Reprisal (37 page)

A young cop pushed them backward. “Can’t go any closer. Don’t you know what’s over there?” His eyes opened wide. “There’s a plague.”

Carolyn started to shove her way forward. She’d been in these situations many times and remembered that sheer guts usually worked. Before she could break through the line, she heard rumbling behind her. She turned to look.

Four large dark-green trucks lumbered along the street next to the lot.

Brakes squealed as they all stopped. From the back end of each truck, dozens of soldiers erupted into the street and circled around the edges of the parking lot.

They all carried weapons and wore gas masks. In the drizzle and darkness, they looked like actors in a cheap thriller film.

Carolyn found herself pulled back toward the street. She tried to fight forward, but several soldiers grabbed her and shoved her out of the way. “Who are you?” she called out to the knot of soldiers closest to her.

“National Guard. We’re taking over the city.”

Forty-Five

Too exhausted to continue, Zehra went to the hospital with Paul. Physically, she was okay except for a bruised throat and scrapes to her arms and legs. Warm blankets piled around her body, up to her chin. She was quarantined.

Mentally, she was a wreck.

Although she didn’t know the full story about Mustafa and his plot yet, Zehra still felt guilty. In her mind she replayed the details of the shooting. Would he have shot again? Wasn’t he turning away? Was there something else she could have done? It became too much, and her brain shut down.

She awoke when her mother and father looked through a glass window into the bay.

“What have you heard on the news?” Zehra asked.

“It doesn’t sound good,” her father looked grim. “The governor’s called out the National Guard for the Twin City area. The rain has stopped so everyone’s worried people will start coming out again. The best place for you is right here where you can be taken care of. We’re old enough that we received vaccinations as kids. Hopefully, it’s still effective.”

She worried there wouldn’t be enough vaccine for her and that it wouldn’t work. “How’s Paul?” she asked.

“Your friend from the FBI? He’s right next to you. Here…” Her mother pointed to the curtain beside Zehra.

Paul lay propped up in his bed, talking on his phone.

“How can you keep going after all you’ve been through?” Zehra asked.

Lowering the phone, he said, “This is why I became an FBI agent. We’re fighting for the state now. If we lose, the battle’s for the country.” He resumed talking.

Zehra took a deep breath. No one spoke. Her parents found chairs and sat beside the window.

Suddenly, Paul whooped. He laughed and cheered. “Dr. Samson, are you certain?” he said into the phone. “I can’t believe it—there’s one honest person left in the world.” He shut his phone and looked to Zehra and her family. A smile split his face open.

“What’s so funny?”

“You won’t believe it. The CDC flew the sample of the virus they found in the basement to Atlanta to be tested. The tests were run three times. It turns out the virus was already dead. Ammar and his terrorists bought worthless stuff. The Russians found the guy who stole it, and he confessed. He knew the virus was dead. He cheated the terrorists.”

“So, what does that mean?” Zehra turned sideways and put her feet on the floor. Didn’t feel like she could stand yet.

“It means, we’re okay. There’s no epidemic! False alarm.”

Zerha’s family flooded into the room and hugged her.

Two days later, Paul invited Zehra to the FBI office in Minneapolis. When she arrived, she found him propped in a lounge chair in the conference room. His leg stuck out, wrapped in a colorful, plastic brace. Conway was there and several people she hadn’t met.

Paul called to her. “Hey, Zehra. Come on in. How’s your trial going?”

“Under the circumstances, we got a continuance. It’s pretty clear Mustafa was the killer. Until things are sorted out, the prosecutor isn’t dismissing the case yet.”

“Why didn’t the defendant tell you all this in the first place?” Paul asked.

Zehra shrugged. “He thinks I’m an infidel, so he’d never reveal anything to me. And, he’s a zealot. Maybe he felt it was his duty to take the fall and be a martyr in his own way. Who knows? What about the DNA?”

“Looks like Mustafa doctored the samples at the crime scene to frame El-Amin. Then, he planted the murder weapon in El-Amin’s apartment. It almost worked.” said Conway. He looked at Paul. “What do you know?”

“Well, I can’t tell you everything, but Ammar had been planning this for years. Embedded himself at Health Technologies as a cover and infiltrated three different mosques in order to recruit the young Somali men.”

“Why did they disappear?” Zehra asked.

“Testing. He and others recruited and sent them to Somalia. Most stayed to fight. But a few of the boys were isolated in the desert and infected with smallpox to see how it worked.”

“How horrible. Have you found the young men?”

Paul shook his head. “Unfortunately, we probably never will.”

Conway lumbered next to Paul’s bed. “We’re lucky here, that Paul’s alive—thanks to you.”

Zehra shrugged and wondered if that were true. “What about the threats to me? My car?”

“We assume Ammar did all of it. But there’re probably others still out there. Local police haven’t found any suspects for the deli shooting yet. We think it’s tied to Ammar’s scheme, so we’re involved in that now.”

Conway interrupted, “For your safety, I’ve authorized an agent—a new one—to stay with you for a few weeks. I fired the other one.”

Zehra felt somewhat relieved but not completely.

Paul looked away from the group.

“Once they had the transmission process worked out and knew the incubation period, the plan was to introduce it in the U.S,” Conway continued. “Although they wanted people to get sick and die of course, the main goal was panic.”

Paul interrupted, “Hysterical, mass panic would tear the country apart faster than any army or bomb could ever do. They could’ve easily destroyed us.” He tried to stand but fell back into the chair.

“Where’d they get the smallpox virus? I thought you said it was dead?”

“Looks like they bought two batches from the Russian. The first one was hot but the guy felt so guilty about selling it to terrorists, that when he sold the second batch, it was the dead virus. The world owes a debt to a crook with a conscience.”

Conway cleared his throat in a loud gurgle. He looked nervous and shifted his shoulders. “I need a cigarette,” he announced. He lowered his head and leaned down to Paul. “I’ve been so damn busy I haven’t had a chance but … congratulations.” He shook Paul’s hand. “You got a good shot to take over for me when I bail from here next year.”

“Thanks, but does that mean I’m not fired?” Paul’s face lit-up. “Zehra Hassan saved me and hey, what happened to the agents from ICE, Joan Cortez? Where’d they go?”

Conway stepped back and laughed deeply. “You didn’t hear?” He wiped his eye. “They busted the mosque in Burnsville before the rest of us got there. They were waiting for Ammar to show so they could grab him and all the glory.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing. Sat there for three hours until someone finally got through to them. The mosque’s suing the ass off of their agency, and I think Cortez got busted back to working for security at the airport.”

“Righteous, Joan,” Paul said.

“What about the victim in my trial?” Zehra asked.

Conway shook his head, “Poor son of a bitch. They infected him and were ready to roll out the transmission when the kid refused to cooperate. We figure Ammar had to kill him to keep things quiet. The fact the kid was hot explains why the killer wore all the protection.”

The conversation rolled on but Zehra lost interest. Most of it revolved around the federal bureaucracy and its internal struggles. Conway talked quietly with Paul. Zehra stopped when she heard Conway whispering.

“Luckily, the governor’s statement did it.”

“What do you mean?” Paul asked.

“We worked with him and all the brass you can imagine from Washington to get it right. We decided to call the whole thing a ‘training exercise.’ The possibility of the real deal was never mentioned. If the public ever knew the truth … Well, all I can say is, thank God it worked.”

Paul looked up at him. “I wouldn’t say it ‘worked’. I’d say we were damn lucky.” He turned back to Zehra. “How’re you holding up?”

“Oh … I’ve got my family and garden but …”

“Don’t worry. We’re not done chasing these guys down. I promise.”

Zehra didn’t want to hear anymore. Guilt and fatigue haunted her, but she found herself angry, instead. Angry at all the violence and fear the terrorists caused. “Thanks Paul, but we all have to do something. If moderate Muslims like me don’t stand up and fight these extremists, they’ll win.”

She stood to leave. Looked out the window at sun lighting up the piles of white clouds to the east. Turning back to the group, she said, “It’s about time some of us progressive Muslims declared our own ‘jihad’ against the terrorists.”

Acknowledgements

The creation of any story is always the result of an author who is helped and supported by a number of others. In my case, I’m particularly thankful to my wife, Pam for her ideas, editing, and encouragement. To Christopher Valen for his friendship and editing, Mary Logue, and Imani Jaafar-Mohammad for their reviews and wonderful comments. To Mary Stanton and Carol Epstein for the time they took to read and critique the manuscript. To North Star Press and Corrine Dwyer and Cecelia Dwyer for their belief in the story and for bringing it successfully to book form. Finally, to my parents Vern and Sherry Nelson, long gone but never forgotten, for their support of me and for always telling me to “just try it.”

Additional Resources

Discussion Questions For Book Clubs

Should Zehra have been warned earlier about Mustafa by the “red lights?”

Is the relationship between Zehra and her mother going to change? What are the universal relationship traits?

What is the source of Mustafa’s rage and anger against the U.S? What’s his vision?

Are Islam and feminism incompatible in U.S. women?

How can American Muslims fit into American society? (Think of the mosque location in New York)

Which exerts a stronger influence on American Muslims: religion or culture?

Which poses a greater terrorist threat to America: bombs or public panic?

Modern Muslims need to take leadership roles—why are so few speaking up against the extremists in the Islam world?

What similarities do you see between Muslims/Christian issues today and the Protestants/Catholic issues of the 50’s and 60’s in the U.S?

What would happen if a pandemic broke-out in the U.S? (Think about Y-2K)

Interview with Colin T. Nelson

Q: When did you first get hooked on mysteries and suspense stories?

A: I was ten years old and visiting my grandmother during Christmas vacation. My grandfather had died years earlier so my grandma gave me one of his books as a gift. It was The Hound of the Baskervilles. Late at night, sitting up in the bed in the back room, I devoured the book and was hooked on both Sherlock Holmes and mysteries. I still have the book today.

Q: Where do you get your ideas?

A: I try to start with a real situation from the news or the life around me and build from that. For instance, in Reprisal, there had been a group of young Somali men disappearing from the Twin City area. Although the FBI had a theory about where they went and why, no one knew for sure. That was mysterious by itself. In addition, Small pox has been eradicated from the planet years ago, but I learned that two repositories of the virus still exist: in the U.S. and in Russia. What if a desperate Russian wanted to steal and sell the virus to terrorists? That led to the plot of Reprisal: terrorists kidnapped young men to infect them with small pox and start a pandemic.

Q: What do you hope readers will take from your books?

A: People have described my books as “page turners.” I’m happy about this because I try to make them suspenseful and entertaining to the point readers can’t put them down. I also do a lot of research on different issues that I bring back to the stories and educate readers about what I’ve discovered. In Reprisal I researched what happens in a pandemic and how first responders would act to try and stop the spread of the bio-hazard.