Crocker now remembered him greeting them when they arrived. “Why didn’t anyone wake me up before?” he asked, his anger and alarm rising.
“The Turks were handling it,” Janice explained. “There was a lot of confusion.”
“Where are Akil and Davis?”
“Davis was with me in the visitors’ tent,” Mancini answered. “I thought Akil was with you in the clinic.”
“He was. That’s right.”
The enormity of the disaster took time to process. What the hell happened? Who did it? How did they know we were here and had the sarin?
Zeid and Babas were dead, so it couldn’t have been them. Dozens of questions ran through his mind.
Anders and Grissom were irate when Crocker spoke to them on a phone in Captain Nasar’s office.
“Jesus Christ, Crocker. How the hell could you allow something like this to happen?” Grissom asked.
He had no answer, only confusion and rage.
“All of us risked our lives to bring out the sarin,” he said, mustering all his reserves of self-control. “So the idea that anyone allowed this to happen is highly insulting.”
“Insulting, did you say?”
Crocker bit down hard on his anger, but still some slipped through. “Yes, insulting. You heard me right!”
He went on to explain that since the camp was guarded by Turkish soldiers, he had assumed it was safe. As an extra precaution he had left one of his men to guard the truck. Apparently his assumption had been wrong, and for that he took full responsibility. He was as shocked and angry as Grissom and Anders. While he felt terrible about the missing sarin, he was equally concerned about Suarez, and immediately started to second-guess his decision to leave him alone with the truck.
“This is an unmitigated disaster!” Grissom shouted through the phone. “Do you know what that sarin can do if it’s released in Istanbul or Ankara, or both? We’re looking at mass murder on an unthinkable scale, Crocker!”
“I’m well aware of that.”
“You didn’t finish the job, man! You screwed up.”
Crocker had to fight hard to keep from losing it. “I told you before, I take full responsibility. But as bad as this is, and as pissed off as we are now, we need to focus on recovering the sarin.”
“Not you, Crocker,” Grissom responded. “Hell no. I want you and your men the hell out of Turkey. Drive immediately to Ankara, get on a plane, and get out ASAP. You’ve done enough damage already.”
Crocker’s mind was still partially focused on Suarez and the horrible possibility that he might have lost another team member.
“Don’t you have anything to say?” Grissom screamed through the phone. Crocker heard Anders in the background telling him to calm down.
“I understand your anger,” responded Crocker, “but I think you’re making a mistake.”
“You’ve got balls, Crocker, but no fucking sense.”
“We’re not running out of here with our tails between our legs, sir. That’s not happening.”
“You’d better, before the Turks arrest you and hold you for questioning.”
Crocker hadn’t even thought of that. “I seriously doubt they’ll do that, but I’ll take that risk.”
“Nobody gives a rat’s ass what you think!” Grissom shouted. “Just do as you’re told, and do it now!”
Crocker took a deep breath. Through the window he saw Colonel Oz standing in the cement courtyard outside with Akil, Mancini, and Janice pointing past the gate and looking highly agitated.
Maybe Grissom’s right.
“Sir, we brought the sarin into Turkey,” he said into the phone, “and now we’re going to help the Turks recover it.”
“How?”
“I can’t answer that now.”
“Of course you can’t, because you’re out of your depth. And you’re not going to accomplish a goddamn thing, because you’ll be behind bars in a Turkish prison. Like Midnight Fucking Express, but worse.”
Crocker hung up the phone and tried to compose himself. Going to prison wasn’t a concern. Recovering the sarin was. They had to act quickly, and they needed a plan.
As soon as he stepped outside Janice separated herself from the group near the gate and hurried toward him, her hair flying and her fists clenched.
“Have you seen Hassan?” Janice asked.
“Hassan?”
“The engineering student. Have you seen him?”
“Not since we arrived this morning. Why?”
“When’s the last time you saw him?” she asked with desperation in her voice. “Do you remember?”
“He was walking with Jamila and Tariq over to the clinic,” Crocker said, gesturing behind him. “Why?”
“Did you see him go inside?”
“No, I didn’t see him enter the clinic. No. Have you talked to Jamila? She should be able to answer that.”
Janice nodded and looked at the ground deep in thought.
“Something happen to Hassan?” Crocker asked. “What’s going on?”
“He’s missing.”
“What do you mean, missing?” asked Crocker.
“He’s not in the camp.”
“What?” It made no sense.
“We’ve questioned everyone. Oz had his men search the camp. Nobody can find him.”
It seemed incredible.
“What about Jamila and their son?” Crocker asked, as he tried to grasp the implications.
“They’re still here,” Janice answered. “Everyone else has been accounted for.”
It was hard to believe that Hassan would have exited the camp voluntarily and left his girlfriend and son behind.
“Maybe he was kidnapped,” Crocker conjectured out loud.
“Why?” Janice asked. “Why in the world would the hijackers want Hassan? Why would they bother to take him? Why?”
Hoping to find answers, Crocker ran to speak to Jamila. He found her sitting in a sun-filled room in the clinic, nursing Tariq. She seemed as confounded as he was, but strangely calm, given the fact that the father of her son had suddenly disappeared.
“I’m worried about him,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t find an explanation. Hassan was happy the last time I saw him. He kissed me and Tariq good night and told me he loved me. It was the first time he ever said those words. Then, next thing I hear, he’s left the camp without telling me.”
He noted sadness in her voice, but no fear or anxiety, which was odd. “When’s the last time you saw him?” Crocker asked.
“It was about thirty minutes after we arrived. Sometime after four. We were here in this room, Tariq and I. Hassan kissed us goodbye and left.”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“He said he was sleeping in the visitors’ tent with your men. Tariq and I remained here in the clinic with Natalie and Amira. If something was wrong, he didn’t tell me.”
Strange.
“Did he mention anything about wanting to meet someone-anyone-here in Karbeyaz?”
“No.”
“Does he have relatives here? Friends?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Did he say anything about expecting someone to visit him?”
She shook her head as Tariq pulled back from her nipple and yawned. Jamila quickly covered herself, and Crocker looked away.
Very fucking strange.
She held a crying Tariq to her chest and patted his back.
“Did he mention anything he was worried about?”
“No,” she answered. “But Hassan and I don’t have such a close relationship where he tells me everything. He keeps a lot to himself. Maybe he’s worried about the responsibility of being a father, and went away to think about that.”
Curious answer.
“You think that could be the reason he left the camp?” Crocker asked.
Tariq burped loudly.
“It’s the only one I can think of,” she whispered, laying the baby down on the bed.
“So you think Hassan left because he’s not sure he wants the responsibility of being a father?”