visited my brother, who worked in the World Trade Center.”
Ali’s stomach clenched.
“You can probably guess what happened.” The smile disappeared and all the darkness that had been hidden behind it was suddenly revealed. “When they died, most of my emotions died with them. But a desire remained for revenge against their murderers and anyone like them.”
The man paused to give Ali time to think.
“Do you know how I know your name?” the man continued. “Your fellow prisoners told me. Like you, they did not answer any of my questions the first few times I asked them. After a fairly short time, they were only too glad to tell me anything I wanted to know.
“I have been given a list of things we want to know, and I will ask you these questions to elicit this information. But I am different from other interrogators. Other interrogators hope that pain will force the person they are interrogating to answer their questions. I hope you resist so I can keep torturing you. The longer you hold out, the longer I can inflict pain. I will enjoy making you scream, and I am expert at it, Ali. I have a lot of practice.”
Ali struggled to maintain his dignity. He wanted to beg and grovel. He wanted to do anything to avoid pain.
“There may be a chance for you, Ali,” the man said. “We have learned a few things that lead us to believe you may be different from the other members of your cell.”
Ali saw a glimmer of hope. The man nodded, and one of the guards wheeled a cart that held a television set with a DVR in front of Ali. The interrogator picked up a remote control.
“Someone you know, who cares about you, has something she wants to say. Listen carefully.”
The man pressed the PLAY button, and Ann O’Hearn appeared on the screen. Her hands were clasped in her lap, her shoulders were hunched forward, and she looked very nervous.
“Ali? I… I can’t believe you wanted to kill all those people. You seemed so nice. I can’t begin to understand why you would want to take your own life and hurt so many innocent people who have never done anything wrong to you. There were children at the game, Ali.”
Ann paused. Ali felt shame and hated himself for feeling shame. What he’d tried to do was just. The people in the stands were unbelievers, infidels, enemies of Islam.
Ann took a breath. “I know there is good in you, Ali. If there wasn’t, you wouldn’t have tried to warn me, to tell me to go home. I care about you, Ali, and you must care about me, because you tried to save my life. I’ve asked the FBI to help you like you tried to help me. I don’t want them to hurt you. Please, Ali, do what they ask. If you got to know the people who came to the game the way you got to know me, you wouldn’t have been able to go through with… with what you planned. I believe that deep down you are good. I…”
Ann looked away from the camera.
“Please do what they ask. I don’t want you to be hurt.”
The screen went blank. The man stood up.
“I’m going to give you time to think, Ali. I hope Miss O’Hearn is right about you. When I come back, I will ask you questions. If you answer them, it will go well for you. If you refuse to answer my questions, you will be stripped naked, and I will go to work. If that happens, you will suffer in ways you cannot imagine.”
The man left the room, and the guards faded into its corners, silent and out of sight. Ali was terrified. His village, the camp in Somalia, even the safe house where he had spent the past months seemed like dreams. These concrete walls were his reality. Terror was his new companion.
Ali was having trouble breathing and he was sweating. Hunger made it hard for him to think. The man’s family had died at the hands of al-Qaeda; his wife, his children, his brother. There would be no mercy, and he knew he would talk eventually. Even brave men broke at some point.
Ali thought about Ann. Why had he tried to save her? Would he have warned her if he truly believed in his mission? If he had died, there would have been no remorse, no guilt. He would have been with Allah in paradise. But he had not died, and he had to face the consequences of failure, and the consequences were captivity and unspeakable pain that would end only when he did what his captors asked. Why endure any pain when he was certain he would give in? Would Allah forgive his cowardice? Would he be barred from paradise if he gave the enemy what they wanted?
Ali felt tears form. He was weak, he was a coward. While he was in his cell, he had heard his companions scream. They had resisted. But for how long? The man said they had given him Ali’s name, he said they had answered all his questions. Had they held out to save face, knowing they would give their tormentors everything eventually? Had any not broken?
Ali didn’t want to be hurt. He did not want to be burned, to have his bones broken, and to be drowned over and over and over. When the man returned, Ali was sobbing. When he stopped crying he begged for mercy and agreed to answer every question.
Chapter Thirty-two
“My name is Alan,” the interrogator said as soon as Ali agreed to cooperate. Of course, Alan was not his real name, but that didn’t matter. He had given Ali a name so he would appear to be less threatening.
Alan ordered the guards to remove Ali’s restraints. He wasn’t worried about being attacked. He was very adept at self-defense, and the guards were younger and faster and even better than he was.
Moments after Ali’s restraints were removed, the door to the interrogation room opened and a cart with a meal composed of food and drink from the area where Ali had grown up was rolled in.
“If you’re wondering how we knew the location of your village, one of the other prisoners told us.”
Alan gave Ali this tidbit of information to make him unsure of what the FBI did and did not know. While Ali ate, Alan emphasized the importance of complete cooperation and the consequences to Ali if Alan discovered that he was lying.
When Ali was finished eating, Alan threw him some softballs. He asked Ali what it was like growing up in the mountains of Pakistan. Alan listened to Ali’s answers attentively. At first, Ali answered reluctantly. His shame at being broken was obvious, but it was easy to talk about the village and his family and his school. As he and Alan bonded, he began talking freely. Alan asked him how he was recruited. After that, it was an easy transition to a discussion about the camp, his trip to America, and the mission.
“Your friends told me that you were the only one trained to use explosives,” Alan said.
Ali looked wary, but he nodded.
“The people at the camp must have valued your intelligence.”
Ali blushed.
“I also understand that Steve took you along when he picked up the dynamite and the blasting caps.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me about that.”
Ali recounted the journey. Alan asked him to describe the van and the logo. He asked for a description of the men who had given Steve the explosives.
“Did they say how they got them?” Alan asked.
“They said something about a mine in West Virginia.”
“Did they tell you the name of the mine?”
“No. Steve asked where they got the dynamite, and Bob said it came from a coal mine in West Virginia.”
Alan smiled. “A coal mine. Thank you. Now, we’ve talked about Steve a lot, and you’ve given me a very good description. Did he ever mention his last name?”
“No, never. He never said anything about himself.”
“So you don’t know where he lives or works?”
“No,” Ali answered. Then he hesitated. Alan could see that he had remembered something useful that he was reluctant to give away.
“You know we’re going to give you a lie detector test so we can be certain that you’re being completely truthful. Don’t hold anything back, Ali. You’re doing very well, and I’ve come to like you. I do believe Ann O’Hearn. I
