Storm Front

Chapter 5

Faraj Awad, according to his driver’s license, lived at North Star Village, an apartment complex for students not far from the university. Virgil had driven past it, but had never stopped.

As he turned into the parking lot, he judged it as an okay place, but not great: the four rectangular, yellow-painted concrete-block buildings in the complex were neatly kept, but offered neither individual garages nor an underground parking garage. Given Mankato’s winter weather, a garage was a serious consideration.

But not today.

Temperatures would be reaching well into the eighties, and could touch ninety. They cruised through the lot, and found Awad’s car — the exact shade that Virgil remembered, with a basketball-sized dent in the left rear bumper — in the second row.

“There we go,” Virgil said, pleased with himself for making the call on the Camry.

When they got out of the car, Yael said, “This is another difference, from Israel to here. I am drowning in the humidity. The air feels thick.”

“It gets worse,” Virgil said. “On the other hand, this is the most beautiful place in the world, in August. If you like water and natural color. And rural states.”

He opened the truck’s back door, used a key to unlock the gun safe hidden under the backseat, took out his pistol, already in a soft waistband holster, checked it, and tucked it behind his belt at the small of his back. Then he took a sport coat that had been folded in a plastic bag out of the back and pulled it on.

“You prefer the Glock?” Yael asked with a frown.

“It’s preferred by my agency,” Virgil said. “You’re familiar with them?”

“Yes. I’m much happier with a Sig 229 in .40 Smith & Wesson,” she said. “Though I would also take a Beretta, if it was well turned.”

“I don’t know much about pistols and I’m not that good a shot,” Virgil said. “When there’s a problem, I prefer an M16 or a good solid pump shotgun.”

Yael said, “Hmm. Have you ever had to shoot at a human being?”

Virgil said, “Yes, unfortunately,” and headed for Building B. She hurried to catch up, and Virgil half-turned to ask, “You’re a good pistol shot?”

“Very good,” she said. “But as an IAA investigator, I mostly arrest people for digging holes in tels. Or illegally selling antiquities to tourists, on those rare occasions when the antiquities are real. I’ve never had a chance to test myself in combat.”

“It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be,” Virgil said.

“You will have to tell me,” she said. “Such experience is rare.”

“Have to get me drunk first,” Virgil said.

The apartment buildings each had an interior porch, with unlocked doors to the outside, but a second set of locked doors going in. Awad was in Building B, “The Sunflower.” Virgil leaned on the buzzer for the manager’s office, but no one answered.

They’d waited three or four minutes when a young woman popped out of an elevator inside and walked out through the interior doors. Virgil caught it when it opened, and held it for her, but she stopped and said, uncertainly, “You’re not supposed to do that — go in.”

Virgil fished his ID out of his pocket and said, “I’m with the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. We’ve been buzzing the manager, but nobody answers.”

“That’s no big surprise,” the woman said. “She considers all calls to be a pain in the butt, so she mostly doesn’t answer anything.”

“I’ll talk to her about that,” Virgil said. He ushered Yael inside, and the woman went on her way.

Just inside the door were a series of mailboxes, and 220 said: “Awad.”

“We should talk to the manager?” Yael asked.

“Why? She doesn’t want to talk to us,” Virgil said. “Let’s go upstairs and knock on his door.”

The interior of the apartment building resembled a lower-end travel motel, with a central atrium going up three floors to a skylight, and two sets of red-carpeted stairs winding up on either side of the atrium’s core. There were also elevators, but Virgil took the stairs, with Yael at his elbow.

There appeared to be about a hundred doorways down the corridors stretching north and south from the central atrium, the doors painted in varying shades of red, blue, and yellow in a failed effort to make them look stylish. Awad’s was blue-green. Virgil knocked on the door, and a second later, heard a thump from inside.

“Somebody’s home,” he said. He stepped a bit sideways from the door, gestured to Yael to get behind him, knocked again, and put a hand on his pistol. A moment later, the door opened two inches, and a man peered out through the crack behind a chain: Virgil could see a single dark brown eye. “What?”

Virgil held up his ID. “We need to chat with you, about Reverend Jones.”

The man’s eye narrowed, and Virgil thought he’d slam the door, but then he said, “Ahhhh… I will take the chain.”

The door closed an inch, and the chain rattled and the man said, “Come in,” to Virgil, and then, “Why are you bringing an Israeli?”

Virgil was inside, with Yael a step behind him. “How’d you know she was an Israeli?”

The man shrugged: “She looks like one.”

Virgil: “You’re Faraj Awad?”

“Yes, but everybody calls me Raj,” the man said. “And you’re… Virgil?”

“Virgil Flowers. Yes.”

Virgil looked around. Awad’s apartment was small, with a kitchenette, a fourteen-by-twelve living room, and a tiny balcony overlooking the parking lot. A bedroom was off to the right, and through an open door Virgil could see that it was barely big enough to contain a queen-sized bed. The bathroom was apparently out of sight off the bedroom.

The living room was furnished with a couch, two chairs, a coffee table, and a worktable with a laptop and a printer in the middle, and a small flat-panel TV sitting on one end of it, facing the couch. A soccer ball was half hidden under the coffee table, along with stacks of books, American magazines and newspapers, and two twenty-five-pound dumbbells.

Awad was an inch or two shorter than Virgil, slender and square-jawed, with a short, carefully cut beard, longish black hair, and large dark eyes. He had a gold earring in one ear. He would, Virgil thought, do well with the Mankato State coeds, if he was inclined to. He said, “Come in and sit down. Even the Israeli, as long as she builds no settlements behind my couch.”

Virgil asked, “Why’d you break into Jones’s house this morning?”

Awad dropped on the couch and shook his head, not bothering to deny that he’d been there. “I didn’t. I was invited to come over to look at a stone. I was on time, I knocked, but nobody answered. I knew he was sick, so I went inside — the door was not locked — and called to him. Nobody answered. I was writing a note to him when you came in… I suppose it was you.”

“It was,” Virgil said. “Why did you run?”

“I thought you might be the Turk,” Awad said.

“The Turk,” Yael repeated.

“Yes. You definitely do not want to mess with the Turk. He cut your good parts off. Well, maybe not you, but”—he pointed at Virgil—“you.”

Virgil thought, First things first, and asked, “Where’s this note you were writing to Jones?”

“Should still be there, in the kitchen.”

Virgil said to Yael, “Don’t let him run — I’m going to make a phone call.”

“Yeah, I’ll stop him,” she said. “I’ll hit him with my purse.”

Awad said to her, “Your personality alone would be enough. You are one very attractive Jewess.”

“Keep talking,” she said.

“Ah, Jesus,” Virgil said.

Virgil chose to step into the hall, leaving the door mostly open, in case one of them tried to strangle the other. He called Mankato PD to get the cell number of the crime-scene guy, and when he had it, called and asked about the note.

“It was on the floor by the kitchen counter. All it says is, ‘Dear Mr. Minister Jones…’ That’s it.”

“Thanks,” Virgil said, and rang off. He had no case on Awad, even if he wanted one. Not unless Awad’s fingerprints were found on the patch of blood.

Back inside, Awad was saying to Yael, “Think about it. I am a young single Lebanese Arab man who is attending a flight school. You think I want to get caught by the American police for breaking and entering? I’m surprised Virgil didn’t bring Homeland Security with him, to kick down the door. Not even my large and succulent personality could help me then.”

Virgil came in, sat on the couch, winced, took the gun out of the small of his back and put it in his jacket pocket. “So,” he said, “who’s the Turk?”

“One minute,” Awad said. He went to the worktable, picked up the laptop, came back to the couch, touched some icons, and a note page popped up: “He is a man named Timur Kaya,” he said, looking at the laptop page. Virgil moved closer, looked over his shoulder, took a notepad out of his jacket pocket, and copied the spelling.

Awad continued: “He represents another man named Burak Sahin.” He tapped the laptop screen, and Virgil noted that name, too.

“According to my uncle, Kaya spent his earlier days in Turkish Army intelligence, cutting the testicles off Kurds, when they would not tell him where the other Kurds were hiding,” Awad said. “My uncle told me to be careful with my testicles.” He looked at Yael. “I am very fond of them.”

“I’m sure they are quite valuable,” she said.

“This is correct,” Awad said. “Mmm. So: he is employed by Sahin, who is a big collector of important artifacts from former Turkish lands. Like Israel. The rumor is that he will pay five million for this stone the minister has.”

“Five million?” Virgil was incredulous. He knew a guy who’d killed a friend’s wife for ten thousand dollars and the papers to a three-year-old Buick. He looked at Yael. “It’s worth five million? You didn’t tell me that.”

“We weren’t concerned with how much it would sell for — we’re only concerned that it’s stolen property,” she said. “We’re not going to pay to get it back.”

“Then I think,” Awad said, performing a full-dress Middle Eastern shrug, which involved the entire body, “that you will not see it again.”

According to Awad, his uncle had called him from Beirut and said that a man he knew was interested in buying the stone, and would pay a large amount of money for it. Awad was not being asked to make the payment himself, but to simply verify Jones’s possession of the stone. If he did that, then Awad would arrange for the buyer to meet Jones for the exchange.

“Who is this that your uncle knows?” Virgil asked.

“I do not know the answer to that question,” Awad said. “I asked, and my uncle said it was best that I did not ask.”

“The Party of God,” Yael said.

“This is possible, but I would not venture, under any conditions, to say so myself,” Awad said.

“The Party of God — is that bad?” Virgil asked.

“You may know them as the terrorist group Hezbollah,” Yael said.

“Okay, that’s not desirable,” Virgil said.

“So, with three killers seeking this stone already, I think it’s time for Raj Awad to preserve his testicles and take a vacation,” Awad said. “Perhaps to New England. New England is supposed to be nice in the summer.”

Virgil: “Three killers? This Kaya guy, the Hezbollah buyer — who’s the other one?”

Awad looked at Virgil, as if not believing his ears, then at Yael. When Virgil still didn’t catch on, he poked a finger at her.

“She’s with the Israel Antiquities Authority,” Virgil said. “She does antiques.”

Awad snorted. “They sent an antique dealer to compete with the Turk and the Hezbollah? I tell you, Virgil, I use an American idiom here. Your head is placed where the sun don’t shine.”

Virgil looked at Yael, who said nothing, then back to Awad: “The sun don’t shine?”

“She is Mossad, Virgil. Or Shabak. She cut your throat like a young goat.” Awad drew his index finger across his throat.

“A young goat?” Virgil looked at Yael.

Yael said, “He’s been on the kief. I’m with the IAA.”

Awad snorted again, and Virgil said to Yael, “You were talking about favorite pistols? You prefer a Sig or even a well-turned Beretta? And you’re an antiquities expert?”

“Israel is different,” Yael said, looking away.

“This is true,” Awad said. To Yael: “I am told that young, attractive Mossad women are sometimes used to seduce their Arab targets.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Yael said. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

“I would gladly volunteer for this interrogation,” Awad said.

“Ah, Jesus,” Virgil said, and he went back to the hall.

He called Davenport. “I haven’t found the stone yet, but I’m making some progress. I wanted to update you in case I’m found dead.”

“Virgil…”

“Lucas, I found the guy who was in the house. He’s acting as a kind of representative for Hezbollah, the terrorist group, in Lebanon. He says there’s another character in the hunt, a former Turkish Army intelligence officer, known for cutting the testicles off Kurds. He also tells me that Yael is not from the Israel Antiquities Authority, but from the Mossad. Or… uh… I think he said Shabak, which is apparently some other Israeli intelligence agency that kills people. She denies it, but she’s lying.”

Davenport was silent for a moment, typing on a keyboard, then said, “Shabak… I’m looking at Google. It’s Israeli internal security. I guess here in the States we call it the Shin Bet. They do seem to kill some people. Interesting.”

“Interesting? I’m dealing with a Turk who cuts your balls off, a Middle Eastern terrorist group, and an Israeli gun moll, and you say it’s interesting?”

“It is interesting. You need some help?”

“Yes. The first thing is, I want you to get onto whoever it is you get onto, your fed friend in Washington, that Mallard guy. Find out if they have anything on a Turk named Timur Kaya.” Virgil spelled it.

“I’ll get on that,” Davenport said. “And I could spring Jenkins and Shrake if you need more manpower.”

“Not yet, but I might. I’m going to poke this beehive a couple more times, but you tell those guys to get ready, in case I call.”

Virgil had just stepped back through the door when Awad took a phone call. He listened for a moment, and said, “I will call you back. I cannot talk at this moment.”

He hung up and said to Virgil, “Football friend.” He tapped the soccer ball with a toe.

Virgil said, “Raj, I swear to God, if you run, I’ll have you arrested and shipped to Israel. Not Lebanon, but Israel, for complicity in this theft. You know what they do to Hezbollah agents in Israel? They string them up by their testicles.”

“Do not,” Yael said.

“So I’m going to give you my phone number, and you’ll give me yours,” Virgil continued. “If I call, you drop everything and come running. You understand?”

“Of course, but I did nothing,” Awad said. “I am not Hezbollah — I’m a Lebanese from birth, not a Palestinian.”

“Okay, I’ll accept that, at least at this point,” Virgil said. “Did you know that we found blood on the floor of Jones’s house?”

Awad’s eyebrows went up, and he said, “No,” and then, “The Turk,” and then, “Much blood?”

“Not much, but it wasn’t done shaving.”

Awad shook his head. “This is not good.”

Virgil and Yael left, after one more warning to Awad. Back in the truck, Virgil muttered, “Mossad.”

Yael said, “You cannot believe this Arab.”

“Shut up.”

He pulled out of the parking lot, drove onto a neighboring street, then around the block, and then around another block, and finally parked on a hillside two blocks from Awad’s apartment parking lot, with a view of Awad’s car.

Yael said, “We do this because he lied about the football call?”

Virgil said, “Yes.” He unsnapped his safety belt, got out, popped the back door on the truck, got a pair of image-stabilized Canon binoculars out of his equipment box, got back in the truck, and handed the glasses to Yael. “You watch. I’m going to close my eyes and think about this.”

He thought for thirty seconds, then sat up and called Davenport again. “I’ve got a cell phone number. I need to know where the calls are going, and where they’re coming from.”

“We can do that,” Lucas said. “Hope it’s a smartphone.”

“It’s an iPhone,” Virgil said. He gave Davenport Awad’s cell phone number.

“Piece of cake.”

Virgil closed his eyes again, then asked, “Will you guys have a file on this Turk?”

“Somebody might,” she said.

“Get it.”

“I will ask,” Yael said.

No mention of the handicap of working for the antiquities authority, Virgil noted.

A minute later, Yael said, “Here he is.”

Virgil sat up: “That didn’t take long.”

“Just long enough to call back to his football friend,” Yael said.

Awad was not elusive. He drove a half-mile into the downtown area, with Virgil a few cars back all the way. Once downtown, Awad dumped the car in a parking space, got out, looked at his watch, and hurried down the street. Virgil pulled into a space at a fire hydrant, and they watched as Awad crossed the next street, looked at his watch again, and disappeared into the Pigwhistle bar and grill.

Virgil drove a half-block down the street, found a parking space, and put the truck in it. “C’mon,” he said to Yael.

“Surveillance?” she asked, as they got out of the truck.

“If the guy he’s meeting came out of the bar first, would we know which one he was?”

“Maybe,” she said, “if it’s another Palestinian.”

“And maybe not,” Virgil said. “You want to do surveillance, do it on your own.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m gonna go see if it’s the Turk in there,” Virgil said.

“How?”

“I’m gonna ask him.”

“This is a most unusual technique,” Yael said. “I shall enjoy watching it, but I have little hope for its success.”