Enemy Among Us-A Jordan Wright Thriller (11 page)

Their train pulled into the station about fifteen minutes late. It took about sixty-five minutes to arrive at the Philadelphia station. They walked along the platform until they came to an escalator. They rode up into the huge Art Deco hall of the station. There, waiting for them, was Uncle Mustafa. They had made it to Philadelphia.

Chapter Fifteen

The following morning, Aziz awoke and prepared for school. Since his mother’s death, it had been his responsibility to rise at his normal time and perform his routine. He left his room, dressed for school with his book bag packed. He was now used to fixing his own breakfast and headed to the kitchen. The door to his father’s room was closed.

He thought he’d heard his father come home late last evening, or early this morning. He didn’t want to have a confrontation, so he’d not gotten up to check. Now, he wasn’t sure. His father would usually be up by this time, liked to have his morning coffee and read the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Aziz found no reason to disturb his father, so he ate his breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen. He grabbed his bag and headed down the front stairs, to the street, to begin his journey to school. As he exited the front door to the apartment, he saw Benny, his father’s only employee, coming down the street to open the store.

“Hey Benny,” Aziz called. “I thought you had Monday’s off.”

“Usually, but your father told me he needed to take some time off while you were gone.”

“Really? Did he say where he was going?”

“No, but you know your father — man of little words and he’s never told me anything beyond what he thought I needed to know.”

Aziz grinned at Benny. “Tell me about it. Did he even tell you when he would be back?”

“He told me I needed to open the store on Monday, so here I am. Other than that, he didn’t say anything. My guess is he’ll be here when you get home from school.”

“We’ll see.” Aziz started to walk away. “Maybe I should call my Uncle Mustafa and let him know.”

“Hey Aziz, I know it hasn’t been easy on you or your Dad since your Mom died. Your Dad may just need some space and to get away from everything that reminds him of Mahasin. I wouldn’t give your uncle a call yet. Let’s see if he’s not back today.”

“Okay, Benny. I’ll see you after school”

“Alright, have a good one. Oh, and Aziz! Study hard and mind your teachers,” Benny said, imitating Akmed. For the first time Aziz broke out in a smile and then quickly held up the middle finger of his right hand with the back of his hand facing Benny.

“It’s good to see you smile, kid!” Benny turned to unlock the store as Aziz headed down the sidewalk to school.

An agent was following Aziz to school and another undercover agent was working in the school as a temporary custodian.

Chapter Sixteen

The Philadelphia Electric Company — PECO as it was known in the area — service truck parked across the street with two agents posing as utility workmen had picked up the conversation and been able to take a couple of photographs of the boy and the man he was talking with on the street.

They had watched the boy since the previous afternoon, when he’d been dropped off in a van filled with kids his age, an older man driving. The surveillance team at the rear of the building had noticed Aziz coming outside and peering into the garage and had noticed his concern when he discovered his father’s car was gone.

Later, during the night, they had gotten approval for the warrant to place audio and video devices in the apartment. While they knew the boy was in the apartment, the insertion team was sufficiently skilled to enter, quickly install the devices and leave. Technology had advanced to the point that all of the devices were wireless and a quick RF burst about every two weeks recharged the batteries. The apartment was old and the floors had creaked as the team moved around. They became worried they would awaken Aziz, so they did not install the full complement of equipment but, felt they had installed enough to give them both visual and audio of what was happening in the apartment.

In the command center, everything was working well. They had picked up the audio when Aziz awoke and watched as he left his room and fixed his breakfast. It hadn’t really been anything to let Washington know about but, this conversation on the street was a different story.

They now knew the father had indeed left suddenly without letting anyone know what he was doing. The son had been away with a group and even the employee in the store had no idea where Akmed had gone.

They downloaded a photo of Benny back to the command center to see if it would match anything in the database. Uncle Mustafa was the new person who piqued their interest but, they hadn’t been totally set up and didn’t have the camera operational when the van had dropped the boy off. A photo of the driver would have been helpful and could have been the break they needed to figure out what was really transpiring.

During the day, they would set up the apartment they had just secured in the building across the street from the store. This would eliminate the need to be outside on the street in a neighborhood where everyone knew everyone else. They would also have perimeter cameras set up in the rear of the store so the team now there could be redeployed.

Chapter Seventeen

FBI SAFE HOUSE

“Akmed, you have shared a great deal with us. How about we take a break?”

Jordan was pacing around the room as Max, seated at the table across from Akmed, took notes.

“Can we get you anything? Another Coke or some water?” Jordan asked.

“Water would be great. Could I go outside and get some air?”

“Sure. Sure. Let me get someone to go with you. You understand, we can’t have you out there by yourself”

Jordan went to the door and opened it enough so he could stick his head out.

“Hey, William! You got a sec?” Jordan yelled loudly enough to be heard downstairs. After a moment, William appeared in the doorway.

“Akmed this is William, he would be more than happy to take you outside for a walk. Wouldn’t you William?” Jordan shot William a grin.

“At your service. I was waiting for you to get me involved,” William said sarcastically.

“All good things in time my friend.”

“You’ll have to excuse these two, Akmed. They are like two brothers”

“Yes, I have brothers. We do the same thing to one another.”

“Are these your real brothers or your brothers in Philadelphia,” Jordan quipped before thinking.

“Yes, I should clarify. My true brothers are still in Iran, as best I know. I miss them and the camaraderie we had. We were all still living in the same area and saw each other often.”

”I’m sure you do.” Max interjected, shooting Jordan a look that could only be interpreted as,” Don’t be such an ass; this guy is helping us.” Dismissing Jordan from the room, Max said, “Jordan why don’t you get Akmed his water.”

Max continued and turned to Akmed. “Thank you for everything you have shared so far, it has been helpful. We need to review the information and then we will have more questions and want to hear more in regards to the mission. William will be with you until you return to this room. If you need anything, just let him know. I’ll see you a little later.” Max got up from the table and walked out of the room and down the stairs.

William gave Akmed the once over. “Well. Shall we head outside?” “Yes,” and Akmed walked to the door and followed William downstairs and they exited through the kitchen.

Max headed toward the library. Jordan was already there, in a conversation with Stan.

“I think he’s on the up and up. We could spend a lot of time back tracking through all of this information, but I believe we would find it’s all correct. I think he’s the real deal. We’ve got a highly trained operative who is raising a terrorist and he’s gotten the religion of capitalism in his blood and has decided what he was suppose to do isn’t worth doing.”

“I don’t disagree, but I still think some validation of his story is needed. He could still be the diversion. Think about it,” Stan said. “If they truly have been planning this for over ten years, they could have easily added an element of diversion, particularly if they are getting close to executing the mission.” Stan had been listening to the entire conversation with Akmed in the library. He knew the details, but he wasn’t as convinced as Jordan. ”I don’t think we have to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s. I think we should pull his immigration papers and we can quickly talk to the attaché in Denmark and confirm an Elizabeth Hansen works for the Danish government. That won’t take long, and we can still continue on our path. The team in Philly is settled in and thinks they had a visual on Mustafa. All the audio and video devices are functioning. I think we’ll get more out of there today when the son comes home from school and finds his dad has still not returned.”

“There’s a problem.” Max jumped into the conversation. “The father won’t be home and the clerk in the store won’t have seen him all day. I think the boy will call his Uncle to report his absence. We should run through some scenarios about what decisions they might make in regards to carrying out their mission.”

“I don’t get the feeling they are totally ready,” Jordan said deliberately. “I think if they were close, the boy would have panicked yesterday. I’m not sure he knows he is there for a terrorist attack.” As he spoke, Jordan was back to pacing around the room. “I think there is a safe premise, that the kids as sleepers haven’t been activated yet. I think we have to focus on Mustafa and what he might do.”

Stan shifted his weight and moved over toward the window. “I think you may be right. Mustafa is the unknown. We really don’t know what resources he has at his disposal. If they are close to activation, he may not want to waste time on finding out what happened to Akmed. Maybe the death of the wife will provide enough cover. We have picked up comments he has been despondent and withdrawn since her death.

Max jumped in. “Yes, and as far as we know, he hasn’t raised any alarm with Mustafa, Aziz or any of the other parents that he’d grown tired of their mission and wanted out.”

“We have to tag Mustafa. If we can put him under surveillance, it’ll be the key to understanding what the reaction will be and if they will continue to move forward. He may have no choice.” Stan moved back behind the desk as he was talking, “He’s not at the top. My bet is someone else is directing him. And that person we will probably never know.”

Jordan stopped in his tracks and turned to face them both. “I think I need to get to Philly and take charge of the ground ops. We really need to get a handle on Mustafa. That’s going to be the key. Max, you can continue the debrief with Akmed. He’s totally cooperative we don’t need two of us. William can be in there. I think they’ll build a nice relationship.” He pointed out the window where William was walking with Akmed. They seemed to be in some animated conversation, as both were gesturing with their hands and laughing.

“All right, get going. I’ll arrange a plane to get you up there.” Stan pulled out his cell and began to dial.