Viral

“Early morning, they’re saying. Maybe 3 or 4 A.M. A capital policeman found him at about 4:45.”

Not long after I found Honi.

“It wasn’t self-inflicted,” he said again.

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Police I talked with said that nothing about it seems suspicious, though.”

“Meaning—?”

“Gunshot residue on the right hand. Indentation in the web of skin between the thumb and forefinger consistent with the gun’s kick-back. Muzzle and cylinder residue on his shirt and collar. Angle of the shot, location of the gun, all checked out. And, most significantly, no bruises or signs of a struggle anywhere on the body. It all seems pretty consistent with a suicide.”

“Or an expert at making it appear that way.”

He tilted his head to the side: maybe.

“How about the gun itself? Whose is it?”

“Not clear yet,” Church said. “But you can see how this is going to play out: Trent was severely distressed because of all these stories coming out on the Internet. Depressed, maybe. Worried that he was going to be the target of a lot more media scrutiny and attacks in the days and weeks to come. Tied to something that would make him seem like a pariah.”

“He was upset. But not suicidal. If anything, the opposite.”

Jon looked out the window toward the Mall, where he had found Trent sitting on a bench fifteen hours earlier. “What’s happening, Roger?” he finally said. “Is this all because of the story?”

“Don’t know.” Church reached for his coffee. Jon waited, knowing he was about to tell him something. Knowing he saw a larger picture than Jon did. “It’s the middle of the day in Saudi Arabia, Jon. I’ve done a little checking there.” He set the mug back on the desk, keeping his fingers on the handle. “Honi Gandera was reported as a missing person by his wife to Riyadh police six days ago.”

“Who brought him here? What happened?”

Church shook his head. “That’s all I know. The police aren’t releasing any of it to the media. Which is interesting.”

“Why?”

“Someone high up is blocking it. I don’t know.” He made a long exaggerated sighing sound. “Tell me what Tom Trent told you.”

“What he told me?”

“Last night.”

“He told me this story going around about him is a fabrication. An elaborate set-up.”

“Did he think anyone was going to try to kill him?”

“No.”

“If someone was trying to set him up, why would they then kill him?”

“Well, it makes it harder for him to refute anything.”

Church nodded. “That it does.” Jon imagined what was coming, how the stories would unfold. It was ingenious, just as Trent had said. The seeds of the next day’s headlines were already planted. And the day after that, on and on, for weeks. Episodic stories that would lead into one another. He knew how the media worked, how a good story could infect it like a virus. What had Trent said? How much would it cost to buy a news story?

Dominoes: Begin with a controversial, charismatic businessman. Founder of an African-based charity organization. The organization is accused of distributing an experimental, unapproved flu vaccine in Africa that may, in fact, have caused a deadly mutation. Next, it turns out the businessman may have once authored a paper urging the “makeover” of the Third World by means of “humane depopulation.”

Then, just as the revelations begin to surface, Trent commits suicide. Leaving the story to be molded any way people want to shape it.

Jon Mallory understood the caprices of journalism, and he knew how this story was probably going to supplant his. Knew that it was designed that way. It had to be. The story would steal headlines for days, probably weeks. Meaning it would be difficult for the real story to find an audience.

“Okay. Let’s assume it wasn’t self-inflicted,” Church said. “As far as we know, Trent hasn’t defended himself to anyone but you. I would imagine they had hoped to take him out before he talked with you. Which would make you a prime target now, too.”

“Yes.” Jon felt a pang of fear, then a rush of adrenaline. “Except they still expect me to lead them to my brother,” he said. “That’s what I think they want: my brother.” He looked at Church, took a deep breath. “He was married?”

“Pardon?”

“Honi.”

“Yes.”

“Children?”

“I think so. Two boys.”

Jon looked away, felt his eyes tear up. “Dammit!”

“Is this making any sense yet, Jon?”

“Not really. That kind of mutilation—I don’t know. The psychology behind it. It almost seems like something organized crime would do.”

“Yes. Exactly what I’ve been thinking, actually,” Church said, surprising him. “There’s a terrorism group, Jon, called Al Khamsa. ‘The Five.’ Also known as the Hassan Network. At its core is a single family business. Three cousins, two brothers, named Hassan. They’ve grown beyond that into an international network. Sort of a terrorism-for-hire outfit. I’ve talked to people in the intelligence community who have seen their work first- hand.”

The Hassan Network. Yes, Jon Mallory had heard the name, although he didn’t know much about them.

“They supposedly have two signature methods of killing,” Church went on. “One has been called ‘extreme psychological terrorism.’ They have one operative in particular who does this, one of the cousins. He kills in a way that is specifically tailored to leave permanent psychological scars on people close to the victims. He makes sure that they discover, or see, the crime scene.” Church rubbed two fingers on the handle of his coffee cup. “Or the body. It involves mutilation, usually, deliberately left for the victim’s loved ones to find. The idea is to leave behind something so horrific that they can never really get the image out of their heads and resume a normal life. I’ve talked with FBI investigators about it. It’s a powerful technique.”

Jon felt a quick wave of nausea. “That sounds like what happened with me.”

“Yes. It’s been done in some drug-related cases, too. And a few high-end murder-for-hires. Mehmet Hassan is the name of the assassin. He’s known by the nickname Il Macellaio.”

“The Butcher.”

“Yeah.”

“What about the other method?”

“The other signature method is to kill the victim in a way that resembles either suicide, an accident or natural causes. It can involve an auto accident, lying on train tracks, jumping from a building, self-inflicted gunshot.” Jon grimaced. “In some cases, they use poison properties that aren’t generally known, that aren’t easily detected in autopsies.”

“Who would have hired the Hassan Network, though?”

“That’s what we need to figure out.” Church opened his desk drawer, extracted a key, and pushed it toward Jon Mallory. “Listen. I don’t think you’ll want to stay at home for a while. Why don’t you go out to our condo on the Eastern Shore. Spend a night or two there and get your bearings. Clear your head. Then let’s put this story together and run with it.”

JON MALLORY WENT home and hastily packed a travel bag. It was eerie being in the house again,