Chapter 2

Acting on orders from the earlier Agency meeting, federal agents Jennifer "JJ" Stetson and her partner Scott Desmond had a source to check on.

Scott was the adopted son of Francine Desmond. She had decided long ago that marriage was not going to be a priority for her and that she "was not cut out for domestic life." However Francine had decided she was ready "for a child just not a husband-or a baby." At that time she had discussed this idea with JJ's mother Amanda explaining that she had no desire to be pregnant and have her body stretched in all directions. Nor did she care to change diapers or have midnight feedings. Amanda had suggested she get a puppy instead. That recommendation was not well received. Thus when Francine adopted Scott, she had in her words an"instant family." When Scott came to live with his mother at three and half she enrolled him in the IFF children's center, which of course was the Agency's cover name. Amanda had helped to found it when she had her two children. She had convinced the Agency heads that being family friendly was a good thing and that happy parents make excellent agents and employees. Of course the teachers were all aware of the cover, and it helped that they had excellent security for the center which was across the street from the Agency.

Scott and the Stetson's two girls JJ and Mattie grew up together at the center and at each other's homes. JJ and Scott had both become field agents and had dated off and on in school and eventually became a couple. JJ had become an agent after taking some law enforcement classes in college. She had wanted to enter the agency training program right out of high school which would have made her the youngest agent in the history of the Agency. However her mother insisted she go at least two years to college. Her father was proud that she had the ability and determination to be accepted for agency training so young. It was the only time she had really seen her mother get so angry at her father that she didn't speak to him for two days and had made him sleep in the guest room! In the end, her mother won, mainly by appealing to JJ's sense of logic. Amanda's reasoning was that as a woman she should always have as much education and as many skills as she could acquire. All she asked was that JJ give it two years. If she decided not to get her degree then her mother would support her fully in going into the agency training program. It was a compromise JJ could live with, and her father finally just shrugged his shoulders and said "Happy Wife, Happy Life!"

Jennifer was a mix of both her parents in looks. She was tall for a woman at six feet and she had her father's soft brown hair and chocolate brown, doe-like eyes of her mother. Her body was athletic and toned but still feminine in appearance. JJ usually wore her shoulder length hair in a ponytail which usually swayed side to side quite quickly because she never moved slowly. She inherited her father's famous dimples and temperament as well as both her parents' stubborn natures.

Scott on the other hand had decided to get a degree in political science. His original plan had been to work the government in a job such as diplomatic relations, but the pull of the Agency and his mother's convincing had been too great and he decided to join the family business, so he was an agent for less time than JJ. Of course he looked nothing like his mother. He had black hair, blue eyes and was just a little bit taller than JJ. He had a quieter demeanor and tended to be more introspective. He usually was more calculating whereas JJ was more impulsive which helped in their work partnership. They balanced each other out.

After the Agency meeting took place, JJ and Scott made some calls and found that one of Scott's contacts might have some useful information. They made arrangements to meet Ahmed at Arlington Cemetery. As they drove there they discussed possibilities of where these cells could be living or working.

"I think they could be in plain sight. I mean what better way to be able to plan things. They could be working normal jobs," JJ hypothesized as they drove through the DC traffic in her red classic Mustang.

"That's a possibility, babe, like where?"

"You know, like construction workers, taxi drivers, maybe even government workers!"A motorcade pulled in front of them so JJ pulled the car off to the side to let them pass.

"Government workers?! I think that's unlikely," Scott said.

"We can't rule anything out. We have to think like they do! My mom has always taught me to think outside the box."

"My mom has always said 'Never give the enemy the upper hand, be one step ahead of them." Scott added.

" And my Papa always told me to act on your gut instinct and be decisive and not let your guard down." JJ signaled and pulled the car out as the motorcade had finally passed.

Scott nodded. His partner and girlfriend was always ready for any situation; she was a natural for this type of work. After all, her father was the acclaimed Scarecrow. She loved any type of competition or challenge. Even though they had no idea when they were young of their parents' real jobs, Scott remembered while growing up that JJ would beg her father to take her to the shooting range every day. Uncle Lee would just laugh and promise her that she could go when she was ten. In preschool, JJ would always want to play hide and seek with Scott and the other children so she could pretend she was chasing bad guys. The intelligence business was in her blood.

As they arrived at the cemetery they looked for their contact near the Iwo Jima memorial. They would know to look for a man wearing an Orioles tee shirt and hat. They saw Ahmed reading the statue's sign.

"Do you want some popcorn?" Scott asked Ahmed. This was the agreed upon code they would use to make sure everything was safe and could talk freely.

"Yes, I don't have a lot of time, so what I heard is that there is a plan but these cells are working independently. They each have a plan but will strike at different times."

"Why aren't they working together?" Scott asked.

"Because the word is they don't trust the other cells. There are various differences in tactics as well as they are afraid of leaks," their contact replied.

"That can be to our advantage then," JJ said.

"They are not very smart. If they worked together they could accomplish more," Scott added.

"Yes but there are lots of egos and no one can agree even inside their own cells." Ahmed shook his head.

"Have you heard where they are meeting?" Scott pulled out a notepad.

"There is talk about a middle eastern restaurant and an old abandoned hotel in Georgetown."

"Oh that narrows it down," JJ said sarcastically. "Is that all you have?" She prodded.

"They keep moving around so those places could be obsolete" said Ahmed.

"Got any names for us to go by?" Scott asked.

"Just one: Omar." Ahmed's eyes kept focused on the distance making sure there weren't any unexpected visitors.

"Oh great!" groaned JJ. "Might as well be named John!"

When they got back to the agency, JJ started to do a search of middle eastern restaurants in DC and the surrounding areas. Scott started pinpointing where there were abandoned hotels. They decided to go check out some of the restaurants.

After striking out with the first two restaurants, the third one proved to be promising. After questioning the manager and one of the waitresses who were very cooperative, they got some leads on some new customers who had started to frequent the restaurant in the last two months. Neither knew the three men's names. JJ showed them pictures of some known terrorists but none were recognized.

"Ok-we are going to be watching the restaurant, so if one of them comes in you can give us a call. Scott handed each one a card with their phone numbers."

February 12

JJ and Scott arranged to do surveillance on the restaurant with some other agents, Prescott and Gould. After watching around the clock for three days, the new customers came in together. During their stakeout they were able to take some pictures of the men. When their suspects left the restaurant, JJ and Scott followed them to an Arab market. All three went in the back entrance while the two agents followed them with their guns drawn. JJ and Scott could hear voices down the hall talking in Arabic. Their voices were pretty lively in their discussion and JJ was able to understand key words such as guns, kill, generals and attack. Scott was much more fluent in the language and was able to understand the gist of the conversation. The men were talking about following the Chiefs of Staff's cars and setting a trap to attack them when the cars were isolated on the road. Their guns and weapons were hidden and they needed to go get them out of the cellar of the market. From what they could see there were two men in their forties and another appeared to be younger, perhaps in his twenties. They then proceeded to have a meal together. Scott texted for some back up to come, and he was informed to wait outside for another team to join them in ten minutes. They crept quietly outside to wait. Soon two cars with agents pulled up. Quietly Scott told them what they had heard. Some of the agents went around to the front and JJ and Scott stayed by the back. JJ gave her signal from "Grasshopper" (her code name) on their phones when everyone was in place to enter the building. The men were taken by surprise as the agents stormed into the room. The men reached for their weapons but they were too late. JJ did a karate kick to one man which knocked the gun out of his hand and then landed another kick which knocked him out. The other two men decided it was better to try and escape separately, one out the front and the other out the back. Scott ran after the man who went out the back and JJ followed. The suspect ran down an alley that had another way around it. JJ ran to head him off at the other end, but when she rounded the corner she saw Scott in the entrance fighting with the guy. Scott had lost his gun and was trying to get the weapon out of the suspect's hand. JJ decided to wound the man and shot him in the leg. Surprised, he dropped his gun and fell to the ground from the pain of his wound.

Scott grabbed the gun.

"Thanks Hon. Glad you didn't kill him. We might be able to get some info from him."

JJ nodded. "We'll see."

She took handcuffs out of her back jeans pocket and put them on the wounded prisoner as Scott held his hands behind his back. When they arrived back at the market with their disabled prisoner limping, the other agents had the other two in custody. The market's employees were very surprised by all the commotion and had tried to run away but all three were subdued by the other agents. Soon more agents arrived and searched the basement for weapons. A stash was found of grenades, Uzi type guns, and materials for bombs. Also a laptop was confiscated.

At a meeting the next day Francine and Lee briefed the agents about the intel that was found on the hard drive. Lee started first with some of the findings.

"We are still gleaning the information from the laptop, but the employees of the market were not a part of the terrorist cell; however they were sympathetic to their cause. We learned there is indeed a plan with three groups working together to attack the Joint Chiefs and the the computer there is a list of hiding places where some of the other weapons are stored. We have copied the hard drive for the FBI and CIA to analyze as well. But the other two groups have probably heard of the arrests, so they could have already moved their weapons and meeting places. The other cells may be going deeper underground. Also, there are names of the members of one of the cell groups. One of JJ and Scott's sources had good information- he had given the name of Omar as one of the members and he was the one who JJ shot in the leg yesterday. One cell has refused to share names of their group members and as a result will be harder to trace. I have heard from some of you, and it seems you have some good leads from your sources. Keep digging and touch bases with your people several times a week. Since this isn't the only agency working on this we have the ability to smoke these scums out. I'll turn it over to Francine now."

"Thanks Scarecrow. Good work JJ and Scott! One down two to go! There are two other groups still out there. None of the people we have in custody are talking. I'm confident like Lee that they will be found, but we need to keep the pressure on and not slack off."

JJ was relieved that progress had been made to expose the terrorist cells. She was also proud that it was Scott and herself that had been the ones to find the one cell group. It was important to her that these people were caught; not just because they were a national threat but it was also personal. Her sister Mattie Stetson was an aide to the Joint Chief of the Air Force, General Welsh.