“There didn’t seem to be a record of any ambulance being dispatched to pick up this particular body,” Justin said.
“That also got lost in the confusion. But it’s been found now. I think if you get in touch with Southampton Hospital, they’ll corroborate what I’m telling you.”
“I’m sure they will,” Justin said.
Schrader stood up. “Well,” he said. “I just thought we should touch base. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, but I wanted to fill you in.”
“I appreciate it. If there’s anything I can do for you while you’re around, just ask.”
“Same here,” Schrader said. And smiled.
Justin watched him go, but the agent didn’t leave the station. He stopped at Gary Jenkins’s desk, started up a casual conversation. Justin knew that Gary was smart enough not to reveal anything he shouldn’t. At some point, Schrader looked up and caught Justin’s eye. Justin flashed him a big smile and, staring straight at him, began opening the envelope that Stanton had dropped off. It was addressed only to Justin Westwood, East End Harbor Police Department. No street number. And no return address or name of sender.
Inside was a thick three-ring binder. Justin flipped it open to find pages filled with notes, diagrams, and hand-scribbled drawings. It took him a moment to realize what he was holding on to, and when he did, he involuntarily slammed the notebook shut. He glanced up, but Schrader wasn’t watching him now. The FBI agent was heading toward the door, on his way outside. That’s when Justin saw that there was a note taped to the cloth front of the book. It was handwritten and said, “Jay: Just for safekeeping. If I’ve already told you to FedEx this baby up to me, you can have a good laugh at my expense. If you’re surprised to get it, then it meant I did the right thing. Get the bastards.”
The note was from Chuck Billings.
He was holding all the information Billings had compiled on the bombing at Harper’s Restaurant.
Justin licked his lips because his mouth had suddenly gone dry. But before he could open the book up again, it was 12:40 P.M., and Stanton came racing back into the police station, yelling for them to turn on the TV or the goddamn radio. Special Agent Hubbell Schrader came racing in, too, as Stanton began screaming that the fuckers had done it again, the goddamn fucking shitheads had just blown up another restaurant, this time in New York City.
Justin shoved the notebook into a desk drawer, came racing out of the small office. Mike Haversham was the closest to the small TV they kept in the main room and he punched at the on button and, sure enough, Stanton was right. On the TV screen there was smoke and sirens and cops and firemen. There seemed to be blood everywhere and you could hear the hysteria that was happening in Manhattan. And as Justin looked up, saw Agent Schrader staring at the TV just like the rest of them, he thought two things.
One: when Schrader had come into the police station, he’d walked right up to Justin’s desk. He didn’t hesitate, walked right up as if he knew who he was, as if he’d seen him before. As if he’d been briefed.
But that wasn’t nearly as odd as the second thing Justin was thinking.
Watching Hubbell Schrader now, standing amid the cops, all of them staring in disbelief at the TV screen, Justin was thinking, This guy doesn’t look surprised.
He looks as if he’d been expecting it.
14
Speech delivered at 6:07 P.M. on November 13, by Thomas Wilton Anderson, the president of the United States
My fellow Americans,
This afternoon, evil struck again, trying to insinuate itself into the very fabric of American life. Today, at 12:34 P.M., a suicide bomber detonated a bomb in New York City, in a Manhattan restaurant, La Cucina, killing twenty-eight people, including himself, and injuring nearly fifty more.
Some people, in what I believe is an unfortunate and dangerous attempt to politicize today’s tragedy as well as the tragic bombing of Harper’s Restaurant nine days ago, are already saying that these evildoers have succeeded in infiltrating our everyday lives, that they are successfully destroying the things that make America great. I say they have not succeeded. . that they will never succeed. Not under my watch. No one will ever be able to successfully attack the core of our greatness. Because that core comes from strengths that are almost unimaginable in the world in which our attackers live. Our strength comes from faith, faith not only in a wise and just God, but in wise and just people. In the American people. Our strength also comes from our freedom, from our many freedoms. And right now I’m declaring another freedom-one we’ve always had, one this country was founded on, one that we must exercise yet again, not happily but proudly: the freedom to fight back. And I mean more than simply strike back. I mean strike first. Strike hardest. I’m talking about the freedom to seize control of our own lives. The freedom to make other people pay-and pay big-time-when they try to take away our freedom.
My administration has been working very closely with the FBI and the CIA since the bombing at Harper’s. I must commend our intelligence agencies, for they have moved swiftly, decisively, and effectively, which is not easy when dealing with the kinds of shadowy networks we’re dealing with. As a result of their actions we now know the identity of the first terror suspect, the madman who blew himself up in Harper’s, killing so many people. His name is Bashar Shabaan. He was an Iraqi citizen, with links to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and he had been living here, in the United States, for three years. We not only know Bashar Shabaan’s identity, we know other members of his terrorist cell and we know the members of his family who provided aid in his evil scheme. Many of those cell members and family members have been arrested and the remaining ones are about to be picked up and arrested. They will be questioned, and, believe me, when we are done, we will have all the answers we need to have. And they will receive all the punishment they deserve to receive.
We also know the identity of today’s bomber: Muaffak Abbas. He was a Saudi, also with links to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and we have already rounded up family members and supporters for interrogation. We are looking for any and all links between these two villains, and if those links exist, we will find them. And we will find anyone else, any individuals, any groups, connected to them as well. I should add that the Saudi government has been extraordinarily supportive and helpful and wants to make it clear to all Americans that they abhor any and all acts of terrorism and will continue to do their best to rid their country and the world of such evildoers.
As you can tell from these results, we have moved swiftly, we will continue to move swiftly, and we will get results.
Standing beside me are Vice President Phillip Dandridge; the attorney general of the United States, Jeffrey Stuller; and the assistant attorney general, Ted Ackland. I have spent the last several hours with Phil and Jeff and with Teddy, along with some other key advisers. The vice president has been put in charge of the task force investigating the recent attacks and our enemies responsible for them. He is reporting directly to me. At first, I was going to step aside and let the vice president and the attorney general tell you about some of the decisions and plans that were made today. But then I decided no, I want to speak directly to you myself. Partly because, as everyone knows, next year is an election year and I will be stepping down after two terms, and I in no way want to politicize these proceedings, just as I hope no politician, from either party, tries to politicize these tragedies. But mostly I’m speaking to you because these are things I believe in so deeply and so passionately. These are things upon which hang the future of America, the future of the world as we know it. And I want to make it clear that I expect support for our vision of the future. Not my vision, not the vice president’s vision, but our vision-America’s vision. I expect bilateral support from the Senate and the Congress, support from the media by having fair and accurate reporting, support from judges who will stop their activist agenda so we can do what is right for the country, and military and political support from our allies around the rest of the world. There used to be a saying: You are either part of the solution or you are part of the problem. I’ll say this: If you are part of the problem, get the hell out of our way or we will sweep you out of our way, because right now I am only interested in solutions.