they disappeared by rick mofina

Author:rick mofina
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Suspense
ISBN: 9780778313816
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2012-09-18T00:00:00+00:00

33

Manhattan, New York City

The pressure to clear the case was mounting.

Under the media glare it was growing into a hydra.

Several aspects worried investigators: the murders, the brazen abductions and the chase. But most troubling was the discovery of the microdetonator, made all the more chilling because it had surfaced when more than one hundred and fifty world leaders were in town for the UN General Assembly.

But NYPD Lieutenant Ted Stroud remained calm.

He’d faced nightmares before, he thought a few short hours after the press conference when he’d arrived at the FBI’s New York headquarters at Twenty-six Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan where he showed his ID at the FBI security window.

Riding the elevator up to the case-status meeting, he glanced at the photo he’d tucked in with his own: U.S. marine corporal Kirby Stroud in his dress blues. Killed in Iraq in 2007 at age twenty-five and buried in Arlington.

He blinked at it for several floors.

Kirby was his son.

Yes, Stroud thought, drawing inspiration from the picture, he’d faced nightmares in his life and he was still standing.

He closed his wallet, stepped off at the twenty-eighth floor and headed to the boardroom. It was a large one with a view of the Brooklyn Bridge. Already, some thirty people had taken their seats around the cherrywood conference table.

Stroud knew most of the players with the NYPD, the FBI, the Secret Service, Homeland, Port Authority, State Police, ATF, Customs and the TSA. He nodded to them, settled into his seat and reviewed his files when Ken Forsyth, FBI supervisory agent with the NYPD–FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, entered.

It was determined that because the case was deemed to be related to terrorism, the JTTF, with the support of all other involved agencies, would control the investigation.

“Let’s get started.” Forsyth began the meeting with introductions of those at the table and those on the line in Washington, D.C., and other locations. “We believe we have discovered the threads of a plot,” Forsyth said.

“First, I’ll state the obvious—absolutely no information on this case is to be released without authorization.” Forsyth’s eyes went around the table. He knew many investigators had cozy relationships with members of the press. “Everything said in this room and subsequent case-status meetings is classified. If certain facts were passed to the public they’d give rise to alarm, create panic, weaken our case, which could thwart us from saving lives. We must maintain the integrity of the investigation. Is that understood?”

Throats cleared but no one spoke as Forsyth continued.

“Interest in this case is intensifying minute by minute,” he said. “The White House has just informed this office that the State Department has received a number of ‘inquiries of concern’ from several foreign governments. At this stage no major events will be canceled.”

Forsyth moved on with an update. The detonator had been flown to the FBI lab in Quantico where it would undergo further analysis.

“In relation to the detonator, the FBI is pursing the information passed to us by the NYPD concerning Hans Beck, the subject who made contact with Jeff Griffin over the mixed-up luggage.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.