JUNE 7, 2008
DUBAI
It was early morning and the sun was just beginning to rise, shining on the Persian Gulf. Bryan was looking out the window of his Burj al Arab hotel room and thinking about the leads on the terrorists he had so far. His cell phone rang. It was DJ.
“Mornin boss – aye’ve got some answers for ya,” DJ said. “Aye got three matches an aye’ve forwarded everthin ta the FBI. They’re workin to find the two o the blokes now.”
“I thought you said there were three,” Bryan said.
“Yeh, aye did say that, but one of em doesn’t make sense,” DJ said. “’is name’s ‘anif Zar Wali.”
“Zar Wali’s dead,” Bryan exclaimed, waking up Shannon, who was curled up on the sofa under a blanket.
“Aye told ya it wouldn’t make a bit o’ sense. But another thing - aye thought the bloke looked familiar when aye saw his mug shot an aye was right - e was at yer bloody camel race.” Bryan checked his Email for the JPEGs.
“Are you sure?” Bryan asked, in disbelief.
‘Look et the next JPEG boss, aye pu’ a beard on ‘im. Maybe ye’ll recognize ‘im now?”
DJ was right it was the same man; they matched. Bryan was looking at a ghost.
“Yeah, of course. I’ll be damned - that’s why I thought the son of a bitch looked familiar,” Bryan said. “Well it’s a certainty that Hanif Zar Wali’s dead, so who’s the look-a-like?”
“’It’s my conclusion boss. Has ta be his identical twin. It’s the only possible conclusion, aye mean FaceScan es always right.”
“And he’s associated with Rowley, no doubt about that,” Bryan said. “Shannon, dig up everything you can on Mister Mohammed. Let’s see if we can link these two. Thanks DJ.”
“Ya got it, boss. Cheers,” DJ said, hanging up.
The news was disconcerting to a degree, calling for more unanswered questions. The first thing was to investigate Hanif Zar Wali’s twin, bring him in for questioning if possible.
“Obviously we want to keep this quiet,” Shannon said.
“Yeah, I don’t want Rowley suspicious.”
“Tell me more about Hanif Zar Wali,” Shannon asked, now fully awake.
Bryan delved into story of Hanif Zar Wali for Shannon. “He was picked up in the early days of Enduring Freedom - same time frame as Abdul-Malik.”
“Afghanistan?”
“Northeast, in the foothills of the Hindu Kush. He and Malik both were thought to have been at a camp that we took out. They may have been two of the only survivors.”
“Right, now I remember something about that – Hanif Zar Wali died in the infirmary at Gitmo. It was thought initially that his death may have been caused by abusive tactics of the CIA or military interrogators,” Shannon said, now vividly recalling the details. “That caused a stir.”
“Yeah, until they figured that he’d suffered a concussion when he was first captured in battle and had a brain aneurism waiting to pop. The NIS got involved – JAG was lookin into possible charges against a Navy SEAL,” Bryan said as his thoughts went back to Afghanistan seven years before. “During a hearing in front of the investigators, it was asked how the militant was apprehended, you know – what sort of force was used.”
“They were in a combat area, aren’t you supposed to use force?” Shannon asked.
“It was a Marine Corps JAG with a bug up his ass, fishing for anything – he was standin there demanding, ‘What did you do to subdue him?’ The reply was that Zar Wali had been hit,” Bryan said with a short chuckle.
“Did you say the SEAL responded that he hit him?”