by Roland Smith
“Car bomb,” X-Ray said.
“Three blocks away,” Boone said. “Give or take.”
Vanessa looked at Charlie. “Guess your initiation is going to have to wait.”
Boone’s BlackBerry buzzed. “It’s J.R. again.”
He answered. “Right… We’re fine…” He looked over X-Ray’s shoulder as X-Ray tapped furiously on one of his computers. A picture of billowing dust and smoke filled the screen. “Shopping mall… We’ll send people down with Pat…” He looked at Angela and me. “Tell them that they’re with Charlie and me, a long way from the explosion. They’re safe and we’ll have them back at the White House soon.” Boone took his phone away from his ear, looked at the screen, then put it back to his ear. “Sorry, but I’ve got another call. I’ll be in touch.”
I looked at Angela. “Did Boone just cut off the president of the United States to take another call?”
“Looks that way.”
The BlackBerry was back up to Boone’s ear. He didn’t speak. He listened as everyone watched him in complete silence. I guess they had caught that he had just cut off the president too. Sirens blared outside. Smoke continued to billow from the bombed building on X-Ray’s monitor. But we just stared at Boone. He ended the call and looked at the group.
“We’ve got a little problem.”
“I’ll say,” Vanessa said. “A car bomb in the nation’s capital.”
Boone nodded. “It’s worse. Malak’s in trouble.”
“What’s happened?” Angela shouted.
“That was Ziv on the phone,” Boone answered. “It seems that she just met the Leopard’s parents, or at least the couple who raised her, and they didn’t believe she was their daughter. They’re dead. So is Amun Massri. She’s been compromised, but Ziv thinks he has a way around it that might even turn the situation to our advantage.”
“Wait a second,” Charlie said. “Who’s Ziv? Amun Massri? By ‘the Leopard,’ do you mean—”
Boone held his hand up. “Angela and Q can bring you up to speed as you take them back to the White House.”
“We’re not going to the White House,” Angela said. “I want to make sure my mother’s okay.”
“Your mother is fine,” Boone said. “And there is no time to debate this. Roger and Blaze heard the bomb go off, and they’re worried about you. Your job and Q’s is to get back to the White House to let them know you’re okay. If they start to get suspicious, the game’s up. If they find out about Malak, they will pull the plug. Everything she’s been through for the past few years will be for nothing. And your parents aren’t the only ones asking where you are. Mr. Todd and other staff members want to know too. They’re trying to get to your parents, thinking they know what’s going on, which they don’t. You need to get back there and put a stop to it.”
“Your parents don’t know about Malak?” Charlie said.
Angela and I shook our heads.
Charlie shook his head too, but for an entirely different reason. “This is unbelievable!”
“Welcome to the dark side,” Vanessa said.
“Are you still in?” Boone asked.
“Yeah, I’m in,” Charlie said.
“Good. We need you.” Boone looked at the others. “X-Ray and Eben are coming with me. Everett and Felix, you’re running countersurveillance for us. Vanessa, you stay here and monitor communications. Pat? Get cleaned up. I need you at the bomb site. Use your Secret Service creds. If anyone tries to block your access, tell them you’re the president’s man on the ground. I’ll set this up with J.R. and fill him in on what we’re doing. Report directly to him on his private cell. Uly will go with you and fill you in on the situa—”
A second explosion rocked the hotel.
Boone swore.
“Two bombs, same location,” Vanessa said. “One for the public. The second for the emergency workers coming to the rescue. We have to stop these people.”
“Let’s get moving,” Boone said.
Walk and Talk
The sidewalks and streets were jammed with people, some rushing toward the disaster, some rushing away. We could see and smell the black smoke rising a few blocks from us.
Charlie took us a different way back to the White House than Boone had taken to get to the hotel. It was quite a bit longer. At first I thought it was to avoid the chaos on the streets, but I think his real reason was to give us more time to tell him what was going on. We couldn’t talk openly at the White House—too many ears and eyes.
Angela did most of the talking, but I chimed in when I thought she was leaving out something Charlie should know. He let us finish before saying anything.
“You’re absolutely certain this woman is your mother?”
“Absolutely,” Angela said.
“Sorry that I have to ask these questions,” Charlie said. “But I’m a cop. And I’m obviously way behind you on this thing.”
“No problem,” I said.
“If your parents find out about this, they’ll shut down the tour, right?”
“Right,” Angela said.
“What’s the downside to that?” Charlie said. “I mean, neither of them was exactly starving when they hit the big time. How much money do you need?”
“It’s not the money,” Angela said. “It’s the fact that they gave up just about everything to raise us. Second chances in the music business are rare.”
“First chances are rare,” I added. “And now it’s more complicated than that. Boone and Malak think if they drop out now it will create a lot of questions. Reporters will start digging and figure out that Roger was married to a Secret Service agent who was killed in the line of duty. If the ghost cell figures out that Malak took the Leopard’s place, they might come after us.”
“Witness Security?” Charlie said.
Angela shook her head. “My dad and Blaze are too recognizable. They’d have to undergo plastic surgery and give up music altogether. That’s not fair to them. They’ll be told everything as soon as the ghost cell is destroyed.”
“By the cell’s actions today,” Charlie said, “that could be a very long time. To pull off something like this in the most secure city in the U.S. means this cell is not only well organized and well funded. It’s huge.”
“And Malak is the only chance we have of taking it down,” I said.
“Do you want to continue?” Ziv asked Malak.
Elise and Amun lay dead where Ziv had shot them. Malak had not been into the bedroom where Sean had gone to retrieve Elise’s kit, but she had no doubt that he was as dead as the other two. Ziv never missed and never wasted bullets.
“I might be losing my edge,” Malak said, then explained the two lapses she’d had that morning with the coffee and the little girl.
“Losing one’s edge is a good reason to give it up,” Ziv said. “Boone is on his way over here with Eben. There are two cell members watching this apartment right now. Dirk is watching them. They have no idea what happened here. We could easily take them out, and that would mean five relatively high-up cell members gone from the face of the earth. Not enough to bring the cell down, but it would certainly be a blow to the organization.”
They had turned on the television. Every news station was showing the devastation from the bombs. No one knew how many people had died, but the reporters were predicting that the casualties would be in the dozens.
“Or,” Ziv continued, “we could take the two watching the building alive and find out what they know, but the chances of them knowing very much is small.”
A news anchor came on.
We have just received a communiqué from the Al Jazeera television network. Three well-known terrorist groups are claiming to have joined forces to deliver this coordinated attack against the United States. The three groups are…
Ziv switched off the television. He’d heard enough. He and Malak both knew this was not a coordinated attack from three different terrorist groups. There weren’t three terrorist groups on earth that could get
along long enough to pull something like this off. The attack was the work of the ghost cell, which was happy to have other terrorists take the credit for the attack and suffer the consequences. The members of the ghost cell were not martyrs unless it was absolutely necessary. Their motto was, Live to kill another day.
Ziv took his cell phone out and called Boone. “Hold off for a moment. I’ll get right back to you.”
He ended the call and looked at Malak. “As you already know, whatever you decide is fine with me. We can end this right now without any regrets. Turn what we’ve learned over to Boone, and then you and I will disappear.”
Malak smiled. “Dear Ziv,” she said. “Disappear into the sunset like we’re in a western? It’s not as simple as that. It never is. Which is why westerns are so popular and why you like them so much.”
“You’re right. I’m a romantic at heart,” Ziv said, returning her smile.
“What’s your plan?”
“Very dangerous for you as always, but we’ll need Boone and his team to help us.”
“I will never be safe as long as the ghost cell exists, nor will Angela or Roger or Q or Blaze. I won’t give up. I can’t. Call Boone back.”
Boone, Croc, and X-Ray walked through the front door of the apartment twenty minutes later. Croc sniffed the two corpses, then jumped up on the sofa and lay down.
Ziv was on his cell phone when they entered. “Are they clear?” he asked. He nodded, then ended the call.
“We saw the two watching the building,” Boone said. “We’re running countersurveillance on them. We’ll get some photos and run them through the database.”
“We also saw Dirk,” X-Ray added. “He sticks out like a sore thumb.”
“Where’s Eben?” Ziv asked. “He’s critical to our plans.”
“We thought it best to have him come in a different way,” Boone said. “Dirk didn’t even pick him up.”
Eben stepped out of the bedroom carrying a pistol. “There is an old man in there facedown on the bed with a bullet in the back of his head. Hello, Ziv.”
“Hello, Eben. It’s good to see you.”
“I’m sure it is.” Eben looked at Malak, the gun still in his hand.
“I did not kill your brother,” Malak said.
“I know.” Eben holstered the gun and took a closer look at the bodies lying on the floor. “It would have been nice to keep Amun alive so we could have a talk with him. Did he set the car bomb?”
“Yes,” Malak said. “And I was with him. He didn’t tell me.”
“Perhaps he didn’t trust you as much as you thought.”
“I think it was this woman who didn’t trust me. She was Amun’s handler.”
“Then we should have kept her alive.” Eben looked at Ziv. “Is this your work?”
Ziv shrugged. “We have more important things to discuss.”
“Are you sure this place is clean?” X-Ray asked.
“The ghost cell does not use listening devices,” Ziv said.
“Let’s make sure.” X-Ray pulled a piece of electronic equipment out of his backpack. There was a wand attached, which he started running over every inch of the apartment.
Malak looked at Boone. “Is Angela safe?”
“Yes. In fact, she’s with an old friend of yours by the name of Charlie Norton.” He pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and looked at his watch. “By now they should be inside the White House.”
Malak stared at the watch.
“It’s an Omega Seamaster,” Boone said. “J.R. gave it to me. Charlie has one too. So does Pat Callaghan. So do you, but J.R. says that you’ve modified yours.”
Malak smiled. “In Switzerland, right after the bomb at Independence Hall. I’m just glad J.R. wasn’t tracking me while I made my escape. It was sheer luck that I found J.R.’s little surprise inside.” She held up her wrist. “The watch was damaged in the explosion at the hall. I took it in to get it fixed. The jeweler found the gadget inside. He didn’t have any idea what it was. When he put the watch back together I had him leave it out.”
“J.R. gave Angela and Q Seamasters early this morning.”
“They’re in an exclusive club. How are Charlie and Pat?”
“They’re working for us now,” Boone said.
A flash of anger crossed Malak’s face. “I told you in very clear terms that I did not want—”
“We need help, Malak,” Boone said. “It was J.R.’s idea, and I totally agree with the decision. Aside from being your friends, Pat and Charlie are two of the best operatives in the business. They are working for me, not J.R. He needs plausible cover for the information you’re feeding him. They’re going to keep their credentials. Right now Pat’s at the bomb site. There are places he and Charlie can go that we can’t. All they have to do is flip their badges out. If they have trouble, J.R. will get them in with executive privilege. You know how it works as well as I do. They want to help you. They want to stop the ghost cell.”
Tears welled up in Malak’s eyes. “They’re risking their lives and careers.”
“Apparently, they think you’re worth it.”
“You’re right, Ziv,” X-Ray said. “The apartment is as clean as a whistle. I don’t understand why they didn’t use bugs for a meet like this.”
“They like doing things the old-fashioned way,” Ziv said. “It’s safer. No electronic footprints for anyone to follow. But let’s stay focused. We don’t have much time.
“After a hit like today’s, the ghost cell usually lays low. They go dormant before striking again. Amun said that the bomb was only the first mission. As Malak told you, Amun said that they have people in the White House, and he implied that something bad is going to happen there. The explosions today might have been a prelude of worse things to come.
“I believe that Malak was about to be promoted. Getting past Elise was her last test. If she had succeeded, she would have risen far above Amun, who was an incompetent fool. Elise knew Amun was a fool because Elise has never been anyone’s fool.”
“You knew her?” Boone asked.
Ziv nodded. “For most of my life, from the old days in Lebanon. She was one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, if not the smartest. But she was not the head of this cell.” He looked at Eben. “I wish I could have kept her alive, but I had no choice. She was about to kill Malak. I didn’t know the man in the other room, who went by the name of Sean. And I doubt Elise told him half of what was really going on in the organization.”
Boone looked at Malak. “So, you’re coming in. This is over for you.”
Malak shook her head. “I’m just getting started. I’m in until it’s over for them. There’s no other way.”
“Your handler and your bogus parents are dead,” Boone said. “You’re done.”
“The Leopard is very much alive,” Ziv said. “It’s time for some terrorist theater. The first act will start outside for the two people watching the apartment.” He looked at Eben. “You will have a starring role.”
Eben frowned.
“Here’s what really happened here,” Ziv continued. “A rogue Mossad agent by the name of Eben Lavi, seeking revenge for the death of his younger brother, followed Amun and the Leopard to this apartment complex. After they entered he climbed up the fire escape and shot Sean in the bedroom. Then he came out here and shot Elise and Amun. But the Leopard was too quick for him. His fourth bullet only grazed her left arm. She shot Eben in the right leg, fled the building, jumped into Elise’s van, and drove away. Approximately two minutes after the Leopard makes her escape, you, Eben, will come limping out of the building desperately frustrated at being wounded and losing your quarry.”
“What about act two?” Boone asked.
“I’m afraid I don’t have that entirely written yet,” Ziv said. “The Leopard is going to go to a sympathetic doctor to have her wound treated. These doctors are usually very low in the cell infrastructure. When the Leopard walks in, he or she will treat her with no questions asked. Malak will recei
ve instructions before she leaves the doctor’s office, or someone will contact her outside the office. More than likely she will be sent to a safe house to lick her wounds.
“In the meantime the two people outside watching this apartment are going to enter the building as soon as Eben leaves. They will report what they find. Your men will stay and watch. Eventually, a cleanup crew is going to come to the building and remove all evidence of what happened here. I want them photographed and followed. We’ll add them to the ghost database. And with luck, following the bodies will lead us to more cell members.”
“What if they don’t believe the Leopard’s story?” Boone asked.
Ziv looked at Malak with sad eyes. “Then they will kill her.” He pointed his silenced pistol at her.
Boone grabbed his arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going to wound a leopard.”
“Let him, Boone,” Malak said. “I can’t go to the doctor without an actual wound.”
“Who are you, Ziv?” Eben asked.
Ziv looked at him for a moment. “I’m the Leopard’s real father.” He looked back at Malak. “And Malak’s.”
Then Ziv shot his daughter in the arm.
The King of the Mountain
Mom, Roger, and Bethany were relieved to see me and Angela when we strolled into the Solarium with Charlie. He told them that we were touring the National Museum of Natural History at the time of the explosion and that we were perfectly safe.
“I got them back here as quick as I could,” Charlie explained. “It took longer than I expected because of the traffic.”
“Dad has called off the concert,” Bethany said.
“We’re leaving as soon as Boone gets back to drive us to the next venue,” Mom added.
“Where is Boone anyway?” Roger asked.
“He had an errand to run,” Angela answered.
Yeah, I thought. Like saving her mother and the world from terrorists.
Mr. Todd walked in, glowered at Charlie, and said, “The concert’s back on. The president just went on national TV and said he wasn’t about to have terrorists interrupt the United States government, including the concert planned for the White House this evening. The concert will be held in honor of those who lost their lives in the attack, and he wants the concert televised. He’s soliciting donations that will go directly to the families of those who were lost.”
