Double Cross

Chapter 15

A MAN WALKED OUT of the shadows and directly into the frame. The killer? Who else would it be? He’d left us this tape, hadn’t he? He wanted us to see it. He wore a plain oatmeal-colored robe and a black-and-white kaffiyeh, and appeared to be incredibly pissed off at the world. He carried an AK-47, which he draped across his lap as he sat to address the camera.

Now this was stranger than strange. It took my breath away, actually. The style of video was immediately familiar. We’d all seen tapes like this before, from Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas.

My gut tightened another notch. We were about to find out something about our killer, and I was willing to bet it wouldn’t be good news.

“It is time for the people of the United States to listen for a change,” the man said in heavily accented English. The skin on his cheeks, forehead, and prominent nose was heavily pockmarked. The skin color, mustache, and apparent height matched the eyewitness accounts from that afternoon at the Riverwalk.

This was our guy, wasn’t it? The one who’d thrown the author Tess Olsen twelve stories to her death? And before that, seen fit to humiliate her with a dog leash?

“Each one of you watching this film is guilty of murder. Each one of you is as guilty as your cowardly president. As guilty as your congress and your lying secretary of defense. Certainly as guilty as the pathetic American and British soldiers who defile my streets and kill my people, because you believe that you own the world.

“And now, you will pay with your lives. The blood of Americans will be spilled in America this time. Blood that I will spill myself. Make no mistake, there is much that one man can do. Just as none of you are innocent, now none of you are safe.”

The man got up and approached the camera, staring out at us as if he could see right into the den. Then he beamed with the most horrific smile. A second later, the screen went back to static.

“Christ,” Sampson said into the ensuing silence. “What the hell was that crazy piece of shit? Who was that maniac?”

Just as Bree was reaching for the “stop” button, another image came up on the screen.

“A double feature,” said Sampson. “Man believes in giving us our money’s worth, anyway.”