06 Double Danger (31 page)

“It’s the location. It’s got to be the location.” She jumped up, adrenaline surging as she pulled out her iPad. “The hospital is located on the Upper East Side just behind the FDR.”

“And the seaport is south of that, but also on the FDR,” Simon said.

“And both the crash and explosion knocked out a portion of the highway.” Hannah joined the party excitedly. “They’ve closed it from Seventy-sixth all the way to the Brooklyn Bridge.”

“So something in between is the target,” Simon said. “Something that, if successful, has the potential to lead to major world war.”

“Operation Yusuf.” Hannah nodded.

“It’s the UN,” Jillian said. “Something important must be happening at the UN. The building is almost halfway between the two closures on the highway. And more important,” she enlarged the photo on her iPad, turning it around so that Simon and Hannah could see the Secretariat, “the FDR runs directly beneath the building.”

T
he Secretariat had been built in 1952, and despite ongoing restoration, not much had changed since then. Simon followed behind Jillian as they were led along an upstairs corridor lined with the lavish gifts from various countries over the years, a sign of posturing dating back to just after World War II. Whatever elegance the building had once had, it had been swallowed by years of bureaucracy.

Although he wasn’t a political man, Simon knew that, despite the best of intentions, corruption and infighting had left the organization functionally impotent. Still, the idea behind the union of nations was a sound one. And despite the lack of efficacy, he recognized the value of continuing the exercise, even if its chances of success were futile.

“This is Ms. Giovanni’s office,” the man who’d been guiding them said. “She’ll be with you in just a moment.” He nodded to two chairs arranged in front of a partner’s desk. “Can I get you something to drink while you wait?”

Simon bit back a curt reply. No point in antagonizing anyone. But just trying to get an audience with an underundersecretary had been like cutting teeth.

“We’re fine,” Jillian said as she sat down in one of the chairs. “Thank you.”

She’d always been the one to soothe ruffled feathers. His mostly. But sometimes when he’d pushed too hard, she’d cleared the way for him as well. He smiled over at her, thinking how much better his life was with her in it.

They hadn’t had time to themselves since arriving back at the brownstone, but when this was over, he intended to talk to her. To convince her to give him a chance. Life was too damn short to let past mistakes stand in the way.

“I’m sorry to have kept you waiting,” Ms. Giovanni said as she walked into the room, her tailored suit clearly expensive. She had short bobbed hair, accentuated with diamond ear-studs so large they had to be the real thing. Clearly, he’d underestimated the pay scale at the UN.

“We’ve only just arrived,” Jillian said, standing up to shake her hand and introduce the two of them.

Ms. Giovanni sat behind the desk, and Jillian sat down again. Simon, as usual feeling jumpy in a formal setting, chose to remain standing.

“So, my understanding is that you’re here about a potential security threat?”

“Yes,” Jillian said. “We believe that someone here at the UN may have become a target of a potential act of terrorism.”

“And do you have any idea who it might be?” she asked without any visible reaction, the lack of emotion showing that this wasn’t the first time she’d been presented with this kind of information.

“Actually, we’re still unclear on the details, but we believe it is a credible threat. Our best guess is that it will involve someone from outside of the country.”

Ms. Giovanni smiled. “You just described most of the people in this building.”

“What my partner meant to say,” Simon said, dispensing with pleasantries, “is that we believe someone important has been targeted. Someone who is probably only here for a short period of time. Maybe just for a meeting or vote.”

“Well, it can’t be a vote.” Ms. Giovanni shrugged, her posture making the gesture almost regal somehow. “We aren’t in session, and there are no delegates in town.”

“But you do have meetings?” Jillian pressed, her cheerful façade slipping a little due to Ms. Giovanni’s obvious lack of interest.

“Of course.” The woman shrugged again. “But none of them are happening today. In light of the elevated threat to the city, the secretary general suspended all business. Particularly any meetings that might put a visiting dignitary at risk. It’s standard protocol.”

“Are there people still in town who were planning on attending the meetings?” Simon asked.

“There are always dignitaries in the city,” she said, “and more often than not, they have some business with us. But we have excellent security and are hardly in need of help from the locals. I appreciate your concern, but I assure you that we have things well in hand.”

“And I assure you that unless you want an international incident on your hands, you need to cooperate with us.” All signs of congeniality were gone. In fact, Jillian’s eyes were flashing with anger. “We are not locals, Ms.
Giovanni. We are Homeland Security. And despite the fact that this is international soil, you are still within the borders of the United States, which gives me the right to require you to answer our questions.”

To the woman’s credit, she didn’t even blink, but Simon could feel a subtle shift in the tension stretching between the two women. Jillian had made her point.

“What is it you want from us?”

“We need a list of every high-level meeting that’s been canceled as well as any that may have been moved or rescheduled within the next few days. I’ll also need a list of those attending the meetings, their country of origin, and their position with the UN.”

“Is that all?” the woman asked.

“No,” Jillian replied, and Simon bit back a smile. In truth, he was enjoying the show. Ms. Giovanni had met her match. “We’ll also need detailed information on the purpose of each of those meetings.”

“Some of that is classified,” Ms. Giovanni protested. “This is an international organization, and as such, you can imagine that there are dealings here that would best be kept out of American hands.”

“Last I heard, America was the single largest contributor to your organization, 22 percent of your regular fund and 27 percent of the peacekeeping budget. Not to mention the land on which this building sits. I think that gives us the right to be concerned about the security of members who may be under threat while visiting New York. I don’t give a damn about state secrets, Ms. Giovanni. We just need to identify the potential target so that we can eliminate the threat.”

“Perhaps if you give us the intel you possess, we can take over the investigation.”

“Not going to happen,” Simon said, cutting the protest short. “But I do promise that we’ll keep you apprised of what we find out. As a matter of diplomacy.”

“So if we could have the list, please,” Jillian said, her tone dropping back to conversational.

Ms. Giovanni typed something into her computer terminal and a printer against the far wall sprang to life. In less than a minute, she retrieved a stack of papers, holding them out to Jillian. “I’ll hold you to your promise to keep us in the loop, and I trust you’ll be sure that the list is disposed of in a secure fashion when you’ve finished.”

“I’ll shred it myself.” Jillian took the papers, and after shaking hands again, they retreated, battle won.

“Well done,” Simon said, as they walked into the elevator and Jillian pressed the button for the basement. “You were a warrior in there.”

“I hate women like that.” Jillian shrugged, a perfect imitation of Ms. Giovanni, and Simon laughed.

“You really are magnificent.” He watched as she ducked her head, but he could see her smile. “So where are we going?”

“We passed an empty office on the way in. In the public section near the coffee shop.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to get ourselves back on U.S. soil?”

“I’d prefer it, quite honestly, but we can’t afford to waste any more time. And just in case Ms. Giovanni is trying to keep something from us, I want to be here where we still have access.”

The elevator doors slid open, and they walked out into the lobby, past the coffee kiosk, to a door leading to a small, clearly unused office. There was a desk and two chairs, but nothing else of consequence.

“It might be easier to just have Harrison hack into their computers.”

“Talk about starting an international incident,” she said as they walked inside, shutting the door behind them.

“Not possible. Harrison is way too good to be caught. But I’m pretty sure Avery would frown on the idea. So we’ll try your way first.”

After they sat down, Jillian pulled out her iPad, opened the FaceTime app, and then chose Harrison’s name from a list of contacts.

Simon shot her a quizzical look as she propped the tablet up so that they both could see the screen. “I thought we’d agreed that we weren’t going to call upon Harrison’s unique skill set.”

“I’m not asking him to hack anything, but he and Hannah are a heck of a lot faster looking things up than we are. I figure it’ll make the search to identify the target go more quickly.”

Thirty minutes later, they’d eliminated three-quarters of the list. Half because the meetings and the people involved weren’t high-profile enough to provide the impact that would make an attack worthwhile. And the other quarter because, once their meetings had been canceled, the people involved had left the country.

“This is going nowhere fast,” Simon said, frustration replacing the surge of adrenaline he’d felt after the meeting with Ms. Giovanni.

“We’ve still got a couple more to check out,” Jillian said. “It just takes one. And I know we’re on the right track.”

“Well, this one looks like a possibility.” Simon ran a finger beneath the listing. “A peacekeeping meeting concerning the genocide in the Sudan.”

“Yeah, but the principals aren’t even in the country,” Hannah said, her voice sounding tinny as it was projected over the tablet’s speakers. “It was originally scheduled as a video conference. And I can’t find any sign that it has been rescheduled.”

“The last one doesn’t look much better.” Harrison’s face swam into view as he moved in front of his computer’s camera. “It was meant to be a reception for a visiting dignitary, but it’s been canceled.”

“Which dignitary?” Simon asked.

“It doesn’t say here,” Jillian responded, a little line forming between her eyes as she studied the information. “You finding additional information there?”

“No,” Hannah said. “And it’s weird. I haven’t had any trouble accessing additional information about the other meetings.”

“How did you manage to get a password for the UN’s computers anyway?” Simon asked her.

“Friend of a friend. I’ve found it pays to get to know the techs at Langley. Anyway, I couldn’t have accessed anything if the files had been password protected. I’m just logged into the UN’s online information system. They track meetings there.”

“So why isn’t this one listed?” Jillian asked, clearly still perturbed.

“I don’t know, but I’d say it’s a red flag,” Simon said.

“Great.” Jillian sighed. “So now we have to go back to Ms. Giovanni.”

“Hang on,” Harrison said. “I think I just found her files.”

“Harrison, I told you no hacking.” Jillian looked over at Simon for support, but he just shrugged.

“Technically, I’m not hacking. I already had a way in, remember? I just sort of managed to sneak around a few proverbial closed doors.” They waited for a moment, the sound of Harrison’s keystrokes carrying across cyberspace. “Okay, I think I’ve got something. She’s got a file for the event. But it’s encrypted.”

“I am so not explaining this to Avery if we get caught,” Jillian said, still looking to Simon. But he was enjoying the whole thing way too much to protest. And besides, he had a gut feeling they were about to find what they were looking for.

“I’m in,” Harrison said. “You should be able to see the file on your screen now, too.”

As promised, a document opened. Simon peered over Jillian’s shoulder, trying to ignore the tug at his groin as he inhaled her perfume.

“There must be a mistake.” Hannah was obviously reading from her end as well. “This isn’t a reception. It’s a summit.”

“And a hell of one at that,” Simon said with a low whistle. “I knew there’d been chatter about the Palestinians and the Israelis resuming peace talks, but I had no idea they’d actually been scheduled.”

“This isn’t just the Palestinians.” Jillian leaned forward, her face reflecting her surprise. “Several of the attendees listed are ranking members of Hamas.”

“So this is a big thing,” Hannah said. “But there’s no one named Yusuf. And aside from the obvious Jewish/Islamic connection, I’m not sure what the tie-in to Joseph would be.”

“Still, you’ve got to admit it’s a big fucking deal,” Simon said.

“Yeah, but it was canceled,” Hannah reminded him.

“Which puts us back to square one, I’m afraid.” Harrison sighed. “I’ll close the file so that your Ms. Giovanni won’t realize we’ve been in there.”

“No, wait a minute,” Jillian said. “I recognize one of the names. Bilaal Hamden.”

“I know it, too,” Harrison agreed, the sound of typing coming from the screen again. “I’m pretty sure he’s the son of a high-ranking member of Hamas.”

“I don’t see another Hamden on the list,” Simon said.

“He wouldn’t be there,” Harrison continued. “He’s an old-timer. Was a big player about ten or fifteen years ago. He’s got to be like seventy.”

“I remember the story now,” Jillian said. “The kid, Bilaal, was part of the Palestinian Resistance Movement. And he was killed in action. But then like six years later, it turned out that he hadn’t died at all. He’d been taken prisoner. And then there was one of those prisoner release things, and he was part of the trade.”

“Right.” Harrison nodded, his face back onscreen again. “And his father was totally stoked. It was like his son had risen from the dead.”

“And to top it off,” Jillian said, “if I’m remembering right, he made inroads with his captors and gained their respect. I think he saved an Israeli kid or something. That’s one of the reasons they let him go. It was big news at the time.”