What about terrorism? asked Henry Collins, an NYPD detective.
It hasnt been ruled out, Varner said.
Well, did Homeland run down Blaines passport? Is he on any watch lists, or no-fly lists?
Varner turned to the woman from the Department of Homeland Security, who cleared her throat.
Our records show that a US passport has not been issued to Jerricko Titus Blaine.
Maybe he used a fake one, or bought a foreign one?
DHS is investigating all possibilities, she said.
Nick, what makes you think Blaine didnt act alone? another investigator asked.
The nature of the crime and the content of Dan Fultons note.
Varner pointed to the note on the monitor: Family held hostage at home! Strapped bombs on us!
If Dan is at the bank and his family is being held hostage at home, we dont think one person could pull this off alone.
What about the wife, Lori Fulton? another detective asked.
Weve got people talking to her employer at the insurance company, Tilden said. Were looking into the cases where she investigated people involved in fraudulent insurance claims-anyone who might have held a grudge and who could be involved. So far nothing has surfaced. But theres a new aspect concerning Lori Fultons previous job.
Tilden raised his eyebrows at Varner.
Right, Varner said. Now, this may have no bearing on the case here, but weve learned that Lori was with the Santa Ana Police Department in California, but well go to our RA in Santa Ana for the details. Wade?
Wade Darden, with the FBIs resident agency in Orange County, California, gave a report.
What we know is that she was using her maiden name at the time, Lori Wallace, and was a police officer with SAPD until she resigned after several months of disability leave for psychological trauma. Its believed the trauma resulted from an incident that occurred while she was on duty some six years ago. Ill be meeting with the Santa Ana PD after this call and should get full details as soon as possible.
Varner and Tilden then discussed theories and other aspects with the group to ensure nothing was overlooked or no investigative threads were left unchecked.
What about security incidents at the branch? one detective asked.
Nothing of consequence on record, Tilden said. However, one teller told us shed seen a man in a car using binoculars in the strip mall parking lot across the street from the bank. This happened within a few weeks of the incident. We believe he was casing the branch and were going to be reviewing security footage from the mall.
Okay, Varner said. Well be holding a press conference later today to share the basics with the public and make an appeal for information. If there are no other questions, thats all we have. Thanks, everyone.
As the investigators were leaving, Varner noticed that Henry Collins remained at the table, fixated on the notes hed made.
Henry, Varner said, whatre you thinking?
Nick, youre still with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, right?
Yes.
Given that groups have been known to raise funds using drugs, kidnappings, ransoms, robberies and such, Im thinkingmaybe you really have to look at a terrorist connection.
We are, Henry. Were looking at everything.
29
Near Harrogate, England
Huge white spheres stood against the rolling green hills and farms of North Yorkshires moorland like a futuristic Stonehenge.
In a chamber deep below the complex, a US intelligence specialist listened to a fragment of an intercepted satellite phone exchange in Arabic.
is preparing to bring gifts to the wedding
The specialist reexamined the alert and summaries from the traffic operator, the linguist and the cryptologist, then he replayed the recording.
is preparing to bring gifts to the weddingmany, many guestswill be a big celebration
He sat up in his chair and began entering key notes from his analysis into his computer. His workstation was in a corner of the control room of the military installation known as Menwith Hill.
The base was owned by the British Ministry of Defence but was chiefly operated by the US National Security Agency. It was one of the most secretive intelligence-gathering systems in the world and the most secure. Food and supplies for the two thousand US military personnel and US contractors posted there were either delivered by ship or flown in from the United States.
The nearly three-dozen giant, white golf-ball-like structures rising from the base housed state-of-the-art satellite receivers and transmitters with an unparalleled ability to intercept every sort of communication anywhere on the planet. Operations had emerged from ECHELON, a communications network of listening posts around the world operated by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, to eavesdrop on the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.
Menwith Hill now served as a critical missile warning line as part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The site was the European Relay Ground Station for the web of Space Based Infrared Satellites built to provide data on missile launches and trajectories.
But since September 11, 2001, terrorism had grown into the leading threat against the United States, its allies and other countries. Menwith Hill afforded its satellite imagery and surveillance capability to coordinate live, precise, military drone strikes and attacks by Special Forces against hostile elements. And intelligence units at the base ran operations intercepting and analyzing the communications of terror groups. Menwiths supercomputers were capable of making millions of intercepts an hour. In nearly each case, targets used coded internet communication, encrypted satellite phones or disposable phones. Advanced technology helped process the encrypted data at unimaginable speed using data-mining software that could quickly pluck and lock on to key words or phrases.
Then it came down to the human factor, because the information still needed further analysis.
Intelligence officers had to understand and make sense of the complex signals, determining what they meant and where they fit in. To help, they also used information extracted from captured suspects or recovered by technicians from seized equipment. Menwith also relied on the work of agents and subcontractors in the field, whose sources and informants provided key but ever-changing data and positions.
In addition to the challenge of encrypted, coded exchanges, linguists had to contend with hundreds of languages. While they were the best translators in the world, they inevitably faced hurdles trying to comprehend everything theyd heard. A great deal could get by if you misunderstood slang, dialects or cultural contexts. The fear of missing critical information ran deep among all operators, no matter how long theyd been monitoring their target.
The intelligence specialist, who was fluent in Arabic, concentrated harder as he replayed the fragment of captured communications several more times.
is preparing to bring gifts to the weddingmany, many guestswill be a big celebration
The exchange was between two senior members of an active jihadist group. He resumed typing on his keyboard, submitting a few lines of characters. The dialects were Levantine, the kind heard in Syria or Lebanon and the Arabian Peninsula, perhaps. Sanani or Taizzi-Adeni, which were known to parts of Yemen.
the most beautiful gift will be from the clock maker
The specialist continually replayed the conversation. For the past six months hed been tracking a case that involved intercepts of individuals from Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey, Athens and London. However, this most recent series of calls had bounced from Syria and Yemen to individuals somewhere in the United States.
The specialist let more of the intercept play out as he continued analyzing it and making notes.
will present itoverseasit will be a celebration gloriously remembered
The specialist stopped to focus on what he had so far. He clicked on to the map hed been maintaining, which included dates, time lines and notations based on the intercepts of this network. For months hed been finding small connections that always seemed to dead-end. But today, with this intercepted fragment, hed mined what he believed was a key puzzle piece in an unfolding plot.
An attack against the US is coming.
He called his supervisor to his desk.
Maam, please listen to this. I think we have something here that builds on previous developments. Something big.
The supervisor slipped on the headset and listened.
will present itoverseasit will be a celebration gloriously remembered
She listened two more times, consulted the specialists notes and drew upon all the alerts shed been privy to from the last forty-eight hours. She nodded.
Write it up ASAP. We need to get this to our people at home.
30
Manhattan, New York
Back at her desk in the newsroom, Kate took a hit of her take-out coffee.
Upon her return shed received a text from Varner advising her about the upcoming FBI-NYPD press conference on the Fulton case. She glanced at the clock.
Ive got a little time before it starts.
Ive got a little time before it starts.
As Kate worked on following the lead from the woman shed just met in Bryant Park, she continued to question the veracity of her source. The information shed gotten was intriguing, but so far, Kate had found nothing to support the womans claim.
Is she just another whack job?
Kate searched databases Newslead subscribed to and requested their news library, one of the best in the business, to help search for anything on a California police officer named Lori Fulton. She went back ten years to ensure everything was covered, but nothing had surfaced. Not one iota of information identifying Lori Fulton as a cop in California.
It made Kate skeptical of the womans information. It was clear shed held a grudge against Lori, steeping her account in bitterness. But she seemed certain Fulton had been a cop, and the internal notice by Dixon Donlevy hinted at it. The notice was brief, announcing that Lori Fulton would be the senior investigator of fraudulent claims in the Queens region; that shed graduated from California State University with a degree in criminology and had many years of investigative experience. There were no details, no elaboration. When Kate called, Cal State couldnt confirm that Lori Fulton had ever attended.