An adventure in the FBI

Chapter 3: Some terrorists to catch

It was 3 o'clock in the morning when a phone call woke up Lucy, Tara, Vanessa and Levi who warned Sue of the call. Before answering the phone, Lucy saw Jack's name on the TTY.

'' Why am I not surprised?'' she said to herself as she took the phone. '' Yes, Jack? '', She said with a sleepy voice.

'' You and Sue have to come to the bullpen because a terrorist attack has happened in the airport about 20 minutes ago. I'll call Tara and Vanessa'', said Jack on the phone

'' You don't have to, they're here and we are on our way '', said Lucy to Jack as she relayed the message to the other girls.

'' Perfect... '', said Jack and he hung up.

Lucy stared at the 3 sleepy girls.

'' We have work to do, no more time for sleep '', said Lucy

'' It's normal when you work for the authorities '', said Vanessa while she was preparing herself.

'' You get used to it when you work for the FBI, right Levi? '', said Sue and Levi barked for his answer.

'' We should go because we can't leave the guys to do the work by themselves '', said Tara.

Three hours later, everyone was at the Ronald Reagan Washington national airport where a bomb had exploded at 2h50 in the morning. It appeared to be a suicide-bombing. After they had interviewed witnesses who weren't injured, D. joined his team to hand out further instructions.

'' Now, we need to know what the terrorists will do next. Jack and Vanessa, you go to the hospital and interrogate the injured witnesses. Vanessa, try to find similar terrorist's actions from your RMCP databases, we should know what the connection is between your last case and this one. Tara, you will do your magic on your computer at the bullpen with Sue. Myles, Bobby and I will stay here. Any questions? '', said D.

'' No '', said the others.

'' Let's get going '', said D.

After two hours of interviews at the hospital, Vanessa and Jack walked in the bullpen. They found Tara, Sue and Lucy at Tara's desk staring at the computer.

Any news?' asked Jack, as he waved for Sue's attention, signing the question again.

'' Nothing from what we already know and we can't say for sure if we are dealing with the same terrorists as in Toronto. '', said Tara.

'' As we have learned earlier with the witnesses, we can say there is a connection, maybe not a big one, but some things are similar'', said Jack.

'' Yes because my team and I, back at the RCMP arrested a 'Shadid' before he could detonate himself at the Toronto airport, unlike the one this night. Also, the witnesses of tonight's explosion, said that the Shadid tried to take some people with him, mostly Caucasian women and children. Tonight's bomber had a ticket for New York it seemed. Airport Authorities wanted to arrest him because he behaved suspiciously prior to getting on his flight. But just before he was about to be apprehend, he detonated himself to avoid capture. It has been the same with the bust we've made in Toronto, with the exception that Hassam -the Toronto terrorist- was arrested. But his behavior and destination were the same", said Vanessa.

'' With those new facts, Vanessa you will stay here with Tara and try to find out about their future plans. I'm going back to the airport with Sue '', said Jack.

When Sue and Jack had left the bullpen, Lucy said, about Sue and Jack:

'' That was so predictable. ''

'' Yes, we know '', said Tara and Vanessa

After many fruitless hours of investigating, Vanessa tried a different approach in examining the facts they had gathered so far. Out loud she recited the details for Tara, hoping she would filter out any discrepancies, and notice things she overlooked.

'' Two weeks ago, we arrested Hassam at the Toronto Pearson international airport after two months of investigation '', said Vanessa.

'' What was his full name? '', asked Tara.

'' Adef Hassam and as far as we know, he's not relative with the terrorist of today, Elhami Bitar, but they probably used fake names '', continued Vanessa.

'' I think you might be correct about this Bitar, but what about Hassam? Didn't you question him back in Canada? Was Hassam his real name? '', asked Tara.

'' Yes, Hassam was his real name, that is for sure. And after many tentative hours of interrogation, we finally learned there was another terrorist, El-Masri, but we never got enough information and we never found him. ''

'' I'll do a little research on him. ''

'' We wanted to be sure there weren't other people so we researched Hassam's computer files. Again, we didn't see the name of El-Masri but someone named Raman...Wait, you told me yesterday that the e-mail you got which explained the attack in Toronto was in an mail-inbox from a man named Raman. ''

'' Yes, that's true. ''

'' Why didn't I think about it earlier!? '', said Vanessa as she was going to her laptop with something in her mind. When she finally found what she was looking for she said what she had in her mind. '' Hassam had a job in a maintenance company for big bureau buildings. There is also a subsidiary of this company here in DC...''

'' And Raman is the owner '', finished Tara

'' Yes and...Oh no. ''

'' What? ''

'' My coworkers in Toronto have send me an e-mail. They discovered that Hassam was the one who send an e-mail to Raman before he got into jail. ''

'' This is our connection.''

'' Yes, but we still need to know what their plans are. ''

'' Wait, I found something on Bitar's cell phone. ''

'' What is it? ''

'' One week ago, he had an interview to be hired for the Clean building company. ''

'' The company owned by Raman. ''

'' Yes, and yesterday, he was at the airport for his training. ''

So, that's how they work: they pretend to clean the place, but are in fact observing the places they want to attack. If we can find the next assignment of the company or it's employees, we might discover the next target."

'' But there are too many employees, they can be all involved in terrorism. ''

'' Yes, I know. I know the places in Toronto they wanted to attack, so maybe there is something similar regarding to those buildings that we can find in DC too. ''

'' I think you right. Raman just received an e-mail from his cousin. ''

'' And why does it make me right? ''

'' His cousin is named El-Masri, who also works for Raman's company, and he told him which places his team had to clean. In two hours, he will be at the Washington monument. ''

''A Landmark building. Like the CN tower in Toronto. ''

'' And tomorrow, the Library of Congress and the United States Capitol. ''

'' They want to make it bigger than in Toronto. ''

'' I'll call Jack. ''

'' Sam 36, report. '', asked Tara to Jack who was with Bobby, Myles, D and Vanessa in the first floor of the Washington monument in plain clothes. Tara and Sue were in the van.

'' Clear for now. ''

'' Vanessa, I saw someone who can be our suspect in your camera '', said Sue to Vanessa.

'' Yes, it's him'', answered Vanessa before she followed him.

'' Sam 36, follow Vanessa. Sam 31, go to the other side of the building. Sam 33 and 39, stay there '', said Tara.

'' Roger that '', said the three men.

Some minutes later, Vanessa was still following the man with Jack with Jack right behind her when they arrived at the top of the tower.

'' Vanessa, are you sure it's the suspect? '' asked Jack

'' Yes, I know it's Raman because...'' but she got interrupted by Jack who saw Raman pointing a gun at Vanessa.

'' Watch out! '' screamed Jack.

She just had the time to move a little so the gunshot hurt Vanessa and she fell. Jack raced towards her.

'' I need everyone up here, Vanessa has been shot. Tara, call an ambulance '', said Jack sounding hurried and he tried to see Raman, but he was already gone.

'' It was an ambush '', said Bobby the next morning, when everyone was in the bullpen after Vanessa got released of the hospital because she was only hurt on her shoulder.

'' Just for me'', said Vanessa.

'' It's true, he only aimed at Vanessa, and after that he was gone '', said Jack.

'' Maybe not, maybe he got taken by surprise '', said Sue.

'' I don't think so, I know it was Raman '', said Vanessa.

'' And you think Raman wouldn't want to detonate the bomb himself?'', said D.

'' Yes, because he's not a Shadid, he was there to shoot me '', said Vanessa.

'' Does he know you? '' asked Myles.

'' Yes, I arrested him in Toronto at the beginning of our investigation but he had another name, Riad. He went to jail for 2 weeks, but his lawyer was good and we didn't have enough proof at the time, so he got released and we never saw him. I didn't know Riad was Raman. ''

'' However, we need a team at the Library of Congress. Vanessa, you stay in the van with Sue and Tara because the terrorists know you '', said D.

'' They won't be there '', said Vanessa.

'' Why do you say that? '', said Bobby.

'' You said yourself it was an ambush and they sent us this e-mail so they could try to kill me. They think I'm dead or in a bad condition, so they don't need a second place to do that, they will proceed with their original plans, and let a suicide-bomber hit a crowded place", said Vanessa.

'' Where? '', asked Jack

'' There is a hockey game tonight. ''

'' Why hockey? '', asked Myles

'' After the CN tower, they wanted to attack the Air Canada center during a hockey game '', said Tara.

'' Yes it's true, and tonight it's the Washington Capitals against the Toronto Maple Leafs '', said Vanessa.

It was 7 PM. The hockey game was about to start in the Verizon center. The team didn't want to alarm the terrorists, so they didn't cancel the game. There was an FBI agent in every part of the center. They knew that the terrorists had keys and would be able to go everywhere, because Raman's company had a contract there. It meant that they had to watch each and every member of the various maintenance teams in the center.

'' The game will start in 2 minutes '', said Bobby.

'' They probably want to make their big move during the game '', said Myles.

'' Sam 36, did you just pass a door which leads to the ice rink? '', asked Vanessa.

'' Yes. ''

'' And the Canadian national anthem will start in 1 minute'', said Vanessa.

'' The door is open. ''

'' Sam 31 and 33, go with Sam 36 in there. '', commanded Tara.

When the 'O Canada' started, every FBI agent heard:

'' We got him. ''