A congressional investigation, made public and eagerly studied by as-Sirat, had shown that America's nuclear reactors were only poorly guarded. The group was currently putting asset into place to take over such a plant and hopefully cause it to melt down. For years, the U.S. had feared that as-Sirat would obtain nuclear weapons, such as those available for sale in some of the former Soviet Republics, and smuggle them into the country. Little did the Americans know that the terrorist group felt that such a plan was bound to fail. Instead, as-Sirat would rely on using nuclear material already in the country.
In order to be able to do their part in this one mission, several of the group’s members had studied nuclear physics for years, including the faithful man who was currently waiting inside the United States to lead the operation. Others, the foot soldiers, would cross the U.S. border from Mexico over the next few weeks. He would have to quickly get word to the leader of the operation to not risk discovery. If the American threat level remained high, the attack would have to be postponed. However, that was not too much of a problem. The as-Sirat fighter whom Omar Bashir had handpicked for the mission about a decade ago had been patiently waiting in the United States for years now. A couple of months more would not matter, especially if it would lead to a greater chance of success.
Contrary to the suggestions of his enemies that he was not in charge of his group anymore, Omar Bashir was a hands-on manager of as-Sirat, and he would have known about any plans to blow up a bus in Washington. Therefore, the attack puzzled him. Obviously, the man who had carried it out was a Muslim, that much was clear from the media reports. However, it did not yet appear to be clear whether that was the reason for his action. After reading one of the articles on Hassan al-Zaid, Bashir recalled some as-Sirat members telling him some time ago about an American student who had to stop playing for his university team because he refused to appear on the same field as the Zionists.
Omar Bashir decided after some contemplation that he would be able to exploit the situation either way. If the bomber acted out of solidarity with as-Sirat, then that could be spun to show that even Americans were turning on their own country. If the attack was just a random act of violence, such as the occasional school shootings in America that gave him so much delight, Omar Bashir thought he would be able to exploit the backlash against Muslims in the United States that was sure to follow.
Thursday, 6:23 am ET
When the country began waking up to the news that the terrorist was still at large, FBI Director Stevenson had already been back in his office for hours. He had rushed home for a short rest not long after watching the interview of the al-Zaids in Egypt. He would have preferred to just work through the night, but better judgment as well as his deputy and his chief of staff prevailed. He needed to be on top of his game and for that he needed sleep, which was difficult to come by in a situation like this. After getting just three hours of rest, he was back at work.
Hassan al-Zaid’s escape baffled him. Criminals make mistakes, they leave trails, but it was as though this one had just managed to disappear even though an entire country was looking for him. They knew he had traveled to Toronto a week ago, but were unable to find out what he had done there. He also never showed up as having returned to the U.S., so he must have gone back across the border undetected, which was not a major feat but puzzling. What was the point of returning to the country without using a regular border crossing?
The suspect had also spent more than $2,000 on tickets leading away from Washington. He bought train tickets going up and down the coast, three Greyhound bus tickets and plane tickets to various destinations leaving from Dulles, Reagan National Airport and Baltimore’s BWI. Stevenson believed that following up on any of those would be a waste of time, but diligence demanded that some of his agents checked all of the destinations. Instead, the FBI director believed that the key to the escape was in Toronto.
The phone rang. It was Stevenson’s chief of staff, informing him of a meeting with the president at the White House to discuss the situation. The FBI director frowned. Most times, he liked having the hands-on Sweeney as his boss. But most times he could also deliver good news. This time he would have to go to the White House empty-handed and admit that he did not have the first real clue as to where Hassan al-Zaid was.
***
Though some of the names of the victims had already leaked out, the FBI did not release a list with the casualties from the attack until authorities had been able to get in touch with a next of kin for each of them. The final death toll was 37, including the bus driver. Twenty-seven men had died and 10 women. Most of the passengers had apparently arrived at Reagan National Airport just shortly before the attack, making it more difficult to identify them. It also meant that the tragedy had affected all areas of the United States instead of only Northern Virginia. Fortunately, no children had been on the bus. The youngest victim was 34 and the oldest 70. Along with the list, the FBI also released to the media excerpts from the video recorded by the two operational surveillance cameras on board.
The new footage, which was played over and over on all news channels, showed Hassan al-Zaid getting on the bus along with several other people. He was carrying a large backpack. Then, not long after the bus started moving, the video showed him getting up and making a gesture toward the driver, who could not be seen from either angle. The bus then stopped and Hassan al-Zaid exited through the rear door, this time without the backpack. Stevenson had not been a fan of releasing the tapes but the White House had overruled him.
On the Today Show, the clip was played for the seventh time that morning. NBC had managed to secure Alan Hausman as an exclusive guest for the morning. With some advice from Art Kempner, he had negotiated an appearance fee of $15,000. Though such a payment was highly unusual for the network, NBC gladly paid that sum to the eyewitness who was closest to the scene of the attack and willing to talk about the experience.
“Alan, what is it like to see this footage, knowing that this is the bus you witnessed blowing up?” the host asked.
“It’s a weird feeling, and I really want to express my condolences to the families of the victims,” Alan, who was sitting in a studio in Washington, said. He had cleaned up considerably for his day of media appearances, having shaved his scraggly beard and exchanged his usual attire of jeans and some sort of t-shirt with a message on it for a button-down and khakis.
“I feel extraordinarily blessed to be alive,” he said. “It's a scary feeling to know that I was a few seconds away from death and that I would not be sitting here had I driven faster or left home just a little earlier.”
Alan had been worried a little about his appearances. It was not the fear of speaking to an audience of millions that made him nervous, but rather the self-awareness that he could come off as a bit of an ass to people who did not know him well. But he didn't need to worry. His answers were genuine and his sympathy for the victims just as heartfelt as his own relief to be alive.
He had struck a couple of other deals to appear on The View and on an MSNBC evening program, pocketing a total of $40,000 in fees. In addition, Alan hoped that, in the longer interviews, he would also be able to talk about his ambitions as an author, though Art had warned him against that.
“Don’t look like someone wanting to exploit the situation for personal gain. The entire country is grieving, so you'd look like an ass,” the media veteran had told him. “This will get your name out there. If your books are good, then someone will publish them for you because you’ll have name recognition.”
On the Today Show, Alan really did not feel like talking about himself. Before they showed the clip of the terrorist, they had on the wife of one of the men who died. She was crying throughout the interview and it was heartbreaking to watch her grieve over her dead husband. Alan didn't understand what the point was of dragging her in front of a camera or her motivation to agree to appear. He was quite sure that she, unlike him, was not paid. Instead, she just wanted to tell the count
ry that her husband had been a good man. He hoped that the appearance on national TV would help her in the process of recovering from the tragedy.
Alan would be on for another segment in the last hour of the show, so he waited in the Green Room while munching on some fruit and muesli.
“Our next guest is standing by in Columbus, Ohio. It is professional soccer player Bill Cusack. He is a midfielder for the Columbus Crew and attended UCLA with Hassan al-Zaid. Bill, how shocked were you when you learned that your former teammate is wanted for carrying out a terrorist attack?”
“Initially, it was a tremendous shock,” the soccer player said, clearly more comfortable in an interview setting than Alan. “As soon as I saw the photo from the surveillance video I said to myself: ‘That guy looks like Hassan.’ But the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. I know people often say in these situations that they would have never expected their friends or neighbors to do something like that, but at UCLA, I definitely saw Hassan become more and more radical in his religious views. And, of course, that culminated with him leaving the team.”
“Did you have anything to do with him after he lost his scholarship and his spot on the squad?” the female host asked.
“Yeah, I’d still see Hassan around campus and talked to him a few times,” Cusack said. “Sometimes, he was the great guy he was when he was a freshman, but other times he would go out of his way to begin discussions about U.S. aggression against members of his faith and stuff like that. It was as though he was looking to get into arguments with me.
“It totally makes me think I should have done something, like report him to Homeland Security or something, but you never think someone would do something as crazy as what Hassan did. But again, in retrospect, I guess it kinda all makes sense.”
“Thank you for your insight. Our guest was Bill Cusack who plays professional soccer for the Columbus Crew. He was a teammate of Hassan al-Zaid at UCLA and his roommate when the team was on the road.”
***
At the White House, Stevenson was led to the Oval Office. Though he knew the way, he was being escorted. Even the FBI director could not simply stroll around by himself in the heart of America's power.
President Sweeney and Director of National Intelligence Director McClintock were already there and engaged in conversation with some breakfast items at a nearby table. They looked up when the door opened and greeted Stevenson.
“Mr. President,” the FBI director said with a nod. “Director McClintock. I hope I’m not running late.”
“Not at all Chris,” the president said and pointed to an empty chair. “Bob was here early. I have asked him to join us because our intelligence community believes that there are indications that Hassan al-Zaid is not in the country anymore.
“Now I want to be clear. I don’t want there to be any sort of turf war over this,” Sweeney looked at both of them over the rim of the reading glasses that he usually only wore away from the cameras. “I hope that you both will exchange all of your information and work together to find this guy. If he is abroad, the FBI can work with Interpol while the intelligence community can do what it does. So I want both of you to be in close contact and speak at least a couple of times each day on the progress you are making.”
His guests nodded.
“Now, where do we stand, Chris?”
“Well, obviously, we haven't found him yet and the trail is remarkably cold, sir,” Stevenson said with an almost apologetic tone of voice. One of the assets of this president was that he brought out the best in his staff. The people working under him wanted to impress Sweeney and therefore tried a little bit harder. In the eyes of many of the White House staff, and even Cabinet-level members of the administration, a compliment from the president was worth more than a raise. Conversely, not being able to deliver gave some people the feeling that they were letting down their commander-in-chief. That was how Stevenson now felt. He first had that sensation of thinking he personally had failed Jack Sweeney when they worked together on a group project at Harvard and only managed a B.
“His escape seems to have been well planned,” the FBI director continued. “I believe that the suspect’s recent trip to Toronto has something to do with his disappearance. Our records show that he traveled there but did not reenter the country. I think, and many of our top people agree, that a key to the escape may be found there. Of course, it would be great if we could get the information that the intelligence community has gathered. If we are just chasing our own tail here, our resources could be put to much better use.
“Now, I just had a briefing with our forensic experts, and they said that the explosion was quite powerful for a homemade device,” Stevenson said. “He must have brought a hell of a lot of explosives in his backpack, so we are wondering if he had somehow obtained some higher grade material as well.”
“How would that help us?” the president interjected.
“It could give us some clues not only about his whereabouts but also possibly about whether he was working with somebody else. Let's say that he did use military explosives instead of something homemade. That means he must have either stolen or bought it illegally somewhere. The sources for obtaining that stuff are much more limited than building explosives from household items and fertilizer that you can buy at any Wal-Mart.
“If it turns out to be military grade explosives, it would also open up the possibility that we were wrong about al-Zaid being a lone wolf,” Stevenson continued. “Others could have been involved in the attack since it’s not easy to get that kind of stuff, even for a young man who has shown an extraordinary knack for planning.”
“Interesting,” Sweeney said, pausing to digest what he had heard and running his hands through his hair. As was the case with most presidents, he had begun graying rapidly after he was elected to office the first time. It did little to diminish his still youthful appearance. In fact, his staff assured him that the gray hair helped him make inroads with voters who had always felt that Sweeney was too young and inexperienced when taking office. Since he was in his second term already, the president cared little about polling and often wondered why it was still being done. His advisers had told him it was to help him establish his legacy, an assertion at which Sweeney laughed. Sitting at his desk in the Oval Office opposite of his FBI director and the DNI, he knew that his legacy wouldn't depend on how people felt about his hair color. Instead, it was the current situation that would determine how his presidency would be judged down the road.
“I think we should keep this information to us for now, especially since this is just a theory at this point, right, and not supported by any facts?” Sweeney asked.
“Yes, Mr. President, it’s just something that seemed unusual to the forensics people when they got the first glance of the site and the devastation the bombing caused,” the FBI director said. “We'll know more when we have a detailed analysis.”
“Well, Chris,” the commander-in-chief said. “The country is rattled and I don’t want to create more concern by prematurely floating a theory that more people might be involved. Also, it seems like we're currently still working under the assumption that Hassan al-Zaid acted as a lone wolf.”
He looked at McClintock and Stevenson who both nodded.
“So, if there were other terrorists who helped him, it seems as though they might get a false sense of safety. I expect that this information will not leak out, Chris. But tell your forensics people from me that they are doing a good job.”
Though Stevenson did not entirely agree with the decision to not spend more resources pursuing the angle that there had been accomplices, he again admired his friend's ability to quickly and calmly analyze a situation and make a decision without waffling. Most often, those decisions would turn out to be right. Maybe there was something he was disregarding here, Stevenson thought. Sweeney had always been more of a “big picture” kind of guy.
The phone on the president’s heavy oak desk rang. Sweeney took the
call but indicated with a wave of his hand to Stevenson and McClintock, who had risen from their seats, to remain in the Oval Office. The president listened for a couple of minutes without speaking and then only said “Thanks,” before hanging up.
“Gentleman, there is another problem,” he said. “Apparently, Hassan al-Zaid’s confession, the one we found at his parent’s house, has been sent to al-Jazeera. They aired it in its entirety a few minutes ago. My press secretary followed up right away to see why they didn’t give us a heads up. Apparently, they got it FedExed this morning and decided to put it on the air. It arrived with a letter that said all our networks would get the same tape within the hour. That’s pretty clever, because it forced them to put it on the air to ensure that they broadcast it first. Now that it's out, I doubt we can convince our networks to sit on it.
“Our communications people suggested that we should tackle this head on,” the president added. “Chris, I think either you or I or Homeland Security should make an on-camera statement saying that this attack was carried out by a young man who obviously had some issues with our policies but that he is in no way representative of Muslim Americans and to warn anybody that we will pursue any kind of attacks on Muslims to the fullest extent of the law.”
“An excellent idea, Mr. President,” Stevenson said. “I think we have to stress that his statement is aimed to incite hate and violence, which are in contrast with the teachings of Islam. The last thing we need is a holy war here right now.”
“I’ll have my guys put something together. Actually, on second thought I'm inclined to do this statement myself,” the president said.
“I think we should put the full weight behind the White House behind this,” he added, hinting at the hierarchy of statements that was part of the rules in Washington. A prime time address from the president was the most serious of responses to a crisis, those from Cabinet members also weighed heavily and, if an issue was to be downplayed, some press secretary usually released a statement.