Gone Tomorrow

The room service guy brought my meal and I moved Sansom out of his chair and ate at the table. Sansom took a cell phone call and confirmed that as of that moment I was off the hook for the subway transgression. I was no longer a person of interest as far as the NYPD was concerned. But then he made a second call and told me the jury was still out on the FBI, and the signs did not look good at all. Then he made a third call and confirmed that the DoD brass definitely would not let go. They were like dogs with a bone. I was in all kinds of trouble at the federal level. Obstruction of justice, assault and battery, wounding with a deadly weapon.

‘End of story,’ Sansom said. ‘I would have to go to the Secretary direct.’

‘Or the President,’ I said.

‘I can’t do either. On the face of it the DoD is currently in hot pursuit of an active al-Qaeda cell. Can’t argue against that, in today’s climate.’

Politics is a minefield. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

‘OK,’ I said. ‘Just as long as I know the shape of the battlefield.’

‘It’s not your battle, strictly speaking.’

‘Jacob Mark will feel better with a little closure.’

‘You’re doing this for Jacob Mark? The feds can give him all the closure he needs.’

‘You think? The feds are nowhere. How long do you want to drag this out?’

‘So are you doing it for Jacob Mark or for me?’

‘I’m doing it for myself.’

‘You’re not involved.’

‘I like a challenge.’

‘There are lots of other challenges in the world.’

‘They made it personal. They sent me that DVD.’

‘Which was tactical. If you react, they win.’

‘No, if I react, they lose.’

‘This isn’t the Wild West.’

‘You got that right. This is the timid West. We need to roll the clock back.’

‘Do you even know where they are?’

Springfield glanced at me.

I said, ‘I’m working on a couple of ideas.’

‘Do you still have an open channel of communication?’

‘She hasn’t called me since the DVD.’

‘Since she set you up, you mean.’

‘I think she’s going to call again.’

‘Why?’

‘Because she wants to.’

‘She might win. One false step, and you’re her prisoner. You’ll end up telling her what she wants to know.’

I asked him, ‘How many times have you flown commercial since September eleventh?’

He said, ‘Hundreds.’

‘And I bet every single time some small corner of your mind was hoping there were hijackers on board. So you could see them marching up the aisle, so you could jump up and beat the shit out of them. Or die trying.’

Sansom inclined his head and his mouth turned down in a rueful little smile. The first I had seen from him for a long time.

‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘Every single time.’

‘Why?’

‘I would want to protect the airplane.’

‘And you would want to unload your frustrations. And burn off your hate. I know I would. I liked the Twin Towers. I liked the way the world used to be. You know, before. I have no political skills. I’m not a diplomat or a strategist. I know my weaknesses, and I know my strengths. So all in all for a guy like me the chance to meet an active al-Qaeda cell scents pretty much like all my birthdays and Christmases rolled into one.’

‘You’re crazy. This is not a thing to be done alone.’

‘What’s the alternative?’

‘Homeland Security will find them eventually. Then they’ll put something together. NYPD, FBI, SWAT teams, equipment, hundreds of guys.’

‘A huge operation with lots of disparate components.’

‘But carefully planned.’

‘You been on operations like that before?’

‘Couple of times.’

‘How did they work out for you?’

Sansom didn’t answer.

I said, ‘Alone is always better.’

‘Maybe not,’ Springfield said. ‘We checked on Homeland Security’s computer algorithm. The Hoths brought a large party with them.’

‘How many?’

‘Nineteen men.’

SIXTY-EIGHT

I FINISHED MY BREAKFAST. THE COFFEE POT WAS EMPTY. So I finished my eight-dollar bottle of water and lobbed it end over end towards the trash can. It struck the rim with a hollow plastic sound and bounced out and rolled away across the carpet. Not a good sign, if I were superstitious. But I’m not.

‘Total of nineteen men,’ I said. ‘Four left the country already and two are walking wounded with broken jaws and elbows. That leaves thirteen on active service.’

Sansom said, ‘Broken jaws and elbows? How did that happen?’

‘They were out looking for me. They might be hot shit in the hills with grenade launchers, but scuffling on the streets seems not to be their main strength.’

‘Did you write on their foreheads?’

‘One of them. Why?’

‘The FBI got a call from the Bellevue Emergency room. Two unidentified foreigners were dumped there a beating. One of them had writing on his forehead.

‘Punishment,’ I said. ‘The Hoths must have been displeased with their performance. So they gave them up, to encourage the others.’

‘Ruthless people.’

‘Where are they now?’

‘Secure rooms in the hospital. Because one of them was there before. Some previous emergency at Penn Station. He’s not saying anything. The FBI is trying to work out who the hell he is.’