The Assassin's Trail (12 page)

Springfield, MO

Saturday night

A designated laptop in the computer room was tasked to monitor the tracking cookies JR Diminski had attached to each of the identified computers. Using a program written for a client several years ago, he modified the software to send an email when any of those computers accessed the internet.

At exactly 10:14 p.m. Saturday, one of the target computers went active. JR’s cell phone vibrated with the receipt of an email alert. Rushing to the second floor, he checked to see which computer had gone active. He quickly downloaded a computer worm to the active machine. His virus would attach itself to any email account the target computer accessed. Once another computer accessed the email account, the worm would attach itself to the new computer and record all keystrokes. Once the process was complete, when the now-infected computers accessed the internet, the worm would send files with the keystroke recordings to JR’s laptop.

When he would receive any of those files was unknown, but at least the process to monitor the group’s communications was starting. All he had to do now was sit back and wait. With a grin on his face, he walked back upstairs.

***

JR returned to the computer room at 2:28 a.m. Sunday morning.  As usual, when he worked on a problem, he couldn't sleep. So he checked the tracking computer and found numerous downloads, more than he had anticipated. The time stamps on the files indicated they had arrived somewhere between 11 p.m. and midnight. Had something important occurred within the group today? He accessed some of the files and by 3 a.m., he was confident something was going on. Files continued to be received, and JR became increasingly confident he would soon be able understand and monitor the group’s communications. Finally at 4:30 a.m. his initial problem of monitoring the group was solved. Walking back upstairs, he crawled into bed and fell asleep immediately.

By 9 a.m. Sunday morning, JR was back on the second floor confirming what he had. He was now in possession of recordings of all messages typed on the group’s computers. In fact he found two previously unknown computers not found on Cooper’s cell phone and hard drive. The narrative contained within the keystroke files was disconcerting. He decided to call Kruger, a direct violation of his communication protocols. But something had changed within the group. The messages, though vague in content, contained a note of urgency. This was way beyond anything he had helped Kruger with in the past.

***

Alan Seltzer was up early sitting at the breakfast bar of their house with his first cup of coffee and reading the Sunday Washington Post. His wife was still asleep, allowing him a few minutes of quiet before they got ready to leave for church. After ten straight days without a break, the thought of an actual day off to relax was appealing. As he turned to the Op-Ed section, his cell phone vibrated.

He glanced at the caller ID, sighed and answered. “This is Alan.”

Paul Stumpf said, “I just got a disturbing call from our counter-terrorist division.”

Seltzer closed his eyes, the twinge of a headache suddenly making itself known. “About?”

“They have several radical Islamist groups under surveillance in northern California.”

“I’ve heard about it. Is something going on?”

“They’re not sure. But, one of the Imam’s received a phone call from a payphone very late on Thursday night. The call itself seemed innocent enough, except for the lateness of the hour.”

Seltzer was quiet for a few seconds. “Go on.”

“It seems the normally reclusive Imam is suddenly making house calls on members of his flock. The surveillance team has followed him to over fifteen apartments and houses. He stays about an hour and then leaves.”

“Do they know who he’s visiting?”

“Yes, every single one of them is a young adult male between 19 and 24.”

Taking his time to respond, Seltzer took a deep breath. He exhaled and said, “Does the team think they are planning something?”

“The consensus of the group is, yes, they are. What, they don’t know. They haven’t been able to monitor the conversations between the Imam and the men. Too short of notice on what he was going to do.”

“I don’t like the proximity to Cooper being discovered.”

“Alan, that’s why I’m calling. Make sure our friend has this information, unofficially of course.”

Seltzer nodded and said, “I'll head to the office and take care of it.”

“Alan, if our friend can confirm there is a relationship to Cooper, I’ll take it to the director. If he doesn’t want to hear it, I will take it straight to the President.”

“I'm sure our friend will be willing to look into it.”

“Thanks, Alan. Sorry I had to bother you on Sunday.”

Seltzer ended the call, his headache now pounding behinds his eyes. With his anticipated day off now impossible, he walked to the kitchen cabinet where his wife kept the Extra Strength Excedrin. Taking two, he chased them with the now-cold coffee.

His thoughts turned back to the current problem as he emptied the coffee into the sink and poured a fresh cup. What could an Imam in northern California visiting young men have to do with Thomas Cooper? A sudden thought occurred to him. His eyes widened. He poured the fresh cup of coffee into the sink and rushed upstairs to wake his wife. He had to get to the office as quickly as possible.

***

The Fed Ex package was on the doorstep of Charlie Craft’s modest ranch-style home in Montgomery, AL, when he returned home late Saturday night. Tired and dirty from sifting through the remains of Cooper’s house for two days, the last thing on his mind was opening it. A quick shower and the comfort of his own bed were his priorities.

Late Sunday morning, he took the box into the kitchen and pulled at the tape designed to open the FedEx container. He ripped the remaining end of the box off and emptied the contents. Two bundles of bubble wrap and an envelope slid onto the kitchen table. One of the bundles had a handwritten sticky note attached with the words “Call Me – JR” in bold letters.

Charlie removed the bubble wrap and found the damaged hard drive he had handed to Kruger on Thursday. The other bundle contained a cell phone. Finally he opened the envelope and found a sheet of paper with instructions on how to contact JR.

Glancing at this watch, he noted the time was almost 9 a.m. Sunday morning. It might be too early to contact JR, but then, JR could always call him back whenever he was ready. He found his cell phone, sent the message to the number on the sheet of paper, and waited.

Exactly one minute later his cell phone vibrated. Charlie checked the caller ID, “Unknown,” and smiled as he answered.

“Hello.”

“Charlie Craft. How in the world are you?”

It had been a long time since Charlie had heard from JR, and it was good to hear his voice. “I’m fine, JR, yourself?”

“I take it you got my presents.”

“It came yesterday, but I got back late last night and just now opened it. Did you find anything?”

“Lots of cool stuff on both objects, but the stuff’s hard to find.”

Charlie noted JR did not refer to the contents, so he didn’t either. Instead he said, “Okay, how do I find it?”

“Give me your personal email address and I’ll send you a roadmap. It’ll guide you to the pertinent stuff.”

After telling JR his personal email address, Charlie said, “I know you’re very good with this type of computer work, JR. Will this be something above my abilities? You know it might draw attention we really don’t need right now.”

JR didn’t answer for a few seconds. Finally he said, “No, it really isn’t, Charlie. Besides, once you’ve know how to do it, you’ll understand the process, and guess what? It isn’t above your abilities anymore.”

“Thanks, JR, I owe you and Kruger a lot.”

“Don’t mention it. Besides, as my business continues to grow, I’ll be looking for an associate someday. Who knows, as good as you are, I might have to give you a call. See ya, Charlie.”

The call ended at one minute and fifty-seven seconds. Charlie smiled. Amazing. JR was always consistent with his phone calls, less than two minutes.

Charlie went to the desk were he kept his personal laptop. By the time it booted up and his email program was running, a new message was in his inbox. The sender’s address was a series of random letters and numbers, once again demonstrating JR was in a league of his own when it came to computers.

After reading the directions, Charlie smiled. The process wasn’t that hard, but it wasn’t something he would have intuitively known how to do. The process would need more computer horsepower than his laptop possessed. Besides, it would not look good for him to work on this at home. He needed to be at his lab. He took a quick shower and headed to his office.

Two hours later, he was making progress. Data on the cell phone and hard drive revealed more than one person was involved, several more. At the crime scene, he had told Franklin Dollar there wasn’t enough information available to declare the case closed. But, according to Dollar, his position as Special Agent in Charge gave him the authority. Charlie, as a lowly forensic technician, wasn’t going to determine if the case was closed or not. It would be interesting to see how Dollar tried to explain his way out of this mistake.

Charlie waited until after 3 p.m. to call Pam Haworth, his boss in Washington, D.C. She answered on the second ring, “Charlie, I hope this is about the Cooper investigation.”

“It is. I've found evidence that Cooper wasn’t acting alone. In fact, I found a distinct possibility of five additional accomplices.”

Pam Haworth remained silent for a few seconds and said, “Agent Dollar declared there were no other suspects. What evidence do you have indicating more individuals are involved, Charlie?”

“Agent Dollar made his statement before consulting with any of the investigators at the scene. If he had consulted with us, we would have told him there was evidence Cooper had accomplices.”

“I see. That's a serious accusation, Charlie. Can you back up your statement with the other techs?”

“Yes, I can. I found evidence on Cooper’s cell phone and his computer’s hard drive. It’s solid, Pam.”

“Very well, I have to report this directly to Deputy Director Stumpf. He’s become personally involved. Put all of your findings in your report and email it to me as quickly as possible.”

“I will.”

He ended the call and tried to decide if he needed to call Kruger. Might as well, the day was shot anyway.

Kansas City, MO

Sunday

Kruger had just returned from his morning run and getting ready to join Stephanie in the shower when his cell phone vibrated. The caller ID showed “Unknown.” Strange. Only a call from JR would have a similar ID. But JR never called unless he was called first. He pressed the receive icon and said, “Kruger.”

“Sean, something big’s in the works,” JR said without hesitation.

“Slow down, JR. What is the something and how big?”

JR took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“The traps I set on the email addresses paid off. Lots of communications over the past twelve hours. One refers to the C4 and wanted to know what happened. Then the person sending the message wants it replaced immediately. After this initial exchange, there are several exchanges with three other individuals.”

“Okay, back up just a second. You said emails. How many are you talking about?”

“At least twenty.”

Kruger thought for a second then said, “Summarize the messages.”

“Of the six known computers, two have been silent, Cooper’s and one that hasn't accessed the internet since I identified it. Previous messages from this individual seem to be in the Baltimore area, but I need it to access the internet to be sure. There is one in Dallas, one in the St. Louis area, and the others are accessing the internet on military bases in the south. One of those computers was unknown before last night.”

“Huh. There’s the possible source of the C4. Go on.”

“The computer in St. Louis seems to be the central organizer. This guy talks to everyone. The Dallas computer is the commander of the group. But his only contact is St. Louis, who, by the way, was in Memphis earlier this week.”

“He's mobile, moving from city to city to avoid detection,” Kruger said.

“I agree, the other computers are more stationary. But the dialogue suggests they’re planning to hit a big target, soon.”

“Was the new target identified?”

“No, not in these emails,” JR was quiet for a moment. “There’s some tension in the group. The guy in St. Louis is frustrated about not getting a response from Baltimore. The Dallas member wants more C4. Lots of it. The three contacts on military bases are saying no way, too much heat from CID.”

“What do you think?”

“I’m convinced these guys are ex-military and current military.”

Kruger was quiet for several moments. “Yeah that makes sense. I need you to dig into Cooper’s military history and find out who he served with. Who his commanders were, who his sergeants were, and finally who among those individuals are no longer in the military.”

JR didn't respond right away, and Kruger could tell he was thinking through the problem. “Well, I haven't been in the Pentagon's computer for a while. They get pissy when people hack into their system. Guess I'll just have to make sure they don't know I'm there.”

“Thanks, JR, let me know what you find.”

“Okay, gotta run, I’m way over my time limit.”

After the call ended, Kruger looked at his phone and noticed the time duration was almost ten minutes. JR violated two of his rules. He initiated the call and stayed on the phone for more than two minutes. Apparently JR was as involved as he was. The thought made him smile.

Stephanie came out of the bedroom in a bathrobe and her hair wrapped in a towel. “Thought you were going to join me?”

He held the cell phone up. “JR called. There’s another incident being planned.” He paused for a moment, shook his head, and continued, “Why is the director listening to Dollar? The agency needs to be using all its resources to find these guys, not just one ready-to-retire agent. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, Stef.”

Stephanie hugged him and said, “Sean, think it through. You’ve told me numerous times, you work better by yourself. No meetings to attend, or wasted hours waiting on others to approve your next move. Find these guys, Sean, then walk away with your head held high. Afterward, we can move on with our lives.”

He nodded and hugged her tighter. “Yeah, you're right. I'm starting to feel sorry for myself, another reason to get out.”

After his shower, he went back to his desk and called Seltzer’s cell phone. Alan answered quickly, “Sean, I was going to call you when I got to the office.”

“Alan, there's a lot of chatter on the internet. My source tells me there are at least six other individuals still involved, maybe more. Plus, there’s another target.”

Seltzer was quiet. Finally he said, “There’s something else.”

“What?”

“An Imam in the San Francisco area received a phone call late Thursday night. The call was from a Dallas payphone.” Kruger didn’t respond, but a piece of the puzzle fell into place as Alan talked. “The next day, this normally reclusive holy man started making house calls. He’s been visiting members of his mosque.”

“Who’s he visiting, or should I guess?”

“Young adult men, ages 19 to 24.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“Paul doesn’t like the coincidence of this happening immediately after the Cooper affair. He’s thinks there’s a connection.”

“He’s probably right. One of the members of Cooper’s group is in Dallas.”

“That’s not good.”

“Nope.”

Seltzer didn’t respond for several seconds. “Okay, once again, I'm not going to ask how you know all of this, but I'm going to need specific information on the additional members before I take this to Paul.”

“Talk to Charlie Craft. He was the lead tech at the Cooper farm. He'll know what I know today or tomorrow.”

“Okay, Sean. We asked you to pursue this on your own, so I won't ask for details.”

“Yes, you did, and you're right, don't ask.”

“I can live with that. Things are going to get hot around here when Charlie gives us this information.”

“Alan, the only person who needs to take the heat is Dollar. Everybody else is just doing their job. And, I might add, a lot more professionally.”

“I know. The director is listening to Dollar and no one else; there's a lot of politics involved.”

Kruger couldn’t believe what Seltzer had said. “Then the director is a fool. What about the innocent victims here in Kansas City? Should we just tell them politics is more important than catching the people responsible for the explosion? That’s wrong, Alan, and you know it.”

Seltzer was quiet for a long time. Finally he said, “I know. Paul is aware it’s wrong as well. He's a good man, Sean, and he’s trying to make changes, but it takes time.”

Kruger was now totally disgusted with the conversation. “He needs to try harder. I'll talk to you later.” He pressed the end call icon and tossed the cell phone on his desk.

Kruger leaned back in his desk chair and pressed his palms against his eyes. Was there a connection between the Imam suddenly visiting young male members of his mosque and the incident on the Cooper farm? His instinct told him there was.

He left his office and found Stephanie reading the Sunday Kansas City Times on the sofa.

“Let's take a walk,” he said.

They were a few minutes into the walk and he was holding her hand. “Let's suppose the incident on Cooper’s farm started a chain reaction within the group.”

She looked up at him. “Okay, what kind of chain reaction?”

Shaking his head, Kruger took a deep breath. “This is a stretch, but let’s suppose the C4 we found was designated for a huge terrorist attack. One they had planned for later.”

Stephanie nodded, but said nothing.

“The group leader is pissed, really pissed, and is pushing the group to find more explosives. But the group says it can’t be done in his timeline. Are you following me?”

“Yes.” She stared ahead, “What if this group’s leader decides he needs to move in another direction? What would be his next move?”

“Depends on if this is a domestic group, or a group from another country.”

“Sean, you know something, what is it?”

“There was a call from a Dallas payphone to an Imam in San Francisco. Did I mention one of the email computers is in Dallas?”

She shook her head.

“Well, it is. Now this Imam is visiting young single men from his mosque. About what, we don’t know, but I can guess.”

She took a deep breath. “Sean, they’re trying to find martyrs, aren’t they?”

Kruger nodded, but did not answer right away. “We’ve no proof or even a hint that’s what the Imam is doing. But higher ups in the agency don’t like the coincidence. Neither do I.”

“What if there is no connection?”

“There may not be.”

“Don’t you think you need to find out?”

Kruger walked in silence for several minutes contemplating. Finally he said, “I knew there was a reason I married you. That’s exactly what I need to do.”

They looked at each other and both started laughing. Suddenly to Kruger, the weight of the investigation was lifted from his shoulders and the only thing in the world was Stephanie holding his hand.

The feeling wouldn't last very long.