The Hunt for Truth

by Sury Patru Viswam

  Arya nodded. “Key is the answer to our question.”

  “Do you think that is a key to a…?”

  Arya interrupted Edgar and finished his thought. “Key to a storage location.”

  “How can you say that? It could be a spare key to his car, house, or any number of things.” Edgar played devil’s advocate, challenging Arya’s hypothesis. They realized early on as partners that the best way to eliminate each other’s blind spots in an investigation is to rigorously challenge each other’s theory about the case. They both strongly believed that this increased the odds of success considerably and made them a strong team.

  “Do you have a safe deposit box in a bank?” Arya asked.

  “You know I do.” Edgar crossed his hands across his chest.

  “What do you have in it?” Arya asked, ignoring the defensive posture of Edgar.

  Edgar’s gaze drifted upwards as he tried to recall. “Passports, birth certificates, marriage certificate, and some of Simone’s jewelry.”

  “I rest my case,” Arya said, crossing her hands across the chest.

  “What! What did you prove?” Edgar furrowed his brows, trying to imagine what he had missed in Arya’s argument.

  “Oh, man! You must have missed your coffee; you are really slow today.” Arya shook her head. “The items in your safe deposit box. You don’t have anything that is not valuable. I don’t know anyone who keeps spare keys to their car or house in their bank locker. That is one dumb argument.”

  “So, you think…?” Edgar settled down on his chair.

  “I don’t think; I am sure about the key. Look at the safe deposit box contents – forged passports, cash of different countries, NYC pictures… Don’t you see it is all connected?”

  “To the 9/11 attacks?”

  Arya let out a deep breath. “Based on what we just heard in there,” She paused, motioning her hand towards the LT’s door. “This might not be over. Samir and Omar might be in on the follow-up attack.”

  “Jesus!” Edgar exclaimed. “Phase Two that Omar discussed with the Culver City hijackers. The aluminum case… Biological attack. It all makes sense now.”

  Arya nodded. “I think that is a good possibility with what we know about the case and Marisomo. Samir and Omar both worked in Aries Financials to get access to Marisomo. And,” Arya paused to clear her throat. “And from our investigation, we know that Omar and Samir orchestrated the break-in to steal the aluminum case.”

  “The purchases in Samir’s card – masks, suits, rental vans….”

  “Damn it!” Arya jumped.

  “What?” Edgar was flabbergasted with Arya’s sudden outburst.

  “I know the target of the follow-up attack.” Arya declared with a firm voice, gazing directly at dumbfounded Edgar.

  45

  “What? Where?” Edgar got up from his chair like he was shot out of a cannon.

  Arya, without answering Edgar, pulled her phone out and scoured through the pictures of Samir’s safe deposit box.

  “What are you doing?” Edgar asked, still feeling confounded with the events that transpired at the last minute.

  “Damn it! I can’t believe this!” Arya chastised herself quite loudly.

  “What the hell is going on?” Edgar asked, visibly confused with Arya’s reaction.

  “Look at the photos and the map.” Arya handed the phone to him.

  Edgar grabbed the phone from Arya, wondering what he missed earlier. The first thought that came to Edgar’s mind was that these photos were taken by a tourist visiting New York City. United Nations Headquarters, Penn Station, Madison Square Garden, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, and Times Square were prominently featured. A few other photos looked like close-up photos of ductwork. Edgar ignored the ductwork photos and went back to landmark photos taken in New York City. When they first looked at the pictures in the JNC bank, they didn’t suspect Samir to be involved in the 9/11 attacks. Having learned about Samir’s involvement in the attacks, these photos paint a different picture.

  “Manhattan,” Edgar said, as he lifted his gaze towards Arya. “But where?” Edgar referenced the many landmarks – possible targets that were surveilled by Samir.

  “I have an idea,” Arya said, as she pointed at the photos of ductwork.

  Edgar narrowed his eyes as he studied it carefully. “It looks like pictures of ductwork, vents, and…”

  “I think it is a refrigerant line or some part of the HVAC unit,” Arya interrupted.

  Edgar lifted his eyes from the phone and looked at Arya. “I would agree with you. This looks like parts of the HVAC system.”

  Edgar placed the phone on the table and asked, “We already knew that Samir was a maintenance technician. What has this got to…”

  Edgar stopped his sentence mid-way as a sudden thought erupted in his mind. “Holy mother of God! HVAC system!” Edgar shuddered as the consequences of his thought reverberated in his mind. “The case; I agree with you now. The aluminum case Samir and Omar stole should have had a chemical agent. They must be thinking of using the HVAC system as a dispersion system for a biological attack.”

  Hearing Edgar arriving at the same conclusion as Arya, she felt reassured with her analysis of the situation. “I think the same.”

  “But where?” Edgar glanced at Arya’s phone as he said, “There are too many targets. How could we narrow it down?” Edgar let out a deep breath as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  Arya leaned across the table to pick up the phone. Edgar lifted his gaze on her as she calmly scrolled through photos on her phone.

  “What are you doing?” Edgar asked, feeling puzzled.

  “I am about to show you the target of their phase two attack,” Arya said flatly.

  “What?” Edgar shot up from his chair, feeling astounded.

  “New York Stock Exchange,” Arya said emphatically, holding the phone across Edgar’s face. The historic Stock Exchange floor was front and center in the photo.

  “Jesus!” Edgar said, staring at the photo. “Why do you think…” Edgar stopped his question mid-way as he knew the answer to his question. “Nafisa,” he whispered.

  Arya nodded, signaling her agreement with Edgar. “Nafisa worked in the New York Stock Exchange. There had to be a reason why she worked there.”

  Edgar nodded as more parts of the puzzle started to fit in. “Aether Solutions. New York Stock Exchange is one of their clients.”

  “Yes. That should be the reason why Samir took a contractor job with them. It gives him insider access to their HVAC system.”

  “This must be the reason why Samir didn’t join the Culver City men as hijackers. He was chosen to carry out phase two of the 9/11 attacks. A biological attack on the heart of the American business empire – New York Stock Exchange.”

  “But… Samir is dead, along with Omar and Nafisa,” Edgar said, implying that the threat of phase 2 attacks had been thwarted. “We should be safe.”

  Arya lifted her head for a moment as she tried to further analyze the situation.

  “We can’t say that.” Arya’s voice was sharp, and her eyes were searing with focus.

  Edgar narrowed his eyes as he tried to fathom the reason behind Arya’s statement. “Why? All of them are dead. Who is going to carry out the attacks?”

  “Edgar….” Arya stepped in, and her eyes looked straight into Edgar’s eyes. “Samir Tariq was married to my best friend, and she didn’t know that he was a terrorist. He was a sleeper. So does Nafisa and Omar. They were part of a sleeper cell.”

  Edgar’s eyes sparked with clarity as he understood what Arya was trying to imply. “We don’t know if there are more sleeper agents in the country.”

  Arya nodded. “Exactly. If I had to place a bet — I would bet that there are other sleeper cells in the country.”

  “Jesus! We need to warn LT; the FBI; the CIA,” Edgar screamed as he stormed towards LT’s office.

  “Edgar, Edgar,” Arya called after him as Edgar hurried towards
LT’s office.

  The detectives, who were still in the squad room, turned towards the commotion in the squad room. They had no clue why Edgar was sprinting towards LT’s office. They stood there confused, calling out Edgar’s name.

  Upon rushing to LT’s office, Edgar found the lights were turned off in LT’s office, and he seemed to have left for the day.

  “This is what I was trying to tell you,” Arya said as she approached Edgar. “He is gone for the day. He has a meeting with the Chief.”

  “With the Chief? How do you know that?”

  “I heard him talking to the Chief earlier.” Arya went on to fill Edgar about LT’s heated conversation with the Chief.

  “Jesus. He is in trouble because of us. What the hell is wrong with the Chief? We almost identified the terrorists.”

  “Almost is the keyword here.” Arya stressed the word ‘almost.’ “Anyway, I think it will be okay. The shootout in the Stoneridge worked out in the end.”

  “What should we do? Call LT?”

  Arya didn’t answer Edgar’s rhetorical question, and she proceeded by pulling her phone from her waist and called LT.

  “What the hell is going on?” Ray and a couple of other detectives approached Arya and Edgar.

  Arya and Edgar both responded similarly by raising their hands to signal the detectives to remain silent.

  Arya threw in a couple of expletives as the call to LT went to voicemail.

  Arya disconnected the call without leaving a voicemail and redialed LT’s cellphone. “For God’s sake, pick up.”

  After the second ring, the call went to voicemail. It appeared LT was purposely sending the call to voicemail.

  “Please, God,” Arya mouthed as she tried LT’s phone again.

  The third time was the lucky charm, as LT answered the call.

  “LT, this is Arya,” Arya answered, as LT Cooper answered the phone.

  “I know. I am in a meeting with Chief; can this wait?” LT answered in a rushed voice.

  “No. This can’t wait,” Arya responded flatly.

  LT was taken aback by Arya’s abrupt response. “Excuse me. What’s so urgent that it can’t wait?”

  “LT,” Arya took a deep breath before she responded. “New York is going to be hit with a biological attack.”

  46

  For the next few minutes, Arya and Edgar filled in LT and the Chief about their investigation and analysis of the current situation. The safe-deposit box, photos of prominent New York landmarks, Marisomo break-in, Nafisa’s job in New York Stock Exchange, Aether Solutions, Samir’s rental van that was spray-painted with Aether Solutions’ logo, and finally conversations about Phase Two of the attacks in Culver City.

  There was a collective gasp from LT, and the Chief as Arya and Edgar finished their analysis about the investigation.

  “This is….” The Chief searched for the words, “If you guys turn out to be correct, this is monumental. This is huge.”

  LT signaled his agreement by concurring with the Chief before turning his attention towards Arya and Edgar. “Who else knows about this?”

  “No one. We just finished our analysis, and we called you right away,” Arya answered.

  “Good, good. You did the right thing,” LT acknowledged. “Give us a minute,” LT said, before placing Arya and Edgar on hold.

  A minute turned into three minutes, and an uncomfortable silence ensued between Edgar and Arya.

  “What is going on? Why are we on mute for so long?” Edgar asked, breaking the silence.

  Arya shrugged. “I am not sure. I did not expect this reaction.”

  Before Arya could complete her response, the silence on the phone line shattered as LT’s voice came on the line. “Chief and I just spoke to Agent Taylor and filled him on the details you shared.”

  Arya and Edgar exchanged glances as Arya mouthed, “I should have guessed this.”

  “Arya, I gave your number to Agent Taylor, and your phone should be ringing any minute. I want you and Edgar to work with Agent Taylor…”

  As LT was speaking, Arya noticed her cellphone started ringing. “Agent Taylor is calling,” Arya interrupted LT on the call.

  “Go ahead, answer. Keep me in the loop every step of the way.” LT gave his parting thoughts as he disconnected the call.

  Arya and Edgar hurried into one of the empty interview rooms before Arya answered the call by placing it on speaker. “Agent Taylor, you are on speaker, and I have Detective James in the room.”

  Agent Taylor ignored any pleasantries and jumped right into the crux of the issue. “Cooper filled me in with the details. Where are we with the keys?”

  “It was in JNC Bank’s safe deposit box. Samir rented it around the time of Marisomo break-in.”

  “Did you guys call…?” Agent Taylor hesitated as if he was trying to remember the name of the bank manager.

  “Not yet. We haven’t called Robinson.” Arya explained that they wanted to check in with LT about their analysis before taking any action.

  “Got it. I must have called right after you hung up with Cooper.” Agent Taylor conjectured the sequence of events.

  “I have Robinson’s cellphone number with me and …” Agent Taylor interrupted Arya before she could finish her thought about calling Robinson.

  “Go ahead, Detective. I can stay on hold.”

  “I know what Robinson would ask of us before he hands over the contents of the safe deposit box.”

  “Warrant?” Agent Taylor guessed.

  Arya nodded. “Yes.”

  “We don’t need one. We are dealing with an imminent threat to the nation and national security trumps in this situation.”

  Edgar lifted her gaze towards Arya as she parted a small smile. “Desperate times warrant desperate measures,” she mouthed.

  Edgar couldn’t agree more. If any situation could be deemed as DEFCON 1, this was undoubtedly one of them. A biological attack in the heart of New York City would leave the city crippled and the country terrified.

  * * *

  “Hello, Detective. Thanks for calling me back,” Robinson, manager of JNC Bank, said, as he answered Arya’s call.

  Arya furrowed her brows in surprise. “Did you call me?” Arya asked in a tone that signaled surprise.

  “Yes. I called earlier in the day and left you a message, just before 11:00 in the morning,” Robinson explained.

  Arya flipped her phone to check if she had any unread messages. As Arya had suspected, she had none. Even though the day was as crazy as it could be, she was pretty sure that she didn’t miss a call from Robinson.

  “That is strange. I just checked my phone, and I don’t see any messages from…”

  Before Arya could complete her thought, Robinson interrupted. “Sorry, Detective. I meant to say that I called your main precinct number. You know,” he cleared his throat before continuing, “It seems I lost your business card. When I wanted to call you this morning, I kept looking for your card, but…”

  Arya interrupted. “That’s okay. What did you want to tell me?” Arya asked, eager to know the reason behind Robinson’s call to her. She hoped that Robinson has some new information about Samir’s case.

  “I guess you didn’t get the message I left with the other officer,” Robinson started. “It was related to Samir Tariq’s safe deposit box.”

  Arya’s hope piqued, and then a moment later, it came crashing down upon hearing that bank had mailed the contents of the safe deposit box in the morning.

  Arya and Edgar gasped almost at the same time.

  “Are you saying it was shipped to Pakistan?” Edgar asked, remembering the conversation they had with Robinson in the bank.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Robinson answered with a slight disappointment in his voice.

  “Jesus!” Edgar let out a deep sigh. “Did we not tell you that it was related to 9/11, and we are going to get a warrant?”

  For a long ten seconds, Robinson remained silent. When he finally answered, Robinson�
�s tone changed. He sounded professional, and his words became more measured.

  “Detectives, the bank followed procedure. There had been no judicial warrant issued for the bank to hold Mr. Tariq’s safe deposit box.”

  “Jesus.” Edgar shook his head as he glanced at Arya. “He is covering his ass.”

  Arya nodded, signaling her agreement with Edgar. Robinson’s intent was quite evident; he was trying to protect his job and the reputation of the bank.

  “Robinson,” Arya interrupted Robinson’s long-winded answer. “We are not accusing you of anything. Can you…”

  Agent Taylor, who was hearing the conversation between the detectives and Robinson, interjected. “Detectives?”

  Arya, hearing Agent Taylor’s voice on her phone, placed Robinson on hold and answered Agent Taylor’s call.

  Agent Taylor informed the detectives that he heard their conversation with Robinson, and he had an idea. “If the bank had shipped the contents just this morning, the package should still be within U.S. borders. Instead of quibbling with Robinson, ask him for the shipping details. FBI should be able to interrupt the package,” Agent Taylor directed the detectives.

  Arya and Edgar exchanged glances, and both of them reacted in the same way – upset and angry. They didn’t like being chastised by a Fed, who had no idea what they do every day to keep the streets safe. They would have shown their middle finger to the FBI under any other circumstances, but not today. 9/11 changed everything. All that matters was to catch the terrorists before they attacked the country again.

  “Got it,” Arya reluctantly answered before turning her attention towards Robinson’s call.

  After initial apprehension, Robinson proceeded to reveal the shipping information to the detectives.

  “I shouldn’t have disclosed these details without the warrant,” Robinson said hesitantly.

  “We know, and we really appreciate your cooperation. The country thanks you.” Edgar assured Robinson that his actions were crucial to the investigation, and it would not come back and bite him in the ass.