren’t as exciting as his, he never tired of hearing her voice.
‘You’re going tomorrow?’
‘Yeah, Zeb came through with the papers in just a few hours. Clare’s doing?’
‘No one else’s got that much juice.’
‘He said there would be security for us. We’d be as safe as we were in New York, were his words,’ she laughed.
They chatted for a few more minutes and when she’d hung up, he paced the room, thinking. He was busy with the NSA, working on a few prototype counter surveillance devices that the Agency would use too. Otherwise I’d be in New York, with all of them.
He peered out of a window, into the dark night and saw nothing but a tame DC neighborhood. He breathed deeply and wondered fleetingly if even the night air smelled of politics.
Zeb said they’d be as safe as if in New York. He got out his phone and sent a text to his friend.
Do they know about Azzi’s condition?
Zeb’s reply came instantly. No. They’ll find out. It won’t be a show-stopper. He can still answer their questions.
You think Azzi knows about Cali?
I don’t know.
Will he speak the truth?
Yeah. He knows about me.
You’re going?
Yeah.
Do they know?
Nope.
Chapter Twenty-One
Mark Kowalski whistled when he surveyed the Gulfstream’s sumptuous interior. He walked down the central aisle feeling the rich leather seats and poked his head in the fully equipped bathroom in the rear.
‘Beats traveling on taxpayer’s money for sure,’ he announced and plunked himself in a seat. He kicked off his shoes and wriggled his toes, sheer bliss spreading across his face.
‘Hey, boss,’ he caught Burke’s attention. ‘I’m resigning. From now on, I’ll be chief bag carrier for the Petersens, if that means I can travel in such style.’
‘Our bag carriers have bag carriers,’ Beth snorted. ‘They travel coach.’
The flight was uneventful, if tiring. Twelve hours non-stop over the north Atlantic, slicing over Portugal and Spain, and finally landing at Baghdad International Airport, on a sweltering hot afternoon.