Monster (82 page)

“I am very sorry, Cold Mountain,” Mehmed apologized. “I…I just…”

“Don’t worry about it. A deal’s a deal though.”

McDaniels sat down at one of the chairs, placing his recorder on the table.

“Get started Abby. I’ll stop you if I need to clarify something. First things first though. What were you planning on using and where do you have it stashed?”

“Sarin… I was going to use Sarin gas.”

“How the hell would you have been able to disburse Sarin?” Donaldson asked. “You would never… oh, I see. You only needed to get in the door at the busiest time of the morning. The gas could be carried in small canisters, fitted into a briefcase or backpack. Then…”

“Pete,” Rasheed interrupted Donaldson with a stopping gesture.

“Go on, Abby,” McDaniels prompted. “Tell us how.”

“I have a specially made black leather coat which looks exactly like the one we have photographed Rasheed wearing many times. In its lining, there are small diameter cylindrical pockets. There are eight cylinder pockets. The leather jacket is in the main hallway closet. The polymer cylinders are under the closet’s floor boards.”

McDaniels took out his cell-phone immediately, calling Reskova.

“Cold?”

“Yeah, Red, I have something for you to check. Are you at the Syrian’s house?”

“Yes, I’m standing outside while the EM’s are treating the girls before taking them to the hospital. God, you can’t imagine what that…”

“I know,” McDaniels interrupted. “Go inside and check out the main hallway closet. I’ll wait while you get inside.”

A minute later, Reskova acknowledged she was looking inside the closet.

“Is there a black leather coat in the closet?”

“Yes.”

“Does the lining of it have thin cylindrical pockets?”

“Okay, what does this mean?” Reskova confirmed the presence of a special lining. “You’re starting to worry me.”

“Check the bottom of the closet for a false floor.”

“Two for two… hey, what’s this case in here, explosives?”

“Worse. Close it up. Get a disposal team in to take care of it. That’s Sarin gas.”

“Oh shit… any other surprises?”

“I’ll let you know. Be careful in that house, Red.”

“I will.” Reskova disconnected.

“Okay, Abby, you’re doing good so far. Start talking now and give me everything.”

McDaniels, Rasheed, Donaldson, and Mehmed sat around the table listening to Hamdan recount his activities. McDaniels threatened at each pause in Hamdan’s recital, urging the Syrian to keep focused. They could all see the Syrian was rapidly losing enthusiasm for his so called deal of a painless death as he ran out of things to say. McDaniels asked questions about contacts and procedural references after each stage in Hamdan’s story, mixing in facts they had already uncovered from Kojovich.

After nearly three hours, McDaniels stood up, making a visual point of stretching the stiffness out of his limbs. He then took off his jacket and shirt, leaving on only a short-sleeved t-shirt. Kneeling near his equipment bag, McDaniels pulled out a rawhide pouch. He extracted a pair of heavy leather gloves from the pouch which sparkled oddly in the propane lamp light. Slipping them on, McDaniels fastened the Velcro straps at the wrist. He walked over in front of a now horrified Hamdan. Hamdan could see what sparkled on the surface of the gloves. It was ground glass.

“Mehmed, let Abby go.”

“Wait!” Hamdan screamed, looking around wildly. “We…we have a deal. I have… told you everything.”

“Sorry, Ab. I’ve been thinking about what you’ve done,” McDaniels explained, while a smiling Mehmed released the plastic ties holding Hamdan’s feet to the chair.

Rasheed and Donaldson stood up. They took up positions on each side of the chair as if on cue.

“You’ve given us enough to avoid most of what I had planned for you.” McDaniels flexed his arms. “I’m thinking you need to feel some pain for the next half hour. The good part is it will only be a half hour. The bad part will be by the time I get done you’re going to wish you’d never been born you baby killing piece of shit.”

Mehmed released the cringing Hamdan’s hands. The Syrian fell to his knees, bowing down at the waist and clasping McDaniels’ right leg.

“I…I have something else,” Hamdan pleaded, gripping McDaniels’ leg. “It’s about Romanko. Please…”

“What about Romanko? Ah… never mind, I’ll ask you in about twenty minutes.”

“This is big! He is meeting with Mohsin tomorrow. I…”

McDaniels sighed, crouching next to Hamdan. “Okay, but this had better be really good, Ab, or I’m going to have to extend the session to an hour.”

“Romanko and Mohsin are meeting at dawn tomorrow, thinking to make final arrangements on my mission with the Sarin gas,” Hamdan blurted out quickly, ducking his head away from McDaniels.

“Where’s the meeting being held?”

“At Fort Marcy Park. Do you know of a Chain Bridge Road?”

McDaniels glanced up at a smiling Rasheed. “We know of it.”

“They will be meeting there at dawn, outside the entrance to the park. Mohsin and Sadiq will enter Romanko’s car. They are to drive until their meeting is over. Now can…”

“Were you to be there too, Ab?” McDaniels interrupted.

“You won’t be going anyway so just tell the truth you little prick,” McDaniels added impatiently when Hamdan hesitated as if gauging what he might get away with.

“No… I was not to come near them,” Hamdan admitted.

“Okay,” McDaniels relented, taking off his gloves and returning them to the pouch. “Sit down in the chair. I’m going to make you feel a lot better than you deserve.”

Chapter 58

Last Meeting

Rasheed looked over at Donaldson. Pete sat in the passenger side of the van as they waited for McDaniels to finish arranging Kojovich and his men in the Mercedes.

“Do you think this will be accepted?” Rasheed asked.

“I’m not even fully sure of what he plans to do,” Donaldson admitted. “Why doesn’t he stick Hamdan in with the Russians?”

“I am at a loss as to his plan on that point too, but what do you think will be decided as far as the Russians?”

Donaldson shrugged.

“I will ask the Cold Mountain,” Mehmed volunteered from the backseat.

“It may be the Cold Mountain thinks we should know as little as possible, young Mehmed. Pete and I are just…”

The back door opened. McDaniels slid into the seat next to Mehmed.

“Next stop, my old place. We have an object lesson to prepare. I already called Diane. She knows we will be busy until tomorrow afternoon. You guys call home yet?”

“Yes, Ansa knows I will be home when I can. Nancy told Pete he better have a note from his Doctor, two notarized statements from unconnected employees at the State Department, a sworn affidavit…”

“Shut up, Kay,” Donaldson cut him off. “I’m good, Colonel. We’re all set. Would it be possible to know what your plan is yet?”

“Abby is going to fire a rocket into the meeting between the Syrians and Russians.” McDaniels gestured at Hamdan’s unconscious body in the back of the van.

“That explains why you haven’t killed him yet,” Donaldson replied. “You don’t want him to assume room temperature too soon and ruin the time line, huh? May I ask where you managed to obtain a rocket launcher or is that classified?”

“We confiscated it from the Russians. As to your other comment, Hamdan won’t be checking out until after he does the deed. As you surmised he will then be committing suicide. We want Abby to assume room temperature at the right time - with the residue on him any CSI team needs to arrive at the conclusion we want.”

“How did you know Hamdan knew something else, Sir?” Mehmed asked.

“I didn’t,” McDaniels admitted, evoking laughter from his three companions.

“I never thought you would get to use that rocket launcher,” Rasheed said finally, shaking his head in disbelief as he drove toward McDaniels’ loft apartment.

“Waste not, want not,” McDaniels quipped.

* * *

“Wakey, wakey, my little man.” McDaniels slapped Hamdan lightly on the cheeks as Mehmed applied a wet towel to his head.

Hamdan groaned, his eyes blinking in the pre-dawn light, confusion the dominant trait on his face as he recognized McDaniels, Rasheed, Donaldson, and Mehmed looking down at him where he lay on the wet ground. Hamdan sat up. He quickly realized they were on a forested hillside overlooking the exact spot he had told his captors would be the meeting place between Romanko and Mohsin.

“Want to change your information any?” McDaniels asked. “You didn’t really think I’d let you off the hook on your word, did you?”

“I told you the truth,” Hamdan stated firmly. “They will meet right where I said.”

“Good, because I have a way in which you can atone for your sins before you meet Allah.”

As the sun peaked over the treetops, a black Mercedes parked along the side of Chain Bridge Road, nearly fifty yards away from the Fort Marcy entrance.

“Oh baby, that’s just beautiful.” McDaniels sighted in on the Mercedes with his field glasses.

“Yes, you have a knack for getting your way, my friend,” Rasheed said.

Donaldson and Mehmed knelt next to Hamdan with the rocket launcher McDaniels and Rasheed procured from Tomashevsky’s trunk long ago. Mehmed stayed in control of the launcher while Donaldson positioned Hamdan. When Donaldson had the Mercedes sighted in, he lay over Hamdan’s body. Hamdan tensed, betraying his thought an opportunity might arise to escape. As if on cue, he felt a needle in his arm. He only had time enough to look up at McDaniels’ smiling face and see McDaniels wave to him as his vision blurred to darkness.

“He was tensing up just like you thought he would, Colonel,” Donaldson said.

“What do you think, Pete? Can you nail them?”

“Just give the signal and this will be their last meeting on earth,” Donaldson answered. Mehmed positioned Hamdan’s hand so Donaldson would only have to press on the dead man’s finger to fire.

Five minutes later, a BMW drove up behind the Mercedes. Two men exited the back of the BMW. They walked quickly toward the Mercedes. The driver of the Mercedes had exited the car and was already holding the rear door open for the new arrivals.

“Confirmed,” Rasheed said quickly. “Mohsin and Sadiq.”

“Fire, Pete,” McDaniels said as the driver closed the rear door.

Donaldson fired the rocket which streaked directly at the Mercedes, hitting it dead center. It blew up the Mercedes in spectacular fashion, blowing out the windows on the BMW behind it and piercing it with shrapnel. With both vehicles on fire, McDaniels sat Hamdan’s body in an upright position near the launcher. He slipped the empty hypodermic needle into Hamdan’s right hand. The four men checked the launch site over quickly. McDaniels brushed the trail as they returned to their van. Moments later, the four men were on their way out of the area. They heard sirens sounding in the distance.

“What now, Colonel? Donaldson asked.

“We go home, shower, shave, and report to work. I’m glad Abby was right about the dawn time. It looks like we’ll be able to make work before the time I told Diane.”

“It is unfortunate no one will know what we did,” Mehmed stated. “We did what was right and yet we would go to prison if anyone knew.”

“I wish I could tell you we won’t have to do something like this in the future,” McDaniels told him. “That’s one of the reasons we brought you along. The three of us have come to an understanding about letting threats against our country and our families go unanswered. Kay and Pete already know they don’t have to join me on these unsanctioned forays. We can find you something else to do more in the investigative part of our group if you want. You’re right, Mehmed, we can go to prison for stuff like this.”

“It is an honor to be with you,” Mehmed replied earnestly. “I can think for myself. If something is not right to me, I will not do it, but I will say nothing of it to anyone. I know the enemy we are fighting. They will stop at nothing. We must do the same.”

“You did well in all of this, young Mehmed,” Rasheed stated. “You are a welcome addition to our group. Once I train you to observe every miscue made by Agent Rutledge and report it to me, we will be a tightly knit team.”

* * *

Reskova, with Dino alongside, met McDaniels at the door. McDaniels fended off Dino for a few moments until he could get the dog to calm down. Reskova laughed at Dino’s new attention grabber. Every time McDaniels would begin to straighten away from Dino, the dog would begin growling and nipping McDaniels’ ankles. Finally, McDaniels barked out the command to heel. Dino obliged by issuing a short grunt as he lay down on the carpet.

“Does he do that to you?”

“Nope.” Reskova opened her robe. “He took it upon himself to pick up a new trick just for you.”

McDaniels stared at Reskova, his mouth hanging part way open.

“Do you like my new outfit?”