Perspectives, An Intriguing Tale of an American Born Terrorist (25 page)

“Isn’t that what we expected?”

“Yes, sir, but it appears that someone is helping him.” Davidson turned on his laptop and showed the Director the film of Jonathan opening the package. Jonathan’s voice was perfectly clear as he described each item to Mary and Carly.”

The Director stared at the film in disbelief. “Who would send him all that? Is that our latest generation QX-4 computer?” asked Reed.

“Yes sir and those memory sticks contain both the Blue Herron programs and whatever else it was that he was working on before he left.”

“This is a fucking nightmare! Now you’re telling me that he has the analysis programs?”

“Yes sir.”

“Jesus Christ! Jesus fucking Christ, now I’ve seen everything. Okay let’s get back to basics. Seeing that no one knows how to do their fucking job around here, I’ll do it for you! Get me a list of everyone who has been given a QX-4. Shit, it hasn’t been out that long, we couldn’t have distributed that many of them,” said Reed.

“About 78.”

“About? What the hell does that mean?”

“Well, that’s how many our records show we’ve distributed from inventory; there’s another 67 on the inventory list, but our physical inventory only counted 62.”

“So there are five unaccounted for?”

Davidson cowered as if preparing to receive a punch, “Yes sir.”

“We are supposed to stand for intelligence!” screamed the Director. “But we’re nothing but a bunch of buffoons!”

“Sir, apparently now his wife is helping him. Is there something I need to know about her, sir?”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know, sir. She seems to be on the same crusade as Anderson, sir.”

“What in God’s name do you expect, Davidson! Her son was incinerated in that building. Of course she’s going to want to find the ones responsible. And if she finds them, she’ll rip their fucking hearts out. Isn’t that what any mother would do?”

“Do we have to concern ourselves with her, sir?”

“Right now we have to concern ourselves with everything. Now get some special ops agents over there, now! And don’t alert the agents we have out front, I don’t want the press to catch wind of anything. He can’t go anywhere without us knowing where he is, correct?”

“Yes sir, we planted a chip in his back.”

“Good! Anything else?”

“No sir.”

“Leave the lap top.”

“Yes sir.”

Davidson exited.

The Director picked up his phone and dialed PD McVay. “I need to see you, now!”

PD entered almost immediately.

“PD, look at this.” The Director replayed the film. “What do you make of this?”

“She seems distraught.”

“It’s worse than that, she’s turned.”

“Are you sure?”

“Listen to her, she’s a god damn vigilante.”

“Should we abort?”

“She doesn’t know enough to do us any harm, and at this point without her the entire project is dead. Let’s give her a little time. Her cousin’s still committed, so we can use her. Now you see the wisdom in only telling our folks what they need to know. Imagine if she knew the entire plan.”

“Can the two of them figure it out?”

“Never, but Matthew’s death may actually work to our benefit.”

“Should we warn Bob?”

“No, we have him covered.”

“For his sake, I hope you’re right.

Jonathan, Mary and Carly exited the rear of their home and he carried her the nearly 2 miles to the McDonalds on the corner of Occaquan Road and Highway 641. The winter night was cold and Jonathan had told Carly to dress warm. She emerged dressed in a blue jean skirt with thick blue tights underneath, a pink sweater, wool hat, mittens and her winter coat. Jonathan wore his brown leather flight jacket and Mary a dark wool coat. They bought Carly a happy meal and while she sat with Mary, Jonathan went outside to use the pay phone to call a cab.

Carly loved the excitement of packing up her favorite toys and leaving for an overnight adventure. As she munched her cheeseburger and nibbled on her fries, she continually looked down at her pink Barbie backpack that contained her prize possessions which included her Velveteen Rabbit book and Bruiser. Mary had tied the little brown bear to one of the shoulder straps, so that he wouldn’t get lost and would always be within hand’s reach.

“Daddy, will we have a new house and will I have a new room?” asked Carly.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” answered Jonathan. “It’s going to be a surprise.”

Carly took another big bite of her burger and then began talking with food in her mouth, “Booser wats to lve in the wulds i….tn.”

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” scolded Mary.

Carly gave her mother a cross look and then quickly swallowed. The lump of food was so large that they could almost watch it move down her tiny throat. Realizing that the swallow was too big, she took a large slurp of her Coke to help it down and then grimaced as it hurt the inside of her throat as it made its way down to her stomach. “Bruiser wants to live in the woods in a tent,” she repeated.

Jonathan laughed out loud.

“How are we going to get to our new house, Daddy?”

“We are going to get a taxi-cab, sweetie. Now tonight is going to be special, okay, honey. So don’t ask too many questions and before you go to sleep tonight, I promise you that you’ll be in a brand new bed.”

Carly looked at him with confusion, but seemed to understand most of what he said. She held her finger to her mouth and said, “Shhh, it’s secret right?”

Jonathan nodded, “Shhh, it’s secret.”

“And we are going together.”

Jonathan held out his hand, “Together forever.”

Carly threw her arms around him.

Mary felt like an outsider.

“Take me to Target,” Jonathan instructed the cab driver.

It took the cab only 10 minutes to pull to the front of the store.

“You want me to wait?” asked the cabbie.

“No this is good, keep the change,” returned Jonathan. He handed the driver $20 and before leaving slid the transmitter Mary had taken from his back between the cushions of the seat.

Carly sat in the shopping cart as Jonathan scooted around the huge Supercenter. Mary watched in wonder as Jonathan purchased an assortment of compounds that included hair color, scissors and make-up from the pharmaceutical department and then an equal assortment of items from the school supply section. Carly was excited when her father told her that they could each pick out a small carry-on suitcase and enough clothing and toiletries to fill them. She found a yellow one that matched Barbie’s hair on her backpack. She looked a little concerned when she saw the assortment of clothes her father had picked out for her, but remembered what her father had said and played along quietly. Jonathan paid for everything with cash and then used a pay phone to call another cab.

“Take me to 24 hour fitness.”

“What are you going there for?” asked Mary.

“I left some tools of the trade there in a locker.”

Jonathan emerged from the fitness facility with a stainless steel suitcase and placed it by his feet in the cab.

“Lincoln Memorial,” said Jonathan as he hopped back into the cab. Mary looked at him oddly, and Carly let out a big yawn and quickly fell asleep, her head on her Daddy’s lap, before the cab was out of the parking lot. Traffic was stop and go, but still moving and it took the cab nearly an hour to get from Occaquan to the Memorial. Jonathan kept turning his head, looking behind to see if he could spot an agency vehicle following them; there were none. As they approached the Washington Mall, Jonathan stared intently out the window until he found what he was looking for.

“There, over there.” He said as he pointed to what appeared to be nothing. “Pull over and let us out….now!”

The driver slammed on the brakes throwing them hard against their seatbelts and almost causing an accident with the other traffic. Jonathan put a strong arm across Carly’s chest to keep her from flying forward into the back of the front seats. Carly’s eyes popped open, filled with fright and she started to cry. Jonathan yelled at the cabbie, “You need to be careful. We’ve got a little girl back here!”

“Sorry sir, you told me to stop, so I did what I had to,” he returned.

Mary seemed undisturbed.

Jonathan grabbed Carly and carried her away from the cab. “Pull around the square and pick us up right here,” Jonathan instructed the cabby.

“What about my fare?”

“I’ll give it to you when you come back.”

“You better not stiff me man, you owe me $100.”

Jonathan took a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and ripped it in half. “You get the other half when you pick us up.”

Carly seemed to settle down, in the arms of her daddy. Mary followed Jonathan over to a street person sitting on a park bench. The man was grizzled and ripe, paying close attention to a small bag next to him, which undoubtedly held all of his possessions.

The man had a panicked look on his face as Jonathan rushed towards him, but seemed confused by the fact that he was carrying a small child.

“Don’t hurt me,” said the man. “I ain’t bothering no one. Jes’ need a place to rest my tired bones.”

Jonathan pulled out a wad of money and handed him $20.

“Why thank-you,” said the man immediately settling down and perking up.

Jonathan handed him another $20. “Could you please stand up next to me?” asked Jonathan.

The man stood directly at his side.

“Mary, is he about the same height and age?”

“He’s your height, but I don’t know about the age.”

“I’m 43,” answered the homeless man. “You don’t weather so good when you live outside.”

Please take off your hat.”

The man took off an old raggedy hat that had a limp brim and a crushed top. “I’ve always had nice hair,” replied the man. “I just can’t take care of it like I should.”

“Perfect,” thought Jonathan. “Please sit down and don’t be afraid. Now, I want to ask you something. Would you like to stay in a real nice hotel for a few days?”

“I ain’t gonna do none of that perverted stuff?” replied the man backing away.

“No, it’s nothing like that. We just want to do something nice for someone on the street.”

“Why? What do you want?”

“Mary, tell him that we’re not going to hurt him.”

Mary put her hand on his shoulder and said, “Really, we’re good people who just want to help the homeless.”

“I guess,” answered the man, still unsure of their intentions.

“I want you to come with us in the taxi and we’re going to check you into the Washington Marriot hotel. I’ll give them my credit card and you can stay there for a week, order room service, go to the bar, anything you want in the hotel.”

“I don’t understand why you would do all this,” answered the man. “I don’t even know you.”

“It’s okay,” answered Mary. “We’re really not going to hurt you. You can put your bag in the trunk of the taxi and we’ll take care of everything.”

“Why’re you doing this? Have I won some kind of a prize?”

“It’s pretty complicated, but kind of. Now come on, hop in the cab with us.”

The man tentatively picked up his garbage bag, followed them to the curb and waited with them for their cab to come around. When the driver pulled over, Jonathan rapped on the trunk signaling the driver to pop the lid. The street person climbed into the front seat. No one was happy with the stale smell of liquor, urine and sweat that followed the man into the car.

“I don’t want that bum in here! This is gonna ruin my cab,” yelled the driver.

“I’ll give you an extra $50 to clean it,” shot back Jonathan. “Come on, we only have a few blocks to the next stop.”

“Where we going?”

“The Washington Marriott.”

All four windows were now down and no one seemed to mind the freezing cold air that flowed through the cab as the car cruised down M Street before pulling into the Marriot on 22nd.

“What about the other half of that hundred?” said the cabbie before the cab rolled to a stop.

Jonathan handed the other half to him together with another one hundred dollar bill.

“I like the way you do business,” said the cab driver.

Jonathan walked into reception and had Mary stand off to the side of the lobby with the street person. He purchased a 2 bedroom suite on the 19th floor and escorted them all to the room. Carly was still deep in sleep with her arms and legs clinging to her daddy. When Jonathan opened the door, the splendor of the suite was overwhelming to the bum who, just 15 minutes before, had been going to try to sleep in the winter cold on a park bench.

“I must be dreaming,” he said as he looked at the rich mahoganies and the elaborate linens.

Jonathan looked at him and said, “We’re going to work for a while in the other room. Go ahead and order room service, and get out of those nasty clothes. There should be a robe in the closet. You can have a drink from the mini-bar, but only after you take a shower. Put your dirty clothes in this bag,” he placed the Marriot laundry bag on the bed. “I don’t want to come back here and find you passed out on the bed in those filthy clothes do you understand?”

“Yes sir,” answered the man.

He signaled Mary to follow him into the other room, and she laid Carly on the bed. Jonathan untied Bruiser and set him next to her. Instinctively Carly reached over and grabbed the little bear and pulled him close. He placed his stainless steel briefcase on the bed next to Carly, entered a security code, flipped the latches and then opened it. Mary was shocked to see that it contained 3 hand guns, boxes of ammunition, and several passports, drivers’ licenses, a laminator, and credit cards all in neatly organized stacks.

“Who are all these people?” she asked as she opened up and thumbed through a few of the passports.

“Some were me at different points of my life. Others are nobody, made up people….they’re going to get us the hell out of here.”

“The agency doesn’t know about any of these?”

“Some, but not the ones that we’ll use.”

“How do you just make up a person?”

“When you have access to the world’s most powerful computers, you’re God. I gave birth to these people; I educated them, some I married and others I let die.”