Threat Level Black

“What if we got an anonymous tip that Fama Ahmed Ali was plotting to kill the President.”

“You can’t do that, Andy! Christ.”

“Just asking a theoretical question.”

“I’ll see if I can get a warrant. Don’t call in a threat. Don’t. Don’t.”

“Now, would I do that?”

A set of stairs sat at the end of the hallway on the third floor. Fisher had propped open one of the heavy glass and wrought-iron doors, which let him hear but not see what was happening in the hallway; he came down the steps a few times as the elevator stopped on the floor, but in the three hours he spent there, no one went in or out of the apartment. Finally, Macklin called: He’d managed to get the search warrant and even two NYPD officers to help in the search.

“Just two?” said Fisher, leaning back on the staircase. The steps were made of marble, though at some point someone had painted them with a very thick paint, then recoated them for good measure. The paint had peeled back to the sides of the steps but was still fairly thick on the risers. This seemed to be some object lesson in fashion, pretension, and perhaps utility, though Fisher couldn’t quite figure what it was.

“Is there someone inside the apartment?” Macklin asked.

“I don’t know,” said Fisher. He glanced at his watch; it was nearly five. “Not much use hanging around, though. Let’s hit the place now.”

Macklin couldn’t get into the city until seven, and so they set up the raid for seven forty-five.

Raid was a bit of an overstatement. With the two cops guarding the fire escape and Macklin and another Homeland Security agent behind him, Fisher banged on the door and told the occupants to open up. When no one answered, he used the key supplied by the landlord’s rental agent, pushing the door open.

He jumped back just in time: A homemade bomb exploded in the interior of the hallway, sending shrapnel flying through the apartment.

Chapter 11

“I need to find a place to live,” Howe told her.

“There are hundreds of real estate agents in this area.”

“Yeah, but you already know what I want.”

“Do I?”

“Yeah.”

She sat back in her seat, then pulled the keys from the corner of her desk.

Howe followed her out to the lot. He pulled his seat belt on, watching her silently.

“There’s a good condo development two miles from the highway. It’s solid, not too fancy.”

“Show me that house again, the one you liked.”

Her faced reddened but she said nothing. As she pulled up near it, he saw there were two cars in the driveway; another Realtor was showing the place.

“So, why did you get mad at me the other night?” he asked as she turned off the car.

“I wasn’t mad. At first. Then I got mad.”

“Because I drink beer with spaghetti.”

“No. Because…I don’t know. You took it for granted.”

“What?”

“Kissing me like that.”

“Kissing you? I thought after what we’d been through that-”

“That what?”

What had he thought? That he liked her, that he owed her, that he wanted her.

But he seemed unable to say any of those things.

“I didn’t mean it as a bad thing,” Howe told her.

She put her car in gear and pulled away from the curb.

“Where are you going?”

“This isn’t your kind of house. You think it’s too fancy.”

“Yeah, but you like it.”

“You’re the one who’s buying. Or renting. Which one is it?”

“I can buy,” said Howe. “They made a ridiculous offer and I took the job yesterday.”

“You don’t think you deserve it, do you?”

“No, I don’t,” he said.

“Well, you do.”

“How do you know?”

“You just do.” She turned the car around the circle at the end of the cul-de-sac. As they started back up the hill, the people were coming out of the house.

“Let’s go take a look again,” said Howe. “What the hell? You like showing it, and I’m not doing anything.”

She didn’t smile, but the way she turned her head told him somehow she would stop.

Chapter 12

Fisher sat with the bomb squad people as they sent a small robot rover into the apartment to look for more bombs. The rover looked a bit like a Martian lander, and the photos it sent back to the laptop were every bit as sketchy. The herring-bone-pattern linoleum drove the automated video controls nuts, and the operators had a hard time making sure there were no more trip wires or similar devices in place. But at least the man at the laptop was free with his Camels.

The bomb squad moved in with full-gear even after the rover’s search came up empty. Fisher gave them a few minutes, then went inside.

“You shouldn’t be in here,” said one of the officers in a mattress suit near the door.

“If it hasn’t gone boom yet, it’s not going to,” said Fisher, squatting down to examine the doorway. At the bottom was a set of connectors similar to those used in a simple burglar alarm system. Opening the door had broken the connection and set off the bomb. Fisher followed the wire down the scarred hallway to where the bomb had exploded.

“How did you know there was a bomb in there?” asked the NYPD expert who was taking measurements with a laser ruler in the hall.

“I didn’t. I saw the connector thing and I jumped back,” said Fisher.