A week later:
Lee had been itching to call the FBI offices concerning the material that had been confiscated from the sting, but he sat on his hands reluctantly until their lead agent Aaron Matthews called so they could have a meeting. Lee, Amanda, and Francine were to meet with him in her office. Eager to hear the findings, Lee paced as they waited for him to arrive. When he did they all sat down together and went over the abundant findings. There had actually been a lot of information about the travel plans of two of the cells. The contacts in the airlines were identified as well as the passport security officers who were part of the plot. They had not found any connection to TSA agents in the
airports. However Matthews suggested that they would be willing to work with the Agency's team in vetting the TSA agents and those in the inner workings of the higher level positions of Homeland Security.
Amanda was relieved that they could discontinue the laborious tracking of the various airports and move on to background checks of the TSA agents and Homeland Security officials. When Agent Matthews was leaving Lee pulled him aside to ask about the investigation on the bombing at Philip's restaurant.
"I don't know anything about that. But I will find out who is the lead and I will text you with their name."
Lee nodded and thanked him as they shook hands goodbye.
A few hours later Lee got the promised text with the FBI agent's name. He called without delay and his call was answered promptly.
"Agent Sinclair."
"Hello Agent Sinclair, this is Lee Stetson from the Agency calling. I was given your name for the investigation regarding the explosion at The Capitol Steps restaurant."
"Good Afternoon, Agent Stetson. Why would you be interested in that? Don't you have more pressing matters at The Agency?" Sinclair sounded a bit disdainful.
"I'm calling because I am asking for a courtesy personal request." Lee tried not to sound irritated because of the man's attitude. "My
stepson Philip King owns the restaurant and I wanted to know if you would fax over your report about it. I would like to know more about the makeup of the bomb and whether your team was able to link it to any of the terrorist threats we have been working on."
"Yeah, I'll send over the report. However, we found inconclusive evidence that any foreign groups were involved. The traces of explosives and the makings of it all could have been bought here. The fact that the location was suspicious gives us reason to believe it could be linked, but then again it could be home grown terrorism. You still want me to fax it over?" the agent questioned.
"Yes, I would still like you to do that."
"Ok, you got it."
Lee gave him the fax number and the machine started sputtering out the report ten minutes later. Scarecrow sat down at his desk to scour the report. As he read through the FBI findings..or rather their lack at finding any conclusive evidence he swore and threw down the record.
Late March:
The two men walked down the dark alley and into the abandoned factory. Neither spoke as they used their flashlights to blink the agreed-upon code. Another flashlight blinked back and out of the darkness, their other accomplices emerged. "As-Salaam-Alaikum -Peace Be Unto You" they greeted each other. The two waited for the man to speak more since he was the head of their cell. Jaza talked to the men about the other cell that had been captured. "Somehow the government security teams have been very diligent in finding the other two cells. To be successful we need to be more careful and patient and not make any mistakes as the others did. We can't afford to be careless. I think it would be wise to not wait till the Nato generals' meeting in late May. That is when they are expecting the attack. Rachid has been able to maintain a relationship with the woman who is the aid to General Ray Odierno and I have been seeing the woman who is the aid to General Welsh. Ahmed, have you been able to acquire some explosives for the drones?" asked Jaza.
"Yes, my contacts have been very helpful, my brother. We will be able to settle the agreement for payment this week."
"Good! We are on target for our mission, and you, Jundi, what about you?"
The young man looked nervous and took some time to collect his thoughts.
"I have not been successful in forming a relationship with anyone at the Pentagon," Jundi whispered.
"That is most unfortunate! Why not!? Have you not attended some of the embassy parties like I suggested?" Jaza demanded.
"Yes Sir...but I find it distasteful to mingle with these people."
Jaza looked at the man angrily and grabbed his neck. "Do you think I like associating with that Stetson infidel!? Then we will have to concentrate on using her and the other woman for the attack." He let go of Jundi as he gasped for breath. "It will not be as big as we had hoped because of the arrests of the other cell groups, but we can still make an impression and cause some damage to their security and hopefully kill some of their military leaders. I think we can use some of the drones we have to make strategic bomb drops on the perimeter of the Pentagon to distract security, and Rachid and I can slip on through with the two women. Jundi and Ali, do you think you can recruit two more of our sympathizers to help with the drones?" asked Jaza.
The men nodded.
"Good. We will plan the beginning of May. We will meet back here in three weeks to finalize plans."