Garage Sale Diamonds (Garage Sale Mystery) (45 page)

Several other adults followed on their heels. “Bwoken glass,” Milo said, shrinking back in fear as he hovered below the button controlling the automatic garage doors. They all gaped at the trauma to Jen’s Cadillac, parked half-way out of the garage. The bottom edge of the garage door Milo lowered had smashed the windshield and planted itself firmly on the car.

“Oh, no!” Jennifer cried.

Jason’s face reddened. “Geez, if only I’d fixed that broken door earlier.”

A small, familiar voice next to them whimpered, “I didn’t mean to do it, Gwan. You said we should keep our doahs closed so bad people can’t get in and this doah was open and I wanted us safe so I pushed the button and…” He buried his face against her skirt.

Still staring at her car, she smoothed her little grandson’s hair as he clutched her tight. “Thank you, Milo, for wanting to help our family be safe. I parked my car in a silly place, forgetting this garage door doesn’t bounce up the way it’s supposed to. It’s okay.”

“Sowwy, Gwan,” he looked up at her, tears on his cheeks.

“You meant to do a good deed, Milo. It’s ok. I still love you, ya little monkey.” She kissed his cheek. “Now run back inside and get a surprise from the kitchen treat jar as a reward for trying to protect your family.”

Relieved, the child sped inside.

Jennifer hugged Jason. “Isn’t it kinda touching, Jay? He wanted to keep the family safe.”

“You’re becoming a pretty good grandmother. Glad to be on your team.” His lips touched hers. “But now,” he added brusquely, “my engineer psyche says to assess the damage.”

Jennifer marveled, “The little guy actually remembered I taught them to find an adult to resolve a problem with broken glass. Maybe my learning surprises are useful after all.”

Jason gestured toward Jen’s SUV. “This particular broken glass would be hard to hide for long.”

Their sons lifted the door off the windshield, pulled the car into the garage and lowered the door safely again. Their meaningful glances told Jason they knew he’d repair that door very soon.

With the others back inside, she said, “At least it is broken glass this time and not diamonds.”

“Maybe we should take a closer look.” Jason suggested.

The shattered windshield’s tempered glass bowed in the middle but clung to its surround. Still, a sprinkle of chunky glass fragments lay scattered across the front seat.

Jennifer gathered up a few in one hand. “They do resemble those diamonds in the basement.”

He reached down to pick up a chunk, but when he turned his hand over Jennifer’s eyes widened and her mouth formed an O.

“Jay…”

“Why, what’s this?” he exclaimed with mock surprise.

She reached for the shimmering item in his palm with a quizzical look.

“It’s your memento of this diamond escapade.  When I moved heavy furniture downstairs, I found this lone diamond hidden back under a bookcase. I know you like rings and had a jeweler choose a setting showing the stone well. But he’ll gladly change it if you prefer something different.”

“So this is buried treasure, Jay?”

“Buried under the bookcase, yes.”

“You pirate, you.”

An impish look crossed his face. “And why are pirates pirates?”

She shrugged, eyebrows raised.

“Because they ARRRRRRRRRRRRR.”

She giggled with delight at this boyish side of his personality, one too often kept in check.

After all, he was an engineer.

116

Friday, 3:49 PM

Amid warm farewells and hugs at the door, the children and Grands left as Jennifer and Jason waved goodbye. Ten minutes later, the doorbell chimed promptly at four. They answered it together.

“Mr. and Mrs. Shannon? I’m Steve Wolf from Homeland Security.” He showed them his ID.

“Come in,” Jennifer said. “Let’s sit in the living room. A drink anyone?” They shook their heads.

Steve wasted no time. “Here’s the background for my visit today. The U.S. government tasks Homeland Security to prevent terrorist attacks in this country, to reduce our terrorism vulnerability and, for attacks that do occur, to minimize damage and to speed recovery. I ask you to treat the information I bring you today on a need-to-know-basis. I imagine you’ll want to tell your immediate family, but explain that the story doesn’t go beyond them. Okay?” 

Jennifer nodded and Jason said, “Okay.”

“Good. I guess you’ve heard today’s news about terrorist attacks across the country excluding Virginia?” They nodded. “That’s because last night we cracked our local case wide open, subverting the attack they planned here and alerting authorities in every state about simultaneous shopping-venue attacks scheduled across the nation at 1:00 EST today on Black Friday. This alert enabled them to beef up security, minimizing what could have taken place.”

“So what we heard was bad enough,” Jennifer said, “but it could have been worse?”

“Yes, much worse. A mastermind, let’s call him ‘Foreign Leader’ imbedded about a dozen men in every state, twenty to thirty years ago. A week ago he smuggled operatives into each state to lead those sleeper cells in terrorist attacks. Let’s call the one arriving in Virginia last week ‘Local Leader.’ He moved into a sleeper’s house in McLean with diamonds to fund this attack. Local Leader hid the diamonds and you know what happened next.”

They nodded, knowing all too well.

“You know the events taking you to the bank, where you wisely called police, enabling us to nab cell members there and at your house. Those still at large tried trading your grandson for the diamonds. Fortunately, only terrorists were injured in that confrontation and we captured more cell members. One of them revealed during interrogation you brought only half the diamonds, which he threw back to you before his arrest. Yours was a smart move.”

“Yes he did. They were tied in a sock.”

“Furious that you caused them to lose many cell members, that you kept the diamonds, that you compromised their attack here and that you humiliated them at every step, Foreign Leader told Local Leader to eliminate you.”

Jason sat forward in alarm. “You mean a fatwa?”

“In Islamic faith, a fatwa is a legal judgment made by a qualified mufti on an issue pertaining to Islamic law. An Islamic death sentence is only one example but has become the one commonly thought of here. We believe this wasn’t a fatwa but a simple hit—because you stood in the way of their mission and made them really mad in the process. When he got the order, the Local Leader assigned a cell member to do the job. That man shot at you through the window, Mrs. Shannon, and when you fell down, he thought he’d killed you. Fortunately, luck was on your side.”

Jason muttered, “And I only learned what happened when I asked about the hole in the window.”

Steve continued. “That’s when we asked Fairfax County Police to protect you with a cruiser parked in front of your home. The patrolman checked the perimeter of your house twice an hour.

“Once we destroyed the cell, we told police to remove protection because the threat was over.”

Jennifer reached for her husband’s hand. “The threat is over, Jay. That’s why the cruiser left.”

But Jason seemed edgy. “Steve, how did you learn about this local terrorist cell in the first place?”

“A sleeper placed in McLean twenty-five years ago decided not to join the terrorists even though he was sent here specifically for that purpose.” Steve remembered Ali. “At their first meeting, they asked if anyone wanted out. One did but knew defying them meant death. He approached us that morning for witness protection. That afternoon he bailed with his wife and kids, and we arranged an explosion at his home that, as far as anyone knew, killed the entire family. He told us at that first meeting he saw ten others, nine of them sleepers sent to blend seamlessly into the population. A brilliant, long-term plot implemented by Foreign Leader, whose true identity we now know, by the way.”

“Thirty years?” Jennifer marveled. “What planning and patience.”

“Oh, yes. Thirty years is nothing. They feel time is on their side.

“About then, your son-in-law, Adam, alerted us to a psychic’s vision. Though not verifiable, it underscored details close to what we knew. We learned more yet from the seven members we captured, thanks to Mrs. Shannon’s involvement. That left two at large. Then Local Leader also defected. He told us Foreign Leader substituted cash for the lost diamonds and sent ten replacement cell members for the seven we caught, so the attack was back on again. But we got them all and confiscated the military weapons in their warehouse. They bought them from a Russian cartel, giving us another unexpected link to a group working against us.”

Jason smiled, “It’s the story behind the story, as Paul Harvey would say.”

“Now the bottom line,” Steve said. “The good news is I bring the gratitude of Homeland Security and your country, Mrs. Shannon, for the role you played to help us deal with these terrorist attacks. We can only guess how many thousands of lives you saved across the nation. Predictably, several government organizations, including ours, initially ginned up ‘valid’ reasons to confiscate those diamonds. But considering your service to our country, we unanimously decided you should keep them, with the full blessing of your government.

“And the bad news…” Jason asked warily.

“We strongly advise you not to bring unwanted attention to your diamonds. You don’t want the terrorists to know you still have their treasure. Like the Mafia, they have big ears and long memories for revenge. You don’t want them to pick up your trail again.”

“Just a minute now,” Jason said. “They tried to kill her once, so they already know who she is and where she lives. Why do you think they won’t use that knowledge to harm her again?”

“Local Leader gave us two reasons: first, Foreign Leader didn’t ask for her name, and second, when the assassin the Local Leader sent to do the job said he killed her, the Foreign Leader was told she is dead. If he doesn’t know who she is and he thinks she’s deceased, she should be safe.”

Jason and Jennifer exchanged uncomfortable looks.

Steve shrugged. “Look, they’re a secretive organization. We don’t really know what eyes and ears they have in the U.S. This cell operating right under our noses exemplified that. But if you hush the diamonds, we think you’ll be okay. If we hear anything different, we’ll tell you immediately.

“Any questions? If not, I thank you for your time and, Mrs. Shannon, for your remarkable contribution. Here’s my card if you need to contact me about this.”

He stood to go. They thanked him and showed him out. After he left, they stood awkwardly in the foyer, looking at each other.

“He says it’s over at last, Jay, so why don’t I feel relieved?”

He shook his head as if to clear it and said sarcastically, “Well, enough happy time. I need to deal instead with something I can control—your broken windshield. Do you suppose our insurance company covers us for an act of grandchild?”

117

Friday, 5:30 PM

Jennifer stood at the foot of the stairs to call her husband, but a car circling the cul-de-sac caught her eye and she looked out the front window instead. She half expected to see firefighters or medics or a protective police cruiser. Hard to accept a threat’s end once you’re geared for fear. She studied the empty Donnegan house across the circle, remembering early days when both their houses rocked with boisterous family activity. No happy holiday ahead for the Donnegan children this year, but at least they wouldn’t wrestle with their father’s misdeeds. She glanced down the street at the other houses, so similar on the outside, so different on the inside.

Turning, she called up the stairs, “Jay, it’s the cocktail hour. Want a glass of wine?”

“I’m on my way down.”

By the time he reached the kitchen, she’d poured two glasses and handed him one. “Cheers.”

"Actually, three cheers." He grinned and at her questioning look explained, "First, you're a national hero, Jen. Homeland Security says so. True, you can only tell the immediate family but I think it's incredible and salute your service to our country with a toast."

She smiled her surprise as they clinked glasses and sipped.

"Mmm, a good Malbec." He continued. "Second, we toast your windshield repair at ten o'clock tomorrow and third, repair of the broken garage door an hour later at eleven. "

Into the swing she added, "And fourth, shouldn't we also toast becoming three million dollars richer with the government's blessing?"

“We are but we aren’t, Jen.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“If we hush up the diamonds as directed, how can we sell them? How can we declare them as a financial asset? Where did they come from? Who knows where the terrorists’ eyes and ears he mentioned may hide? In the back room of a jewelry store, in our CPA’s office, with the IRS? And if we make a mistake, murder could be the payoff. Who knows when the future knock on a door signals they discovered you’re alive and are making the hit? If anyone else is at home that day, what do you think is their fate? Jen, Jen, I don’t want to scare you but I don’t know how to protect you.” He shifted uneasily. “It’s gnawing at me.”