by J. B. Tilton
"I explained that," said Conrad. "My migraines were starting to return on that mission. I was afraid I was losing control of my 'special talent'. I just think I need more time to practice."
"And you'll get it," said Jeremy. "But you have to go out in public sometime. The longer you put it off the harder it's going to be."
"Okay," said Conrad. "But I'm not mechanical at all. I don't see how coming here is going to be of any help."
"That's odd," said Scarborough, looking inside the shack at the front of the impound lot. "Someone should be here. It's manned at all times."
"Maybe he went to a late lunch," offered Frank.
"Then there would be someone here to relieve him," said Scarborough. "The police impound vehicles all the time. There has to be someone here to process them in."
"Excuse me, can I help you?"
They turned to see a young woman walking towards them. She appeared to be Amerasian – half American, half Asian. She was just over 5 feet tall and about 110 pounds. She had black hair and blue eyes. She had long black hair that was braided down her back to her waist. She reminded the men of Janet. She was dressed in a pantsuit.
"Is there something I can help you with?" the woman asked.
"I'm Assistant Director Scarborough from Homeland Security," said Scarborough, showing his ID. "Benjamin Stoddard is expecting us."
"Stoddard?" questioned the woman, looking around. "He was here a bit ago. I think he's about to process a new arrival."
"And you are?" Scarborough asked.
"Oh, sorry," said the woman. "Emily Kwan. I work in the office. I was just coming out to check on one of the vehicles we have here. You'd be surprised how often the paperwork isn't properly filled out."
"What about the attendant?" Scarborough asked. "There's supposed to be someone here all the time."
"Well, Jackson recently had some surgery," said Chang. "I'm told it makes him a bit incontinent. Sometimes he'll slip away real quick when he thinks he can get away."
"I see," said Scarborough. "Could you get Mr. Stoddard for us please? We have some urgent business to discuss with him."
"Well, as I said," began Chang looking back into the yard.
"That's far enough," said Scarborough, pulling his weapon and pointing it at the woman. "I don't know who you are but you definitely don't work here." He pulled out a set of handcuffs and handed them to Jeremy. "Jeremy, cuff her. Then we'll see if we can get some answers out of her."
The woman stood with her hands partially raised as Jeremy took the handcuffs. He was confused. But Richard must have his reasons for what he was doing. He moved to the woman.
"Very carefully, put your hands behind your back," Scarborough said to the woman.
Slowly the woman started to put her hands behind her back. She had an odd smile on her face. Jeremy started to move around behind her to put the cuffs on. Suddenly the woman turned and punched Jeremy in the chest with two fingers of her right hand. The punch wasn't hard. But Jeremy crumpled like a sack of potatoes.
The woman grabbed Jeremy by the wrist with her left hand. As he started to fall she spun around, spinning him with her. As she completed the spin she let go of his wrist causing him to go flying into Scarborough. The two men tumbled to the ground and Scarborough dropped his gun.
The woman quickly moved over to the two men who were lying on the ground. Scarborough reached for his pistol which was just out of reach. The woman reached out and grabbed his wrist and gave it a slight twist. Scarborough cried out in pain and grabbed his wrist with the other hand.
The woman kicked the weapon away and it slid across the pavement. She turned on Frank and Conrad. Frank tried to grab her but the woman easily sidestepped him. She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him off balance. As he started to fall to the pavement she used two fingers to tap his neck and Frank collapsed unconscious.
Then the woman turned on Conrad. He just looked at here with a strange look on his face. Seeing that he wasn't a threat, she just smiled at him and then turned and ran out of the impound lot. Conrad immediately went to see how badly the other three were injured.
"I've never seen anyone move like that woman did," said Scarborough as he cradled his wrist in his other hand. "She was so fast. I wouldn't believe anyone could move like that."
"Martial arts," said Jeremy as he checked Scarborough's wrist. "I used to have a patient who was a martial arts instructor. But he wasn't nearly as good as she was. Well, Richard, I can't find anything wrong with your wrist. I can't tell you why you can't use it."
"All I know is that it's kind of frozen," said Scarborough. "I'll need to get it X-rayed. Maybe that will show what's wrong."
"Well, I know what you mean about the woman," said Jeremy. "She barely touched me but I passed out almost immediately. I'm not sure how that was even possible."
"Well, she did the same thing to Frank," said Conrad. "She tapped him on the neck and he went down."
"Probably hit his carotid artery," said Jeremy. "If you stop the flow of blood to the brain the person will pass out almost instantly."
"It's what happens with what's often called a choke hold," said Scarborough. "Of course, if you don't do it right it's not hard to kill someone. That's why it's illegal on most police forces."
"Thanks for getting help, Conrad," said Scarborough.
"I didn't know what else to do," said Conrad. "Those two were unconscious and you were in so much pain you couldn't help. I was just glad they were just bringing in another impound."
"The sergeant told me that woman did the same thing to them," said Scarborough. "She barely touched them and they suddenly went down. I'm afraid Stoddard didn't fare so well. He's dead. His body is on its way to the coroner's office right now to find out why. They couldn't find a mark on him."
"I have what we came for," said Frank, walking up to the group. "The van wasn't easy to find and one of the workers, some guy named Boyle, knew what we were here for. He let me check the van."
"We should get back to headquarters," said Scarborough. "The Secretary is going to want that information."
"We should get you to the hospital first," said Jeremy. "We need to get that hand looked at."
"I'm fine," said Scarborough. "The pain is nearly all gone. I just can't use it. It can wait until we get through with the Secretary. Jeremy, under the circumstances you should drive. I can't really drive that well with only one hand."
"What about this mess?" Jeremy asked. "Won't the police want to take statements or something?"
"They know where they can reach me," said Scarborough. "We can come in and make a statement later. Come on. Let's get back to headquarters."
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The four men got into the elevator to take them to the Secretary Napolitano's office. Scarborough was still cradling one hand in the other. They were going to take Conrad home first but he said he thought he needed to be there.
"I just don't understand it," said Jeremy. "I can't find anything wrong with your wrist. It's not broken. And you don't have a bruise. There's no reason I can find that you can't use it."
"It doesn't make much sense to me, either," said Scarborough. "She barely touched my wrist. But then I got this shooting pain in it. I couldn't think of anything else. Now I just can't use it. I can't believe she did any damage from that single touch."
"Well, once we get done here we'll get you to the hospital," said Jeremy as they stepped off the elevator. "There might be some damage I can't detect. An X-ray will show if there is any damage."
"Excuse me, sir?"
They turned to see a young blond standing behind them holding some files.
"Yes?" questioned Scarborough.
"You're Assistant Director Scarborough, aren't you?" questioned the young girl. "I heard they had hired a new Assistant Director. I heard you came over from the F.B.I."
"That's right," said Scarborough. "Miss . . . .?"
"Hooper. Angela Hooper. I work as a translator. My mother is Russian and I g
rew up learning how to speak it. I couldn't help but overhear about your hand, sir."
"Well, it's not like we were really trying to be secretive about it," said Scarborough, smiling at the girl. "I'll have it looked at as soon as I'm done with Secretary Napolitano."
"May I, sir?" she asked holding her hand out.
Scarborough looked at Jeremy and then extended the paralyzed hand. The young girl handed the files she was holding to Frank and then she began to examine his hand. After a moment she placed both of her thumbs on Scarborough's wrist and pressed.
"How's that?" she asked.
"Great," said Scarborough, flexing his hand. "It's working again. Young lady, you're a miracle worker. Thank you very much."
"Not really," said Hooper, taking the files back from Frank. "My father is a chiropractor. He was teaching me because he wanted me to become one too. He was kind of disappointed when I decided I didn't want to be a chiropractor.
"Anyway, he told me part of his work involved pressure points in the body. Something like acupuncture. I also remember him saying that if it isn't done just right, he could accidentally paralyze someone. When I heard you describe what had happened I figured that's might be what happened."
"Well, it seems you were right," said Scarborough. "My hand feels fine. It's like I was never injured."
"Oh, you weren't injured," said Hooper. "Just some depressed nerves. They would eventually have worked their way out. But until then you wouldn't have been able to use your hand. I just depressed them, putting them back in their original position. It's really quite simple if you know how to do it."
"Well, thank you again, Ms. Hooper," said Scarborough. "I really appreciate it."
"Say, Jeremy," said Conrad as they continued on to Napolitano's office, "you're a doctor. How come you didn't figure that out?"
"It just didn't occur to me," said Jeremy. "Things are rarely that simple. I guess I was just looking for something more complicated."
"Well my hand is fine," said Scarborough. "But Ms. Hooper spent several seconds fixing it. Kwan, or whatever her name really is, did it without even thinking. And there's still the question of what she was doing in the impound lot. The sergeant said he'd try to isolate a picture of her on their surveillance camera and send it to us. Maybe then we can identify who she is."
"It's interesting though," said Jeremy. "She shows up at the same place and almost the same time that we went to check out that van. I'm wondering if the two might be related."
"We'll find out later," said Scarborough. "Right now we need to report to Napolitano. Once we're done in there I'm going to find out who our mysterious Ms. Kwan is and what she was doing there."
Once in the office, Scarborough introduced Frank and Conrad to Napolitano and Porter. They all sat patiently trying listening to what he had discovered about the van.
"Well," said Frank. "It was all pretty normal stuff. It was a 2007 Chevy made in Detroit. It was initially sold to a dealership in Seattle, Washington, who in turn sold it to a rental dealership there. There was nothing unusual about it until about 6 months ago."
"What happened 6 months ago?" Napolitano asked.
"It was rented by a man who took it to Idaho. It was a very small town in northern Idaho. He parked it in a garage there and it didn't move again until about 6 weeks ago. Then it was taken to the Utah-Canadian border. It was loaded with some radioactive material. I'm not sure what kind. But before they took it to the border, the van was reinforced with some lead panels."
"To hide the radioactivity," said Porter. "And probably to protect the people driving it from the radioactivity."
"I suppose," said Frank. "At any rate, they drove the van down the state to Arizona where they took Interstate 40. Then they headed east. It's very confusing after that. I got the impression their destination was somewhere in southwest Maryland but they were taking a very roundabout route to get there. They had some kind of engine trouble just outside of Pittsburgh. That's when they transferred the radioactive material out of it and set it on fire."
"Do you know what they did with the radioactive material?" Porter asked.
"No, sir, I don't. I can tell you that the lead plates were designed to be removable. Almost like they anticipated having trouble and wanted to make sure they could use the plating in another vehicle."
"That's interesting, Mr. Doherty," said Napolitano. "Can you tell us anything about the people driving the van?"
"One was a man," said Frank. "Early forties, maybe. Distinguished. Well educated. The other one was a woman. The same woman that attacked us at the impound lot. I didn't recognize her right away. Sometimes I don't get a clear picture of the people I see. But I'm sure it was the same woman."
"That may have been why she was at the impound lot," said Jeremy. "To see if we had found out anything about the van."
"Well, Stoddard died for nothing," said Frank. "Boyle told me the fire destroyed nearly everything. There was very little forensics left and most of it was unusable. He also said they used some type of accelerant to make sure it burned completely."
"Is there anything else, Mr. Doherty?" Napolitano asked.
"That's about it, Madam Secretary. Most of the rest of it was just mundane stuff before the van was taken to Utah."
"Thank you, Mr. Doherty," said Napolitano. "You've been very useful. Now that we know where the van came from we can find out who rented it. That might tell us where they went."
"I . . . I don't think so," said Conrad. He seemed extremely nervous.
"Conrad," said Jeremy. "You insisted on coming with us. Do you have any information you'd like to pass on to the Secretary?"
"I'm sorry," Conrad apologized. "I'm kind of nervous. I've never met anyone as important as you Madam Secretary. I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to act."
"That's fine, son," said Napolitano. "I can understand that the office can be somewhat intimidating. Just take your time. We're all friends here. Just tell us what you have."
"Well," began Conrad, "the woman that attacked us is named Shannon Chang. She's from China but she also from America. That part is a bit confusing."
"That's fine, Conrad," said Jeremy. "You're doing fine."
"She's working with someone name Moser. And something about a nuclear bomb. That's what the plutonium in the van was for. They're planning on making a nuclear bomb. There's some other stuff but it's a bit confusing. I'm having trouble sorting it all out."
"How do you know all this?" Porter asked.
"Conrad has a form of telepathy," explained Jeremy. "He's able to draw information directly out of a person's mind. He's still learning to control it, though. And except for the training mission, this is the first time he's used it in public."
"I wasn't really scared then," said Conrad. "I knew we weren't really in any danger. But at the impound lot I was terrified. I thought that woman had killed you guys. And I was sure she was going to kill me next. But she just turned and ran off."
"Shannon Chang," repeated Napolitano. "General, run a check on her right away. I want to know everything we have on her." She turned to Conrad. "Is there anything you else you can tell us? Anything that can be of help to us?"
"She's afraid of Moser," said Conrad. "Which seems a bit odd. She's not afraid of anyone else. And I know she killed her father. That was back in China. And something about other deaths. Several other deaths. I can tell you one thing. She's very dangerous. It doesn't bother her at all that she's killed people. In her mind, they all deserved it."
"Axis II personality disorder," said Jeremy. "What used to be called a sociopath. It's characterized by a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others. It usually begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues on into adulthood.
"It might even be psychopathy. Psychopathy is a mental disorder that is characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. They can be very dangerous because they don't have the same emotional respo
nses as the rest of us. And they feel perfectly justified in what they do. Most serial killers fall into this category. Without talking with her it would be impossible to make a definitive diagnosis but I'm pretty sure she fits one of these categories."
"A psychopath?" questioned Napolitano. "You're telling me there's a psychopath loose in the Washington, D.C. area with access to weapons' grade plutonium?"
"That's how it looks," said Jeremy. "And if they needed a van to transport it, my guess is they have enough of the plutonium to make a sizeable bomb."
"Conrad, why didn't you tell us any of this before?" Scarborough asked. "When we were at the impound lot?"
