Chapter Seven
When they got to FBI Headquarters Sam met them and they marched Doug straight up to a private room for interrogation. He was still cuffed and shackled as they escorted him in. Once he was seated at a big conference room table Sam asked him, “Is there anything we can get you before we begin to get to know each other a little better, maybe some coffee, soda or water?” Doug replied, “No, not really, but I do need to go to the bathroom before you start grilling me. It was a long ride back and it’s been a few hours since our last stop. I know you want to get all the information from me you can, but I’ve got to go to the bathroom first and then you can torture me if you want too.” He didn’t know what to expect from them, but he had a pretty good ride back to Washington D.C. with Terry and Krista. They weren't as rough on him as he thought they were going to be.
Once Doug was back in the room, Sam told him, “With terrorists like you we’d normally just file a Federal complaint against you with the U.S. District Court and send you off to Guantanamo Bay or some other prison for the rest of your life. We could probably execute you for all your crimes, but I have other plans for you. No one, accept for the Attorney General, knows that we’ve captured you and brought you back here. What happens to you depends on you and your cooperation with us. We want to spend the next several weeks and get to know you and find out how you were able to find the terrorist cells here in America and blow them up before the FBI or anyone else even knew they existed. If you'll work with us then we are willing to work with you." Doug was somewhat bewildered by what Sam had in mind for him. Before he arrived at Headquarters he was feeling like he might’ve been better off if he would’ve just taken his chances and tried to run before they captured him.
Sam began to explain to him, "We’re not sure what category you fall into." You could be classified as a Confidential Informant “CI” or an "Asset." The Attorney General has set guidelines regarding the use of Confidential Informants and Assets and I’m not sure how to classify you." Doug didn’t say anything because he didn’t really care about all that CI and Asset talk, all he cared about was how all of it affected him. “We feel we can use your help in locating and shutting down some of the suspected terrorist cells in America that we either don’t know about or can’t find. You’ve already exposed more terrorist cells to us than what we were aware existed. After your attacks, we were able to get a lot of their organizations shut down because of their terrorist activity. Our goal is to stop all domestic and foreign terrorism. Don’t get me wrong, we still consider you a criminal because you broke the law when you blew up those places and killed people. You've killed a lot of people with your own hands and a few of them were innocent people. Regardless, we think you might be able to help us uncover a lot of terrorist’s sleeper cells that are already here in America that we don't know about. We know there are thousands of “lone wolf” terrorist out there just waiting for the right moment to make their move against America. We need to get them before they get us."
"We’ve foiled hundreds of attacks they had planned on planes and malls, sports events, amusement parks and other place where a lot of people gather. We think you’ll help us save the lives of a lot of American citizens if find them and stop them before they're able to put their plans into action. If you agree with all our terms and conditions, we’re going to spend the next several weeks and find out everything we can from you and see how you can be of use to us.”
When Doug was brought to the FBI headquarters he was sure they were going to hang him from the nearest tree as soon as they got a chance. Now Sam was talking like he was going to be working with the FBI as some type of confidential informant, asset or something, instead of being crucified by them. He didn’t say a word as he sat there and listened intently to what Sam had to say. He had finally gotten his attention and he wanted to hear more of what he had on his mind. If it meant he could somehow continue to kill the radical terrorists, he was really interested in helping them.
After listening intently, Doug finally broke his silence, “I'm a nobody, just a lonely old Grandfather that took my own personal revenge against all the radical terrorist cells in America that want to kill Americans. During all my attacks, all I was trying to do was get my revenge for them killing my grandson, Michael. I went after them with all the hatred I could muster up in my body. If you want to work with me then you have to realize that the anger and hatred I have for the terrorists will never go away. It’s part of me now and I can’t just let it go as long as I’m still breathing.”
Sam replied, "That’s frightening Doug, but from now on you'll have to play by our rules. You won’t be able to just pick out a target and go kill a bunch of people, like you used to. You’ll be on more of a fact finding mission, instead of a killing mission. You'll have to get into their compounds and meeting places to find out what their plans are. Once you find out that information you'll report it back to Terry and Krista. They will then pass it on to me and with your help, we can accomplish what you want, which is to get rid of the terrorist, but we’ll do it legally and under the control of law enforcement agencies.”
Doug didn’t really like the fact that he would have to infiltrate the radical Islamic groups and not be able to kill them. “I don’t know if I can promise you that I won’t try to kill them before you send your people in.” Sam replied, “You have to promise me that you'll let us handle it from now on Doug. If you don’t agree to do that, then the deal is off and you’ll go straight to prison. If you think you can’t live with our terms and conditions then you need to let us know now before we waste any more time and effort on you.” Doug thought about it for a minute, “Okay, we’ll do it your way. I’ll infiltrate their camps and mosques and then your people can go in and arrest them once I have the proof you need that they are terrorists.” He didn’t tell Sam, but deep in his heart, he knew he would never be able keep that promise. He knew he would find a way to kill them once he found out they were terrorists. He had no intentions of living up to the agreement, he was just trying to appease Sam.
“We aren’t going to put you up in some plush hotel and feed you like your a king or hero or anything like that. During your work with us you’ll be staying in modest hotels in the different towns where you’ll be working. I’m assigning Terry and Krista to work with you and they'll be with you constantly while you are out there. You’ll have to wear a monitor around your leg until we feel like we can trust you enough that you won’t go crazy on us, and try to disappear. We’ll keep you in a locked room and we’ll feed you for the next two to three months until we’re all comfortable with our working relationship. If things work as I have planned then you'll be given more latitude to live somewhat normal during your captivity."
After their meeting, Doug was led back to a room that had solid white walls, a bed, and bathroom. It didn’t have any windows where you could look outside. They told him to get some rest as they locked the door behind them. When they left, he looked around and realized he was still a prisoner, he just wasn’t a prisoner in the normal small prison cell like in a state or federal prison. For that moment it didn’t matter to him, he was happy that they were willing to work with him, instead of what he envisioned they would do to him.
Over the next several days, Doug started getting more comfortable with Terry and Krista. He told them that he understood and spoke the Arabic language fluently and that helped him get into most Islamic places where he wanted to be. He told them he learned it by taking courses on his computer while Michael was going through Army training. “That’s how I got into a lot of the camps and organizations, by gaining their trust.” He told them about each and every target he’d taken out since Michael’s death.
When Doug showed them the locations of his attacks they were shocked to find out there were so many of them. There was far more than what they originally thought and a lot of the killings they didn’t know he was connected to. They were shocked t
hat he had taken out a lot of his targets with his sniper rifle and other weapons. They were also surprised to hear about the protester in San Francisco that he had killed with the syringe of potassium chloride, the two Muslim protestors in Chicago he killed with his pistol and the mosque leaders in Fresno and San Diego that he killed with his sniper rifle.
When Terry got a chance to talk to Sam alone he said, “This guy is a little scary, boss. He's a cold blooded killer. He has killed a lot of people and in a lot of different ways that we didn’t even know about. It’s a little bizarre how many people he has actually killed.” Sam said, “Yeah, I know. Aren't you glad he’s on our side now?” Terry sort of half chuckled and said, “Yeah, you’re not kidding.”
After a few months with Terry and Krista, Sam had Doug brought back to the interrogation room so he could talk to him once again. When he walked in, there was another younger looking man standing by the table and Sam introduced him. Sam said, “Doug this is Dr. Walter Pinkham and he works with the FBI as a plastic surgeon. He wants to take a look at you because we need to alter your facial appearance. We can’t let you be seen out in public places with Terry and Krista looking like Douglas Cotton. We don’t want anyone to know that you're the "American Terrorist, and that you're still alive." He’ll operate on your face so that you won’t look the same. He’ll do eyelid surgery, alter your nose and add some cheekbones to your face. When he’s through with you, no one will recognize you, not even your own family. We’re also getting you a new I.D. card with the name of Donald Peters. He wants to look you over and prepare you for the surgery. He has you scheduled for tomorrow morning at 6:30 am to do surgery. He's going tell you what you need to do to get ready. Doug was surprised they were going to do the surgery that soon, but wasn’t against what he knew had to be done. He knew he couldn’t be out of his room without someone recognizing him. He was joking with the doctor, “Just don’t change my pleasing personality, okay Doc? That’s all I ask.” They both laughed and that was all that was exchanged between the two of them.
Doug was awoken the next morning before daylight and walked down to the elevator and taken to a floor of the operating room. The Anesthesiologist had him lay down on a gurney and then gave him a shot that knocked him out. For that short moment, before he blacked out, he was thinking this would be a great way to die. "Too bad they can't just leave me like this and just let me drift away peacefully."
He woke up sometime around noon with bandages around his head and face. He had just enough opening so he could open and close his eyes and mouth. He wasn’t feeling any pain as he looked around to see that a nurse dressed in white was taking care of him.
After he recovered from the surgery they took him back to his room. They told him he would have to just relax and be comfortable for the next couple of weeks while everything healed. He didn’t have a problem with that, he’d gotten used to not doing much of anything, except answering their questions since he arrived.
The doctor took the bandages off after four days and said, “It looks real nice, Mr. Peters.” He handed Doug a mirror and he immediately held it up in front of his face. He was now looking into the swollen and stitched up face of a stranger as he came into focus. He no longer looked like Douglas Cotton and although he’d always been happy with his appearance, he was now pleased he had a new identity. Once he healed he would be able to leave the building and go out with Terry and Krista on some missions of finding the terrorists.
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