Author's Note: These next few chapters aren't going to be very long but I'll make up for it when the flashback is over!
Two days ago, Jack Hudson had walked into the bullpen with a frown on his face. "Ok, people, listen up! We've got a new case, and it's going to be a doozy."
"What's up, mate?" Bobby asked, perched as usual on the corner of his desk. Myles was swiveling around in his chair and D was standing beside Jack. The women on the team, Sue, Tara and Lucy were grouped around Tara's desk.
"A suicide bomber just blew himself up at the Zoo. Witnesses said he looked Arabic and was bald. Apparently, he ritualistically shaved before blowing himself up. D, Sue and Bobby are headed over to the zoo with me to check out the crime scene. Tara, Myles, we've got witnesses in the hospital; I need you two to go start interviewing them. Lucy, you work the phones on this end." Jack stared at each of the members of the team, trying to get across the idea that all haste was needed on this case.
"We're on it." Tara said as she grabbed her coat and headed for the door, Myles right behind her.
Jack, Bobby, Sue and D left soon after and arrived at the crime scene about twenty minutes later. They ducked under the caution tape and approached the officer in charge.
"We're with the F.B.I. Can you tell us what happened here as you know it?" D asked politely.
The man, an older-looking gentleman in a black Sherriff's Office uniform, smiled and nodded to each of the agents in turn. "Why, yes. Let's see. I was the first one on the scene but by the time I got here, the bomber had already detonated. However, we do have several witnesses who were far enough away to survive-they saw the man but not clearly enough to give you a detailed description. They were injured and taken to the hospital; I told you guys that when I called."
"Right, we know. We've got agents there as we speak. Thank you. If you think of anything else, please let us know." Jack shook the man's hand and moved off, towards the cracked pavement where the bomber had stood when he exploded. The four agents set to work looking over the crime scene.
Meanwhile, Tara and Myles had reached the hospital and found the room of one of the less-injured witnesses. Tara knocked on the door and when she heard a "Come in!" entered the room, followed by Myles.
"Miss Watson?" Tara asked, consulting her notes.
The young woman lying in the bed had several bandages covering parts of her face. Her leg was propped above the bed in a sling and her arm was swaddled in bandages. "Yes?" she asked quietly, her mouth twisting in pain.
"We're with the FBI. We need to ask you a few questions." Myles said, flashing his badge. The young woman nodded.
"Can you tell us what you saw?" Tara asked gently.
The girl nodded and began to speak very haltingly. "I was at the zoo with my niece. She's four, loves penguins. We were just arriving when a man began to yell. It was a foreign language, one that I didn't recognize. The man was waving his arms and shouting at the top of his voice. I grabbed hold of Natalie's hand and just stood there. I didn't know what to do! I thought he was just a protestor or something. Then this woman runs up to me and grabs my arms! She looked like the man sort of, same facial color. She's crying and screams, 'Run! He's got a bomb!' I don't know how she knew, I guess she spoke whatever language he was speaking. But I knew from the panic in her voice that I had to get Natalie out of there. So I turned to run, swept Natalie up into my arms and started running. I hadn't gone farther than three feet when the bomb went off. I was thrown through the air…and…and…and I lost Natalie." the woman paused, tears streaming down her face. "I couldn't hold onto her! I tried, I really tried! And now they won't tell me what happened to her. Please, please find out what happened to her. She's like my daughter." the woman was positively weeping now, unable to control her emotions.
"We'll find out for you, Miss Watson. Don't worry. Now, can you tell us what this woman looked like? We need to see if we can find her, see if we can get her to tell us what she heard." Tara reached out to squeeze the woman's uninjured hand.
"My name…it's Maggie. Please call me Maggie. And I'll do one better than tell you what she looked like. I'll tell you where she is. She's two rooms down. I saw her being brought in. I probably wouldn't have recognized her except for her dark coloring. And I remembered she had a butterfly tattoo on her cheek. Please…catch those who did this. Get them." her eyes closed as she whispered the last sentence.
Myles led the way out of the room and down two rooms. Sure enough, a middle-age woman lay in a bed, appearing relatively unscathed, except for a sling on her right arm.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Myles asked, moving into the room, "FBI. We understand you were at the bombing that took place earlier this morning?"
She turned her head and looked at the wall, muttering, "I have nothing to say to you. I know nothing."
Myles moved around the bed to be looking her in the eye. "Ma'am, impeding a federal investigation is not a wise move. We'd really appreciate it if you would answer some questions. If you'd like, we can get a warrant. Then you will have to tell us what you know."
The woman jerked her head around, her eyes sorrowful but shooting bullets at her visitors. "I know nothing. I know nothing!!" she repeated, her voice heavily accented.
Tara stooped down to be on the level of the woman's hatred-filled eyes. "Please, ma'am. People died there; we need to capture those who did it before they can kill again. I'm begging you-please help us."
The woman stared at Tara for a long while then spoke slowly, "I…I heard what the man said. He was speaking Arabic, I speak Arabic. He said…he said that Islam was right and Americans were infidels. He said that the world needed to be purged of infidels and he would set the wheels in motion. I ran and didn't hear anything else."
"Can you give us a description?" Myles asked with slight sarcasm, which the woman appeared to not pick up on.
"I…I…I knew…I knew…" she started and stopped, started and stopped and then stopped. Tara leaned back down to look into her face.
"You knew…what?" she asked, though she had a sinking feeling she knew where this was going.
"I recognized him. I was, I was shocked. He is, he was…my husband." she began to cry quietly.
Myles looked shocked for a moment but quickly hid it, focusing on the task at hand. "Can you give us a name?"
"Hakim Samir. His name is Hakim Samir."
