The Other Path Chapter 94
As hungry Miv is thoroughly latched on to Kate, Rick reads from the online update of The Ledger. "' The loss of life could have been worse. Many of the city offices in the Dinkins Building were almost empty over the weekend. Still, there was a devastating collapse of the building and the adjacent subway station. Rescue teams are still searching the rubble.
"'A bomber, taking credit for the destruction, emailed a manifesto to The Ledger moments before the explosion. Law enforcement is studying the text before it clears its release to the public. Local and federal agencies are also withholding details about the explosion until they complete their identification of any factors that could lead to the bomber's identity.' Have you heard anything more than that from the department, Kate?"
"Only that the bomb squad thinks the bomber knew exactly what he was doing. I didn't get the details, but from what I heard, some parts of the building have a deeper foundation and support weight better than others. The bomb was situated at a location that would cause maximum damage."
Rick holds up a picture on his screen of the half-collapsed structure. "That jibes with this."
"But what I'm wondering," Kate considers, "is why the bomber didn't set off the explosion when there were more people in the building. Usually, terrorists aim to take out as many victims as possible."
"Maybe the people weren't the primary target," Rick proposes.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the building itself, named after the city's first black mayor. Without seeing the manifesto, I can only speculate, but perhaps bringing down the building was a symbol of bringing down the city's black community. And the bomber wanted to kill as few whites as possible in the process."
"So you think the bomber's a white supremacist?" Kate asks.
"From my research, white supremacists are responsible for about 67% of terrorist attacks in this country, so it's not much of a stretch. Hmm, I wonder."
"What are you doing?"
"Checking the ethnicity statistics of the employees who'd be in that building, especially on weekends. There's a chart in a PDF, but it's murder to read on the phone. I'll be right back."
"So, what did you find?" Kate asks when Rick returns a few minutes later.
"The numbers are pretty spread out, Kate. But if I wanted to spare as many white people as possible while taking down that building, I'd do what the bomber did. This wasn't some psychotic bigot driving his van into a group of protestors. This was a hate crime on a massive scale. And if this guy gets away with it, who knows what could be next?"
"But the bomber sent his manifesto to The Ledger by email, right?" Kate questions. "Tech from the NYPD, the FBI, the DHS, or someone should be able to trace it and find this guy."
A smile flickers on Rick's lips as he gazes at his now sleeping daughter. "Fingers crossed. Let me put her down."
Rick holds the warm bundle close as he takes the few steps to her bassinet.
Agent Fallon glares at the agent standing in front of his desk. "What the f**k do you mean the techs couldn't trace the email?"
"They traced the email, Sir," Agent Merrill explains, "but not the person who sent it. It was sent from a Z-mail account and we got the IP address of the computer. But the information given to set up the email account was bogus. And the computer the email was sent from isn't online. The bomber could have destroyed it."
Fallon springs from his seat. "So we've got nothing!"
"We've got a team analyzing the explosive residue and another team analyzing the linguistic structure of the manifesto. We should get something out of that," Merrill replies.
"Analyzing the linguistic structure?" Fallon echoes. "I read it. The bomber's a goddamned Nazi."
"Yes, Sir," Merrill agrees, "but apparently better educated than the average members of supremacist groups or militias. The team is trying to break it down to reading level and geographic area."
"I'm more interested in where the sonofabitch is at this moment." Fallon sinks slowly back into his chair. "The word goes out now. I want everyone that's part of our task force, NYPD, FBI, pulling in every member of any group that could be remotely connected to this guy. Lean on them until something pops. Someone's got to know who he is and where to find him. And I'm going to oversee the operation to make sure."
"Yes, Sir."
Grabbing a rare opportunity during the day to close her eyes for a few moments, Kate is tempted to ignore the buzzing of her cellphone. But on checking the caller ID, she thumbs accept. "Detective Medina, what's going on?"
"I'm really sorry to bother you, Detective Beckett. I hope I didn't wake the baby."
"You didn't. My husband took her along to walk the dog."
"That's good. Listen, something came up in an interrogation and I don't know how to handle it. I was hoping you could help."
"What happened?"
"We've been dealing with some of the questioning of the bomber's possible contacts. And I was interviewing a guy who's barely a person of interest. I mean, he fits the profile for a right-wing group member. He has the tattoos and everything. But he was visiting his grandmother in Kentucky when the bomb went off. Still, this DHS agent was here. I've seen cops go over the line. You know that. You taught me to pull them back. But the DHS agent pulled a gun. He had the guy on the floor begging for his life. I wanted to tell Captain Gates, but she's meeting with the Deputy Chief at 1PP."
"Let me guess," Kate responds. "The DHS agent was Mark Fallon."
"That's right. How did you know?"
"I've seen that behavior from him before when the city was threatened. The details of the case were never released, but the city was about a second from disaster. We could have found the suspects sooner, but Fallon was a hard-headed asshole. Ryan checked on him. He lost his wife on 9-11 and hasn't been right since. Roy Montgomery, the captain that Gates replaced, filed a report on Fallon, but all DHS cared about was a closed case. When Captain Gates gets back, tell her exactly what happened. I don't believe she's familiar with Fallon, but she can call me for details of his previous activities. In the meantime, is Fallon still at the 12th?"
"No, he went to sit in on something at the 23rd. But he's supposed to be back."
"Hopefully, Gates will be back first and she can intervene. But if not, call me."
"You're on leave."
"Does Fallon know that?'
"I don't think so."
"Then until Gates shows up, I can fill in to kick some DHS ass."
"Thanks, Detective. I appreciate it."
"No problem. My husband and I almost died because of Fallon. So did a lot of the rest of this city. He should have been taken off active duty long ago or at least put into therapy. Maybe this time Fallon and the city can get the help they need. Hang in there, Layla."
"Yes, Detective."
"I'm on leave. Call me Kate – just not in front of Fallon."
A/N As requested, the Welsh name of which Miv is a diminutive is Myfanwy.
