“It had this big explosion and fire. Turns out that was not long after these kids left the place. That can’t be any coincidence. And, there were two bodies in there. Cops are saying it’s Lenny and Tiny.”
Russ asked, “Anyone see them going in and coming out besides you?”
“Well, I can’t be sure but I don’t think so. It was close to midnight when they went there. No one was around. I figured they was either collecting on some bet or, more likely, maybe paying up after losing. You know Lennie’s a bookie, right?”
“Of course. But, why would Pauli be placing bets with someone in D’Amato’s organization?” Russ paused as a couple of reasons suddenly came to mind. “Never mind that. What are the cops saying?”
“So far, everyone’s saying it musta been an accident. No evidence of foul play. And, with Tiny there? Hard to believe anyone could get the drop on him and Lenny, you know? They’re gonna investigate, of course. But, the bodies were found back in Lenny’s office and the explosion happened out in the kitchen. Probably a gas leak. Then, kaboom and a big fire. Who knows what really happened?”
Russ said, “Yeah, only like you said … this can’t be any coincidence. Shit. Thanks for letting me know.” He hung up the phone and began worrying about how Ray would react to this news.
-----
Ironically, at almost the same time, Ben Marchitto was listening to a very similar report about the fire at Lenny’s place from the man he’d had following Paul Morelli, ever since getting that warning from Missy.
His guy had only been making sure there’d be no problems for either the kid’s ex-girlfriend or, even more important, for Alice Mathews. And then, last night? Surprise, surprise. The kid had made a late night visit to Lenny’s restaurant. That had seemed rather unusual since Lenny was in Sal’s organization. Afterwards, right after the kid and his two pals had left, when the place had blown up? Unbelievable! The question now, of course, was whether these kids were doing this on their own or was the kid’s Uncle Ray maybe starting something.
Ben realized he’d be reviewing and sorting all this out with Sal and they’d then be taking some appropriate actions, accordingly. At the same time, he also realized he and Sal were finding themselves indebted yet again to Missy McCrea.
-----
After the usual routine, which was tedious, Arvind Pancholi finally managed getting Askar-Samar Karimi on the phone. He’d been busy leaving Bogota and this was his first real opportunity to make contact. He didn’t waste time with a lot of words, but instead demanded, “Where’s the rest of the payment you promised? My client has provided you with everything we agreed upon but you have failed to keep your end of the bargain.”
Karimi replied, “Your info was inconclusive and merely circumstantial. My leaders were not convinced and therefore what you provided was not enough for full payment. You are lucky I was able to arrange even partial payment.”
“Well, it’s lucky you did or else I’d be going elsewhere with this. There are other buyers who would be willing to pay. There is more than enough evidence showing why the U.S. was successful in rescuing Candace Axtell, making Jacques Arbogast and Manuel Rodriguez disappear, and interfering with WIJO’s plans to attack those Thanksgiving Day Parades.”
“My leaders acknowledge the U.S. was successful and are pleased with obtaining all your information,” admitted Karimi. “However, they consider the McCrea girl to merely be a distraction without having any special abilities. Much of what you provide concerning her might only be fake news. You have no proof about her or the other individuals having any so-called special abilities. They say you are demanding too much money, exaggerating the value of your reports, attempting to give undue credit to this girl and that Bessom character for accomplishing what the U.S. can easily do with their technology.”
Pancholi said, “No, no! Your leaders are giving undue credit to U.S. technology. They are making a big mistake. And, if they have invested in any other attacks planned against the U.S., it will end up being a very costly mistake when those plans are also thwarted, not by technology but by these same special individuals.” He’d known Karimi would find it difficult convincing them demons not only existed but were actually being used by the U.S. government.
“Well, that is why my leaders want you to get us more information about them. Perhaps then, depending on what evidence you can provide, the full payment to your client will be approved.”
-----
Dale Hewson hung up the speaker phone after briefing the Homeland Security Secretary on all the latest arrangements. He’d explained how surveillance teams were being sent out to watch everyone on the BAT watch list that lived or owned property inside the Dorchester area designated by Ulrey’s psychics. In addition, each of those suspect individuals was being thoroughly checked to determine whatever data might exist concerning their backgrounds, businesses, relationships, travel histories, other relatives, anything that might prove useful in the event it turned out they might be terrorists.
Ed Collinsworth had been on the call and was seated across from Dale in a small conference room along with a few other BAT Team members. Dale looked at Ed and asked, “Why do I get the feeling he’s a real believer in what you FBI guys are coming up with? No offense, but our agency isn’t usually that open to committing our resources like this.”
Ed laughed and said, “Hey, Robert Ulrey has included me on his team and I now know a lot more about what his psychics are able to do and how they helped stop those Thanksgiving Day attacks by WIJO teams earlier. But, I can’t share those details. It’s classified. Your boss must have gotten some high level briefings on all that. I’m sure he has the clearance and knows how reliable this probably is.”
“Okay, okay. So, this designated area you have identified?” Dale was still looking at Ed. “Your psychics say there are some guys in there who went through the same WIJO training camp as those guys down in New York did? The ones who all got blown up on those buses?” He looked at the others in the room and said, “Anyone else finding this hard to believe?”
The woman on Dale’s right said, “If they can be so sure about terrorists coming here from the same training camp, why can’t they be more specific about where we can find them?”
Ed explained, “Look, it doesn’t work like that. But, they’re going to keep trying. Robert’s brought in four psychics and they are all sensing the same thing. They might be able to sense a more specific location but, since they’re so sure about this general area they’ve already designated, it just might be quicker for us to find these guys using Dale’s resources and putting our suspects in this area under surveillance. At the same time, we don’t want to spook them into running. We almost missed those guys down in New York.”
“Lucky they all got blown up …” Dale started to say. Then he stopped and his expression changed. “Holy shit! There wasn’t anything lucky about that, was there?”
Ed said, “I don’t have any specific info on those three different explosions which wiped them all out. Let’s just say I don’t think Robert’s psychics are thinking there was any luck involved in those explosions. They do think they were lucky they located those guys before the buses arrived at the parade that day, however.”
The woman on Dale’s right said, “But, if your psychics located them, then that means those explosions …?”
Dale said, “Exactly! That means our government somehow triggered all those explosions. And, my boss obviously did receive some high level briefing and knows all about that. Damn!”
-----
Missy and Tracy had only been back in their room for twenty minutes when Emily knocked on their door. The bus ride back from Philly had been uneventful with most cadets catching up on sleep they’d missed from partying late the night before. Missy opened the door so Emily could enter and asked, “Hey? What’s up?”
Emily came in and said, “Well, that was a really great game, huh?” She then paused and seemed a bit nervous which wasn’t really typical for her. Sh
e seemed to be struggling with how to ask something, which again, was not typical. Usually, she was very bubbly and effervescent, freely chatting about whatever. Neither Missy nor Tracy thought she had come there to talk about the football game.
Tracy said, “This has to be about a boy, right? Did Donald do something?” She had noticed Emily and Donald celebrating with all the others down in the hotel lobby and had also noticed how very obviously together they’d been for most of the evening.
“Oh, no! He didn’t! I mean, he … I mean, yes! It’s about Donald,” said Emily, flustered. “But it’s not that he did anything. It’s about my wanting him to maybe do something. Only …”
Missy laughed and said, “Only he doesn’t know you come from a supernatural family. Your brother is a witch. Your grandmother is a witch. We get it.”
From the relieved expression on Emily’s face it was obvious Missy had guessed correctly. She said, “Donald’s been a perfect gentleman. And, you know how shy he is. Even after all the teasing you’ve all done. You know.” She looked at Tracy and added, “You and all the other Quigby girls. He actually gets why you’ve done all that and how it’s helped him.”
“Soooo, you’re wishing he maybe wasn’t such a perfect gentleman then,” said Tracy. “Only, if he starts getting bold or, more likely, if you decide to encourage him to do some things? I sorta went through something similar when I finally told John how I was a witch. I was so worried he’d reject me. I fully understand your dilemma.”
Emily said, “He asked about maybe visiting me during Christmas break. He wants to meet my family. I already know his brother Ron, of course, and I did get to meet his dad one time. So, he’s thinking it might be nice if he comes to see me at home and …” She sighed.
“Well that ought to be okay,” said Tracy. “Your family doesn’t need to admit anything about the supernatural. We witches are used to keeping our secrets. So, what’s the problem?”
“The problem is I really, really like Donald and I don’t want to keep leading him on while keeping secrets. I had a boyfriend in high school. But, I just couldn’t tell him this stuff and, well … it ruined our relationship. Once we started having sex? Well, never mind all that.” Emily shivered, obviously not enjoying the memory. “I promised myself I’d never get serious again unless I could share my secrets.”
Tracy said, “Okaaaay … so go ahead. Share. You know you can trust him, right?”
“Yeah, but my brother Scott will never agree. He doesn’t trust anyone who isn’t already a member of our supernatural community. That’s why I couldn’t tell my boyfriend. Scott told me I should only marry a witch. That was one of the reasons he didn’t want me coming here to West Point.”
“That’s so wrong on so many levels!” said Tracy. Then she giggled. “I know you’re not looking to get married anytime soon but I do see how you might want to go to the next level with Donald. As our friend Angel Meriwether likes to say, us Woo Poo U girls might be postponing any trips down the aisle to the altar until after we graduate but we sure as hell haven’t taken any vows of celibacy.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Dec 16, 2019
Abdullah Zahir and Yuri Qabani had been keeping their recent team members quite busy since those individuals had arrived from Afghanistan. Zahir ran a very busy trucking business, thanks to getting several subcontracts from other firms. It provided excellent cover for his team, driving his trucks and vans all over Boston, picking up and dropping off various items. And, it enabled him to rent the large warehouse and huge parking lot where all these vehicles were kept when not in use.
Now that all their drones and special equipment were inside the dozen vans they’d obtained and specially configured, they’d been able to focus on continuing the training which the team had started in Herat. Each day, two or three of these vehicles would head out from their warehouse and go over to Roxbury, while the rest of the team carried out their normal assignments for Zahir’s business.
Franklin Park in neighboring Roxbury was ideal for their practicing all the various elements of their planned attack. In one corner, it had some old bear dens which were part of the original Franklin Park Zoo when it had opened in 1912. These were abandoned in the 1950’s and had fallen into disrepair since then. They were surrounded by twenty-six acres of woodland and even had an old stadium within. Raw rusting spikes, once keeping the bears inside, now hung menacingly overhead. The little concrete ponds where the animals once played were filled with trash and weeds, the stone carvings were covered with graffiti and the entire area was pretty much ignored with very few visitors. Yet, it’s convenient location to streets and parking lots nearby allowed easy access and excellent simulation for what they were planning to do at Foxborough.
There were no nearby anti-drone devices to worry about, which was yet another reason for using this area as a training site. They could launch their drones in whichever parking lot they were using that day and then, from inside the van, remotely control their flights and practice maneuvering all over their target area. Each drone was fitted with a camera which enabled the operator to clearly see on his control monitor what the drone was flying over and near to. In addition, the drones had proximity sensors so when several drones were in the air at the same time, each operator could keep track of all the other drones and avoid any mid-air collisions.
Naturally, they were using dummy canisters rather than the real ones which would disperse their special toxins during the actual attack. It had taken awhile for everyone to achieve the necessary proficiency. Each had started with only his own drone in the air. Then, once familiar with controlling that, a second drone had been added, operated by another team member.
They were now at the point where a third and then, even more drones could be added. There were several differences from when they’d done all this back in Herat. But, they’d been making all the needed adjustments and their progress had been excellent. Their attack was now less than two weeks away. They needed to be ready and they would be.
Nasir Fadal had remained back at the warehouse that day and approached Abdullah Zahir. He asked, “What will happen if Vadim Assad and his guys are unable to disable the anti-drone systems at this football stadium?” They all had been briefed several times on how they’d need to wait for Assad’s signal before launching their drones. “Will we all then give up and simply drive away, without any attack?”
Zahir answered, “You don’t need to worry about that. His guys will succeed. Our leaders have invested a great deal of effort and money in learning what systems are being used and exactly how to defeat them. We have explained all this to you before.”
While the radar and acoustic technology for identifying drones was indeed highly advanced, the FAA had not approved use of any military grade defense systems for either jamming or destroying drones. The FAA did not like anyone taking aircraft out of the sky, either manned or unmanned. Thus, the airports, prisons, power plants, arenas, stadiums and so forth all needed to rely heavily on systems which would merely hack into the drone’s operating system to take control and force a landing outside the facility’s perimeter. These systems, in turn, were vulnerable by virtue of not being military grade.
Knowing which frequencies a particular defense system would be using for its hacking meant that system could in turn be interfered with. And, the components for the device which could cause this interference could be easily carried into a football stadium, passing through the security check. While the range of this device was short and the interference would be temporary, it would provide Zahir’s team enough time to deploy their drones, fly them into position and disperse their deadly toxins. All that was needed was to assemble each device, connect the special battery for power and activate it within a hundred feet of wherever the stadium’s defense system was located.
As had been learned by the WIJO leaders, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough had their anti-drone defense systems in three separate locations. Each of these systems was different but the
devices which Assad and his men were bringing in would interfere with the appropriate frequency for each of them. This info had indeed cost WIJO a great deal of time and money to obtain but, since the stadium was not really a military facility, the info had been available.
Fadal said, “Yes, you’ve explained everything but if things don’t go as planned and we don’t get Assad’s signal, we need to know what to do. Give up? Or, maybe we should launch our drones anyway, sometime before the end of the game. Perhaps we can still manage dispersing enough toxins to cause some deaths and thus claim a victory.”
Zahir sighed and said, “No, we cannot risk exposing any failure. Not after what happened to our teams at Thanksgiving. Everything needs to go as planned. If there is no signal from Assad by end of the third quarter, everyone should simply leave. We will then determine what went wrong and attack on another day.”
-----
Arvind Pancholi’s flight from Washington, D.C. to Boston arrived almost on schedule, in spite of the lousy weather. He’d entered the U.S. the day before using one of his fake identities and, after determining from one of his sources that Oliver Bessom was no longer in Washington, D.C. with Candace Axtell but instead had joined Robert Ulrey in the Boston area, he’d opted to go on up there as well. He hadn’t wanted the complications of any visit to West Point and, since he was guessing Missy would be going home for the holidays, Boston seemed a better place for him to stay for the next few weeks.
While he had no definite plans for getting more information or finding evidence that might satisfy the WIJO leaders, he’d needed to leave Colombia and had decided he may as well come and take a look at these two witches who had obviously been helping the U.S. government. From an appropriate distance, of course, since he didn’t want to be identified.
One of his informants had explained about Robert Ulrey’s new role with the FBI and how his Psychic Division was supposedly helping locate kidnap victims. While Pancholi could appreciate how this provided excellent cover for the U.S. government to use finder witches, he doubted there were any recent kidnappings being worked in Boston. Although he wasn’t aware of just what WIJO might be planning now, he knew they had trained several teams and were using the info from Philip Arnold which he’d provided them through Karimi for carrying out more attacks. If Ulrey and Bessom were now in Boston, then it was highly likely the mysterious “P” Branch and other U.S. government agencies were closing in on one of those WIJO teams.
Missy's Operation Lily Pad (Missy the Werecat Book 6) Page 18
