by DJ Erfert
“Agent Johnson!” Cooper said, stopping next to them. “Let go of my daughter.”
Johnson’s stare descended to his hand. A moment later, his brows lifted as he let his hand drop. Lucy moved back a couple of steps. Johnny pushed his shoulder between them at the same time her dad did, effectively blocking the agent from being able to touch her again.
“I’m … sorry, Agent James,” Johnson said.
His tone hadn’t changed any from his accusation. Of course, he was right. Lucy hadn’t known about the dynamite before that moment. She looked at Mark as he stopped beside her dad. Kate, Junie, and FBI Agent Roberts were only a step behind them. But Lucy remembered again what Mark had said about hunches. It wasn’t such a far leap.
“Agent Johnson, haven’t you ever had a premonition—or a hunch so strong about something, that you had to act on it?” Lucy let him think back for a moment before she continued. His rapid blinking was a good sign. “Well, that’s what I had. Steele Reinforcement found a dead body in the desert earlier today of the man who killed six Mexican nationals blackmailed into carrying drugs across the border.”
Mark said, “His partner was found dead this morning from an overdose of drugs while in the Yuma hospital.”
Lucy nodded before continuing. “The illegals didn’t know it, but they also had a dynamite-wrapped container of radioactive medical waste at the bottom of each backpack.” Lucy lowered her voice and said, “If we hadn’t accidentally foiled their plans two days ago, many more people would’ve died and there would be ten dirty bombs in the United States right now. The men who killed the mules were murdered to insure their silence from whoever wanted to commit a terroristic act on American soil. I doubt they would care a whit about blowing up a house with women and children inside. Do you?”
Johnson looked from Lucy’s face over to the small house. She could practically see the little wheels behind his eyes spinning.
“And taking out any federal agents at the same time would probably make their day,” Cooper said quietly.
“Are you sure you got them all—all the dirty bombs?” Johnson asked.
Mark said, “We need to question all the occupants of this house, and then question the people we still have in lockup—pair them up with their relatives. If they’re being blackmailed like Raul and Mariposa were, we should be able to tell.” He stared at Lucy. “I’d hate to think there was a crossing before yours that got through.”
Goosebumps raised the fine hairs on Lucy’s arms. “Could you get on that right now?” She looked around Johnny’s shoulder at Mariposa. She was sitting on the tarp with her sister, and her husband still had his nephew in his arms. “And I need to ask Raul a question. Agent Roberts, would you come with me?”
She sidestepped Johnny and the ICE agent before quickening her pace. Having his family together again might make him unwilling to speak frankly about his involvement. He might be afraid he would be imprisoned and separated from them. But they weren’t safe. Raul had seen the foreign man at the cantina up close. He might’ve even talked with him—if the guy spoke any Spanish. Raul had escaped dying out in the desert. He might be able to give Lucy the clue she needed to get the man responsible for trying to get dirty bombs in to the US, and for murder.
Lucy knelt down next to Mariposa and touched her shoulder. Speaking in Spanish, she asked how her sister felt. Mariposa’s eyes filled with tears as she thanked Lucy for saving her family. After a tight hug, Lucy turned her attention to Raul and asked him to step away with her for a few minutes—that she needed to speak with him. From the way his gaze darted to his wife and her sister before landing on Lucy, she thought he understood. He set his nephew down next to Mariposa before standing up.
They moved away from the triage area in silence. When Lucy thought Mariposa couldn’t overhear her question, she asked Raul if he had ever spoken with the foreign man with the beard at the cantina.
“No, Lucia,” Raul said, shaking his head.
That was a disappointment, but not unexpected. She then asked if he ever heard the man’s name.
“Sí, el Señor Hussain Nagi,” Raul said, glancing between Lucy and Agent Roberts, who had his cell phone out, punching buttons.
They had a name!
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Hussain Nagi blackmailed you into carrying the backpack?” Lucy repeated, so her dad could hear through her mini ear walkie-talkie. He spoke Spanish also, so she didn’t need to translate it into English for him. She watched him take out his phone, too. Now it would be a race for who would get information on that name and the man behind a foiled terror plot.
Mark had followed them and heard Raul’s answer. Lucy gave her attention to the border agent who had been through so much of her unexpected mission. “You know none of your prisoners are safe. All of the men from that cantina are still in danger of being killed, just like the man Sullivan found in the desert, and Suarez in the hospital.” Lucy shook her head. “Until we get Nagi, you need to keep them in your custody. They can testify against him.”
Mark nodded. “Yeah, I get that. This is going to be complicated.”
“It would’ve been more complicated if those bombs made it to their destination,” Agent Stevens said.
Cooper said from behind Lucy, “We don’t know who Nagi is, exactly, or where he is, so it could still get to that complicated level.” His phone gave off a soft two-tone notification, and he quickly read the message. “Damn…”
“What is it?” Lucy asked. Johnny caught her hand and gave it a little squeeze.
“Hussain Nagi is on the no-fly list and is associated with the terrorist organization El-Hashem,” Cooper said, staring at his phone. He looked over at Lucy and said in a whisper, “From your Bahamian compound.”
“Cripes!” Lucy said. “Not again. I knew that place should’ve been blown to hell.” She looked at Junie. “I need to conference with your husband,” she said, and then caught Agent Stevens’ eyes. “And with Agent Monroe, too. We’ve got a classified problem on our hands.”
“Oh, crap,” Johnny said under his breath.
~*~
It took too long to get everyone together. Jim had been in a meeting before he was able to call Lucy, and Bridget was napping and the nurse wouldn’t wake her up. The injured FBI agent wasn’t happy to find out she’d delayed an interagency conference with something as inconsequential as sleep.
Lucy leaned her elbows on the counter in the command center and stared at Bridget’s face through the small screen of Agent Stevens’ phone. Jim Brockway’s face filled her smart phone, and Lucy had both of their attention, as well as her dad, Agent Johnson, Mark, Kate, and newly top-clearance Junie. Johnny had to wait outside, although he could still hear though his earpiece. Technically, Lucy saw no reason to exclude him from this briefing, even though the other agencies wouldn’t understand it.
“Okay, Bridget.” Lucy leaned back down and looked at the FBI agent still in her hospital bed. “In July, I had an assignment which led me to a compound on Long Island, Bahamas. El-Hashem had been attempting to brew some nasty stuff to contaminate the US waters, but we were able to,”—Lucy lifted a single shoulder—“thwart their plans.”
Mark chuckled. “You killed almost everyone there.”
Lucy looked sharply at him, frowning. He stopped laughing.
“Lulu, our lab compared the prints from the rooftop this morning to Nagi’s …” His brows pinched closely together while looking at his phone. “They matched his right thumb and index finger. Hussain Nagi was the shooter.”
Lucy lowered her head lower to the counter. That mission was still reaching its deadly tentacles out to her, trying to pull her under.
Brockway’s voice came through Lucy’s phone. “Are you sure of this, Cooper?”
Coop said, “There’s more, Jim. Bridget, we found your missing detainee ten miles outside of Gila Bend.”
Bridget pushed a lock of blond hair behind her ear with a flick of her finger. “He’s dead, isn’t he!”
“Yes. He was shot and mutilated, but Lucy was able to positively identify him. And we found one shell casing near his body of the same caliber as from the rooftop. I had my team look for prints. Morrison just came back with a match to Nagi, too. I’d bet that single casing you found near your dead agent in Gila Bend will have his fingerprint on it as well.”
“Hussain Nagi was here this morning?” Bridget looked to someone near her. “Find Dr. Rhodes. Get me discharged right now. We need to start a dragnet.”
“You’re right,” Cooper said, lifting his phone again. “I’ll call in every available resource I have to assist your team.” He looked over at Lucy and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’ll make sure Brennan comes, too, but I’ll keep him in a rear group so he doesn’t interact with you.”
“Dad, if he suspects about my—you know, then you’re not safe either.”
Coop nodded as he texted. “Yes, that crossed my mind.”
Lucy knew a battle was coming on two fronts—a perfect storm of circumstances. Brennan had been in her house, and she wanted to question him, especially on why he planted bugs. Did he work for the CIA any longer? And if he did, was he working undercover spying on her? Lucy first thought the bugs were planted on behalf of Steele Reinforcement. Now she knew that wasn’t the reason. Although Brennan was on her dad’s payroll, he may still be with the agency and acting under someone else’s orders. Whose? Lucy would find out even if she had to beat it out of him.
~*~
Cooper stood just inside the empty RV as his phone connected to Brockway’s office. He’d requested the call to be private, and Coop had an uneasy feeling his daughter’s boss had news on Brennan.
“Brockway—”
“Jim?” Coop asked. “What do you have for me?”
“That information you needed has been confirmed. The target drew a paycheck last week.”
“From my company, too.” Coop ran his hand around the back of his neck. “Thanks, Jim. I’ll take things from here.” The line went dead, and Coop looked at his phone for a moment before opening a message to two of his most trusted men—men who had been with him since he started Steele Reinforcement twenty-five years ago. He gave them a priority order to search Brennan’s apartment ASAP, and to ignore being called out on the assignment in Phoenix. They were to report only to him.
By the time he caught up with Lucy, she was kneeling next to a woman who held a young boy. Two detainees from the Yuma Sector Border Patrol closely flanked them. Lucy was mostly listening to them talk, but she’d ask them a question and let them talk some more. Coop understood that the woman and her son were prisoners and had been threatened with death if they tried to escape. Not that the dynamite didn’t discourage their attempt at leaving, but as far as they knew, men were outside the house ready to shoot them if they actually made it out. Now he understood why they stayed. But what of the other two drop houses?
“Mark?” The border agent had been taking a statement from a victim, but Coop managed to get his attention.
“Yes, sir.” Mark walked over to where he stood near Lucy.
“What have you found out?”
Mark tapped Lucy on the shoulder and nodded away from the victims. Lucy touched the little boy’s face before standing up and walking over to where Mark and Cooper stopped. Johnny had followed them. Coop noticed he hadn’t strayed farther than arms’ length from her since she came out from the drop house. Kate stayed nearly as close to Lucy as Johnny did. Coop did a quick search around the area for Junie Brockway and finally saw her holding an IV bag over an unconscious woman a paramedic was attending. Agent Johnson must’ve seen them forming a tight circle and decided to join them, too.
“We have a problem,” Mark said quietly. “We were able to match up twelve victims with the four men we still have in the Yuma Headquarters’ lockup.”
“How’s that a problem?” Johnny asked.
Cooper nodded at the group of illegals. “There are close to forty-five people over there.”
“That’s just it,” Mark said. “The rest of those people are waiting for men who were supposed to have crossed this past Sunday.”
“Five days ago?” Coop repeated.
“And that would mean?” Kate asked, looking back at the many women sitting and laying on the blue tarps.
“It means that there was at least one other trip north from Mexico two days before mine, and the probability that the men carried dirty bombs is great,” Lucy told them.
“It looks like we have ten families waiting for that Sunday crossing,” Mark said, reading out of his little spiral notebook. “And if it was arranged by the same man, then we need to assume they were carrying the same packages as Lucy’s trek.”
Johnson groaned.
“Which probably means we have ten more dead bodies lying in the desert, too,” Mark added.
“Maybe more,” Lucy said, staring back at Mariposa and Raul.
“What could they be planning on doing with those, uh, packages,” Johnny asked.
“Blow them up someplace,” Kate said quietly.
“Where?” Junie asked though their earpieces.
“Someplace worthwhile.” Lucy waved over at Agent Roberts helping a paramedic carry a stretcher. He nodded, but kept going with the patient toward the ambulance parked behind the fire truck. “Mark, you need to get on the radio and get a search started for those bodies—to confirm our suspicions.”
“You’re right.” He took out his phone.
“Do you have cadaver dogs?” Cooper asked.
Mark shook his head. “Drug detecting mostly. A couple of human sniffing dogs, but they go after live human smuggling, not cadavers.”
“I’ve got two in my helicopter right now. They’re rested, and you can use them. I’ll loan you a helicopter, too—although it may need refueling. I think it’s more important right now to find Nagi, or I’d give you both.”
“I agree,” Mark said, lifting his phone to his ear.
“What could Nagi want to hit with those packages?” Kate asked. “The airport?”
“That’s a good thought,” Stevens said. “We’ll brief TSA and their security.”
“Maybe his target isn’t local,” Junie said. Cooper looked over Lucy’s shoulder. Junie was headed toward their group with Agent Stevens next to her.
“She could be correct,” Cooper said. “If we’re getting this right, he expected close to twenty of those dirty bombs before Lucy intercepted the last ten.”
“So Arizona was just the easy point of entry?” Johnson asked.
“Not so easy,” Lucy grumbled.
“It’s probably where Nagi came into the country, too,” Cooper said.
“Human smuggling,” Lucy said, sighing.
“So what do we have?” Stevens asked.
Cooper caught him up on the possibility of another nine or ten backpacks of dynamite dirty bombs. “We need to let Bridget know about them so her agents can take appropriate care.”
“Yes, sir.” Stevens took out his phone.
“Mark,” Cooper said. “Can you get a checkpoint set up on each road and freeway out of the cities?”
Mark shook his head. “We won’t need to stop traffic—not if Nagi is packing radioactive packages.” He looked at Lucy. “We can have our radioactive detecting devices strategically set up. If they drive by, say, in a van, our equipment is sensitive enough to alert on it.”
“Do it.” Coop nodded. “We can at least know if Nagi is on the move—”
“If he hasn’t already left and is headed toward LA to blow up a kids’ fun park,” Lucy murmured.
“I’ll get those units positioned, and then get other checkpoints ready—the ones closer to Los Angeles, San Diego, and Tucson, too, in case we’ve missed the packages.”
“If he’s still here, what can he do with ten backpacks of dynamite?” Junie asked.
“He’d want the most for his bang,” Cooper said.
“He could set them off at corner coffee shops an
d cafes downtown,” Kate said with a shrug.
“That would cause a lot of death and chaos,” Stevens said. “And even a small explosion certainly put Boston into lockdown after the marathon. But would that make a big enough statement for Nagi?”
“Who says he wants to make a really big statement?” Lucy asked. “What if he just wants to prove that he can hit inside the US and get around all the Homeland Security’s best?”
Stevens grunted. “As soon as he sets even one of those dirty bombs off, he’s made his point, hasn’t he?”
Lucy rubbed her arms when the fine hairs rose in a sudden chill. “The point of terrorism is to terrorize as many people as possible—during and after the actual act of terror. If Nagi intended on having twice as many bombs but has to settle with possibly only nine, maybe ten, then what can he do to create as much terror as he can? What big events are going on in Phoenix today?” Lucy looked at Stevens. “Do you live there?”
He blinked rapidly. “For about a year now, and I’m not sure about today, but the Cardinals are playing the Rams on Sunday. While not necessarily the biggest of events, the locals love their team.”
“Oh …” Kate said. “That kind of terrorism’s already been done, hasn’t it? At least in the movies.”
“Okay, let’s say that’s a possibility,” Coop said. “How would he plant them? Security is very tight at the games.”
“True, you can’t walk in with a backpack any longer,” Stevens said. “Even the women have to carry clear handbags. Everything is transparent, or nothing gets through.”
“He might try to fly them over and dump them into the crowd,” Johnny said. “This time of year, the sky roof might be pulled open.”
“But that’s not a given,” Lucy said. “Although every small field should be alerted to the possibility of Nagi’s presence.”
