ENJOY.
Emma didn't know what to call it. She wasn't experienced enough to call it her spy sense. She wasn't really a spy. She was just someone who analyzed data. And, as of today, interviewed or interrogated her first person. But something deep in her stomach rattled.
Gnawed at her.
Like hunger.
But a dark, foreboding haunting.
A haunting that tingled through her entire body.
She looked at the girl in front of her. Amira's face was still recovering from crying, red cheeks highlighted by wet eyelashes. Amira shifted in her chair, twisting her back in discomfort, and Emma would have suggested a break.
Except she could tell from Isabelle's tone as she spoke that something was wrong.
The haunting.
And Isabelle's voice came over the earpiece. Quiet, but insistent. Short. Pointed. Coaching. "Em, you need to make sure she realizes how serious of a situation this is."
All Emma wanted to do was talk to Isabelle. Ask her exactly what she was supposed to do to maneuver the conversation to where she needed it. Ask what was happening that she didn't know.
Instead, Emma changed her tone. Instead of soft and comforting, she channeled someone she knew could do the pointed question without being threatening. She'd heard it enough while her mother tried to ask questions without stepping on Emma's toes.
"Amira." Emma said, waiting until Amira met her gaze. She took a breath, keeping her face from softening. And Emma said, "I know this is hard for you. But I need you to try and remember." She resisted drawing out her sentence. And let a bit of honesty creep through. "I'm afraid that Milad is planning to hurt other people, and I know you don't want that."
Amira nodded, again adjusting in her chair.
And as Isabelle's words came through her earpiece, realization and fear shot through Emma's spine.
"Ask her if anyone ever mentioned uranium."
If she wasn't in an interrogation room, Emma would've buried her head in her hands. She would've started shaking, thinking about the ramifications of what the question suggested. She would've started calculating the horrible things that might be happening. Or the possibilities.
She wasn't a skilled interrogator. So perhaps a split second of fear shot across her face. But Amira's eyes narrowed as she focused on Emma.
And Emma asked, "Do you remember ever hearing the word alyuranium?"
As a fifteen-year-old captive, Emma wouldn't have known the seriousness behind the word.
But.
Amira's face tightened.
And no words came.
But a nod. And then another.
And Emma's heart sank.
"FUCK." Isabelle took out one of the earpieces, removing the microphone to Emma. She refused to go into panic mode. Instead. She took charge. Like she was supposed to.
And she told the Deputy Director, "Gather the rest of the NSC in the Situation Room."
Then she reached down and picked up her desk phone, calling the direct line to Becker. Without acknowledging his greeting, she quickly said, "Shaaban. It's Shaaban."
"The asset?"
Balancing her desk phone between her ear and her shoulder, Isabelle pulled the files into her briefcase, still holding her cell phone with the feed to the interrogation room in Baghdad. "Confirmed Shaaban's presence at the compound. And, Gordon," She stood straight up, exhaling the breath she hadn't let out since hearing the word, "She gave confirmation of conversations about uranium."
She could hear him start to move as well, and the tension in his voice was palpable even over the phone. "It wasn't just casual conver…"
Isabelle could still see the seriousness on Amira's face. "No. She knew it was deadly."
"Fuck." He said.
"I've called the NSC to the Situation Room." She said, walking towards the door. "Pull all your information on Shaaban. Any places… any…"
"On it."
And Isabelle dropped the phone when the cord extended to its limit, running out of the office before the phone hit the ground.
When Isabelle didn't say anything after dropping the "uranium" word, Emma decided she needed to keep searching for information until further instructed.
She flew through the points in her mind. The questions.
Where? Where was the uranium coming from? Where was Amira when she'd heard the word? Where was the target?
Who? Who had been talking about it? Who was there when it was mentioned or planned? And who was involved with the uranium?
When? When was the conversation? When was the attack?
But she couldn't just shoot those at Amira.
The girl in front of her knew it was serious, and knew that this was important.
So Emma said, "I need you to tell me anything you remember about talk about alyuranium."
"Ok." Amira said, her hands shaking. The girl's eyes closed, like she was trying to transport herself back in time. "I remember them talking…."
Now Isabelle's voice came back. "Who?" Short. Insistent. Borderline panicked.
And, trying to keep panic and urgency separated in her question, Emma interrupted, "Who was talking, Amira?"
"Shaaban and Milad." Amira clarified, adjusting in her chair before returning to her thought, "Shaaban and Milad were talking about plans…" Emma could see Amira trying to remember. "… plans to kill Americans."
"Where?"
Emma interpreted Isabelle's question, "To kill them where?"
Amira shook her head, "They didn't say."
"What did they say about it?" Emma asked, proud of herself when Isabelle started asking the same question in her ear.
"Um… they were talking about how American soldiers would feel their wrath."
Emma forced her mind to stay in the room. Not to start analyzing what that could mean.
"Ask her how many?"
"Did they say anything about how many American soldiers would die?"
Over her earpiece, she heard Isabelle say, "No. How many bombs?"
But Amira was already answering the other one. "They just said it would make people pay attention."
Emma asked the question, "Did they say multiple bombs or just one?"
Amira sat there for a second, her eyes still closed. Her forehead wrinkled, and she shook her head, "I… I don't remember."
She could hear Isabelle's breathless voice, like she was on a run or something. "Redirect."
Emma knew that one and cleared her throat. "So Shaaban and Milad were talking, saying that they were going to kill many American soldiers with a bomb containing uranium, right?"
Amira nodded, sat for a second, and then added, "And, I remember them saying that they would have more people at a second location to help with it."
Emma didn't need to hear Isabelle's next question.
She just asked it. "Second location to bomb?"
"No." Amira answered, "Like when they were leaving me there, they were going somewhere else." Amira moved in her seat again, and then apologized, "I'm sorry I don't remember more."
Emma shook her head, "You're doing great." Then she went back to the issue, "Where is that second location?"
"I don't know."
"You have to get her to remember that, Em." Isabelle said.
Emma put her hands in her lap, not wanting Amira to see how Emma's hands were shaking. And she mustered a calm she didn't think she possessed anymore. "When you were with Milad or Shaaban, did you stay at the compound all the time?"
Amira shook her head, "I remember we went a few different places, after coming from Syria."
"Was there any place that you remember?"
Amira sat there, thinking. "It wasn't really something they told us, and we weren't…"
"Focus her, Em."
"Amira." Emma said, pulling Amira away from her spiral, "Do you remember anything about the different places? Like noises? Cities? Markets?" That was how Emma remembered different places that she'd been held.
Realization hit Amira, "Yes." Then her words came quickly. "One place, you could hear the airplanes at all times of the night and day."
"Good, good." Emma encouraged. "What else?"
She could hear Isabelle talking to someone else, "Airport. Airstrip."
"Well… it wasn't a big place." Amira said. "We were underground. And we couldn't go outside. At all until we left."
Emma smiled, trying to keep Amira thinking. "That's really good, Amira."
"Any other important details?" Isabelle asked.
Emma pushed a bit, "I need to know if you saw anything different than normal? Different people? Abnormal equipment? Anything like that?" She knew she was fishing, but anything right now would help. She hoped.
"A lot of metal." Amira said. "Crates. They had to pry them open."
"Did you see what was in…"
"No. They took us away before I could see."
Then, from her own experience, Emma thought to ask, "Do you remember where you went after you were underground?"
Deep in thought, Amira sat there, adjusted in her chair, turning side to side to stretch her back, wincing in pain just a bit.
"I know you want a break." Emma said, "But we need this information to help stop anything else from…"
Amira shook her head, "No, I want to help." Then she sat still in her chair and said, "I think we went back to the compound. But I don't know what direction. It was night."
Isabelle heard the break they'd gotten. Cause they both asked the same question at the same time.
"How long of a trip was it from the bunker area to the compound?"
Amira's face scrunched in thought, and she adjusted in her chair again before she said, "Four hours? Maybe five?"
Emma heard Isabelle take a deep breath. And say, "We've got a break."
