Sleeper Cell Super Boxset (47 page)

“Of course I’m pissed.”

“You think they’re going to take the whole case from you.”

“The thought had crossed my mind.”

“Well, don’t be surprised when they do,” Patterson continued.

The rain fell steadily onto the blast site, causing even more smoke. And like an eternal smoke stack from an industrial plant, the thick clouds of carcinogenic fumes folded into one massive layer. Multiple sirens and lights flashed all along the street. An abundance of police surrounded the area, blocking it off on all sides.

Craig held up his badge to get through. As he walked down the street with Patterson following, he came across a police barricade four feet high and approached the first officer he could find.

“Agent Davis, FBI. We’re conducting an operation dealing with sensitive national security matters, and we need your full cooperation.”

The male officer nodded his head in agreement. “What can I help you with, Agent Davis?”

“We need our scene back, for starters,” Craig said.

The officer thought to himself.

Craig continued. “The driver of that van attempted to terminate our investigation by any means necessary, including vehicular homicide.”

“It was a VBIED,” Patterson added. “Like a suicide bomber. By the looks of it, I’d say he had about 200 pounds of explosives.”

“I want to speak with the officer in charge,” Craig said. 

The young cop turned and shouted to a group of men in blue, huddled under the tree on the side of the road taking temporary cover from the rain. “Lieutenant Harvey!”

A tall, clean-shaven man emerged from the group with his hands to the sides of his utility belt. Like the other officers, he was wearing a rain jacket and hat.

“This is the FBI. Said they were conducting an operation,” the young police officer began. Craig gently pushed past him and approached the lieutenant with a handshake.

“Special Agent Davis, FBI. I want to get to the point, Lieutenant, because I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now. We have reason to believe this explosion is related to a terrorist sleeper cell we just apprehended. The van drove straight at me, I fired two shots, causing the driver to swerve to the side, and, in my opinion, prematurely detonate his explosives.”

Patterson cut in. “What Agent Davis is trying to say is that this is our crime scene, and we want all nonessentials cleared out.”

“Gentlemen,” Lt. Harvey said, “please, walk with me.”

Craig nodded as they followed. Multiple officers held back gawkers, preventing them from taking pictures of the blast site. Everyone kept a careful distance while a fire team finished extinguishing the flames.

Chunks of metal, plastic, and shattered glass lay strewn along the residential street, interspersed here and there with the numbered, lettered markers indicating a crime scene. There were also body parts scattered across the pavement, now concealed under white sheets.

“How many casualties?” Craig asked.

“Only the driver that we know of,” Lt. Harvey answered.

“Holy shit,” Patterson said. “That’s a miracle.”

“Do we have an ID on the van? License plate? Driver identification?”

Lt. Harvey nodded, flipped open his notepad, and calmly spoke. “From what we know, the driver of the van was parked on this road for some time, according to an eyewitness. But it’s also the same van two of our officers reported only a few hours ago.”

“What? Why?” Craig asked.

“The van was parked on Tilford Lane, a road blocked off due to tomorrow’s parade. A patrol car noticed the vehicle and told him to move along.”

“And they didn’t get his driver’s license and registration?” Craig asked.

“Unfortunately, no. But they did get a license plate,” Lt. Harvey said.

Craig and Patterson looked at each other with renewed hope.

“Have they ran it yet?” Patterson asked.

Lt. Harvey stopped and coughed. The smoke in the air was getting noxious. “Yes, they did.”

Craig quickly pulled out a small waterproof notebook and pen. The rain had nearly soaked his head by then. “And?”

“It’s a rental,” Harvey said.

Craig paused, pen in hand.

“Are you sure?” Patterson asked.

“No doubt in our minds,” the lieutenant said.

Patterson seemed enthused. “Well, that’s it then. We get the rental information and make a connection to our sleeper cell.”

“It may not be that easy,” Craig said. “I don’t think any of our suspects are who they say they are.”

“And this crime scene?” Lt. Harvey asked.

“We’re taking it,” Craig said.

The lieutenant looked around. “You want it, it’s all yours. Let me inform my men.” He walked away to join a group of uniformed officers huddled together near some barricades.

“Well, this seems to be tying itself together,” Patterson said.

Craig looked around, the responsibility for taking the crime scene just beginning to weigh in. “Let’s hope so.”

“At least he’s helpful,” Patterson said, pointing to Lt. Harvey. “Sometimes County gets their panties in a bunch the minute the feds steps in.”

Suddenly, from the opposite end of the street, past the burning wreckage, they saw two black SUVs pull up in haste.

“Speaking of which,” Craig said.

They could recognize the vehicles anywhere: their friends from Homeland Security. A group of agents immediately exited the SUVs and moved through the police barricades with ease and authority. Leading the pack was none other than Deputy Jenkins.

They descended on the scene wearing dark matching raincoats, snapping pictures, and issuing instructions to local officers left and right. Jenkins took notice of Craig and Patterson and approached them with his men.

“The plot thickens, I see,” Jenkins said.

Saying nothing, Craig wiped the rain from his eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Patterson asked.

“That’s enough,” Craig said, cautioning his partner. He then looked at Deputy Jenkins. “We’re taking jurisdiction over this crime scene.”

“Crime scene?” Jenkins asked.

“Yes. At this moment, it’s an attempted homicide investigation.”

“And we want to speak with our suspects,” Patterson added. “So cut the bullshit and let us do our job.”

Jenkins stepped forward, nearly expressionless as Craig attempted to conceal his contempt. “There’s no reason we can’t work together on this. We both want the same things.”

“Do we?” Patterson asked.

“Yes,” Jenkins said. “Terrorism is our number-one priority right now. We have special instructions from the president to take charge of this thing.”

“What are you talking about?” Craig asked.

“This is an official Homeland Security operation now.”

Stunned, Craig and Patterson stood frozen.

Jenkins continued. “Of course, we’d be happy to keep you on as advisors.”

Patterson shook his head. “This is bullshit.”

Craig stepped forward into Jenkins’s face. “I want to talk to our suspects, and I want to talk to them now.”

Jenkins backed away with the other officials as if losing interest in the confrontation. “I’m sorry, Agent Davis, we have work to do at the moment.”

As the Homeland officials walked away, Craig and Patterson remained motionless.

Craig’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He held the phone up and saw that it was an incoming call from Agent Thomas. He walked over to a nearby canopy recently set up by the police and answered his phone.

“Agent Davis.”

“We’ve found something of interest in the house. After we removed the flag on the wall, we came across a lengthy message written behind it.”

“What’s it say?” Craig asked.

“Hold on, I’m sending you a pic.”

Craig felt the phone vibrate against his ear, lowered it, and saw an image on the screen of black Arabic lettering over the wall where the ISIS flag used to be.

“What does it say?” Craig asked, holding the phone back to his ear.

“We’re working on getting it translated. Will let you know ASAP.”

“Copy that,” Craig said.

“What’s the situation there?”

Craig looked up and saw Patterson waving him over. “Gotta go. We’ll be back at the house in a moment.” He hung up and hurried over to Patterson, who was standing next to three police officers.

“They’ve got some new information on the license plate and rental car company,” Patterson said.

“You FBI?” a thick-necked, nearly chinless officer asked.

“Yes. I want you to share whatever information you have with Agent Patterson here.”

“Yes sir,” the officer said.

The phone vibrated in Craig’s pocket again. He pulled it out, swiped the screen and opened the text message. Thomas had sent him the translation of the words written on the wall:

“We are the Islamic State and our caliphate is real. You will never see us. You will never stop us. We are in your cities and in your streets. We are here. Waiting. We will not rest until drowning you in your own blood. Praise be to Allah, your time is about to come.”

Noticing Craig’s distraction, Patterson tried to look over his shoulder. “What is it?”

Craig handed Patterson the phone. “Message left on the wall. Behind the ISIS flag.”

Patterson held the phone close to his eyes and stared at the message in disbelief.

“This isn’t over,” Craig said out loud to himself. “Not by a long shot.”

Red Tape

Washington, D.C.

“This case is over,” the FBI deputy assistant director, James Calderon, said. He slammed a large plastic file folder closed, leaned back in his chair and rubbed the temples of his wide, pale forehead. As assistant director, Calderon had a no-nonsense reputation, but he was also known to stand by his agents when needed. Craig was shocked to hear the dismissive words coming from the deputy assistant’s mouth.

On the third floor of the FBI building, suited officials sat around a long table with a glass surface. The well-lit conference room—with its flat-screen teleconference system mounted on the walls, snack bar, and coffee station—offered privacy and comfort for meetings among the bureau’s agents, supervisors, and directors.

Their current meeting was as sensitive as any they had held in quite some time. The room was made up of Craig’s superiors, who had requested to speak only to him. Craig had figured the meeting was his opportunity to urge expanding the FBI’s role in the case, to explain the hard work he and the other agents had done, and to reaffirm their commitment to the case. The last thing he’d expected was to be shot down in less than five minutes.

Calderon pulled the square-rimmed glasses from his puffy face and set them down on the glass table. His silver wristwatch jingled above his sleeve as he brought his hand back to his face to rub his eyes.

“At this point, we need to talk damage control.” He pushed aside the report in front of him while trying to think of the words.

They were also joined by one Homeland Security representative, sent in to observe the proceedings. Homeland Security Chief Advisor, Lisa Parks, sat next to the FBI deputy director. Craig sat at one end, while the deputy director sat at the other. On each side were the stone-faced people who he believed were there to help soften the blow of their dismantling his case.

Calderon took a long drink of water from his glass, set it back down on the table, hard, and then leaned toward Craig.

“Your report is very interesting, I must admit. You make a good case justifying the time, resources, and money you’ve spent over the last six months accumulating evidence. And at the end of the day you successfully captured the sleeper cell. This agency has not determined the motive of the driver yet, but finds it entirely plausible that he was connected to the nine captured men.”

“Sir, if I may—” Craig began.

“I’m not finished!” Calderon barked.

Craig slid back in his chair. He knew then that little good was going to come from the meeting, which had been called just two days after the raid. In that time, they had been trying to figure out what to do with the case, and it already looked like they had reached a conclusion.

“After making a positive ID on the driver, your theory about the driver’s association with the sleeper cell has been confirmed. He
was
the tenth man you were looking for. His name: Sayid Awad, Syrian refugee. Twenty-five years old. We don’t know why he chose an empty street to detonate the van. We can assume that the driver was planning on attacking the Fourth of July parade but, for whatever reason, changed his mind, perhaps after being confronted by two local officers.”

Calderon pushed Craig’s report to the side. “So the remaining suspects are in custody, their counterpart perished in a suicide bombing, and their organization is no more. The White House wants closure, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

Craig stared ahead, clearly not satisfied. He pulled on his red tie and fidgeted. “Mr. Deputy Director, if I may?”

“Yes, Agent Davis, go ahead.”

Craig placed his palms flat on the glass table and slowly rose from his seat. “While I respect your opinion, I would think that this agency has faith enough in its field agents to know when to close a case. Because this is far from over.”

An uncomfortable silence came over the room. Calderon didn’t look happy, and Craig knew he was stirring the pot.

“We have new evidence. Something that could lead to a wider cell network.”

Calderon leaned forward in interest. “Oh? And what evidence is that?”

Still standing, Craig looked around the room, making eye contact with the icy-looking female Homeland rep. He shuffled around in his pocket and pulled out his phone, holding it up to the curious faces around him. “We found this message written behind the ISIS flag we took down in the occupants’ living room. It’s a clear warning that this is far from over.”

Calderon waved Craig off. “I trust your judgment, Agent Davis, but the Islamic State has been making outlandish threats against us for years. And while we don’t take such threats lightly, we cannot spend the extra man power on a closed case when the White House wants us to move on.”