CHAPTER 24
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Mark 10:21
On Wednesday morning Toby and Trey were in their office discussing things they wanted to ask the FBI’s forensics experts- such as why there were no useable fingerprints, footprints or tire tracks at any of the crime scenes. Suddenly, they saw Margaret on their video communications screen and then heard her deliver the shocking news.
“Attention, please. There has been an explosion on the Mall near the Smithsonian Metro Station. There is no word yet regarding fatalities or injuries, but all taskforce members are asked to go to the conference room immediately for an important briefing.”
Trey and Toby looked at each other in stunned silence. Then Trey bowed his head in prayer, while Toby cursed out loud, “Damn it. We have to stop these lunatics. We can’t allow them to turn our nation’s capital into a place of fear.”
On the way to the conference room, Toby stopped in Tad’s office. He could tell that she was as angry as he about this latest attack. “This has got to stop,” she said. “These people, whoever they are, are making all of us look like idiots. They seem to be able to come and go at will and set off bombs wherever they like. Why can’t we catch them?”
“Maybe this time they made a mistake,” Sullivan said hopefully as he and Tad made their way to the conference room. “Even the best criminals, including terrorists, eventually leave something behind or the good guys eventually just get lucky.”
After everyone was assembled for the briefing, Drake entered with Margaret at his side. She was wiping away tears as the director asked everybody to bow their heads.
“Dear Lord, we know that America is being punished because there are too many people in our country who have not accepted you as their Savior. We ask that you help us make this great land one nation under God- a nation unified in its acceptance of the one true Lord, Jesus Christ. We know that once we have become a truly Christian nation, you will look down upon us with favor and provide us with your many blessings. In your name we pray, amen.”
After the prayer, Drake continued, “Apparently Desert Dan was correct once again. He told us a few weeks ago that the terrorists had escaped our roadblocks in Georgia and were probably heading back north, possibly to the D.C. area. And today, in all likelihood, these same terrorists have struck again, this time on the Mall near the Smithsonian Metro station. As Margaret told you, we have no knowledge yet how many people were killed or injured.
“Here is how we are going to proceed,” he continued as he referred to some notes on a small pad. “I have contacted Henry Nelson and told him to get to the site as soon as possible. And Tony Giordano called to tell me that he was driving near the Mall when the explosion occurred and would get over there immediately to help secure the site.
“Because the explosion was at the Mall, it is technically within the jurisdiction of the Federal Park Police, but I have contacted the appropriate authorities and offered our help in securing the area and questioning anybody who happened to be in the vicinity when the bomb exploded. I want all of our investigative teams to go over to the Mall as soon as we are finished here and begin questioning people who were anywhere near that Metro station when the bomb exploded.”
Finally, thought Toby, an opportunity to question people immediately after an explosion- people who may have actually seen something of value. He did wish, however, that Drake had not confined those participating to the “investigative teams,” which was another way of saying “men only.”
As soon as the meeting ended, Toby told Trey to wait for him just a minute at the elevator while he paid a quick visit to Tad.
“What has Drake got against the women in this group?” she asked as Toby followed her into her office.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “I’ve given up trying to understand the man. I just hope we find someone who actually saw something useful. I’ll call if I’m going to be very late tonight.”
“I’m sure I’ll be home fairly early for all the good I’m doing here,” Tad said. “Except for all of the stupid Internet searches that Drake has me doing, I don’t think he even knows I’m around.”
Toby put his hand on tad’s shoulder. “I can’t believe he is wasting your time and talents doing computer searches that someone with one-tenth of your education and training could be doing,”
“I can’t either,” Tad responded. “About the time I think I’ve found every list of Muslims and Islamic organizations that exists, he comes up with some new off-the-wall list that he wants. I assume he is somehow comparing these with other lists that he has and then gives them to you, Trey and the other men to interview. But the truth is that I really don’t know, because he doesn’t bother to tell me what he is doing with them. It’s like I’m working on one case, and he is working on something entirely different.”
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Sullivan and Rawlings decided to walk to the Mall, which was just a few blocks away, because they knew that traffic in the area would be at a standstill and that the Metro would be closed for security reasons. When they arrived they spotted Tony Giordano outside the opening to the Smithsonian Metro Station. He was standing amongst dozens of uniformed police officers and a few men who appeared to be plainclothes detectives.
“We have to quit meeting like this,” Giordano said with only a slight trace of humor in his voice, “but I’m glad you’re here, because we can use all the help we can get.”
“How many casualties?” Toby asked.
“I think we were extremely lucky this time. There were no fatalities and only six injuries, most of which are minor,” Giordano answered. “It could have been much worse, because that school bus over there had just dropped off a load of students at the Freer Gallery. If those kids had been on the bus, there may have been some children hurt- or worse.”
“Where should we start?” Trey asked.
“We’ve tried to keep everyone that was in the area available for questioning. We’ve moved them into the various buildings around the Mall and secured the entrances and exits so that they will feel safe while they are detained. Perhaps you two would like to start with the people in the American History Museum across the Mall, although you might want to talk first to that homeless guy over there by the ambulance. He was one of the closest people to the explosion, but fortunately wasn’t injured.”
“Okay, thanks,” Toby said as he and Trey headed over to the street where several ambulances were parked.
“What’s your name?” Trey asked the man with unruly hair, a scruffy beard and clothes that were obviously dirty and tattered even before the bomb exploded.
“My name?” he asked as if no one had asked him that question in a long time.
“Yes, sir, your name please,” Trey asked again.
“It’s John- John Porter,” he said in a shaky voice.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Porter? Are you feeling well enough to answer a few questions?” Toby asked as he studied Porter’s angular face, slim body and long fingers.
Porter thought a minute before responding. “I think I’m okay, but I might feel better if I had something to eat.”
“Of course you would,” Toby said as he pulled a $10 bill out of his wallet. “I think all of the vendors have closed up shop for the day, but you take this and get yourself a couple of hotdogs and fries as soon as you can find some place open.”
“Or you could go to one of the government-financed kitchens located at churches and other facilities throughout the city,” Trey added. “You are familiar with those, aren’t you, Mr. Porter?”
Porter shook his head in the affirmative as he took the money from Toby and put it in his pocket. “What is it you want to ask me?” he responded.
“First, can you show us where you were when the bomb exploded?”
“I was right over there,” he said, pointing to a spot about 25 feet from the Metro entrance. I think I was sleeping on that bench over there, and next thing I knew I wasn’t sleeping no more.”
“It would have been hard to sleep through a blast like that. You’re lucky you weren’t killed or more seriously injured,” Toby said, as he took photographs of the witness and the crime scene. “Did you happen to see anybody hanging around the Metro station before you dozed off?”
“I saw a lot of people coming and going, but I don’t remember no one hanging around exactly,” Porter answered. “There was just people going up and down the stairs. Some of them may have been Muslims.”
“What do you mean?” Toby asked.
Porter seemed to be searching his memory for more details. “Well, I’m not sure. I may have seen three Muslim guys, but I really can’t say for certain. They looked like Muslims. Two of them had a beard and mustache and one had just a mustache.”
“But you don’t know for sure?” Toby asked.
“Well, I know there were three guys with beards and mustaches, wearing funny clothes, but I don’t know for certain if they was Muslims,” Porter said as he looked at the two FBI agents.
“What about after the explosion, did you see anybody that acted different than everybody else- you know, like they weren’t surprised by the explosion?” Trey continued, trying to solicit information.
“After the explosion, I didn’t pay attention to nothing except trying to figure out what happened to me,” said Porter, who was undoubtedly more confused than when in his usual state of confusion.
“We understand,” Toby said as he made a motion with his head to signal Trey that they should probably move on. “I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt. Thank you for your time.”
“That was a strange interview,” Toby said as he and Trey began walking across the Mall toward the American History Museum, which was one of his favorites of the Smithsonian museums. “I wonder why Giordano wanted us to talk to him. I doubt that he could have told us much if he had been wide awake and no where near the explosion, but the shock of being rudely awaken by a bomb blast pretty much took him off the helpful list.”
“But what about the Muslims?” Trey asked. “Do you think he really saw some?”
“What do you think?” Toby asked. “Do you think he even knows what he saw?”
“I doubt it, but we better pass the information on just in case,” Trey answered. “After all, that is the third witness in three different locations who claims to have seen two men with a mustache and beard and one with a mustache only. “I’ll go over and tell Giordano just in case he wants to get a sketch artist to work with Mr. Porter.”
“Now that you mention it, I guess you had better tell Tony,” Toby agreed. “Those three descriptions are much too similar to ignore.”
When he returned, Trey was still concerned about Mr. Porter’s condition. “I thought the current administration had passed laws to take care of the homeless problem in this country,” he said. “It is un-Christian to allow people to be homeless and hungry.”
“That’s one of the problems with mixing government and religion,” Toby said. “What may be the religious or moral thing to do can’t always be accomplished simply by passing a few laws. Unless the government is prepared to force people to live in shelters against their will, there will always be some people who, for a variety of reasons, prefer to live on the streets.”
“So you suggest that the government simply abandon them?” Trey asked. “You have to admit that there are far fewer homeless people and beggars on the street now since the CDR took power than there were before.”
“That might be true,” Toby agreed, “but I would venture to say that no more of these people are living productive lives than they were before. Sure, a lot of them are better hidden in shelters and at free food kitchens, but they still have the same mental problems, and alcohol and drug problems. And they are no better equipped to function productively in society than before. What was it Christ said- something about the poor always being with us?”
“Ah, quoting scripture on me, are you?” Trey asked with a grin. “If you want to discuss the issue of poverty from a Christian perspective, you need to know a lot more than one verse. Poverty is the defining issue in the Bible, and when Jesus describes Judgment Day, he says he will welcome into the kingdom those who have fed the hungry, offered hospitality to the stranger and clothed the naked.”
“Yes,” said Toby, “but I don’t recall Christ saying that we should turn that responsibility over to the government and pretend that it isn’t a problem anymore.”
“Point taken,” Trey said as they arrived at the museum. “But maybe the government should be doing more, rather than less.”
“Sure,” said Toby, getting the last word in before they entered the building. “Our economy is going down the tubes anyway. Might as well speed up the collapse, then we can have even more poor people so that everyone who isn’t poor can feel really good about the government helping those who are.”
As they entered the Mall-side lobby of the American History Museum, Trey and Toby encountered a huge throng of people who were obviously becoming restless as they waited among the display of old television and radio shows and other mid-20th Century memorabilia to be interviewed. Toby asked one of the museum guards if there was a portable public address system that he could use to communicate with the crowd. The guard said there was a wireless system available that he would get immediately.
While waiting for the guard to return, Toby and Trey discussed how to handle the large crowd. They decided that it would be most prudent to ask everyone some general questions that would quickly weed out those who could contribute nothing of value to the investigation. Those who had no information to provide would be allowed to leave after their names were taken down and their identification checked. Their exit would also be recorded by the museum’s video surveillance cameras.
As soon as the guard returned with the equipment and someone who knew how to operate it, Trey tried to get the crowd’s attention.
“If I may have your attention, please,” he said four or five times before finally beginning to explain how they were going to proceed.
“I am agent Rawlings and this is Agent Sullivan. As you know, a bomb was detonated abote and hour ago on the Mall near the Smithsonian Metro Station. According to the latest information we have received, there were fortunately no fatalities and only a few injuries.
“Agent Sullivan and I are members of the special taskforce investigating all of the bombings in the United States in the past several months, and we hope that someone here may be able to provide some information that will help us identify and apprehend the persons responsible for this and possibly other bombings. We know that you are tired of being detained here, so we are going to attempt to let you go as quickly as possible. We are going to ask some general questions of everyone. Those who can honestly answer “no” to every question will be free to leave- after checking in with one of the officers at the exit door and providing your name and your national identity card, state driver’s license or a passport.”
Trey handed the mike to Toby to ask the three questions they had decided to use as a screen.
“Our first question is: Did you see anyone on the Mall either before, after or at the time of the explosion who looked in any way suspicious to you?”
“Next question: Did you take any videos or photos on the Mall shortly before, during or immediately after the bomb exploded?”
“Final question: Do you remember seeing anyone on the Mall wearing or carrying a knapsack or package any time in the hour prior to the explosion?”
“If your answer to all of these questions is ‘no,’ you may leave through this door- after providing your name, address, phone number and identification to the men and women seated at the tables near the exit.”
As soon as Toby finished speaking, 95 percent or more of the crowd started moving toward the door, obviously excited about the prospect of leaving.
Toby turned back toward those who were not leaving and asked them to move toward the back of the lobby as far from the door as possible. He and Trey then moved toward them.
As quickly as they could, the two agents walked among the approximately two-dozen people remaining and asked what they had seen or photographed before, during and after the explosion. The amount of information gathered from the interviews was minimal, but they did find six people who had been taking photos of the Mall area shortly before the explosion. That meant that at least one of these people could have accidentally captured a visual image of the person who planted the bomb.
After letting everyone go except for those who had taken the photographs, Trey and Toby gave a receipt and business card to the owners of the film taken from the two vintage 35 mm cameras and then attempted to find a computer on which they could review the photographs or video from the four digital cameras. They had just located a computer and were about ready to look at the images when Giordano appeared and confiscated the memory chips so the boys at the lab could review them more carefully. When asked by the owners if they could copy the chip’s photos onto a disc before turning over the chip, Nelson said there was no time for that. Toby wrote receipts to the owners, gave them his card and said that he would try to get the chips returned to them as soon as possible- with the images still intact.
Rawlings and Sullivan spent the rest of the day on the Mall talking to Smithsonian employees, cab drivers, delivery truck drivers and others who may have been in the area at the time of the explosion. They found no one who could provide any information of value to the investigation.
When Toby finally arrived home around 7 p.m. Tad was watching the television coverage of the Mall bombing.
“What are you watching?” he asked before looking to see for himself.
“It’s some amateur video footage of the blast,” Tad replied. “Some guy just happened to be shooting a home video of his family’s visit to Washington and captured the explosion.”
“I wonder how he managed to keep the film or digital media out of the hands of the authorities,” Toby asked. “I thought that Nelson and Giordano managed to confiscate all of the video taken by anyone at the Mall this morning.”
“Apparently not,’ Tad said as J. Edgar jumped onto the couch beside her, obviously upset that more attention was focused on that rectangular screen than on him. “It doesn’t show too much, although there might be something more valuable in the footage taken before the blast. Of course the media is only interested in the sensational stuff.”
“Can you do me a favor tomorrow and contact that television station and all of the others in town and see if we can get a copy of any photos or video footage of the bombings that they may have purchased?” Sullivan asked Tad as he sat down on the other side of J. Edgar, who seemed pleased that he now had two staff members on duty. “Trey and I will go to the stations to review whatever they have.”
Before Tad could respond, Toby motioned for her to be quiet, because the words “A Special News Bulletin” had just appeared on the video screen.
“This just in,” the male news anchor with the blonde blow-dried hair said. “The nation’s oldest living senator, Robert McIntyre of Arizona, has been hospitalized in Phoenix. There is no information available at this time as to his condition. We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available on the senator, who turned 100 years old just last month.”
“Can you believe that?” Tad asked. “Isn’t he one of the votes that opponents of the Christian Republic amendment are counting on?”
“He sure is,” said Toby. “That vote is going to be as tight as a snare drum.”
“God help us defeat those Christians,” Tad said without realizing the irony of her request.