Recollection Rick
Chapter 34
From a small charter boat indistinguishable from many other charter boats, Hamed al-Ruqai monitors signals sent by satellite phone from a ship 13 nautical miles out to sea, just beyond the U.S. territorial zone. The captain of the Glenah reports the receipt of material al-Ruqai suggested. It is concealed within a cargo hold loaded with precious stones and pharmaceuticals. No one would question the posting of sentries to safeguard the official shipments.
The unofficial shipment contains no radioactive elements. They'd be too easy to detect by either a nearby vessel or a satellite sweep. PETN, one of the world's most powerful explosives, will power the bomb. The pharmaceuticals that surround the deadly payload are an almost perfect camouflage, even for a chemical sniffer. PETN, like nitroglycerin, is also used as a drug to treat angina. If al-Ruqai is willing to risk the slight possibility of detection by a too-thinly stretched inspection corps, it could come into port with the rest of the load, with no one the wiser. However, al-Ruqai leaves little to chance. A smaller craft bearing the PETN will meet with al-Ruqai's vessel in waters heavily populated by fishing charters. Even if they were inclined to do so, the authorities would have neither the time nor the personnel to search every boat. And al-Ruqai will have plenty of warning if they try.
"What's your schedule for today?" Rick asks, passing two plates with vegetable-laden scrambled eggs and turkey bacon across the counter to Alexis and Dana.
Alexis enthusiastically fills her fork. "I have classes at Marlowe at the regular time, and then I'll be meeting Dana at Hudson."
Dana unsuccessfully attempts to snap off a portion of his low-fat breakfast meat before using a knife to detach a piece. "I have a class and a seminar. Then Alexis and I are collaborating on a project for Professor Gilly. Actually, Alexis will have to take the lead for at least the first part of it. We're collecting samples of hair and the shampoos that they use from enough students to do a statistically significant study. We're looking for additives like Vitamin E that persist in the hair shaft to see if we can identify the hair by socioeconomic level. Our objective is to determine whether more expensive shampoos leave more markers in the hair or whether it's the same across price levels. We hypothesize that cheaper shampoos, while having many identical ingredients, also have more water, producing a lighter footprint overall. If we can quantify that, it would be a step toward narrowing a suspect pool."
Kate approaches the counter holding out her right hand. Rick immediately fills it with a tumbler of juice. "Anything that can narrow a list of suspects could be helpful. Are you surveying female students or both genders?"
"Definitely both," Alexis confirms. "I'll be canvassing in the co-ed dorms. It will be even more interesting if the boys and girls share products. We'll be able to look for gender-based differences in absorption."
"After the recent failures and scandals of hair analysis, it is vital to develop objective data," Dana adds. "If our project works out, by the time Alexis becomes a criminalist, the techniques we develop may be standard operating procedure."
"All that canvassing and analysis should keep you busy," Rick speculates.
"It will," Dana confirms.
"But I won't let myself get behind in my reading again," Alexis promises.
"You'll have a full plate. Full plates are good," Rick murmurs as much for himself as for the teens. "Anyone want more bacon?"
Alexis takes a healthy bite of a strip from her plate. "That would be great, Dad. Thanks."
Kate can't miss the shadows under Fallon's eyes when she meets him in the conference room off the bullpen. "Did you get any sleep?"
"Not really," he admits, "but it was worth it. Husayn's phone was purchased by Hamed al-Ruqai."
"The name al-Ruqai sounds familiar," Kate muses.
Fallon pushes out of his chair, leaning on the table. "It should. We got Hamed's brother for blowing up an Embassy. He took the lives of 20 of our people. It looks like Hamed wants to make it a family business."
"Any progress on how he plans to do it?" Kate asks.
"Coast Guard Intelligence intercepted chatter about a load of a potent explosive coming in by boat, but they don't know which boat or which explosive. So far, nothing useful on surveillance, but I've requested manifests of expected shipments. They should be arriving in the next few hours. But in the meantime, I want to question Husayn again."
Kate shoves an uncooperative strand of hair behind her ear. "You really think he knows anything he hasn't told us?"
Fallon sinks back into his seat. "I think we can't afford to leave any chips on the table. You might as well join me." He quirks a smile. "At least you're awake."
The rattling of metal fills Interrogation as Husayn tugs on his chains. "I told you I don't know anything else."
Kate smacks her folder on the table. "Fine, we'll go over what you do know again. You received calls on the cellphone Hamed gave you."
"I never met a Hamed or anyone else," Husayn claims. "The phone was dropped at my door in an envelope. I just answered it and returned calls."
"All right, you answered and returned calls," Kate continues. "Besides questions about the museum, what else did you hear on those calls?"
Husayn's chair scrapes loudly against the floor. "What do you mean what else?"
"Anything," Kate replies. "Street noises. Someone else talking in the background, maybe about something arriving."
"I don't see what difference it will make, but someone talked about getting medicine. Maybe he had a headache. But that's all I heard."
Kate opens her folder. "Then let's go over everything again."
"Husayn's back in his cell," Kate reports, rejoining Fallon in the conference room. "The only new thing we got out of him was the bit about the medicine. You think it means anything?"
Fallon cradles his face in his hands for a moment. "I don't know. Sometimes these guys talk about western beliefs as a sickness that must be wiped out. That could have been it. But Husayn could also have been right about someone just having a headache. I wish we'd get something from the Coast Guard or even the C.I.A. – or anyone. Right now, it feels like we're just sitting on our asses waiting for something to blow up."
"If that's all we're doing, I'm going to check in at home," Kate decides. "Sometimes, my husband comes up with weird spins on things like talking about medicine. I want to bring it up with him."
"Your husband does seem to make some interesting connections. And he already knows about the murder. You can bring up the medicine thing. Just don't tell him anything else."
"Fine," Kate agrees.
"So, an unknown person involved with something terrible was heard on the phone saying something about medicine," Rick recaps.
"That's it," Kate confirms.
"This something terrible wouldn't have anything to do with something going boom, would it?" Rick asks.
"No comment," Kate replies.
"I'll take that as a yes. Coincidentally, I've gleaned from my recent studies that something going boom often involves a nitro group, like say, in trinitrotoluene, otherwise known as TNT. That is unless we're talking about something nuclear. But from the steadiness in your tone, I'll assume we're not. Right. So, nitro groups don't just make things blow up. They're also in a lot of pharmaceuticals. Rick sings, "Incredible nitroglycerine, big booms out or blood flows in."
Kate swallows a laugh. "Really, Babe?"
"Memorization method courtesy of Dana. But really Kate," Rick reiterates, "some explosives are used as heart medicines. You find the right shipment of pills, and you could find your boom."
