Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter! I enjoyed writing that "final showdown." I see that the scene with Renee scared a lot of you for a few moments – sorry about that! :-)
Here's another chapter for you!
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Chapter 34
Through the ringing in her ears from the sudden silence in the room, Renee gradually became aware of the muffled sobs coming from the kitchen. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she pushed herself to her feet, gratefully accepting the steadying hand that Quinn offered. Once upright, she cautiously made her way into the kitchen.
Adam and Nadirah were still huddled together on the floor where Renee and Quinn had placed them, as though afraid to move. Adam's arms were wrapped tightly around his mother's neck and his face buried in her shoulder, his small body shaking with sobs.
A stifled cry escaped Nadirah's lips as she heard the approaching footsteps. She closed her eyes and turned away, shielding her son between her body and the wall.
"Easy," Renee said quickly. "It's me." As quickly as her aching body would allow, she crossed the room and lowered herself to the floor in front of the terrified, trembling mother and child. "Are you hurt?"
Nadirah shook her head no, glancing down at her son. "We are fine." Her voice trembled as she answered. "He is just very scared."
Renee gently petted Adam's shoulder. "Ma'lesh, habibi," she said soothingly. "It's okay, sweetheart. You're safe." The boy lifted his head, his cheeks flushed and tear-stained, as he choked back a sob.
Nadirah gripped the edge of the kitchen counter and slowly pulled herself upright. "My…. my husband," she said quietly. "Is he….?"
Renee hesitated, then shook her head. "I'm sorry."
Hastily, Quinn made a grab for Adam as Nadirah sagged, falling back against the counter. The boy cried out, his white-knuckled grip tightening around his mother's neck.
"Ma'lesh,"Renee soothed, nodding to Quinn as he drew his hand back. Fresh tears flowed down Adam's cheeks as he allowed the TAC agent to take him in his arms.
Quinn sank to the floor, wrapping his arms around Adam and pulling the boy against his chest. Both of them were oblivious to the awkward and uncomfortable barrier created by Quinn's bulky Kevlar vest as Adam sought comfort in the closest available pair of arms.
"I'm sorry," Renee whispered. "Nadirah, I am so sorry." She knelt in front of Nadirah as the woman clutched a fistful of her hijaband buried her face in the fabric, sobbing.
"I want to see him," Nadirah said haltingly after several moments.
Renee and Quinn exchanged glances. "I don't think…." Quinn began.
Nadirah clearly understood their unspoken message. She bit her lip. "Please."
Renee hesitated, then nodded. "Keep Adam here with you," she told Quinn. He nodded, and Renee gently took Nadirah's hand.
As they crossed the threshold into the living room, the blood drained from Nadirah's face. "Ya Allah,"she whispered in horror, staring at the scene that lay before her.
The sharp, acrid smell of gunpowder and the metallic, coppery scent of spilled blood hung heavily in the air.
Nadirah abruptly jerked her hand away from Renee and rushed from the room. Renee reached the bathroom doorway as the trembling woman fell to her knees on the tiled floor in front of the toilet and retched violently.
Both of them turned at the sound of footsteps in the hallway. As Jack appeared in the bathroom doorway, Nadirah weakly wiped her mouth and straightened her shoulders. "I'm all right," she managed, carefully pushing herself to her feet. Her legs refused to support her, however, and both Jack and Renee leaped to grab one of her arms as her knees buckled.
Slowly, matching their pace to Nadirah's as she took slow and halting steps, they led her to a chair in the kitchen.
"He was going to shoot me," she whispered dazedly, staring at the hands clenched in her lap. "My own husband pointed a gun at me." Fresh tears spilled down Nadirah's cheeks as she lifted her gaze to Renee's. "I knew Ziad and Malik. I loved Sami! I trusted all three of them! Why?" she whispered helplessly, the single word overflowing with anguish. "My husband was an honorable man! Why would he do this?"
Renee shook her head silently. There were no answers to her questions.
In the living room, William knelt on the floor next to a bright orange field medical bag. "That will hold until you get back to CTU and get to Medical," he said, indicating the tightly wrapped sterile gauze and adhesive tape encasing Eric Carson's right shoulder. "And the shot that I gave you should take the edge off the pain."
The younger agent carefully pushed himself upright, keeping his arm cradled against his chest. "Thanks."
William nodded. "Chloe, where are you with those files?" he asked as he collected the discarded paper wrappers and bloodstained gauze pads from the floor.
Chloe's reply crackled over the comms network a few moments later. "We're almost there. The decryption key only needs about three more minutes. You'll be able to see them as soon as it finishes."
"Copy that."
Renee glanced at Nadirah. "I need to…."
She immediately nodded, wiping her eyes. "Of course. Go do your work."
"Nadirah, why don't you come upstairs?" Quinn said quietly. "If you don't mind, I'm going to bring Adam up with us. He doesn't need to stay down here and see all this." Fresh tears welled in her eyes as she nodded, biting her lip.
Still carrying Adam in his arms, Quinn carefully detoured through the family room, shielding the boy from the bloody sight in the living room. Renee slid an arm around Nadirah's shoulder and led her towards the CTU agents standing at the foot of the stairs.
The five agents grimly made their way up the stairs towards the waiting computer in Assef's study, all afraid of what they would find.
At the top of the stairs, Quinn gently lowered Adam to the floor. Nadirah took her son's hand and led him towards his bedroom and the waiting toys.
As the team of agents stepped through the doorway into Assef's study, true to Chloe's word, the contents of the three password-protected folders on the terrorist leader's hard drive were ready and waiting on the screen.
William picked up the two Glock 9mm pistols that sat in the middle of the desk, deftly unloaded both of them, and sat the two full ammunition magazines alongside the now-harmless firearms.
With that accomplished, Renee moved the guns aside and turned her attention to the documents waiting on Assef's computer. The five agents exchanged glances as they grimly gathered around the computer. Renee pulled up the first open file and they began to read.
The three well-hidden and heavily encrypted folders were a treasure trove of terrifying information.
Zahir Assef had carefully and methodically listed the names of all of the men and women who had joined the ranks of mujahideen, warriors in Ansar Inshallah's jihad.
Along with the lists of names, there were hundreds of pages detailing the lengths that Assef had gone to to prepare his recruits for their missions.
The list of potential target cities included New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, and Orlando.
"Fundamentalist groups like Ansar Inshallah who despise our 'corrupt society' usually focus on three things: Schools for their corruption of children, stores for the commercialism, and the media for their propaganda. It looks like Ansar Inshallah came up with plans for how to strike at all three of those things," Renee said grimly.
Ansar Inshallah's sleeper agents had been instructed on the most devastating ways to attack a country's infrastructure. The attackers tasked with these missions had been trained in hand-to-hand combat and the use of weapons ranging from 9mm pistols to car bombs. There were maps of government buildings, military bases, airports, hospitals, grocery stores, shopping malls, movie theaters, and schools – all civilian targets, all designed to terrify the population, paralyze the economy, and bring a nation to its knees.
"My God," William whispered.
No one else spoke as they stared at the computer in stunned, horrified silence.
TBC...