Waterkill (Dave Henson Series) (27 page)

Chapter 43 (April 18, Monday 12:00pm, Washington D.C.)

Dave and Dana sat across the table from the Director of Homeland Security, Eric McDonald, in a conference room in the DHS’ headquarters building. They were both feeling refreshed after getting some much needed rest on the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier, and then on their long flight back from Germany to Andrews Air Force Base.

“Director Cote has briefed me on your proposal Dave,” said McDonald. “I’ve already spoken to the President about it and he has approved it. However, he asked that we immediately increase patrols around Dallas’s Water Utility Stations, as well as at the reservoir lakes in the surrounding area that are the source of the city’s public water supply. I have already acted on his request and have ordered the additional patrols.”

“Sounds prudent,” said Dave. “Before I left the aircraft carrier I also contacted my colleague at NSurv. He will have several dozen of our water test kits available for your department to pick up today and deliver to Dallas.”

“Yes, Director Cote mentioned that you would do this and I already have a couple of people from our field office in Boise, Idaho flying up to your company’s headquarters to pick them up. They will then fly them directly to Dallas.”

“Excellent,” responded Dave. “However, I would like my colleague Ron Blackwell and myself to travel out to Dallas and assist in the hunt for Spencer Williams. We both personally know him, and though it’s been a long time since we had any appreciable interaction with him, I think we have an idea on how he ticks.”

“Particularly now,” chimed in Dana. “I have given Dave a complete briefing of my kidnapping experience with Spencer.”

“In addition, Ron is the only person who will be able to quickly assemble the system that can scrub the cholera toxin from Dallas’s water system if it comes to that.”

“I was already planning for your onsite support,” said McDonald candidly. “We need all the help we can get to find and stop this guy, and as you just explained, you’re the best man for the job.”

“Well I’m ready to go now,” said Dave. “How soon can I get down to Dallas?”

“We can get you out of D.C. within the hour. I assumed you’d be asking or agreeing to go to Dallas, so I already took the liberty of requesting a helicopter to be flown out here from Andrews. It will arrive in fifteen minutes and it will take you back to Andrews where you’ll be flown from there to the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, Texas.”

“Excellent,” replied Dave as he stood up. “Dana will stay here in Washington for the day to recuperate a bit more. Tomorrow, she is planning to fly out of Reagan International back to Idaho.”

“Yes, I have had all the excitement I need in the past few days to last me a lifetime,” commented Dana wearily. “Also, I don’t want to ever see Spencer Williams’ face again.”

“I can understand that,” said McDonald. “We will pursue him until we capture him, dead or alive. I can assure you, neither of you will have to worry about Mr. Williams much longer.”

“Thank you,” responded Dana. “Sadly though, it won’t end with just the capture of Spencer. Al Qaeda is recruiting new members daily. Some way or another we need to cut the multiple heads off of that monster if we really want to eliminate extremist Islamic terrorism in this world today.”

“I can assure you the President has already begun discussing with a number of European leaders on how we can step up efforts in the complete eradication of Al Qaeda. Eberswalde, Germany was a real eye opener to the President and other international leaders around the world on what Al Qaeda is capable of doing.”

“Well I’m glad to hear that,” said Dana tersely, not fully buying McDonald’s assurance. “I just hope they also pull their heads out of their asses so that they can actually see what’s really going on around them in this rapidly going-to-hell-in-a-hand-basket world we live in today.”

Dave noticed McDonald stiffen a little at Dana’s comment, but he maintained his composure.

“I can understand your feelings Dana,” McDonald responded in a serious tone. “And I take it as my personal responsibility to make sure that our President not only has his eyes open, but is also seeing what is happening around our country and is taking action where needed to protect all American citizens.”

“Thank you again,” said Dana as she gave him a death stare.

“Well alright,” said Dave. “It’s probably time for us to leave as I have a helicopter to catch.”

“Yes, I’ll call for someone to escort you to the helipad.”

“Thank you Director,” responded Dave. “We’ll be in touch.” 

The DHS director escorted the two of them out of his office and asked his admin to give a call down to the flight ops group to have someone pick the two of them up.

A few minutes later Dana kissed Dave goodbye in the DHS’s mini flight terminal room just before he was escorted out to the waiting helicopter.

Chapter 44 (April 18, Monday 10:35am, Dallas, Texas)

“I’ll have the stack of three blueberry pancakes,” said Ahmad to the diner waitress as he looked at the menu in front of him.

“No side of bacon or ham to go along with that stack of cakes?” asked the young blond haired waitress in a Texan drawl as wide as the Mississippi.

He looked up from the menu and into the blue eyes of the waitress. “Thank you, I’ll pass on the sides,” responded Ahmad in a firm but tired voice. “Just a refill on the coffee please.” He motioned to the half empty mug sitting on the table next to him.

“Well alright, we’ll get them pancakes served up for you right quick,” twanged the waitress as she topped off the mug and then turned and walked away.

Ahmad glanced down at his watch. It was late morning, but he had already made it to Dallas. His to-be partner Barak had contacted him an hour earlier to report in that he had also made it into Dallas. They had agreed to meet at this particular diner at ten thirty. It was now ten thirty five. He was late. Aref’s man was already starting to annoy him. Punctuality was a sign of discipline, and discipline was critical for success of any kind.

He was staring blankly down the row of dining tables, sipping slowly from his fresh mug of coffee when the glass door to the diner opened. A middle aged man of Middle Eastern decent stepped into the diner and did a slow one hundred and eighty degree sweep of the diner, his eyes nervously scanning the diner’s patrons. He looked anxious and unsure of himself thought Ahmad, and he was the antithesis of discreet. He stared directly at the man, so that when his eyes fell upon him, he’d know he found who he was looking for. A second later, the man’s eyes locked onto Ahmad’s. He walked tentatively over to him, his hands in his coat pockets.

“Are you Ahmad?”

“Who’s asking?”

“Barak.”

“Well Barak, you’ve found your man. Have a seat,” he commanded.

Obediently, Barak slid into the bench seat across from Ahmad. As he did the perky little blond waitress spied Barak and came rushing up to him. “Good morning sir, howya doin today? Would you like a cup of coffee?” She automatically grabbed the mug that was sitting upside down on the placemat opposite Ahmad. 

Barak nodded his head in acceptance as he wriggled his way out of his coat. “Yes please, thank you.”

The waitress filled up his mug with steaming coffee and passed him a menu.

“He won’t need it,” said Ahmad curtly. “Get him the same as me.”

Barak looked over at Ahmad, initially taken aback by the command. One look into Ahmad’s eyes, however, and he slowly handed the menu back to the waitress.

“That sounds fine,” said Barak submissively to the waitress.

“Okay, thank you,” said the waitress as she took the menu from him and walked back towards the kitchen to place his order of pancakes.

“You’re late,” said Ahmad as he sized up Barak’s appearance and made his dominance clear to him.

“Sorry about that. I got caught up in more traffic than I expected.”

Ahmad stared silently at him for a few seconds, watching Barak’s forehead start to break out in a cold sweat. Just what he was looking for.

“So you’ve obviously already spoken to Aref,” said Ahmad breaking the palpable silence between the two.

Barak nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“Did he explain to you the full nature of why he contacted you?”

“He said that one of his most trusted men needed help on an assignment in Dallas, and that he asked for me to assist him in any way necessary. He gave me a phone number to reach you and that was it.”

Ahmad’s eyes bored into Barak’s as he listened to his response and continued to size him up. He could hear the nervousness in Barak’s voice and see the slight trembling in his hands as both of them cupped the mug of coffee that still sat on the table. After Barak had stopped talking Ahmad took another sip of his coffee while keeping his eyes fixed on Barak’s, giving himself another few seconds to assess the man and determine what he would tell him. He would go slowly.

“We have a job to do Barak, and my goal is to complete it as soon as possible. We will eat, and then immediately proceed to one of the Dallas Water Utility Stations for a little recon. Then tonight, we will return to the station and execute our mission. Do you understand?”

Before Barak could answer, the waitress abruptly came up to their table holding in each hand a plate with a stack of pancakes on it. “Here you go gentlemen,” she said as she leaned over and placed the two plates in front of the men. “Is there anything else I can get for you?” she asked with a big smile.

“No we are fine. Thank you,” said Ahmad.

“Well alright, you enjoy your meals now. If you need anything more just give me a holler.”

Ahmad and Barak gave a nod of their heads in acknowledgment as the young waitress bustled away from their table.

As they each prepared to dig into their stack of pancakes Ahmad asked again, “So do you have any questions?”

Barak looked up from his stack of pancakes and asked nervously before shoving a fork full of pancake into his mouth, “Can you tell me any of the specifics of what the mission is about?”

Ahmad thought for a moment and decided not to obfuscate the description of the mission to Barak any further. He wanted to judge his reaction. He leaned forward and spoke quietly to Barak, watching his eyes and facial muscles carefully.

“I assume you heard what happened over in Germany earlier this week?” asked Ahmad.

Barak looked a little befuddled at first as he chewed on the pancakes, but then Ahmad could see Barak’s eyes and facial expression catching up to his mind’s recollection of recent global news events. The change in facial appearance morphed from one of initial confusion to eventual horror. The change was subtle, but Ahmad had caught it. Barak was no longer chewing his food.

“You mean we’re going to do the same here in Dallas?” questioned Barak with his mouth half full, more beads of sweat now noticeably forming on his forehead.

Ahmad gave a slight nod of his head. “Yes, that is exactly what we are going to do. Do you have any problem with it?”

Barak remained silent for a moment, just staring back at Ahmad, still not having resumed chewing on his bite of pancakes. “No. no, I have no problem with it,” he said abruptly half choking on his food, his eyes and facial expressions, however, contradicting his words.

Unreliable and a risk to the mission, concluded Ahmad to himself as he looked into the panicked eyes of Barak. But he would fake it for now.

“Excellent. I am glad to hear that Barak. “My goal is for us to complete our mission as soon as possible. After we finish eating we will take my vehicle and immediately proceed to one of the Dallas Water Utility Stations. Then tonight, we will return to the station and execute our mission. Again, do you have any more questions?”

“No, that sounds fine,” mumbled Barak in-between bites of his food, the uneasiness in his voice crystal clear to Ahmad.

The two ate silently for the rest of the meal. Then Ahmad paid the waitress and left her a big tip. Ahmad led the way out of the diner with Barak following like a puppy on a leash. Once they were out of the diner Ahmad led Barak to the Cobalt.

“Here’s my vehicle,” said Ahmad, “Get in on the other side.”

Barak looked questioningly over at his rental car. “What about my car?” he asked.

“We’ll pick it up later,” responded Ahmad. “Just get in and let’s get going,” the angry commanding tone not missed by Barak.

The two slid into the Cobalt’s front seats and Ahmad started the ignition. Five minutes later, they were headed north on a Dallas city street in the direction of the city’s largest water utility station.

It was noon when Ahmad pulled the Cobalt into a strip mall across the street from the Dallas North-West end water utility station. The station was actually comprised of several buildings situated on a large piece of land that abutted the southern edge of Lake Lewisville. The entire complex was enclosed with an eight foot high perimeter chain link fence, topped with three rows of barbed wire. The water treatment facility was bordered by a sidewalk on the front of it that paralleled the road, Lake Lewisville itself on the opposite side, and large open grass sports fields on either side of it.

Ahmad looked through his binoculars at the facility, checking off in his mind the various buildings as he remembered them relative to the facility plans that Aref had shown him.

He glassed the water station for nearly five minutes, never saying a word, before he finally removed the binoculars from his eyes and put them on the center console.

“Alright Barak, let’s take a little walk.”

Barak looked over at him nervously. “What are we going to do?”

“We can’t go in through the front gate, so we’re going to need to find a weakness in the perimeter fence. An up and close stroll around the station will hopefully reveal our path of entry for this evening.”

“Won’t we look obvious?” Barak asked questioningly.

Ahmad turned his head to look directly at Barak threateningly. “Not unless you make it so.”

“We are simply going to take a stroll in the park. We will first pay a visit to the grass sports field area on the left. We’ll then make our way down to the water’s edge and then work our way back toward the road. Once we get to the road, we’ll walk on the sidewalk in front of the facility just simply chatting to each other. When we get to the field on the right side of the facility, we will walk down to the water’s edge again, near the perimeter fence, and then along the lake shoreline for a stretch before we turn back towards the road.”

“Do you see any issue with that plan?” asked Ahmad condescendingly.

“No, that sounds fine,” said Barak.

“Good, now let’s get going.”

The two men got out of the Cobalt and followed Ahmad’s prescribed route. As they walked, Ahmad named the various purposes of the buildings inside the water utility station. In particular, he called out the coagulation and sedimentation buildings which are used to remove suspended particles in the raw lake water, the filtration building to screen out fine particles in the water, the disinfection building where Chlorine and other chemicals are added to kill off bacteria, and lastly, the storage tanks and pumping house where the water is pumped into the city’s water main and piping infrastructure.

As they slowly made their way around the facility Ahmad surreptitiously examined the chain link fence looking for any weaknesses in it, and ultimately for a way into the complex. He concluded that the only weak spots, if you could even call them that, were along the lake edge. The fence actually ran out into the water fifty meters before coming to an abrupt end. Hence, an entry via the water was the best approach. He would have no trouble swimming the fifty meters, and most likely the water was fairly shallow at that distance from the shoreline. He would, however, have to keep out of the view of any of the various security cameras that were placed strategically around the complex. Coming in from the water side would leave him more vulnerable to them. Like every other major U.S. city since 9/11, security at large metropolitan water treatment centers had been beefed up immensely.

Barak remained mostly silent during their walk around the facility. Other than occasionally acknowledging something Ahmad had said, he simply walked quietly by Ahmad’s side, not paying much attention to the water utility station complex. In one respect Ahmad appreciated his lack of interest as it helped in not bringing attention to them. On the other hand, it solidified his impression of the man.

It took them nearly an hour to complete the recon of the station. As they made their way back to the Cobalt, Ahmad was calculating in his mind a list of what he needed to do before coming back to the station at night fall. His list had three items on it. He only mentioned two of them to Barak as they returned to their vehicle.