CHAPTER 25
Jesus is about to return. The Bible says He will not return until the Gospel is preached to all the world. (Matthew 24:14).
There have been two major obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel- Communism and Islam, both religions of Satan. Communism collapsed and the former Communist countries are now open to the Gospel. The final barrier to be overcome is Islam.
Lamb and Lion Ministries – Home of Christ in Prophesy, 2005
After going through almost as much security as encountered at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, Toby and Trey finally entered the newsroom of WNDC, Channel 11, where they were introduced to the news director, Patrick Murphy.
“I was surprised when Agent Davenport called this morning,” Murphy said, “because one of your guys had already been by late last night to confiscate the video that we aired yesterday evening.”
“Let me guess,” Toby said. “Was his name Giordano?”
“Yes, that’s the one,” Murphy confirmed Toby’s speculation. “He said he needed the originals of everything that we had acquired from any source that showed the Mall before, during or immediately after the bombing.”
“And you gave everything to him?” Trey asked.
“Of course we did,” the news director replied. “He didn’t phrase it as if we had any choice.”
“Did you make a copy of anything before you turned it over to him?” Sullivan asked.
“I’m sure we must have made a copy when we first acquired the video,” Murphy said,- “but all I’m positive we have now is the footage we showed last evening. As you know, people like to see explosions and other dramatic stuff. We didn’t have much use for the footage of the guy’s family and tourist attractions.”
“Do you have the name of the guy who brought you this footage?” Toby asked.
“Of course,’ Murphy responded, “but I already gave that to the Giordano guy, too. Isn’t he in your office?”
“He works with us, but he isn’t exactly in our office,” Trey responded. “We’re sorry to have bothered you again.”
“No problem,” Murphy said as he handed both Toby and Trey one of his business cards. “If you get any good information you can pass on, please give me a call. As you might imagine, this is about the only news our viewers are interested in these days- and who can blame them. No one knows from day to day where the next bomb is likely to go off.”
“Well thanks for your time,” Trey said as he and Toby concluded the visit and were guided by Murphy’s assistant back through the maze of hallways to the station lobby.
“That Giordano is everywhere, isn’t he?” Trey said as they arrived back at their car.
“Sure is,” Toby answered. “He seems to be drawn to bombings like a moth to flames.”
“Where next?” Rawlings asked.
“We could go to the other television stations, but I’ll bet anything that Tony has already been to them, too,” Sullivan responded. “Why don’t we visit the Mall again and make sure that Giordano, Nelson or somebody from our office has tracked down every surveillance camera in the area. It’s possible that at least one might have been missed.”
“Can’t hurt,” Trey said. “Videos can be crucial in solving crimes like this.”
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When they arrived at the Mall, Toby and Trey made the Smithsonian Information Center, also known as the Castle, their first stop. Although located fairly close to where the bomb exploded, the oldest building of the Smithsonian Institution had survived with no apparent damage. Once inside, they showed their badges and asked to see the person in charge of security for all of the Smithsonian’s 16 museums and galleries. Within a few minutes, they were introduced to Fred Beecher, the acting director of security.
“What can I do for you gentlemen?” he asked. “We want to do anything we can to assist in your investigation.”
“Thank you,” Trey responded. “We are just trying to ensure that nothing, however small, falls through the cracks. We want to make sure that our office has identified every surveillance camera that the Smithsonian has that might have captured digital images of the people responsible for yesterday’s attack. Do you know for a fact that every one of those cameras has been identified and the tapes, discs or memory chips given to the FBI or bombing taskforce?”
“Yes, I am certain of that,” Beecher responded. “I went over the list very thoroughly with Agent Giordano yesterday. He was also very concerned that we not miss any cameras. I made certain that he had all the media from cameras at the American History Museum, the Natural History Museum, both the East and West buildings of the National Gallery of Art, the American Indian Museum, the Air and Space Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Arts and Industries Museum, the Castle, the Freer Museum and the Ripley Center.”
“What abote the Sackler Gallery and the African Art Museum?” Trey asked.
“Yes, of course, those, too,” Beecher answered.
“I assume you gave him the video from the inside surveillance cameras as well,” said Toby.
“Actually, he didn’t ask for those,” the security director responded. “Would you like them?”
“I’m not sure if we will need them or not, but would you please make sure that all of the output from all of your Mall cameras- inside and outside- for that day are saved and secured. There may come a time when we do need them.”
“That has already been done,” Beecher said. “We always save the output on computer discs and keep them for three months. I’ll make certain that these are saved for even longer.”
“That was good thinking,” Trey said. “I hope we don’t need them, but it is always better to be safe than sorry.”
Satisfied that any images of the bombers that existed were being preserved, Toby and Trey thanked the acting security director and started walking back to their car. Just as they arrived at the vehicle, both of their personal communication devices began ringing. It was Margaret at the office.
“Ya’ll should come back to headquarters just as soon as possible,” she said. “There’s been a big break in the case.”
Being only a few blocks away, Sullivan and Rawlings were back at headquarters in just a few minutes. As soon as they walked in the door, Peabody directed them toward the conference room.
“Everybody’s in the conference room,” she said, “The director has some big news.”
And big news it was.
“If you will turn your chairs to face the media screen, I’m going to contact Henry Nelson who has finally made a major breakthrough in our case,” Drake said as he pushed some buttons on a remote device to contact the forensics expert working the case.
“Are you there, Henry?”
“Yes, Director, I’m here and can see all of you,” Nelson, who was now visible on the screen, replied. “Can you see me?”
“We can see and hear you perfectly,” Drake said. “Please share with the rest of the taskforce the information you shared with me a few minutes ago.”
“Well, as I told you, we think we finally have pretty good descriptions, and possibly names, of our suspected bombers.”
Suddenly everyone in the conference room responded with a cheer or fist raised in the air. The relief in the room was obvious. After nearly four months, there was finally something to cheer about.
When the excitement had died down, Nelson continued. “We caught a little break when examining some photos that a guy from Idaho had taken shortly before the bombing on the Mall,” he said as he held an enlarged photograph up to the video camera. “Here is a photo that shows three men who appear to be of mid-eastern origin coming out of the Smithsonian Metro Station just 12 minutes before the bomb exploded.”
Nelson held up another photo that was an enlargement of a portion of the first. “If you look closely at this photo, you can see a knapsack carried by one of the three men. This is significant, because we found fragments of a bag of the same make, color and markings as this one at the crime scene.”
Nelson then focused the videocam on a board on which he had separated the original photograph into individual photographs of the three suspects, with three names listed to the side.
“And here are our suspects with names supplied to us by our undercover agent in New Mexico,” Nelson continued. “The only problems at this point are that the photos are, as you can see, a little blurry and we don’t know which name goes with which photo. Our agent has never seen the suspects, but he recently overheard a conversation in which he learned their names and their country of origin- Iran.”
Toby could see Tad studying the photos carefully and writing down the names that the undercover agent had provided:
“Hakim Chishti bin Muhammad bin Hafiz”
“Hamid bin Muhammad bin Abdul Al-Mansur”
“Salam Dehlavi bin Muhammad bin Hafiz”
Davenport seemed puzzled.
Trey, as usual was taking meticulous notes in his electronic notepad.
Toby, on the other hand, chose to study the fuzzy photos very carefully, because, as an artist, faces were of interest to him. He was pleased to hear Nelson say that his photo experts were working to make the photographs clearer, which should be done in a matter of hours.
“As soon as we have the images sharpened, we’ll e-mail them to you in a very high resolution,” he said.
“And as soon as the cleaned-up photos arrive, I intend to release both the names and the photos to the media in order to solicit help from the public,” Drake said.
Tad looked up from her notepad and without thinking said, “You can’t do that.”
Drake was clearly taken aback by her response.
And why can’t I, Dr. Davenport?” he asked in a restrained, although clearly disgruntled voice.
“I mean that you shouldn’t release both the photos and names yet, because we don’t even know if they go together. And, as little as Americans understand Muslim names, they will be turning in a large percentage of the Muslim population- or even worse, harassing them or attacking them.”
“I’m afraid I don’t follow your logic, Dr. Davenport,” Drake responded. “We have names and we have photos, and unless people know of someone whose name and description is the same as in the information we release, they shouldn’t bother them. And how many people would look like the people in these photos and have one of these three names?”
“That’s my point, Director,” Tad tried to explain her concern. “Americans don’t have an ear for Muslim names, and they certainly don’t understand their structure. All they will hear is that there are three Muslim guys named Muhammad, which, as I am sure you know is the most common name among Muslims in the world. I would guess that more than 15 million people have the name Muhammad. And the name also has many variants such as Ahmed and Mahmoud. If one also counts all those who use it as a middle or family name, the number probably exceeds 60 million people. So you see that we’re not exactly narrowing down the field, are we?”
“So you would have us release the photos with no names?” Drake asked.
“I’m not sure if we should release the photos to the public at all- only to law enforcement officials,” Tad responded, “at least until we are more certain that these are the ones we’re after.”
Drake looked at Tad and then at the rest of the taskforce.
“When the photos are ready, I will release them along with the names,” he said abruptly. “We need the public’s help to find these people, and this is the best way to get it.”
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Later that afternoon, Drake held a news conference and released the photos and names of the suspected terrorists to the media. As three witnesses had previously indicated, two of the suspects had a beard and mustache, while the third had only a mustache. Although the task force director urged the public to be cautious and use common sense and good judgment before contacting the hotline or Internet site with information, his words apparently fell on deaf- or stupid- ears.
Within 30 minutes of the close of his news conference, the hotline and Internet site combined had received more than a thousand tips regarding the suspects’ location, and more than a dozen threats to “take care of the anti-Christian devils without needing any assistance from cops.” After two hours, more than 10,000 tips had been received.
While Tad and Toby sat in Tad’s office and ate chicken salad sandwiches from the deli across the street, they reviewed some of the so-called tips that had come in on the Internet.
“Listen to these,” Toby said as he read some e-mails out loud.
“I think I know one of those Muhammad guys in the picture. He works at the Magic Market here in Dayton. I’m pretty sure he’s the one with the big ears and no beard.”
“I am almost positive that the guy in the middle in the photograph shown on television was a student in my computer class at the junior college here in Webster Grove.”
“The Muhammad guy in the photographs on your Internet site looks exactly like a guy named Muhammad that runs a motel down on the four lane highway here in Marietta, Georgia. Do you want me to grab the SOB and hold him for you?”
“And listen to a few of the phone messages that have been transcribed,” Tad said.
“I don’t know what has taken you feds so long to find these anti-Christian, godless terrorists. If I see them, I ain’t going to take the time to call. I’m going to blow their Muslim brains out.”
“I drive an 18-wheeler. After seeing the photographs of those terrorists on television about an hour ago, I remembered something that happened yesterday. I was passing through Grand Rapids, Michigan and stopped for fuel just off the Interstate. As I was getting back on, I am almost certain I saw the same three guys that were in that picture. They was driving an old blue Mustang convertible.”
“I guess it wouldn’t do any good to say, ‘I told you so,’ would it?” Tad asked.
“No, I don’t think that it would,” Toby responded with a big grin. “And the amazing thing is that Drake probably still doesn’t think it was a mistake to release the photographs and names. I’m sure he’s convinced that it was the only way to locate the terrorists.”
“And everyone else in the United States who looks Arab and has the name Muhammad,” Tad added.
“When the names were first given to the taskforce this morning, you had a strange look on your face,” Toby said. “What was that about?”
“You noticed, huh?” Tad responded. “It was because something doesn’t fit.”
“Such as?” Sullivan asked.
“Such as the fact that Desert Dan says that the suspects are from Iran and yet two of the suspects have names indicating that they are from elsewhere.” Davenport explained.
“I don’t follow,” Toby said.
“Well, for example, the name Hakim Chishti bin Muhammad bin Hafiz would be Hakim from the village of Chishti, son of Muhammad, who was son of Hafiz, and Chishti is in Afghanistan,” Tad explained. “And the same for Salam Dehlavi bin Muhammad bin Hafiz. Only he would be from Delhi in India. Same family names, but from different countries, neither of which is Iran. Makes you wonder if old Desert Dan was fed a bunch of bull.”
“It does make you wonder,” said Sullivan. “And something else that’s a bit strange is the remarkable resemblance among the three suspects. Not quite triplets, but clearly with a lot of the same features, such as their cheek bones,” he said while showing Tad the similarities among the three. “It will be interesting to see if anyone really does have information that helps locate them, whoever they are.”