All three men were silent for a bit then snapped out of it as Gregg piped up from across the area. “I got something.”
The three gathered near his desk while Gregg waited for the printer. He snatched out the copy and handed it to Jay. “Apparently, Bobby checked into and out of the Pearl Continental.”
“Wait…that big ugly hotel in Karachi?” Steve asked.
“Ugly on the outside, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts.” Jim smiled at him. “They have great service and—”
“Karachi, Pakistan?” Bobby snatched the paper from Jay’s hand and scanned it. “That doesn’t even look close to my signature.”
“Doesn’t matter. They’ll just say that you deliberately altered the way you write to throw off investigators,” Jay responded. “Of course, all of that will be after the fact and once you’ve been retired.”
“You mean made dead.” Bobby ground his teeth together. “I guess it’s safe to assume that whatever they plan to blow up is in Pakistan.”
Gregg nodded. “I’d bet money the target is in Karachi. They don’t have you renting a car, so…you either walked or took a haji taxi.”
Bobby fell into the closest chair and shook his head. “There’s nothing in Karachi.”
Gregg suddenly smiled. “Au contraire, wizened one.” He turned back to his keyboard and began typing.
“What’s he talking about?” Bobby asked, afraid to get his hopes up.
“There’s been a lot of activity there in the past few months.” Jim patted Bobby’s shoulder. “Most of it localized stuff. Nothing that really pops up on the international—”
“Got something.” Gregg turned his screen around. “Actually, of the top five biggest stories in the area, three are directly or indirectly tied to the same guy. Meet Muhammad al-Abadi. Syrian by birth. Shit stirrer by trade.”
Bobby turned and stared at the screen. “You think this is an assassination and not a bombing?”
“Couldn’t it be both?” Gregg shrugged. “When it comes to Karachi, this guy is the biggest news. Two of the reports deal with al-Abadi’s lieutenants and the other is directly tied to him.”
“What’s he done?” Jay asked.
“What hasn’t he done?” Gregg turned his screen back around and began typing again. “Human trafficking, drug exporter, arms trafficker, suspected ties to two…no, three terrorist groups.” Gregg snorted. “This guy could be a politician. He’s a ‘community organizer.’”
Deric nodded to Gregg. “Find everything you can on him and print it out. We need hard copies.”
“We can’t even be sure if this guy is the target,” Bobby mumbled.
Jay squeezed his shoulder. “What’s your gut tell you?”
Bobby shook his head. “I dunno. I’m still in shock at how quickly they’re dressing me up for the oven.”
Jay turned to Jim. “Prep the jet.” He caught everybody’s eye and nodded. “We need to be in Pakistan.”
Langley, VA
“SIR, FACIAL RECOGNITION verified a captured image in Dallas. It’s a 96% match for Bridger.” The tech handed Agent Chesterfield the printout and Darren stared at the fuzzy image.
“What is this he’s driving? A truck?”
The tech glanced at the image again and shook his head. “I think it’s an SUV, sir.”
“Great. A non-descript person in a non-descript vehicle. Do you have any idea how many SUVs are in the Dallas metroplex?”
The tech shrugged. “I’m guessing quite a few?”
Darren slammed the copy on his desk. “It’s fucking Texas. Everybody there either drives a pickup or an SUV.” He squeezed his eyes shut and tapped his fingers to his chin. Suddenly he popped up. “Stay on him. Hack every camera you have to, but get me a license plate number and prepare a BOLO for local law enforcement.”
When the tech shut the door to his office a voice came across his speaker phone. “Do you think it’s wise to tip our hand too early? I really think we should give him 24 hours after the incident.”
Darren sat down and stared at the speakerphone. “Colonel, I’m not new to this. I’ll definitely wait to send out his information on the wire.”
“But having office techs prepare the BOLO before anything has happened? You aren’t afraid that somebody will say something to the press?”
Darren sat back and contemplated having the tech removed. He finally shook his head. “Negative sir. Bridger is a person of interest right up until we can prove he did something. Because he’s a person of interest, we can explain our keeping tabs on him.”
“And you don’t think that’s just a little too coincidental? If we were watching him, how did he commit such a heinous act and we didn’t stop him?”
Darren thought fast. “The act was committed on foreign soil. That isn’t our purview.”
“Very good.” He could hear the squeak of Colonel Nelson’s chair as he sat upright and pressed the end call button.
Darren squeezed the bridge of his nose and tried to second guess where Bridger might have run to. His field operatives that planted the evidence in his house said that it looked like he had left in a hurry. Ammunition was scattered and his gun case was unlocked, at least one rifle missing, based on the dust imprint left behind.
“Somebody tell me that this asshole went hunting.”
Karachi, Pakistan
SAMEER LEANED OVER the railing and yelled below, “Mamoon, we will need more fabrics.”
Mamoon leaned forward in his chair and stared upward toward the second floor landing. “We just bought a whole roll. How can we be out?”
“You are having us print extras to sell on the street. We are almost out.” Sameer sounded more angry than anything.
Mamoon groaned and picked up his phone. It was time to try his other supplier and see if he could talk himself into another discount. “Kahn, my friend. I want to discuss a business proposition with you.”
“Be quick. I have little time.” Kahn sounded stressed so Mamoon got right to the point.
“I am in need of a bulk roll of fabric.” He waited for the man to reply but he didn’t. “Abdul has sold me a roll…with a discount of course, but I am in need of more. I thought perhaps you would like a chance to
