The four walked through the gates and were met immediately by Commander Goode.
"This way," Is all he said. He led them to what looked like a conference room that the forensics teams had set up as a makeshift lab. He pointed to a very charred piece of black leather with something engraved on the outside. Upon closer inspection they saw that it was the remains of a book. Picking up a pair of tongs, Commander Goode opened the cover and revealed a melted detonator. Mac's eyebrows rose.
"Where did you find this?" She said almost breathlessly.
Harm regarded her with confusion at the shock in her voice.
"We found it lodged into the back of one of the seats in the upper section. We've examined it enough to know that it was aboard the Hornet. It must have flown out during the explosion."
Harm nodded, the turned to Mac. "What's going on?" He asked quietly.
"Look at the front cover."
He motioned to Goode, who carefully placed the leather cover over the detonator switch. On upper left corner, where the book seemed to be soaked through in a substance, was the name "Fahd" etched in the leather. Harm's jaw clenched.
"That book is a copy of the Koran."
"You're sure?" Harm asked.
"I'm sure," Mac replied. Then turned to Bud. "Does this support your theory about the cause of the explosion?"
"Partly Ma'am. I was actually going to look for a remote detonator in the stadium, but this would work just as well."
Harm looked at Goode. "Do you know what kind of device this was used on?"
"Not for sure, but I can give you an educated guess." He took a deep breath. "This type of device is normally hooked into the electrical system of a vehicle. Many times it will be hooked to the ignition switch of a car, and when the occupant turns the key, it will cause a cascading type of failure. First in the more minor systems, then graduating to the major systems, the sparks from these failures will ignite the fuel tank, and then 'goodnight Irene'."
"If someone could adapt a device like that to work on a Hornet, it would go up in a matter of seconds," Harriet added.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"How would someone sneak in a device like that?" Harm asked. "Lt. Ashworth said nothing was out of the ordinary when he checked it over minutes before she took off."
Bud stepped up, and motioned to Goode to open up the book once more. "Sir, all she would need to do is to cut a simple wire and splice it to the device. It could be a simple system, but one that would be integral into all the systems of the plane, like…"
"…the communication system." They all supplied together.
Goode nodded his head in agreement. "That would work."
"What's this fluid?" Harriet asked, pointing to the section of the book that was soaked through with bluish substance.
Goode looked them all in the eye. "That's a form of fire retardant."
Mac's chest seized up. "He wanted us to find out he was behind this."
Harm turned to her, and despite their uniforms, put his arm around her shoulders. "You killed him Mac."
"I know, but it had to be someone close to him. He had many…followers."
He nodded and gave her a squeeze.
Mac took a deep breath and plunged on. "This is probably the closest we're going to get to knowing the truth of how it happened. Now we just need to find out why."
She turned to Harm. Before she could say it, he nodded. "I'll go back and talk to Michaels."
She gave him a brief smile. "I'll take Logan again."
Mac turned to Bud and Harriet. "I'd like you both to go back to the research. Anything you can find on Sadik Fahd's minions. Try to track their movements. Obviously at least one of them got to Alexandra Williams. If you need higher clearance let me know, and I'll see what I can do."
They both nodded. Mac turned to Goode. "Is there anything else you need to show us?"
He shook his head. "No, but I'll keep you informed."
She nodded to him and they all made their way out of the stadium.
TBC…