I stood in the empty waiting room, watching the clock on the wall. It had been over an hour since Kate was wheeled into surgery, and I was beginning to think that this might be a good sign. How long does it take to bleed to death? Not very long. How long does it take to repair a severed artery? Maybe two hours.
My phone rang, and I saw that it was the cell phone of Captain Vince Paresi.
I answered, "Corey."
"John, how is she?"
"Still in surgery."
"Mother of God… I can't believe this. How are you doing?"
"Okay."
He said, "I've been working the phones since I heard from Janet." He assured me, "We're gonna get this scumbag, John."
I allowed myself a small smile at the familiar NYPD profanity. Paresi and I had some issues, but we came from the same mean streets, and we knew a scumbag when we saw one.
Paresi got to the business at hand and said, "I listened to your report, and I spoke to Walsh a few times." He assured me, "I think Walsh and I are on the same page with this."
"That's good." Captain Paresi was in command of the NYPD detectives assigned to the Task Force, and he was my immediate supervisor, while Tom Walsh was Kate's boss and also the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the whole show. That said, I called the Special Agent in Charge "Tom," and I called Paresi "Captain."
Paresi continued, "Tom told me about Kate's cell phone and that some of our texts might have been read by Khalil."
"Right." I asked, "What did you send out?"
"Well… I text messaged every detective on the Task Force to report for duty and to immediately begin surveillance on the usual locations where Islamic radicals are known to meet and congregate, including mosques, hookah bars, social clubs, and so forth, with special emphasis on the Libyan community."
"Okay. And that only went to the detectives?"
"Right. So Khalil didn't see that on Kate's phone."
"Good. No use sharing everything with the suspect."
"Right." He continued, "We're waiting for the go-ahead to pull in the usual suspects for questioning, and we'll be contacting our sources inside the Muslim community."
Captain Paresi went through the standard response drill. I knew all this, of course, but Paresi wanted me to hear it from his mouth.
Terrorism aside, an FBI agent had been attacked, and she was married to a retired cop. That made a subtle difference in the police response. Sometimes not so subtle-as when some uncooperative people got lumped up.
Paresi asked me for some suggestions based on my past encounter with Asad Khalil, and he also asked me what the ATTF knew about Khalil and who he should speak to.
Well, he'd already spoken to Tom Walsh, who apparently had not been helpful or who didn't know too much himself. I had to think about what I could tell Paresi, and what was still classified or on a need-to-know basis.
The file on Khalil had never been closed, of course, and after he had disappeared three years ago, the then Special Agent in Charge of the Task Force, Jack Koenig, had formed a special team consisting of Kate, me, George Foster, and our only Arab-American on the Task Force, Gabriel Haytham, an NYPD detective. The purpose of this team was to follow every lead and tip that had to do with Asad Khalil. Koenig had given us the not very clever code name of Lion Hunters, and we were to report directly to him.
Well, Jack Koenig was dead, as was Captain Paresi's predecessor, David Stein, both killed in the collapse of the North Tower, and over the years the leads and tips from domestic sources and various foreign intelligence agencies and from INTERPOL had gone from a trickle to a dry hole. One theory was that Asad Khalil had met his end in some unknown and unpublicized way-perhaps as a jihadist fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere. We'd also sent word to Guantanamo to see if he'd washed up there, but he hadn't. Another theory suggested that Libyan Intelligence had terminated Khalil for some reason, possibly because he was more of a liability than an asset. My own theory was that Khalil was teaching a course in cultural diversity at Columbia University.
In any case, neither I nor Kate ever believed that Khalil's silence meant he was dead or retired. Unfortunately, we were right.
I said to Paresi, "Regarding what we know… the ATTF file on this guy is pretty thin, but you can access it when you get to your computer."
"That's what Walsh said."
"There is another computer file that contains a complete report on what happened three years ago. That file, however, is highly classified and on a need-to-know basis, and only Washington can give you access, and they probably won't."
"Right. Why should they share information with the people who are looking for this guy?"
In truth, there is more information sharing since 9/11, but old habits die hard, and when the CIA is involved, you're lucky if they tell you who you're supposed to be looking for, and anything you give to them gets stamped Top Secret and you can't get it back.
I informed Paresi, "Three years ago, Koenig and Stein assigned me, Kate, George Foster, and Gabe Haytham to stay with this case. No one ever cancelled that assignment, and we have a paper folder on Khalil, and Gabe can give it to you." I explained, "The last time Asad Khalil was here, he was working for Libyan Intelligence, and his contacts here were all Libyans. Our folder contains the names, addresses, photos, and particulars of Libyans living in the New York metro area who we've spoken to over the years. That's a good starting point for surveillance." I added, "As for invitations to come in for a talk, I don't think we want to tip off the Libyan community that we're looking for Asad Khalil." I suggested, "Let's hold off on that. We'll just watch them for now and also see if anyone comes to us."
"I'll run that by Walsh, and I'll ask Gabe for the folder." He said, "I assume Walsh has a copy of this folder."
I didn't reply, which means no.
Captain Paresi asked me a few more questions about what happened three years ago, and while I was answering, another thought popped into my head, which I should have had much earlier, but… well… I asked Paresi, "Has anyone called or heard from Gabe Haytham?"
"I don't know. Why do you ask?"
I replied, "The question is, Does Asad Khalil know of the existence of Gabriel Haytham, Arab-American, on the Anti-Terrorist Task Force? If so, Gabe may be targeted by Khalil, who would consider him to be a traitor."
"Yeah… that's a thought. Okay, I'll give Gabe a call."
I took the opportunity to say, "I'd like you to speak to Walsh about making me the case agent."
He seemed prepared for that and said, "I have to agree with Walsh that you may not be the best man for that job." He reminded me, "You're assigned to the case, and between us, you may be better off not being the case agent." He explained, "You'll have less bullshit to deal with and more freedom to… do your own thing. Understand?"
There was a logic to that, and a subtext. I said, "Okay. I understand."
"Good." Paresi changed the subject. "Do you think this asshole has any other mission here? I mean, is this all a personal revenge thing with him? Or is he here to blow up something? Spread anthrax? You know?"
That was a good question, and I replied, "I'm not sure. But my instinct tells me he's here for his own purpose, which is to clip the people who pissed him off three years ago." I added, "Plus maybe a few people we don't know about yet."
Captain Paresi had come from the NYPD Intelligence Unit, so he had some training and background in this world, and he said, "But even if he's not working for Libyan Intelligence this time, somebody has to be backing this guy-like Al Qaeda-and maybe his deal with his backers is that he gets money and resources to come here to settle some personal scores, and in exchange he's got to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge or something."
"That's a thought. What did Walsh think?"
"We didn't discuss theories. Basically, he just wants me to call out the troops and put these people under the eye."
"Right." I informed Paresi, "Khalil is a loner, but it's possible something will turn up. Like a dead body or two." I added, "He kills people who help him kill people."
"Yeah? That's not nice." He asked me, "What's his beef? I don't know how this started."
I replied, "It started on April 15, 1986, when Reagan sent a bunch of fighter-bombers to blow the shit out of Libya. Asad Khalil lost his whole family in that bombing."
"No shit?" He observed, "I guess he's still pissed off."
"Apparently." I advised him, "That's not public information." I explained, "It sort of gives Khalil justification for what he did three years ago-and we don't want to confuse the news media with questions of moral equivalencies."
"Right, whatever." He asked, "What exactly did he do three years ago? I mean, aside from killing his two escorts and three of our people on the ground?"
I asked Paresi, "Did Walsh mention Chip Wiggins?"
"No. Who's that?"
Apparently Walsh didn't want to share this information with his junior partner. And to be fair to Walsh, Asad Khalil's first visit to America was, as I said, mostly classified information, and the need-to-know about that visit was yet to be determined. Nevertheless, I said to Captain Paresi, "Wiggins was one of the F-111 pilots who bombed Tripoli. Khalil came here three years ago with a list of those pilots and he began murdering them."
"Jeez…"
"I can't say any more about that, Captain, but I can tell you that Kate and I and others stopped Khalil from killing Wiggins."
Captain Paresi thought about that, then said, "Okay, I get it." He asked, "Do we know where Wiggins is?"
"His last known address is Ventura, California."
"I'll bet Khalil knows where he is." Paresi concluded, "Wiggins is already dead."
"Probably."
"For sure. Khalil would take care of unfinished business first. Then… Kate." He asked, "Why not Kate and you?"
"He wanted me to see her die."
"Sicko."
"Very," I agreed.
"Well… maybe we can catch a break here. I mean, think about this-this guy Wiggins, if he's been clipped, was a soft target. He never saw it coming. Same with Kate. Now everybody is a hard target. Including you. Right? The next move that Khalil makes will be his last."
That sounded very optimistic, but I replied, "Hope so."
Paresi said, "Okay. I'm headed right now for the office. I'll call Gabe and have him meet me there and we'll look at your folder."
"Tell him to watch himself. Also, maybe his family wants to take a vacation. He's got a wife, and I think one daughter."
"All right…"
I said to him, "I'll get to the office as soon as I can."
"John, don't worry about it. Take care of Kate. We'll stay in touch. And call me if… Kate takes a turn for the worse."
That would be a very short turn. I said to him, "There is a chance she won't make it."
There was a short silence, then Paresi said, "She'll make it. She's in my prayers." He added, "She's tough."
We hung up, and I sat on one of the chairs in the waiting room.
Kate was on my mind, but I tried to think about Asad Khalil and get into his mind.
Asad Khalil was a showman-a show-off-and like a lot of psychopaths, he enjoyed taunting the authorities. And the authorities were happy to be taunted with phone calls and letters from the guy they were looking for. We call it clues.
Also, Khalil was on a mission of revenge, and revenge and hate distort your judgment and get you caught or killed. That almost happened to him the last time he was here. And I had no doubt that this time Asad Khalil would be captured or killed. But I didn't know how many people he'd murder before we got him, or if Kate or I would be alive to see this case closed.
I heard heavy footsteps in the tiled hallway… a man, walking by himself.
I put my hand in my gun pocket and watched the door.