Special Talents (41 page)

"Well, at least you're willing to try," said Scarborough. "And we might learn something. We have only a week until the State of the Union Address so time is running out."

"I've been thinking about that," said Jeremy. "I think that no matter what we find the entire team should be at the State of the Union Address. I know security is going to be extremely tight but I also think us being there could make a difference. We have no idea how many people he's planning on using or what special talents they might have. I think we need to be there to help if things get out of hand."

"Oh, I don't know, Jeremy," said Scarborough. "Personally I think it's a great idea. But I'm not sure I could get clearance for everyone to attend. These things are usually set up quite a while in advance. I know the Secret Service isn't going to want to add a group of uncleared people at this stage."

"Oh, I didn't mean inside the Capital Building," said Jeremy. "I meant outside, sort of as advanced security, so to speak. I think we'd have a better chance of stopping them that way than if they actually got into the building."

"I think I can arrange that," said Scarborough. "I'll talk to the people in charge of security first thing in the morning. And I'm sure Secretary Napolitano will like the idea. If necessary, I'll see if she'll use the weight of her office. I should have an answer for you some time tomorrow."

Just then Peters came back into the room.

"Munif is on one of the interrogation rooms," he said. "Anything you can get out of him could be helpful. He's still insisting it's all a misunderstanding and that he's done nothing wrong."

"Big surprise there," said Scarborough.

"Unless he's telling the truth," said Jeremy.

"I guess we'll find out in a few minutes," said Scarborough. "Come on Jeremy and Conrad. Let's go interrogate your first terrorist suspect."

Jeremy, Scarborough, and Conrad entered the interrogation room where Munif was seated. Scarborough took a seat across the table from Munif. Jeremy took a seat at the head of the table. Conrad stood just inside the door, partially leaning against the wall.

Munif looked like any other man on the streets of D.C. He was dressed in some type of maintenance uniform and was wearing a Muslim prayer cap that was common among Muslims, especially the very devout ones. He also wore a beard, also very common among Muslims, but his was cut short and neatly trimmed.

"Mr. Munif, I'm Assistant Director Scarborough of Homeland Security. This is Supervising Agent Dr. Jeremy Sloan and that's Conrad Miles."

"Homeland Security?" Munif questioned. "Am I being suspected of being a terrorist?"

Jeremy noticed that Munif's English was nearly perfect. There was just a trace of an accent. Munif had lived in the United States since he was 16 and had obviously learned English very well. But Jeremy also knew that a person's speech patterns were more or less set by the time they were 6 years old. After that it would be nearly impossible to get rid of any accent, no matter how slight.

"No, no," said Scarborough being very friendly. "It's just that when there's money over a certain amount we have to come in and ask some routine questions, that's all."

"Routine?" questioned Munif.

"Yes, just routine. Nothing to be worried about at all. I'm sure once we get this all cleared up you'll be free to go. Now, your name is Hasaan Munif, originally from Saudi Arabia, and you moved here when you were 16. Is that correct?"

"Yes," said Munif. Scarborough glanced at Jeremy who indicated he was telling the truth.

"You work for National Construction Company and you drive the, what is that, tooth truck? Oh, no, tool truck. I'm sorry. The detective's handwriting could be better. Is that also correct?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Now, according to the arresting officer, you were pulled over for having a broken tail light lens. The officer saw a bag containing a rather large amount of cash and brought you in."

"He targeted me because I'm Muslim," Munif protested. "If I had been white, he wouldn't have said a word."

"You know," said Scarborough, leaning in closer to Munif, "you may just be right. Some of the cops in the D.C. area can be a bit jumpy. According to the report there was $50,000.00 dollars in the bag."

Jeremy was impressed with Scarborough. He knew Scarborough could be a hard-nosed, tough SOB when he wanted to be. But right now he was being cordial, friendly, endearing, and even smiling the entire time. A tactic, no doubt, meant to put Munif at ease. Where he might slip up and make a mistake.

"Yes," replied Munif. "As I told the officer, it is an inheritance. An uncle passed away recently and it was my inheritance from him. I simply have not had the time to put it in the bank. I was carrying in my truck so that nothing would happen to it."

"I see," said Scarborough. He glanced at Jeremy who simply shook his head, almost imperceptibly, that Munif was lying. "And your uncle's name was?"

"Aabon Murabbi," replied Munif.

"Well, this should be easy to clear up," said Scarborough smiling at him. "Just tell me which hospital he passed away in and when they confirm it you'll be free to go."

"Oh, uh, he died at home. He was very old. He did not want to die in a hospital."

"I can't say I blame him. Never cared for hospitals much myself. So, I'll just contact the coroner's office. They should have him on file for the autopsy."

"There was no autopsy."

"Oh, that's right. Muslims don't believe in autopsies, do they? Muslims, Jews, some Christian denominations, and a few others. Something about not desecrating the body or something."

"That's right. The desecration of a body is forbidden under Muslim law."

"Yes, of course. Well, the death certificate should be sufficient. Just tell me the doctor's name who signed the death certificate."

"I don't know his name. He was a friend of my uncle but I only met him a couple of times. I don't recall his name."

"Hasaan, you seem like a really nice guy. You've been very cooperative. But I need something to corroborate your story. If it were just me, I'd kick you right now. But my boss. She's a real ball buster, if you know what I mean. If I go back without anything she's going to have my head on a platter. Just something that I can tell her checked out so she won't be such a witch."

"I don't know what to tell you. The money was an inheritance from my late uncle. I was planning on putting it in the bank the first thing in the morning."

"Hasaan, I believe you," said Scarborough. "But without something to corroborate your story, I'm not sure what I can do to help you. The police detective thinks it's money for a terrorist group. He thinks you're involved with them and you were delivering the money to them. Without something to back up your story I'm afraid it doesn't look good for you."

"But I have done nothing wrong," protested Munif. "It's not illegal to carry money, even large sums of money. And simply because I Arab and a Muslim does not mean I am a terrorist. "

"I know, I know," said Scarborough. "But you see there is one little thing that's been bothering me." He looked directly at Munif. "If this is as innocent as you say, I can't for the life of me figure out why you've been lying to me."

"I . . . I haven't been lying," stammered Munif.

"Who's Stewart Kranston?" Conrad suddenly asked.

"Who?" questioned Munif, very nervously.

"Stewart Kranston," Conrad repeated. "He's the one who gave you the money."

"Stewart Kranston is a genetic biologist," said Jeremy. "He's done some remarkable in genetic engineering that has helped fight many diseases."

"And a man with ties to known terrorist groups," said Scarborough.

"I don't know a Stewart Kranston," insisted Munif.

"Sure you do," said Conrad. "He gave you the money and asked you to deliver it to someone. A Harold Baker. You were supposed to deliver the money to him later tonight."

"How could you know," Munif began and then caught himself. He simply sat staring at Conrad.

"Who's Harold Baker?" Scarborough asked.

"I don't know," said Munif. "Honestly, I don't know him. I never met him."

"So you want us to believe that you're delivering $50,000.00 to a man you've never met? And that you had no idea the money came from a man with known terrorist ties?"

"It's true," said Munif. Jeremy indicated to Scarborough that Munif was now telling the truth. "I never heard of Harold Baker before today. And I didn't know that Mr. Kranston was connected to terrorists. You have to believe me. I'm not a terrorist and I don't have any dealings with them."

Jeremy indicated he was still telling the truth.

"Hasaan, I think you're telling the truth now. But you did lie to me before. That doesn't look good for you. I'll tell you what I'm going to do. You tell me the truth now. The entire truth. No more lies. And I'll see what I can do about helping you. I'll use all my influence with the police detective to see that you aren't charged as a terrorist."

"Okay," said Munif in resignation. "What do you want to know?"

"Why did you have $50,000.00 with you in your truck?"

"Stewart Kranston gave it to me. I knew who he was. Someone at the mosque where I worship introduced me to him a while back. Mr. Kranston came to me today and said he needed to get the money to Harold Baker for some work he had done for him. But he said he was tied up and couldn't deliver the money himself. He asked me if I would deliver it to him."

"And you agreed? Just like that?"

"Well, at first I was suspicious. I mean, who delivers $50,000.00 in cash? But then Mr. Kranston said that only $40,000.00 was for Baker. He said I could keep the extra $10,000.00 for my trouble."

"And you didn't find that just a bit odd?"

"Well, yeah. But like I said, I had no idea Mr. Kranston was involved with terrorists. I thought there might be something shady about the deal. But it was $10,000.00. Do you know how long I'd have to work to make that kind of money? I was going to send most of it back to some family I still have in Saudi Arabia."

"You didn't even think that maybe there was something illegal about it?"

"Yeah, I guess so. But one of the guys I work with cheats on his income tax. Claims his mother as a dependant even though she died three years ago. Another guy takes money out of petty cash and puts in fake receipts to cover it. I couldn't see any harm in doing it. I was only delivering the money after all. And it was $10,000.00. I figured, who'd know? So I agreed."

"Where were you supposed to deliver the money?" Scarborough asked.

"A place in Southeast D.C. I have the address right here. I was supposed to take my share and deliver the rest to this address. Mr. Kranston told me to leave the money in a large box inside the entryway door. He said this Baker would be watching and he'd pick up the money after I left."

"What time?" Jeremy asked.

"Ten o'clock tonight. Like I said, I didn't see any harm in it. I was only delivering some money, not doing anything illegal. And I swear I had no idea there were terrorists involved. If I had known that I would have gone straight to the police. I swear it."

Jeremy indicated to Scarborough that Munif had been telling the truth.

"Okay, Hasaan, sit tight. I'll go have a chat with Peters and see if we can't work something out."

Jeremy, Scarborough, and Conrad left the room and went into the observation room where Peters had been watching the entire exchange.

"I have to hand it to you, Rick. These guys are as good as you said they were. I don't think I've ever seen a suspect crack that quickly."

"Well, he was telling the truth about the money," said Jeremy. "Kranston simply asked him to deliver it and keep the rest for himself. Any idea who this Harold Baker is?"

"I'm having a check run on him right now," said Peters. "As soon Munif mentioned his name. We should have something in a few minutes."

"The question is, what do we do now? We can't just let Munif walk. Even though he really didn't know what he was doing, we can't let him have the money. And in all likelihood he'd go running right back to Kranston and tell him what happened. Besides, it would look very suspicious if we just let him go."

"What if we didn't let him go?" Jeremy asked. "What if he escaped?"

"What are you getting at?" Peters asked.

"Well, what if we told Munif that Lt. Peters was going to charge him as a terrorist? Despite everything Richard tried to do for him? And what if, when he was being taken down to booking, the police officer escorting him should get 'distracted' in some way? What do you think Munif would do?"

"As nervous as he is I'd say he'd run. Assuming he felt he had a reasonable chance of getting away."

"Exactly. Now, we could spend days, weeks even, trying to track down where Kranston is. And Richard is right. Munif is very likely to go back to Kranston to tell him what happened to the money. All we would need is someone to tail Munif and find out where he goes."