hundred and fifty world leaders were in town for the UN General Assembly.
But NYPD Lieutenant Ted Stroud remained calm.
He’d faced nightmares before, he thought a few short hours after the press conference when he’d arrived at the FBI’s New York headquarters at Twenty-six Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan where he showed his ID at the FBI security window.
Riding the elevator up to the case-status meeting, he glanced at the photo he’d tucked in with his own: U.S. marine corporal Kirby Stroud in his dress blues. Killed in Iraq in 2007 at age twenty-five and buried in Arlington.
He blinked at it for several floors.
Kirby was his son.
Yes, Stroud thought, drawing inspiration from the picture, he’d faced nightmares in his life and he was still standing.
He closed his wallet, stepped off at the twenty-eighth floor and headed to the boardroom. It was a large one with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Already, some thirty people had taken their seats around the cherrywood conference table.
Stroud knew most of the players with the NYPD, the FBI, the Secret Service, Homeland, Port Authority, State Police, ATF, Customs and the TSA. He nodded to them, settled into his seat and reviewed his files when Ken Forsyth, FBI supervisory agent with the NYPD-FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, entered.
It was determined that because the case was deemed to be related to terrorism, the JTTF, with the support of all other involved agencies, would control the investigation.
“Let’s get started.” Forsyth began the meeting with introductions of those at the table and those on the line in Washington, D.C., and other locations. “We believe we have discovered the threads of a plot,” Forsyth said.
“First, I’ll state the obvious-absolutely no information on this case is to be released without authorization.” Forsyth’s eyes went around the table. He knew many investigators had cozy relationships with members of the press. “Everything said in this room and subsequent case-status meetings is classified. If certain facts were passed to the public they’d give rise to alarm, create panic, weaken our case, which could thwart us from saving lives. We must maintain the integrity of the investigation. Is that understood?”
Throats cleared but no one spoke as Forsyth continued.
“Interest in this case is intensifying minute by minute,” he said. “The White House has just informed this office that the State Department has received a number of ‘inquiries of concern’ from several foreign governments. At this stage no major events will be canceled.”
Forsyth moved on with an update. The detonator had been flown to the FBI lab in Quantico where it would undergo further analysis.
“In relation to the detonator, the FBI is pursing the information passed to us by the NYPD concerning Hans Beck, the subject who made contact with Jeff Griffin over the mixed-up luggage. We’ve determined through passport tracking that in the past seventy-two hours, a Hans Beck of Munich, Germany, flew from Paris, France, to Montreal, Canada, to LaGuardia. We suspect the passport was forged using the identity of a Hans Beck, a civil servant in Hamburg, Germany, who’d reported the theft of his passport and wallet four months ago from a hotel in Vienna, Austria. We’ll continue working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Interpol on the subject. I’ll move on to you first, Adam.”
Concern was written on the face of Adam James, a senior agent with the Secret Service, the agency in charge of security for all world leaders attending the United Nations General Assembly. James had already made extensive notes, punctuated with cross-checks with his own files.
“The detonator is key,” James said. “We’re damned lucky that Jeff Griffin did not hand it over to the suspects. Second, it was an excellent catch by the people at the NYPD lab.”
James removed his glasses before he continued.
“This is obvious, but the discovery raises so many red flags. That someone is plotting an attack, that they are either here or on their way. And if we’ve caught this one, how many are out there that we haven’t caught? We’ve got one hundred and sixty-two world leaders in town. Most of them are in the crosshairs at home. Any one of them could be a target here.”
James replaced his glasses and returned to his notes.
“Thanks, Adam,” Forsyth said. “We’re working with other national security agencies, examining all intelligence and all known groups for any links to the case. We’ll share a key-points summary as soon as possible.”
Forsyth said the task force was running down leads on international elements of the investigation.
“We are also following up on all credible tips that have come since the press conference ended,” Forsyth said, then checked off other areas, before going around the table.
The ATF was working on the arson homicides with the fire department’s Bureau of Fire Investigation, the NYPD’s Arson Explosion Squad. They each gave brief reports before Forsyth came to Stroud, whose team played a leading role.
“We’re looking for connections,” Forsyth said, “connecting evidence to the suspects to give us the full picture. Ted will give us the foundation as to how all of this surfaced with the abductions.”
Although Adam James came close, Stroud was relieved that there was no armchair quarterbacking, or criticism on their handling of Jeff Griffin, the contact with the suspects and the chase. Too much was at stake.
Since September 11, 2001, there had been more than a dozen plots by extremist groups to kill New Yorkers. Everyone knew the challenges and the risks. Unlike TV shows, movies and books, nothing in a real investigation was simple or uncomplicated with all loose ends coming together nicely. No, it never, ever worked that way in the real world.
For the benefit of all investigators, Stroud quickly outlined the chronology of the Griffin abductions and homicides, contact, the chase, the airport bag mix-up and discovery of the microdetonator.
“Bear with me,” he said. “I’ll explain how this is connected to the major ongoing undercover investigation by my task force, which was formed primarily with the D.A.’s Organized Crime and Rackets Bureau, the NYPD Auto Crime Division and the Insurance Frauds Bureau.
“Well over a year ago, through confidential informants and intel from the insurance industry, we’d learned about a highly sophisticated, international criminal enterprise. Suspects would steal cars in all five boroughs and neighboring states. In some cases, they worked with legitimate car owners who agreed to have their car stolen, so they could make an insurance claim. In most cases, the cars were new.
“We’ve made no arrests so far, as our work is ongoing, but this is what we suspect happens-once a vehicle is stolen, the suspects wash its title clean by checking the vehicle identification number of a similar make. Then they create fake documents from out of state to create a new VIN plate and stickers, then reregister the vehicle out of state to sell them offshore, shipping them from various U.S. ports to Africa, Central America, the Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe.
“The white 2010 GMC Terrain used to abduct Sarah and Cole Griffin, and which was subsequently the site of two arson homicides, was registered to Donald and Sheri Dalfini of the Bronx. Their reported theft of the SUV was red-flagged and a target of our task force because Donald Dalfini had a history of suspected fraudulent claims. Sheri Dalfini is cooperating with our investigation and acknowledged her husband, who has just been identified as the second homicide victim, did intend to defraud the insurance company by having it stolen by Omarr Aimes, the first victim.
“Our intel indicates Aimes was associated with the criminal networks stealing the vehicles and that tentacles of those networks are connected to Middle Eastern and Eastern European organized-crime groups.”
A silence went around the table.
“Some of these crime groups,” Stroud said, “are known to supply resources to terrorist organizations.”
“Ted,” James said, “is it possible that a terrorist group used the Dalfini’s stolen SUV to go after the Griffins for the detonator?”
“That’s possible,” Stroud said.
“Then they could have hired, or forced, Omarr Aimes and Dalfini into helping with the abduction, then murdered them to cover their tracks?” James said.
“That’s one theory,” Forsyth said.
“But to be so bold with a daylight abduction?” A Port Authority investigator was doubtful. “Then a chase.
