Kill The President's Women (Joe The Magic Man Series Book 2) (48 page)

“Maybe,” Burrows shrugged, “but we’re taking it seriously and the NSA is listening in on everything. Can you believe there’s more silence now than ever over the wavelengths in this area? No one of interest is talking, so we strongly believe something is going down. It was only last month that the al-Qaeda leader, al-Zawahiri who had been bin Laden’s right-hand man urged Muslims to launch deadly strikes to create a holy war in America.”

“Wow,” the thought made Alice feel sick, “do you think that he has inspired this cell to take the two boys and help them?”

“Who knows?” Burrows asked rhetorically. “The FBI has the schedule of all the congresswomen, and Congresswoman Kate Lincoln was going to make a speech at the protest outside the White House on behalf of the Native Americans on Columbus Day. The FBI has persuaded her not to attend and she’s agreed to give her speech from a television studio.”

“Good for her.” Alice sighed, relieved for that particular woman, at least. “But if it’s a suicide bomber, couldn’t he still manage to set it off amongst the protesters, even if she’s not there?”

“True, but we were only working with the information that they asked for pistols. Browning 9 mm pistols, specifically. They were more than likely trained with that pistol and feel comfortable with it, otherwise any gun would have done. As far as the bomb is concerned, we’re more than a little worried. I can’t go into details but we’ve found out that 16 pounds of C4 explosives were sent from Afghanistan six weeks ago to Morocco, from Morocco to France, and from France to the US. The address? Yasmina’s Drycleaners.”

“Oh my God, there’s a really a bomb then?” Alice put her hand to mouth in shock.

“Yes, and that’s why we think this terrorist cell knew about the two brothers and has been planning it for at least the last two months.” Burrows expressed her concerns to Alice. “They could strap it to themselves in two 8-pound packs of explosive vests. They could put it in a car and drive it into a crowd area or they could plant it with a timing device somewhere like the Boston bombers. Two 8-pound packs of C4 can do a lot of damage to those close to them, and if they add nails and ball-bearings, it could be devastating in a crowded place.”

“Oh my God, you’ve got to stop them.” Alice’s stomach lurched violently. “Isn’t there someone else Joe can visit to find out more?”

“Don’t worry, if Frank Brubaker has another lead on this cell group he’ll have Joe on it right away. Our best options are to keep an eye on the congresswomen since the terrorists were heard saying they wanted to kill women that speak out on TV.”

“Won’t the President and the First Lady go to the wreath-laying memorial at the Union Station?”

“The President is being kept up to date with the situation.” It was obvious Burrows couldn’t say any more than that.

“If those brothers really said they wanted to kill the President’s bitches…” Alice’s eyes widened as she realized that it was a possibility that the First Lady and her two daughters could be there. “Please tell me they’re not going to attend that memorial celebration?”

Burrows shook her head. “The President has been advised against it, as well as all senators, congresswomen and dignitaries.”

Joe had been listening in and he felt Alice’s anxiety; he shared her tension and apprehension, her feeling of powerlessness at not being able to do more. As Burrows casually went through the names of people who would be at the wreath-laying memorial, the name “Anna Edmar” came up and it instantly rang a bell in Joe’s memory. He racked his brain hard and remembered it was one of the men in the mosque whose mind he had jumped into that had mentioned her name. Joe excused himself and exited Alice’s mind.

It came back to Abel aka Joe Mann where he had heard the name from. When he was in the mosque looking for Idir, he had gotten into the mind of a particular man who said something about Fareed Azim liking the ass on Anna Edmar. Now Anna Edmar was going to attend the wreath-laying ceremony. He didn’t believe in coincidences. Not this kind. He shut his eyes and tried to remember the name of the man who had mentioned Anna Edmar. It came slowly: his name was Abbar.

It was only 7:15 pm on a Saturday night, but Joe had to find out what Abbar knew about Congresswoman Anna Edmar. Joe concentrated hard to find him and get into his mind. Finally he got through and found out that was he was driving a car. Joe heard a woman talking beside him and he assumed it was Abbar’s girlfriend because Abbar kept his eyes steadily on the road so he could only see a side view. The lady was in the passenger seat, peering into a laptop which was logged into Facebook, and she announced when they were 15 minutes away from the hall. Joe simply assumed she was excited about their night out.

Joe thought,
I’m going to intrude on a young couple going to hang. Look what I’ve become!
He reckoned a quick extraction from Abbar would be the best so he could leave him to his date.

Where are we going?”

“We are going to the firemen’s party.”

Abel heard the girl say, “Of course not, I’ll send the signal now to let him know we’re on track.” At this point, Abbar looked across from the corner of his eye and he, along with Joe, saw her punch in a number on her cell phone, let it ring twice and then hang up. She immediately threw the phone out of the window.

“You should have taken the batteries out first,” Abbar said in a nervous tone.

“Shut up and keep your eye on them,” she fired at him.

At that moment, Joe sensed something was wrong. He asked Abbar.
“Does she know what she’s doing?”

Abbar looked at the lady; he looked at her fully for the first time since Joe had shown up and to Joe’s surprise, he recognized her!

Abel shot up in bed, breaking contact unceremoniously. He said out loud, “Fucking hell, it’s Yasmina, the woman that took one of the Algerian boys.” The shock had been so great, he had disconnected from Abbar’s mind instantly. He knew he had to tell Burrows somehow so he came up with a plan, and quickly got into Alice’s mind.

“Alice! I’ve got to get a message to Burrows urgently. I found Yasmina!”
Abel felt the excitement rush through Alice.
“Pretend to faint and when you come to, say I put you in a trance and you’ve got to go back to your room and lie down, because I’ll be coming to you in five minutes with some very important news.”

Alice sat there, almost afraid to move. She had felt the excitement and urgency in Joe’s voice, and remembering it, she slumped forward on the table with a crash.

Burrows rushed to seat Alice back up, shouting for a glass of water to be brought to her. “Alice! Alice, are you okay? Speak to me.”

Alice pretended to groan. “Where am I, what happened?”

“Here take a drink of water,” – a waiter had arrived with a glass – “You just fainted!”

“I did?” Alice took a sip, put the drink down and looked around. The few people who had been attracted by Burrows’ shouts began to disperse. “Listen Burrows,” she whispered, as Burrows waved the waiter away, “Joe just put me in a trance again. He wants me to get up to my room and relax so he can talk to me. He’s found something important that can’t wait.”

“Oh shit!” Burrows grabbed the water. “I think I need this more than you.”

“Come on,” Alice was up and off, “he’ll be back in five minutes.”

Joe Mann retuned to Abbar’s mind and found him driving slowly with Yasmina talking nervously by his side.

“Why are they driving so slowly?” she asked. “Do you think they know about us?”

“Shut up and keep an eye on that website.” Abbar was trying to keep cool.

Joe asked Abbar’s subconscious,
“Who are we following?”
Abbar’s thoughts were all over the place but it was clear to Joe from his scattered replies that they were following Congresswoman Anna Edmar.

“Do we real want to blow her up?”
Joe could feel Abbar fighting within himself, as many thoughts simultaneously ran through his mind. The most prominent of his thoughts was a statement: “Tonight, the Americans will not sleep safely in their beds; Allah is great!”

Alice lay on the bed with Burrows sitting next to her, notepad and pen in hand. Burrows looked as if she had just seen a ghost, or was about to see one.

Joe popped back into her mind.
“Sorry Alice, but we have no time, pretend to go into trance and repeat my words.”

Alice let out a big sigh, and went limp on the bed, staring directly at the ceiling.
This is ridiculous,
she thought to herself. She wished she could make her pupils roll backwards but since she couldn’t, she made do with speaking n the deepest voice she could muster.

“Agent Burrows, are you there?”

“Oh shit!” Burrows nearly fell off her chair at the dead tone of Alice’s voice. “Joe is that you?”

“I’ve found Yasmina and she’s following Congresswoman Anna Edmar to some fireman’s party, so stop her.”

Burrows shot out of the chair and went straight on the phone to HQ. She gave them her name and code number. “Patch me through to Control.” Burrows didn’t know who would be in charge and didn’t have time to ask. “I’ve just had information that Yasmina is in a car following Congresswoman Anna Edmar to some fireman’s party. Stop them at once; I have reason to believe the party is where the bombing will take place.”

“Will do, Agent Burrows, we’ve got two vehicles escorting Congresswoman Edmar’s vehicle. Stay on the line.”

Burrows could hear all the noise of everyone rushing around.

Joe passed another message on though Alice. “Yasmina used a phone. She let it ring twice and then threw the phone out of the window. She’s got a laptop and is presently logged in to Facebook.”

Burrows, in turn, passed the message on, and in minutes she had an answer. “Agent Burrows, a phone rang twice in the apartment of Fareed Azim. It must have been some sort of signal, for he immediately logged on to Facebook with his laptop.”

“It’s going down now, whatever it is.” Burrows said to Alice, unsure if Joe could hear her.

Joe was looking up the street through Abbar’s eyes. Abbar pulled his car over, yards behind the Congresswoman’s convoy. “They’re pulling over. Something must be up?” Abbar said. The car behind them was part of his team and was supposed to mirror him but the driver, Hadj changed his mind and drove on down the street.

“What’s happening?” Yasmina asked in panic. “Have they spotted us?”

“Fuck me, the kid Hadj is still going to do it.” Abbar was watching as was Joe; up in front he could see the convoy making a final stop on the side of the street. Abel guessed it was the congresswoman and the two FBI escort cars. Abel passed the message on quickly to Alice.

Alice spoke urgently, in an agitated, deep tone. “Tell the cop that stopped the congresswoman that the bomber is right behind them and he’s approaching them now.” Alice was finding it hard to keep acting like she was in a trance; the trepidation
was almost suffocating her.
Burrows passed the message on not knowing if it made sense. Her contact in the control room was in the middle of passing it on when they heard two shots over the cop’s microphone.

Joe saw the car pull up right by the detective. The driver Hadj put his hands neatly out the car window and took two shots at Congresswoman Anna Edmar at close range. The detective, who was already out of his car, pulled his gun out automatically and fired at Hadj. In a few seconds, it was over. Abel was speechless, but Abbar wasn’t.

“That crazy son-of-a-bitch has done it! He’s shot her, blow the fucking thing now!” He made a U-turn in the street and as Yasmina pushed the button on a little device in her hand, there was a deafening explosion behind them that shook the car and the whole street.

He screamed at Yasmina. “Send the message; we’re getting the fuck out of here.”

Alice could feel the panic and shock in Joe’s voice as she repeated his words. “Yasmina has just blown the car up with Hadj in it. She had the detonator with her.” Tears ran down her face as she realized they’d shot the congresswoman and set the bomb off; the combined efforts of Joe, Alice and law enforcement had failed to stop them.

Burrows could hear the commotion in the control room, and then the voice of Frank Brubaker, who she realized must have been in the building all that time. One of the agents in the control room shouted out, “Fareed Azim has just posted a status on Facebook. It says, ‘My son wet himself at school today.’ That’s all he wrote.”

Burrows was still on line and she could hear Brubaker giving orders to the agents that had Azim under surveillance to take him down immediately and find out where the other bomber was. Alice’s voice droned at Burrows, saying, “Yasmina is getting away. Stop them now so I can get in her head. I’ll find out where the other bomber is.”

Burrows was pacing back and forth in Alice’s room, and Alice’s voice was freaking her out so much as she spoke for Joe, it was difficult for her to stay focused. “Sir, my informer tells me that Yasmina is getting away, and he wants us to catch them so he can find out where the other attack will take place.”

Burrows heard Brubaker yell, “You heard Agent Burrows! I want that area sealed off and I want those two arrested now!”

All the local police cars had been alerted to the bombing and had been given orders to stop all traffic from leaving the scene. Joe could see a police car coming towards them, and he felt Abbar shrink involuntarily behind the wheel. Joe shouted his position to Alice and she screamed to Burrows, “There’s a cop car passing us right now, we’re approaching the traffic lights at 21
^st
and Roosevelt.”

Burrows passed on the information to Control. She knew Brubaker would have it on the big screen and that the cop car that just passed them would receive orders in mere seconds.

Joe heard the cop car screech to a stop and he saw Abbar look in his wing mirror in terror. “That cop just stopped 50 yards back!”

Yasmina turned around. “I think they’re going to close all roads. Park this thing and let’s get away on foot. We must put our trust in Allah.”

Abel shouted at Alice, and Alice shouted at Burrows: “They’ve seen the cop pull up and they’re going to abandon the car and make a getaway on foot.”