Alice recalled seeing a random program on TV where the firemen were said to be bored while hanging around waiting for the next call. The moment a call came in, the firemen would kick into gear excitedly and rush headlong into the danger zone.
That was how she felt right now, like she was heading into the danger zone.
In the distance, a car turned the corner dangerously. She smiled as she recognized Campbell’s unorthodox driving. The car stopped in front of her and she dove in the back of the car.
“Hi guys.”
“Hi,” they both replied, Burrows cheerfully and Campbell less so.
“What have we got?”
“Nothing much,” Burrows answered, “but it looks like they’ve dumped the Pennsylvania car in the car park of a mall. And yeah, it’s been confirmed that the car was stolen.”
Burrows then lowered her voice and whispered to Alice “We’re taking you along like you’re part of the team but you are to stay out of the way and just observe, okay?”
“I understand, thank you.” Alice could Campbell’s stern look in the mirror, and she knew at once that it hadn’t been his idea to bring her along.
When they arrived at the mall, a security officer met them at the gate. Agent Campbell rolled down his window, introduced them and stated his business.
“Over on the right,” the guard said to him. “Exactly two rows down and six across. I was the one that called it in.”
Alice smiled, the guard’s description sounded more like a clue to a crossword than instructions to find a car. She saw Campbell looking at his rear mirror and realizing that he was glaring at her, she withdrew into her seat and stopped smiling.
Campbell brought the car to a stop a few yards from the stolen car. A police car was close by and its officers stood around.
Doing nothing, Campbell thought.
The three of them got out of the car, with the guard hurrying to catch up.
Agent Campbell flashed his badge. “Hi boys, hope you haven’t touched the car?”
They both shook their heads. “No, we knew you guys were looking for it.”
“I want forensics here pronto,” Campbell said to Burrows, “I want them going over this with a fine toothcomb.”
The security guard from the entrance had caught up with them and was slightly out of breath. He said to them, “I noticed the Pennsylvania plates yesterday and I thought to myself that this dude was sure a long way from home. I thought no more about it at the time but this morning when I came back on duty, I noticed it was still here. I figured something must be up, so I called it in.” He said it with pride. “And by the looks of things I did the right thing?”
“You did.” Campbell said. “Have you got security cameras covering this area?”
“Yeah sure, we’ve got cameras everywhere.”
“Good, show us.” Campbell turned to the two officers. “You guys stay here until forensics is done; make sure no one goes near the car until then.”
Alice noticed the two officers stood sullenly with their thumbs stuck in their belts and nodded coldly. Obviously, they didn’t enjoy taking orders from the Feds. She said nothing of her little observation and joined them in following the guard to his office.
The display unit in the guard’s office had twelve small screens, with only three of them showing images of the car park. The first one to catch Alice’s eye was the one standing directly over the two policemen and their car.
Campbell walked up to the display unit and pointed to the screen showing the main gate.
“I want the tape of the car when it arrived in the mall.”
“Okay, officer,” the guard replied.
Campbell looked at Burrows. “How long do you think it will take to get to Woo’s restaurant from here?”
Burrows screwed up her face in thought then said, “Thirty minutes, tops. Especially if the driver’s obeying the speed limit.”
Campbell nodded, agreeing with Burrows’ assessment, then he turned to the guard and tendered an edited version of his former request. “Okay, could you check from around 6:30am yesterday?”
“Sure, officer.”
A certain video file popped up and the guard played it. He fast forwarded it a little until he spotted the car coming into the gates. He froze the video and said triumphantly, “There.”
Campbell nodded. “Good work, my friend.”
While Burrows took down the time in a small note pad, Campbell said. “Now, I want to see this camera’s footage at that time.” He pointed to the screen with the two cops looking bored stiff.
“Alrighty!” the guard said excitedly, “I’ll see what I can do for you, boss.”
Burrows smiled and shook her head while Alice realized that she must have acted like this guard on multiple occasions: eager and overzealous. She sighed at her amateur attitude but unable to hold herself back, she said, “Pity the windows are blacked out, we can’t see how many guys are in the car.”
“We’re about to find out,” Burrows said assuredly.
As Burrows had predicted, their question was soon answered. Up on the screen came the shot of the car being parked. They all watched as only Kahn got out, looked around carefully and walked away.
“Freeze it,” Burrows said and when the guard had done so, she added. “Look, he’s got gloves on so I’m guessing there aren’t going to be any prints in the car.”
Campbell had seen what he wanted so he thanked the guard and beckoned for his team to leave. On the way to the car, he made a phone call. “I want all traffic video and shop CCTV footage from Woo’s restaurant to this shopping mall looked at. Kahn had to stop the car at some point in between to let the two suspects out. We’ve just looked at the video and only the driver got out. Find out where they stopped, get help from all departments and from other precincts if need be. We got to find out if they changed cars or are still here holding up in a different place. We are at the mall presently so we’ll start checking at this end.”
They drove out of the car park and got back on the route to Mr. Woo’s. Many of the parking lots were fully occupied and Campbell gritted his teeth as he searched for a space. As soon as he found a little car exiting one of the lots, he stomped down on the accelerator and the car roared wildly into the free space.
He got down and Burrows and Alice joined him.
“Okay, let’s split up. I’ll take the shops across the street: Burrows, you take Alice with you and see if any of them got CCTV coverage of this street.”
He didn’t wait for any sort of response; he turned and crossed the road.
Alice didn’t know if she was supposed to say anything yet – especially after her last slip – so she was glad when Burrows spoke.
“He’s being an asshole today.”
“Is it because of me?”
Burrows hesitated before answering. “I guess that’s part of it. But then again, generally, he’s an asshole. Plus this case is of the utmost urgency and we seem to be moving slower than we should. She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s frustrating at times... Well let’s take that shop.”
They were just about to go in when Campbell hurried back across the road, calling out to them.
“Get in the car!”
“Something’s up,” Burrows said to Alice and they rushed back to the car.
“They’ve gotten footage from some traffic cameras. They show Kahn pulling up somewhere on this road and helping the suspects get their luggage into another car, a BMW – also with blacked-out windows.”
“I bet it was stolen too,” Burrows said.
“They’re checking the plates out right now so we might as well go back and see what they’ve got.”
Alice sat quietly in the back listening to them.
“Why would they have used a stolen car from Pennsylvania to pick up the two boys and then transport them such a short distance a half hour later to another car?” Campbell asked.
Burrows had no direct
answer. “Maybe...” she ventured, “the driver that came down from Pennsylvania didn’t want to go to Mr. Woo’s place because he’s on our records and Mr. Woo or his wife could have easily picked him out of our mugshots. Maybe that’s why they used Kahn, a local boy.”
“Hmm...”
“And that was just an educated guess,” Burrows said
Campbell thought it over. “Could be. But why take the risk of using a car that’s on the stolen list for over a week? They could’ve been pulled over at any time. And look how that security guard spotted it.”
“Maybe they thought because a week had passed, it wouldn’t be too fresh on the minds of the local cops. Let’s look at it from their angle. The terrorist cell knew they had two suicide bombers coming here weeks in advance. So they would have gotten organized in advance. We know they stole the car in Pennsylvania and they took a risk when they gave it to Kahn to drive here in Cisco. We also know they used Kahn to pay the deposit two days before the suspects arrived here...”
“We can forget about him coming back to pick up the deposit.” Campbell added grimly.
Burrows nodded. “We’ve got to assume that everything is going according to plan for them, other than their need to take out poor Kahn.”
Campbell stopped the car at Alice’s hotel to drop her off. Burrows said as she got out, “Alice, I think you’ll be better off here, I got a feeling we’ll be sent up to Pennsylvania and you’ll be sent home until something crops up.”
“That’s okay, I understand and thank you for letting me tag along. It’s been very interesting,” Alice said graciously.
She had truly enjoyed listening to them trying to work things out and she felt a little bad as she watched them drive away. She wished she could go with them to see the next line of action.
As soon as Campbell and Burrows walked in the control room, they were given an update. The BMW that the two suspects were transferred to had been stolen in the locality. Kahn and the two suspects either didn’t know about the cameras or they didn’t care; the footage showed everything in detail.
“Have you run this back to see how long that car had been waiting there?” Campbell asked the agent who showed them the footage.
“Yes sir. Twenty minutes. And nobody got out the car the whole time. We’re doing our best to try and take the blackness out of the windows, so far it looks like just the driver in there and we’re working on his face recognition.”
“Good, let me know as soon as you get anything.”
“Agent Campbell,” one of the other detectives shouted, “call on line one for you.”
“I’ll take it in the office.”
Campbell guessed it would be Frank Brubaker. He was right.
Campbell didn’t have to make a report because the control room back in the FBI and Homeland offices in Washington D.C had a video link to their San Francisco office, and Frank had seen Agent Campbell and Agent Burrows come in to the room.”
“Sir,” he said, taking the call.
“Agent Campbell, I think it’s safe to assume our two suspects are heading up here.”
“Any specific orders, sir?”
“Traffic cameras spotted that BMW at practically every intersection and flyover from Nevada through Nebraska until Kansas. Looks as if the car took that turning and then disappeared. More than likely, they changed cars again, got back on the freeway and are hiding out somewhere up here. I want you up in Kansas. The only lead we’ve got is that car; find it. I don’t care if you have to check every small town there. Use the local police and see if anybody up there has seen anything.”
“Right sir, I’ll do it straight away.”
“Now put Agent Burrows on, I want a word with her.”
“Yes sir.”
Burrows had been watching him through the glass partition. Campbell motioned with his hand for her to come in. He handed her the phone as she got in.
“Yes, Mr. Deputy Director.” Burrows said, trying to sound calm.
“Just ‘sir’ will do,” Brubaker said, smiling to himself. “I want you to tell Mrs. Timberlake to go home and to be on standby. I don’t know when we’ll need them next, but I’m sure we will, soon.”
“Yes sir.”
“I think our two suspects are up here already and whatever terrorist cell is hiding them is going to use them in D.C.”
“Have you got any leads on that, sir?”
“No, just a gut feeling. These boys are here to kill congresswomen in their father’s name, right? I think if they want to make a statement, what better location than Washington D.C? Plus, any terrorist cell involved with them is going to view their plan as a golden opportunity and they’ll place them where they’ll wreak the most havoc.”
“Right sir, I’ll arrange for Mrs. Timberlake to go home and I’ll tell her to study the cold case file I gave her while being on standby to come to D.C.”
“Hang on... That cold case, isn’t it up here?”
“It’s in West Virginia, sir.”
“Then you and her start on that. If we need your help, you’ll both be close by. It might be a few days before a concrete lead concerning the boys turns up so ain’t no need wasting away.”
“Right, sir.”
Campbell had been standing beside her, unabashedly eavesdropping and he had managed to hear every word of the conversation.
“Looks like you’ll be going up to West Virginia,” he said.
Burrows waited for him to finish and when it became clear that he simply wanted to confirm what he had heard, she simply said, “Yes.”
“While I’m being sent to Kansas to check out all the small towns.”
She could almost swear there was a note of jealousy in Campbell’s thick voice but she didn’t give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it.
She said, “Yes, I have to tell Alice the news: that she and Joe have got a night off. And we are back on the cold case file tomorrow.”
There was a brief holding of glances between her and Campbell. He had intended to spoil her mood but it hadn’t worked and as she turned and walked triumphantly away, he glowered at her in frustration.
Alice passed the message on to Joe that they wouldn’t be working that night. Joe didn’t mind; if the FBI didn’t want him to work his magic for a few nights, at least Beauty Queen Jean was desperate for him to work his magic in her dreams. He smiled at the prospect of helping her become a soldier-wife. It would be magical.
*
Jean and Steve had just climbed into bed and Jean was trying to read her book. Steve, as always, was going on and on about work.
“John and Alice won’t be going bowling with us this week,” he said, with a drawn-out yawn.
“Oh, why’s that?” Jean asked.
“Alice has gone up to Cisco to report on something; John said it was a hot tip.”
“Well that’s her job,” Jean pointed out.
“Yeah... but it won’t be the same bowling without them.”
“Steve, we only met them a few weeks ago.”
“Yeah babe, but John is my best friend already.”
She smiled warmly to him, Steve was enjoying his new job as a Correction Officer, or as she called him, a prison guard. “Go to sleep, dear. You've got to get up quite early in the morning.”
“Perhaps John will come and play without Alice?” he asked, as if Jean had some supernatural way of knowing.
“Go to sleep.” She had to urge him on or he’d talk all night.
“Yeah, goodnight love.” He sat up and kissed her.
“I’ll just read another chapter before I turn in.”
“Is that book any good?”
“Yes... Now go to sleep and let me read in peace.”
Jean couldn’t wait for him go to sleep so she could see if she could conjure up her dream lover for another night of exotic sexual adventures.
“What’s the book about?” his voice boomed from under the covers.
Jean wanted to hit him with the book; he could be so annoying at times. “Steve... You can read it after me; I even think you might like it but for now, shut up.”
Jean smiled as she remembered her character from her dreams: the naivety of the girl, and her gorgeous appearance which included very long, shiny, raven-black hair. It was something she had always wished she had and she was glad that in her dreams, at least, she had such features.
Steve gave a little snort and she knew he’d be fast asleep in no time. She put the book down, turned the lights out and lay on her back. She took a deep breath and whispered to herself, Joe, are you there, my love?
Joe didn’t reply; he simply zoomed into Jean’s mind, causing her to fall asleep.
*
“Here we are Jean! It’s not too late to change our minds, you know?”
Jean was holding Steve-e-Joe’s hand and they both stood in front of a huge gate in front of a large field which had been converted into a campsite. There were many tents of different sizes scattered about with the odd camp fire blazing in front of a few of them.
“Wow, it looks like King Henry’s whole army is camped here,” Jean said in excitement.
“Don’t be daft! There can’t be more than a hundred men here,” came the reply.
“Oh well, I’ve never seen a hundred men in the same place before.”
They both giggled at her joke and Jean remarked, “There are more tents here than there are homes in our village.”
“You’re right... But look! That seems like the place to sign up.” Joe said, pointing to a tent that wasn’t too far away. An old man was seated lazily behind a table placed in front of the tent.
“Let’s go see,” Jean said and they walked down the makeshift road towards the man, who on seeing them, began to smile.
“And what have we got here?” the man asked. He only took a slight glance at Joe because his eyes were fixed on Jean as he took her in from her toes up to her bright, smiling eyes.
“Come to see your brother join up have you, love?”
“She’s not my sister, she’s my wife, sir,” Joe said, as respectfully as possible.
Kill The President's Women (Joe The Magic Man Series Book 2) Page 10
