They Disappeared

37

Quantico, Virginia

The most advanced forensic laboratory in the world was located at the sprawling FBI Academy in the Virginia woods, fifty miles outside of Washington, D.C.

When the traffic was good, Special Agent Wilfred North could make it to his suburban district home in thirty minutes. He was collecting reports and contemplating the drive at the end of his day when his cell rang.

It was the deputy director.

“Glad I caught you, Will. We need an immediate assessment of a component related to a live credible threat in New York. I’ll send you the report from the preliminary work the NYPD did earlier today. We’ve just flown the device to Quantico. I’ve told Chuck I want you and your people to process it. We need to know who made it, who is using it, where it came from, everything you can tell us ASAP. You should have it in minutes.”

North set aside his reports, then emailed several ATF colleagues, as well as scientists, engineers and technicians who worked with him. He requested that they stand by to consult. Then North texted his wife he’d miss dinner.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

As one of the FBI’s top veteran forensic investigators at the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, his work often involved cases where lives were at stake.

North was six months from retiring. He and his wife were to meet a Realtor this evening to discuss purchasing a cabin near Canmore, Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies. But North shoved personal matters out of his head while he waited for the device.

Seated at his workstation, he cleaned his glasses with a soft cloth and reflected on his career. A former U.S. marine before he joined the FBI, North was a certified bomb technician and a crime scene investigator. He’d then worked in counterintelligence before he played a key role at the TEDAC.

The center was a multiagency branch where North’s team analyzed bomb fragments, components, data and intelligence from explosions, plots and investigations in the U.S. and around the world. The team alerted its domestic partners and international allies with data they needed to find those responsible for an attack, or to prevent one from happening.

Over the years, North’s work included investigations related to Oklahoma City, the USS Cole, attacks against the World Trade Center, the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, the London subway attacks and terrorist incidents in Madrid, Athens, Tangiers, Kuwait City and Istanbul.

North’s computer chimed with an email from the deputy director; a classified copy of the NYPD’s assessment of the device. North had just enough time to read and circulate it to his colleagues when the package arrived.

He slipped on his lab coat, latex gloves and began. He kept his workstation with its multifaceted computer system and various scopes and monitors spotless.

North activated the secure encrypted online system, then connected his headset. This accelerated analysis enabled his colleagues in the TEDAC and in labs across the country to see everything he saw in real time while allowing them to simultaneously access their systems to conduct research and offer live commentary.

Because of the superb preliminary work by Lori Hall at the NYPD, they were up to speed on the item.

North placed the component on a tray and positioned it with one of his powerful microscopes, equipped with HD webcam capabilities. He brought everything into focus for his colleagues online.

“What we have,” North said, “is a wafer detonator, microscopic in scale, that was concealed by affixing it to a contact clip in the battery housing of a plastic pull-back toy jumbo jetliner. Can everyone see that?”

North waited for confirmation before resuming.

“Now the toy itself was manufactured in China’s Chenghai district and the dominant material was non-phthalate PVC. We need the signature of the component maker. The detonator is a state-of-the-art, highly sophisticated device. Let’s look at all aspects. I haven’t seen anything like this before. Time is working against us. Everyone knows the drill, so let’s get to it.”

The experts undertook a number of procedures using an array of top-secret databases, secured with layers of passwords.

They looked into bomb-tracking systems containing more than two thousand reports detailing components used in improvised explosives and incendiary devices in the U.S.

Repositories on tracing the chain of manufacture, import and sale of industrial explosives and components nationally and globally were scoured. Sister databases recording thefts and losses of materials were checked.

The TEDAC had received and stored components from bombing attacks made around the world and created a computerized searchable data bank that was a critical tool for all investigations.

International bomb data centers were accessed and case studies were consulted for telltale elements. They studied global computer banks that monitored patterns and trends of terror networks and internationally known bomb makers.

An hour later, North received everyone’s assessments. But before he completed drafting a preliminary analysis, his deputy director called.

“FBI HQ needs to know now, Will,” the deputy said. “The White House is pressing with concerns, specifically because of the UN General Assembly in New York where the president is going to participate in forty-eight hours.”

“I understand,” North said.

“So give me a verbal and I’ll call HQ.”

North repositioned his glasses.

“Bottom line-we’ve never seen anything like this. Something similar has surfaced in an assassination attempt in Pakistan, attacks in Syria, Yemen.”

“What exactly is it?”

“The NYPD had it right. It’s a microscopic detonator-advanced, state-of-the-art stuff.”

“Who made it? Who do we go after?”

“A number of possibilities. The North Koreans may have developed it, or Iranian scientists. We’ve got some word that it could’ve been Russian made and tested in Syria, before it was offered for sale to terror networks.

“This device can be used to deploy a powerful nonnuclear bomb and it’s virtually invisible from detection using the normal security procedures.”

“This isn’t good, Will.”

“No, and we don’t know how it got here, if there are others already here, or en route.”

“There are about one hundred and fifty world leaders in New York and each of them is a potential target.”

“Or all of them,” North said.