Monster

by Bernard L. DeLeo

  “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 informat
ion 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?”

  McDaniels nodded affirmatively before scooping Reskova up in his arms and heading toward the bedroom.

  “We don’t have time for this before work,” Reskova whispered.

  “That’s what you think.”

  * * *

  As Reskova drove, McDaniels sat with his head back, dozing off.

  “Hey, Cold, anything I should know before we get into work?”

  McDaniels jerked awake, hearing the question but having to remember where he was.

  “I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to hear about the loose ends we took care of. How long were you tied up over at Hamdan’s?”

  “I left around midnight. Forensics probably pulled an all-nighter. Don’t worry, Jen dogged them until she made sure everything of any substance would be processed right.”

  “I’m not worried about what they get from his place.”

  “Meaning Hamdan was one of the loose ends you tied up. You didn’t really have to come in this morning. Tom will have everyone working on the stuff you don’t like doing.”

  “It’s best I’m at work today right on time.”

  “Uh oh. Will you need an alibi for last night?”

  “I’ll get back to you on that. If things work out the way I hope, we may be able to get warrants to go into a few places we wouldn’t have been able to go into before. Want to get married next weekend. I think we’ll have another weekend off.”

  Reskova glanced at McDaniels with an almost frightened look. “You aren’t shipping out on me are you?”

  “No. I think we should do it simple and quick. I love you and I want to marry you. Period.”

  “Then, I love the idea.” Reskova gripped McDaniels’ left hand with her right as she drove. “What brought this on so fast?”

  “Those loose ends getting tied up. Plus, I didn’t want you to change your mind.”

  “Fat chance.”

  * * *

  In the parking lot, Barrington and Rutledge were waiting near Reskova’s parking spot. They waved when they saw McDaniels with Reskova.

  “What’s with the greeting party?” Reskova stepped out of her Honda. “Every time you two greet me unexpectedly, it’s bad news.”

  “We thought you’d want us to meet you.” Barrington shook hands with McDaniels. “Didn’t Aginson call you?”

  “I don’t… hold on…” Reskova fumbled around in her purse for a moment before pulling out her cell-phone. “Shit! The battery’s dead.”

  “He only called about ten minutes ago while we were on our way in,” Rutledge added. “There’s been a major happening between the Russians and Syrians. It just happened a few hours ago. Hey… here come the Bowery Boys.”

  Reskova looked where Rutledge pointed to see Donaldson, Rasheed, and Mehmed walking toward them. She risked a glance at McDaniels who smiled back noncommittally.

  “We just received word on our way in,” Donaldson explained. “How were the girls?”

  “Other than marred for life,” Barrington answered, “they were as well as could be expected. Do I want to know where you guys were yesterday?”

  “No,” McDaniels said simply.

  “We’re supposed to go look over the scene of a new wipeout in order to assist or take over from the locals,” Rutledge explained. “It seems there was some type of missile involved. I have a hunch we could just stand here and get all the details without ever moving from this spot. M, you have to work on your poker face if you’re going to hang around with these other troublemakers.”

  Mehmed straightened, brushing a hand thr
ough his hair guiltily as the others laughed at his discomfiture. Rasheed slapped him lightly on the back of his head with a stern reproachful look.

  “Have I not warned you about letting your face betray anything in front of this harpy?” Rasheed rebuked him, causing more laughter.

  “We’ll take the operations van to the scene,” Reskova said after a moment. “Let’s hear what the locals have to say before we dive in. They probably have a few conclusions they want to lay on us.”

  “There are multiple scenes, Diane,” Barrington told her. “Aginson told me a black Mercedes was checked out by a state patrol car outside the city. Three men were found dead inside. One of them was Mikhail Kojovich.”

  “Maybe instead of checking out crime scenes we should take these four to Dulles and see about getting them on a flight to some country without an extradition treaty. Tom, would you and Jen handle the rocket launcher scene? Take Shaun of the Dead with you and our young lamb, Mehmed. I’ll take Dumb and Dumber with me in my Honda.”

  “I’ll take the operations van,” Barrington agreed. Rutledge held a hand over her mouth to muffle her enjoyment of Rasheed’s obvious distaste at being held up to ridicule, even jokingly.

  “I protest this undeserved treatment.” Rasheed saw Rutledge had not taken her eyes off him. She continued to shake in silent amusement.

  “Shut up, Kay, and get in the Honda,” Reskova ordered, opening her driver’s side door again.

  “As you wish, Boss,” Rasheed relented, trading uneasy looks with Donaldson.

  “You can ride shotgun, Dumber.” Donaldson slipped into the rear of the Accord.

  “Why you…” Rasheed reached for Donaldson but he had already closed and locked the back door.

  Rutledge walked over to Mehmed. She pulled him gently toward where they could check out an operations van. “You come along with me, little lamb, while I rip every last detail of your night on the outlaw trail from you.”

  Mehmed looked back at McDaniels in panic. McDaniels smiled at him reassuringly.

  “Just keep your mouth shut, my young friend,” McDaniels told Mehmed. “If little Sculley doesn’t want to end up in the spooky old woods with only a sleeping bag and a camp shovel she’ll leave you alone.”