him, but both Keshawn’s and Carl’s actions had begun to convince him that they could travel alone. That they could be trusted to accomplish the mission, with Farouk and the imam going with the other two men.
Keshawn rolled up the wire to the M57 and walked to Rafik, the faltering sunlight streaming through the garage windows becoming overshadowed by the flicker of the harsh fluorescent bulbs overhead.
“How many more men still need to train?”
Rafik considered lying, but told the truth. “None. We finished today.”
Keshawn’s face flashed surprise. “You’ve given the men their targets? Like you did me? And they have their explosives?”
“Yes.”
“So when do we strike?”
“If everyone makes it back home okay and goes to work tomorrow as a normal day, then perhaps tomorrow. If we have any issues with returning to work, we wait a day. The key is to conduct the attacks simultaneously. That is imperative.”
“Why are you so fired up about returning to work? We have the targets. Shit, in most cases, I’m hitting the same substations you had me sketch, so it’s not like I can’t find them. I can’t speak for the other teams or their companies, but in my case, BGE will have a GPS on my truck. Seems like a stupid risk.”
“After the first few attacks, the authorities will react. I cannot predict how, but they
“That’s bullshit. If they figure out what’s going on, it’ll be no effort at all to track us down. Shit, we’ll be helping them.”
“Keshawn, you have proven to be dedicated, but listen to me, please. If not because you trust me, then at least based on my experience. The chances of them penetrating our cell are much less than them extrapolating what we’re after. They can’t possibly protect every substation, but we might be unlucky enough to run into one that is protected after we start. Your truck will allow you to bypass.”
Keshawn said nothing. Rafik considered his next words, toying with confirming that he himself would be Keshawn’s partner, and that the attack would have to wait until Kamil arrived to be Carl’s partner. But he was afraid that the time delay would cause discovery of the Trojan horse virus that Keshawn and the others had embedded in the power company systems.
After obtaining the explosives, he’d ordered it activated, and now it was only a matter of time before it was found. Without it, they would fail, since the grid would be able to automatically detect fluctuations and reallocate power at the speed of a computer. The virus would take that out of the equation, leaving the process manually done, at the speed of a human trying to blindly assess how to staunch the bleeding.
He broached the subject gently. “I’m thinking of sending Carl by himself. Do you think he could do that? Without any guidance from my men?”
Keshawn considered for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah. He’s ready. With his military background, he won’t have any problems.”
“What about his commitment?”
“You mean because of what happened at A.P. Hill? I wouldn’t worry about that. He was in jail for robbing a liquor store. They only got him on the robbery, because of some sort of screwup with the prosecution, but he killed three people in cold blood in the getaway. He developed a sense of justice based on your own chaplain’s teachings, but it won’t interfere. He’ll do what needs to be done.”
Rafik nodded. “And what about you? Can you get it done as well?”
Keshawn stared at him, the implication sinking in. “I thought you were my partner on this. I’m going alone?”
“If you think you can. Tell me if that’s not the case.”
Keshawn grinned, the thought of doing something to justify Beth’s sacrifice hitting him at his core. “I can do it. In fact, I work better alone.”
“Go home and get a good night’s rest. If I’m contacted by all teams tonight, tomorrow will be a glorious day.”
Gazing out the window, thinking of Beth, Keshawn whispered, “Judgment Day.”
66
I awoke groggy, unsure what the ringing was, but sure of one thing: It was annoying the hell out of me. The clock told me it was six thirty in the morning. Way too early to be awake now that I was no longer in the military. I sat up in time to see Jennifer snatch my cell phone off of the table between our double beds.
“Yeah, yeah, he’s right here.”
She handed it to me with a quizzical look, saying, “Some woman named Holly.”
I grabbed the phone. “You got a hit? The prints ended up being the imam?”
“No, Pike, they didn’t, which is why I’m calling to wake you up to share some of the pain. The prints came up in AFIS database in New York as belonging to an ex-con. Thanks for keeping me up all night.”
“Well… why did he spike as a Muslim?”
“No idea. Probably because the roommate’s crazy. The ex-con’s been out on parole for three years. He was in for gang violence. Accessory to murder for a couple of thugs that deserved to die anyway. He’s a black guy, not Arabic. Did his time in Attica and has apparently done okay, because his rap sheet’s clean since his release. Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t we have some terrorists in prison up at Attica? Why does that jail ring a bell with me?”
“Yeah, we’ve got some terrorists up there all right, but the Christian kind. It’s where that asshole Cyrus Mace is being held. The guy who allegedly masterminded the theft of C-4 at A.P. Hill.”
I bolted upright.
“Holly, I need you to stay there. I’m on my way.”
“Pike, screw that. I’ve wasted enough time on your wild goose chases. I’m going home and going to bed. It’ll be hard enough explaining my absence today without telling everyone I was freelancing for you.”
“Holly, please. Give me an hour. One hour. After that, you can go. I’ll buy you a case of that local brew you like so much. The expensive shit.”
I heard nothing for a moment, then, “One hour. And it’s starting right fucking now.”
I hung up and immediately dialed Retro at his hotel, waking him up as well.
“HELLO.”
He was definitely annoyed. He was supposed to be on downtime after the deployment, and itching to get back home to his family in North Carolina, only waiting on final debriefings and other paperwork before he was released.
“It’s Pike. I need a favor.”
“Shit. What now? It’s not even seven in the damn morning.”
“I need to get into the Force headquarters again. Right now.”
Fifty-eight minutes later, I was sitting inside the secret cell with everyone but Jennifer oozing venom. Retro had to pull in Buckshot to get me access, and neither was very happy at the loss of rack time. For her part, Holly was packing her bags, getting ready to leave.
“Holly, come on. Ten more minutes. We can’t talk to anyone at the prison until eight. You leave now, and the whole thing is wasted. I need your undercover-brother cop connections.”
“An hour’s an hour. Sorry. I’m out of here.”
