Black Friday

CHAPTER 49

Nick wished he could find an excuse to stay in Ceimo's SUV and tag along with him and Maggie. The two were obviously on some secret mission. He found himself a little jealous. That was ridiculous. Of course, he knew it was. Maggie asked Ceimo only because of his connections. Nick wondered if it had something to do with her stepbrother. He wanted to ask. Would have asked, but once again, he ended up in the wrong place, sandwiched between Yarden and Jamie in the back of the SUV.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do," he managed to say just as Ceimo dumped them out in front of the hotel.

Nick followed Yarden and Jamie down a hallway back to the command center. It hadn't been that long ago that they had left. Charlie Wurth was still here and Kunze had returned.

Nick poured himself a cup of coffee and was dumping cream into it when Kunze said to him, "Wurth said O'Dell was with you."

"She was."

Kunze glanced at the door again.

"She went somewhere with Mr. Ceimo," Yarden offered.

"Where exactly did they go?"

"They didn't say." Nick shrugged, sipped his coffee.

Kunze grumbled under his breath, digging his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He stomped across the room, punching in numbers just as Deputy Director Charlie Wurth asked everyone to take a seat.

Wurth started writing on a huge white dry-erase board at the front of the room.

"Here's what we know so far about these guys. We haven't had much time to dig. Everything's still coming in. Feel free to chime in if you've got questions or information to add. No need for formalities."

On the dry-erase board under POI (persons of interest) he listed the names of the three young men the news media had released:

CHAD HENDRICKS, age 19, St. Paul, Minnesota

TYLER BENNETT, age 19, St. Paul, Minnesota

PATRICK MURPHY, age 23, Green Bay, Wisconsin.

He drew a bracket that connected Chad and Tyler, then jotted, "roommates at UnivM."

"We have two agents with a search warrant on their way to the dorm room these two men shared on campus. It looks like they also went to the same elementary school and high school."

A.D. Kunze passed out copies with all three of the young men's photos. He stopped at Nick and Yarden's table.

"Can the surveillance video verify these three were the ones with the red backpacks?"

Both Nick and Yarden took a closer look. Nick didn't like being put on the spot. Neither did Yarden.

"You saw the quality of the shots we had. It's tough to tell," Nick said. "Hendricks for sure." He pointed at Chad's photo. It was a head shot. Probably from a sports roster. He was definitely the kid in the Golden Gopher ball cap. They had looked at that video enough times to safely identify him. Yarden was doing his bobble-headed nod.

"This one could be Bennett." He tapped Tyler's photo. "But Patrick Murphy…I don't think we have good enough video to identify him." He wanted to get back to the surveillance room, back to the video. If he looked a bit harder he wondered if he would recognize the man Maggie said was her stepbrother.

"Definitely Hendricks and Bennett," Yarden said, sounding confident. He wasn't just backing Nick up. Yarden may be timid but he was good at his job. "We couldn't get a good look at the third bomber or the two people he had with him. They all disappeared into the food court."

"What do you mean disappeared?" A.D. Kunze asked.

"The food court doesn't have any cameras."

"None?"

"No, sir."

Nick stopped himself from defending the antiquated security system that originally had been designed to track shoplifters, not terrorists.

"Mall security doesn't extend to that area," Yarden started to explain but Charlie Wurth stopped him.

"We never expected our shopping centers to be targets for terrorist attacks," Wurth said. "Same reason mall security officers are not armed. There are changes that are long overdue."

"Interesting that the TV station didn't have the girl's photo," Nick said.

He had everyone's attention now. Even A.D. Kunze stood quietly.

"So what does that mean?" Charlie Wurth asked.

"Could mean that whoever leaked those photos to the media didn't know the girl ended up with one of the bombs." A.D. Kunze crossed his arms over his chest. "At least it wasn't anyone from our group. Let's make sure it stays that way."

"Is there any evidence that the bombers died with the backpacks?" Wurth asked Jamie.

"Preliminary says yes to two of the three. The restroom bomb didn't appear to have human remains mixed with it."

"You can tell that?" Nick couldn't imagine what it must be like to sift through and determine that conclusion.

"Without getting into the gory details—" Jamie must have read his mind "—yes, we can."

"So there's a chance that three of the five escaped?" A.D. Kunze said it like it was an outrage.

"Don't forget the asshole with the remote," Wurth reminded them. "He got away, too. I'd place all my bets on him being the one who leaked the photos to the media."

A knock at the door stopped Wurth. Everyone twisted around to the door at the back of the room. Kunze was closest. Instead of just opening it and letting the intruder in, he stepped out. In seconds he was back. No one had moved, taking their cue from Wurth who waited.

"Morrelli, Yarden." Kunze waved them over.

He didn't give them any hints. He escorted them out the door without another word. On his way out to join them, he waved a hand at Wurth to continue.

Kunze led them to a couple waiting off to the side. The man wore a long cashmere overcoat. The woman's was leather, no less expensive.

Jerry Yarden seemed to recognize them before Kunze began the introductions. His ears were red again, his eyes wide. Neither a good sign.

"The Chapmans arrived while you both were out. I asked them to stop back. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, this is Nick Morrelli and Jerry Yarden from UAS, United Allied Security. The Chapmans are the majority owners of Mall of America."

Nick relaxed. The well-dressed couple probably just wanted to give them commendations. He didn't realize how wrong he was until Mrs. Chapman furrowed her brow and said, "What in the world went wrong?"