The Hunt for Truth

by Sury Patru Viswam

“Thank you, Detective, I am the sole breadwinner, and I don’t want to lose my job for doing the right thing,” Robinson explained his predicament. He also apologized for not holding onto the contents of the safe deposit box.

  Edgar empathized with Robinson. “We understand your position. You didn’t have any legal warrant to place a hold request in the system.”

  “Yes, yes,” Robinson said hurriedly. “You are right. I couldn’t do it. However, I told my staff not to ship the contents before checking with me, but it seems they forgot. I am so sorry.”

  “We understand.” Edgar felt sorry for the guy; it was quite apparent that Robinson felt bad about what had transpired.

  “Thanks, Robinson, we got to go. We will reach out to you if we need anything more.” Arya jumped in and prudently brought the call to an end.

  “Agent Taylor,” Arya called, turning her attention back to Agent Taylor’s call.

  There was no reply from Agent Taylor.

  “Agent Taylor,” Arya called again to no avail.

  Arya raised the phone to check if the call got disconnected, and it was not.

  The silence lasted another five seconds before Agent Taylor’s voice came on the line.

  “Hang on,” Agent Taylor said in a voice that sounded flippant.

  Arya and Edgar shook their head in unison as they both thought the same thing. What a prick.

  It was another three minutes before Agent Taylor came back on the line.

  “Detectives, this is addressed. I have agents tracking the package, and it looks like it hasn’t cleared the Customs facility in the airport.”

  How does U.S. Customs at the airport get involved with mail packages? Edgar wondered in his head. “I thought Customs officers at the airport check only the baggages that travelers bring into the country.” Edgar feebly spat out his inner doubts, invoking an ‘Are you serious’ expression on Arya’s face.

  “Detective James, what did you say? I couldn’t hear you.” Agent Taylor’s voice came on the line.

  To Edgar, seeing Arya’s expression, it became evident that his question should not be repeated aloud, especially in front of officers from another agency.

  As Edgar thought of a response to Agent Taylor, Arya jumped in to save Edgar’s face. “Edgar was checking if we should head out to the Philly airport to meet with the Customs officers.”

  Edgar let out a sigh and mouthed a ‘thank you’ directed towards Arya.

  “That won’t be necessary. The field agents are on the way to the airport.” Agent Taylor paused as he heard a distinctive sound that indicated another incoming call.

  “Detectives, I got to go. I need to attend a different call.”

  “Agent Taylor, what should we do?” Arya blurted out, realizing Agent Taylor was about to hang up any minute.

  “Nothing. Stay put. Your work is done with the case,” Agent Taylor said bluntly, as he hung up on Arya and Edgar.

  47

  Before Arya could get another word out of her mouth, Agent Taylor had hung up on them.

  “Can you believe this?” Arya fumed. She couldn’t believe that Agent Taylor was cutting them off the case.

  “Suits. What I heard about them from Ray is right; they are arrogant pricks.” Edgar shook his head and joined in with Arya at FBI bashing.

  “This is our case.” Arya shot up straight from her chair, fuming. “We worked our tail off to get it this far. And now,” Arya punched her hands forcefully on the table. “He just cuts us off, just like that,” Arya said, snapping her fingers.

  “Unbelievable,” Edgar said, shaking his head. “What can we do? Customs, airport, USPS – all federal jurisdiction. Maybe we should call LT and run our options by him.”

  At that moment, a lightbulb went off in Arya’s head.

  “How the fuck did we miss this?” Arya yelled, evoking an expression of shock in Edgar’s face.

  “Unbelievable. I can’t believe we didn’t think of this.” Arya chided herself.

  “Okay, you got to spell it out for me. I have no idea what the hell you are talking about,” Edgar said, gazing straight at Arya.

  “The key we found in Samir’s safe deposit box. I am confident that the key is not going to open any storage location that has the package.”

  “You mean the chemical or biological agents?” Edgar asked, trying to ensure that he understood it correctly.

  Arya nodded, signaling her agreement. “Yes. The key is not going to lead them to the package that was stolen from Marisomo.”

  Edgar raised his brows, signaling his surprise with the conviction shown in Arya’s voice. “How are you sure?”

  “What do we know about the timeline?” Arya shifted her gaze squarely at Edgar.

  “What timeline? Theft or …” Before Edgar could finish his question, Arya interrupted.

  “Samir’s activities on the evening of September 10th,” Arya said flatly, standing so close to Edgar that he could feel her breath.

  “Sania dropped Samir in the airport around 5:30 in the evening. Instead of walking into the airport, Samir waited for Sania to leave the parking lot and left the airport in his rental van.”

  Arya nodded as she said, “He must have parked the rental van in the airport.”

  “The next place Samir was confirmed to be spotted was in the Moroccan restaurant, Dar Marrakesh.”

  Arya raised her hand to raise an objection to Edgar’s point. “Remember, Carter was not sure that he spotted Samir in the restaurant. All we can assume for sure is that rental van drove away from the restaurant.”

  Edgar nodded, signaling his agreement. “Okay. Eli was then spotted driving the rental van near Delaware before disappearing.”

  “Yes. Now we know that Eli didn’t intentionally disappear. He got into an accident,” Arya added.

  “The horrific 9/11 attacks happened and then…”

  “Sania reported Samir to be missing to the police.”

  “Yes. We know all of that, and how does that explain your theory about the key?” Edgar asked, looking perplexed.

  “From our investigation and the information shared by the FBI, we now know for a certainty that Samir was involved with the 9/11 hijackers, and Omar – possible leader of the sleeper cell.”

  Edgar nodded, agreeing with Arya’s conclusions.

  “We have also learned that Samir, who was possibly the twentieth hijacker, didn’t participate directly on the attacks because he was selected to carry out Phase Two of the 9/11 attacks,” Arya said somberly. Arya’s mind was still not able to register that her best friend was married to a terrorist who was responsible for the unfathomable attack on her country.

  Edgar gestured that he agreed with Arya’s assessment so far. However, he expressed that he was still perplexed with Arya’s theory about the key.

  “This is where the theory falls apart about the connection between the key and the Marisomo package.”

  Edgar was now intrigued; his eyes were fixed on Arya, and he was gobbling up every word that came out of Arya’s mouth.

  “Do we agree that the Marisomo package should be connected with Phase Two of the 9/11 attacks?” Arya asked, looking straight into Edgar’s eyes.

  “Without a doubt. There is no other reasonable explanation for the elaborate theft.” Edgar signaled his agreement.

  “I think we can reasonably assume that Samir was planning to attack the New York Stock Exchange right after the 9/11 attacks.”

  Edgar nodded. “Yes. Samir took the HVAC technician job with NYSE, and, given what we know, that is an excellent assumption.”

  Arya was expecting Edgar would agree with her assessment. “In that case, Samir should have already had the package.”

  It took a minute for Edgar to realize the truth in Arya’s analysis. Samir had signed off with Robinson to ship the contents of the safe deposit box to his hometown in Pakistan. There is no way that the key had anything to do with the Marisomo package.

  “Oh, my God!” Edgar exclaimed. “You are so right. Samir
should have had the package in his possession for carrying out a biological attack.”

  Arya nodded. “Exactly.”

  A lightbulb just went off on Edgar’s head. “If Samir had to carry out the attacks on the morning of 9/11, Samir should have had the package close to him.”

  Arya nodded. “Bingo.”

  Edgar cracked a half-smile, but it didn’t last long when a thought dawned on him. “Jesus! The van. That is why Omar shadowed Sania; he wanted to find the van. It must be in the van.”

  “I thought the same, but not anymore,” Arya said, shaking her head slowly. “FBI took custody of the van and the Stoneridge house. If the package was anywhere near, they would have found it out by now.”

  “Agent Taylor wouldn’t be searching for it now,” Edgar finished Arya’s thoughts.

  “Exactly. I think Omar and then Agent Taylor both thought the package was in the van, and I am sure they were surprised when they found out they were wrong.”

  “That explains it,” Edgar said, as he thought about the events that led to Sania and Eli’s kidnapping. “Where do you think it is, if not in the van?”

  “I don’t know.” Arya took a deep breath. “I don’t know. It should have been stored someplace that Samir frequented and could access at that time of the night.”

  Arya and Edgar began to brainstorm — where else could Samir have stored the package? Arya was sure that Sania nor Eli knew about the location, and, if they did, they would have shared it by now with Agent Taylor. Edgar agreed with Arya’s hypothesis; it didn’t make any sense for Arya or Eli to hold on to that information.

  For the next few minutes, they combed over Samir’s financials to see if they missed any storage location payments. Zilch; they came up empty. There were no payments made from Samir’s accounts to any of the storage locations.

  “Damn it.” Edgar slammed his fist on the table, feeling frustrated.

  Arya raised her gaze towards Edgar as he fumed. “The answer has got to be here. We are missing something.”

  “I have an idea,” Arya said, starting to punch keys on her phone.

  “Who are you dialing?” Edgar asked, wondering if she was calling LT.

  “Kate Halladay,” Arya said, as a familiar ringing sound came on the line.

  Edgar slumped on his chair, next to Arya, and stared at the phone. He felt and looked exhausted.

  After four unsuccessful rings, Kate’s upbeat voice came on the line. Unfortunately, it was a voicemail greeting that asked the caller to leave a voicemail.

  Arya left a short message asking Kate Halladay to call back when she gets the message. Arya also left her mobile phone number in the message in case Kate had misplaced Arya’s business card.

  “Do you think it is strange that the Halladays did not call us all day?”

  “What do you mean?” Arya asked, wondering where Edgar was going with his question.

  “From what we know, Sania and Kate were friends, and they seemed to be in touch daily…”

  Edgar didn’t have to complete his thought; Arya understood where exactly Edgar was going with this discussion. Why hadn’t Kate called to inquire about Sania? Sania had been gone almost the entire day.

  “I think it is time for us to pay a visit; I have a bad feeling.” A strong sense of worry dawned on Arya, fearing Omar or Nafisa might have hurt the Halladays.

  “Before we go all the way… let us call the husband,” Edgar said as he shifted his body forward to reach for the phone.

  Similar to the call to Kate, the call to Tom went to voicemail.

  “Let me try again,” Edgar said as he dialed Tom’s number. No response.

  After three more attempts, Edgar gave up.

  Arya, taking the cue from Edgar, redialed Kate’s number. No luck, same result.

  At this point, both Edgar and Arya came to the same conclusion. Something terrible must have happened to the Halladays. They had two options at their disposal. They could either drive to the Halladays’ residence to check on them or work with the dispatcher to get a nearby police cruiser to do a quick wellness check. After a quick deliberation, they decided to go with the dispatcher route. It was the fastest and the best option available on the table. A police cruiser was just three minutes away from the Halladays’ residence.

  Just after they asked the dispatcher to send a cruiser out to check up on Halladays, the prickly silence in the room dissipated as Edgar’s phone erupted with a familiar sound.

  “Tom Halladay,” Edgar revealed, lifting his gaze from the phone and stared at Arya.

  Arya motioned her hands and gestured Edgar to answer the phone.

  “Mr. Halladay,” Edgar answered the phone, hoping that it was Tom who made the call.

  “Hello, Detective James. How are you?” Tom Halladay’s voice was even, and there was no hint of being under duress.

  “Not too shabby. You okay?”

  “Yes, I am okay.” Tom paused for a moment before he continued. “Sorry, Detective; I missed your call. I got to admit that I was surprised and alarmed at the same time, seeing you called me four times in the last fifteen minutes.”

  “Are you at home?”

  “No, I am at the gym. Why?”

  “Anyone at your home? Your wife?”

  “No. Kate’s mom’s health took a sudden bad turn, and she drove last night to Connecticut to pay her a visit.” Tom hesitated for a brief moment before asking, “Detective, what is with all these questions? Anything I should be worried about?”

  “No, no,” Edgar said, switching his tone to sound more casual. “Detective Martins had been trying to reach your wife today, and as she was not reachable, we thought we could reach her through you.”

  Tom signaled his understanding behind the call. “Unfortunately, my wife is in the hospital now, and the cellphone reception in the hospital is quite horrendous.”

  “Oh! That explains it,” Edgar replied curtly.

  “You know, I can ask her to call Detective Martins in the morn….” Tom stopped and yelled an expletive. His voice sounded like he was in pain.

  At that moment, Edgar and Arya both got worried if Tom Halladay was attacked.

  “Tom, what happened? Are you okay?” Edgar hurled a set of questions, hoping Tom was not in danger.

  “Jesus. My back, it hurts. I must have pulled a muscle doing my row today.” Tom winced in pain.

  “In the gym?”

  “Nah. I was at the river this morning. I love rowing my boat when it is calm,” Tom said, like a man who loved rowing. “Do you row, Detective?”

  “Not in a very long time. I tried once, but I didn’t fall in love with it, like you,” Edgar answered with a smile.

  At that moment, a thought flashed in Arya’s mind. She remembered Sania mentioning that Samir was in love with rowing, and he used to disappear for hours.

  Arya shot up from her chair and reached for the phone. “Mr. Halladay, did you ever row with Samir?”

  “Yes. Maybe a couple of times, and please call me Tom.” Tom smiled.

  “Where did you row?”

  “With Samir?” Tom asked.

  “Yes, yes,” Arya replied hurriedly.

  “Schuylkill River,” Tom answered quickly.

  “Did Samir use any lockers?”

  “Yes, he used the lockers in Kelly Drive.”

  Arya and Edgar exchanged a glance. Edgar could sense where Arya was going with her line of questioning. The sense of anticipation was rising for both of them.

  “In fact, if I remember it correctly, Samir had one of those exclusive lockers.”

  “Exclusive lockers? What are they?” Arya and Edgar both had no idea what that term means in this context.

  “It is one of those lockers that was assigned to him exclusively, and no one else could use it. He doesn’t have to empty out the locker after a row, and he can store things overnight. Trust me, it is convenient if you row quite often as Samir,” Tom explained.

  Tom had no idea how relevant and monumental the info
rmation he shared. In fact, it will end up as the critical information that ends up thwarting a biological attack on the country.

  48

  It was forty-five minutes past nine, and the traffic on the roads leading to Kelly Drive from Germantown was light. Edgar took advantage of the ideal driving conditions and stepped on the gas from the get-go. With the skies lit up with the dazzling lights and blaring sirens, they gained time to reach the rowing office on Kelly Drive.

  “Yes. Samir was serious about rowing. He owned a trailer to transport his sculler to and from the Schuylkill River.” Arya was on the phone, filling LT in about their new findings.

  LT Cooper had just left the diner, where he had a working dinner with the Chief. He was on his way to his house.

  “Does Agent Taylor know?”

  “No. Not yet. I called you first,” Arya said, as Edgar made a sharp turn to take an exit into Kelly Drive.

  “Who else is with you guys?” LT’s mind raced about the next steps.

  “Just us. Edgar and I,” Arya said flatly.

  “Jesus. That is not good. What happens if someone else is already there? You guys should have gone with backup.”

  It was clear from LT’s voice that he was not happy that Arya and Edgar were acting like cowboys and not following protocol.

  “It was just a hunch. We didn’t want to cause a hoopla if the hunch was wrong.”

  “Did I just hear you say hoopla?” LT raised his voice, signaling his displeasure with Arya. “We are in the middle of the biggest national security crisis that this country has seen since World War 2. Nothing is hoopla if there is a one percent chance that we can stop the next attack or kill the terrorists.”

  “Got it, LT. We are sorry,” Arya said, in a lowered voice.

  “Okay. How far are you out?”

  “Maybe five more minutes for us to reach the rowing office?”

  “Did you call to check if anyone is even working at that time?”

  “We didn’t, but Tom Halladay informed us that the lockers were accessible 24/7. There is a separate gate to get to the lockers.”

  “Tom Halladay?” LT asked, trying to place the name.