Chapter 3: Chapter 2
Chapter 2
As soon as Lakshmi entered, the office occupant stood up and without even greeting her put on a jacket and said.
“We were waiting for you to arrive with the first information from the field. There is a meeting in the Situation Room. You will expose first with what you have seen.”
Lakshmi hesitated.
“Let me go to the toilet first, I also have a series of photos, I don't think the forensic ones have already arrived.”
“While you go to the bathroom, give me your cell phone. I'll ask Mitch to project them when you speak.”
“Who will be present?”
“I have no idea. All the command in our area, and probably people from the State Department.”
When both women entered the vast room provided with a wide table almost completely full of all kinds of audiovisual media. Without hesitating for a moment, Jeff Clark, the head of the division in which both women worked, stood up and told the attendees, who in many cases were not known to each other.
“I have already given a brief explanation to those present of what happened.” He said addressing the new arrivals. Then he changed his focus speaking to the rest. “The first data we will receive from Special Agent Lakshmi Dhawan, who has just arrived from the crime scene, and who am I asking to tell us her first impression of what she saw before certain fresh details are erased from his mind. Lakshmi, speak without fear of being wrong, we understand that you have not had time to put your ideas in order and prepare a report.” Then he addressed again all people sitting at the table.
“After Agent Dhawan's presentation, Chief Sullivan will update us on the information about the extinct that has been obtained so far.”
With a calm that surprised herself Lakshmi began to relate what she witnessed after her arrival at the crime scene, the conversations with Captain O'Keefe and the coroner, her observations during her stay on stage at the same time that the technician called Mitch projected the photos on a wide screen, enlarging the planes as Lakshmi or the attendees requested. The exposition of the woman was well structured despite the improvisation, and it was giving rise to requests for explanation from the different people present.
"Was his head severed?" Asked a CIA man.
“Not completely.”
“ How would you describe the blow to the neck?
“The autopsy will say it with greater certainty, but the impression is that it was a single blow given with great force and with an extremely sharp weapon.”
"Do you think the murder took place in the same place where the body was found?" Asked a woman from one of the intelligence agencies that Lakshmi could not determine.
“ Without a doubt, since there was great amount of blood in the site. The body was not moved after the murder.”
At last, an elderly man the woman only knew was a retired Admiral expressed.
“What do the inscriptions in letters and in Arabic characters written with blood on the pavement suggest?”
“Alamut.” The speaker repeated mechanically. “I don't know if what is written in Arabic is the same as in our alphabet.”
"It is." One of the FBI linguistic experts said dryly.
“Well ... it reminds me of stories from my childhood ... when I lived in India, medieval stories of murderers and hashish.”
The Admiral interrupted.
“The same stories that came to the West through Marco Polo's narrations. They also remind me of stories from my childhood, which of course predates Miss Dhawan's by a couple of years.”
All present laughed at the break given by the oldest member to the rigid formality of the meeting.
After the end of the round of questions Lakshmi returned to her chair. Director Jeff Clark, seated next to her, placed his hand on the young woman's, showing his support and satisfaction in a silent way; then he stood up and announced.
“As Keneisha Sullivan had anticipated, she will inform us of what we have found so far about the personality of the victim.”
The aforementioned went to the front and took a laser pointer, while Mitch projected a photo of the victim from the front and in profile, and then several snapshots of him on the streets of New York.
“This information is very preliminary and we are looking for more data at this very moment. He is ... sorry, he was Kadar Al ash Sheik, born in Saudi Arabia. Direct line descendant of Muhammad ibn al Wahhab, founder of the Wahabite sect. Although he did not belong to the Saudi royal family, his cradle places him among the aristocratic families of the kingdom. That ancestry also assured him a preponderant religious role in Wahhabism. As far as we could determine, he was a director of one of the most important mosques in Riyadh, and had frequent contact with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, which surely explains the presence of the Saudi ambassador at the crime scene as soon as he learned of the event.”
Keneisha made a pause and cleared her throat.
“We know that Kadar Sheik's family has significant business interests in their country and ties in the United States, where we have recorded his arrival on average twice a year in the past five years. No relatives or social friends are known in this country. We know that the Saudi embassy was organizing his stay, but we can assume that they will not provide us any information on his activities.”
Keneisha stopped again and took a sip from a glass of water placed on the table. She continued.
“We suppose that his presence in New York is explained partly by meetings and services in the mosques of the area, but we are trying to confirm it. We do not have news about other possible activities in the city.”
The woman allegedly from an intelligence service asked.
“I know it's too early, but ... do we have any clue about the motive for the murder?”
Director Clark took over answering the question. There was a hint of rivalry in his tone, not unusual between different services.
“As you said, it is too early indeed.”
The questions continued for a few minutes more. As Director Clark was about to close the meeting, the CIA man got up and asked to speak. He went to the front and gave Greg a pen-drive asking to project one file in it. He began his exposition by saying.
“What I'm going to show here is absolutely confidential and will explain to you the reason for the CIA's presence at this event.”
He took the laser pointer and added.
“You will excuse me for not providing the names of the victims because the investigations are ongoing, although I must admit that there is a lot of darkness in them. This one we see here is a prominent Iranian Shiite cleric killed in Chicago three weeks ago. As you can see, he was also executed with a very sharp cutting weapon blow that almost severed his head, although not completely. In this case, the cleric was not passing through the United States but resides in the mentioned city. Next slide please.
“This murder occurred last month in Amsterdam, and the victim was a Syrian smuggler of precious gems, so the crime was initially attributed to a dispute in the closed diamond market. The information comes from Interpol and our own sources in that European city. Look at the horrible gash in the man's neck. There has also been no progress in this case. Next slide please.”
As the body of a man with his throat cut appeared in an alley, the speaker continued.
“This other episode happened in Barcelona ten days ago. He was a large-scale drug dealer of Pakistani nationality.”
The lecturer paused to put his ideas in order. Then continued
“In the cases of the Shiite cleric from Chicago and the trafficker from Barcelona, both were already under CIA radars for activities dangerous to the security of the United States. We have no previous data on the other two cases. But I must highlight the similarities and differences between the four cases, including the one in New York City.”
New silence to catch up breath.
“ In summary we have two clergymen, one Sunni from a branch of Islam with a center in Saudi Arabia, and another from the Shiite branch based in Iran, irreconcilable enemy of the first since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. On the other hand we have two merchants with illegitimate activities and without obvious ties to spiritual or religious issues, that is, all in all human beings with very little in common.”
One of the attendees asked.
“Can it not be cross-revenge between rival sectarian groups?”
“ The relation with two traffickers would still have to be explained.” Replied the CIA man.” But that is not the reason why we have excluded this possibility in principle, but because of the similarities.”
"Explain yourself, Mike," said the woman from the intelligence services.
“Well, all the executions occurred in the last three weeks and were carried out in dark places in isolated alleys. The technique used to cut the victims' throats was the same executed with precision so as not to entirely behead them, using what we believe were scimitars of the type made in the Middle Ages in the Near East, which speaks of training in the use of this kind of weapons ... and above all ...”
Evidently the CIA man wanted to create suspense for his next statement.
“In all cases the same legend appeared. The word Alamut written in our alphabet and in Arabic characters.”
The surprise at this last statement among the attendees was great.
The CIA man concluded.
“This series of similarities to our criteria exclude the possibility that they may be mere coincidences, and the fact that the cases and their circumstances have not been disclosed also excludes the possibility of one or more followers or copy- cats who were informed by the media and copying the methods. The only possible explanation is a type of international plot with unknown objectives.”
Standing up, the Admiral said.
“It is obvious that at the moment there is no more relevant information. I am going to try through the State Department to obtain data from the Saudi embassy on the New York City case, but I would have no illusions about it because they are usually very reserved.”
With an evident consensus, Director Clark ended the meeting thanking everyone for their presence.
When all attendees had left the Admiral approached Clark and said.
“I would like to meet with Special Agent Dhawan, if possible ... alone.”
Clark was slightly upset at being excluded from an activity by one of his agents but responded.
“Yes, yes, of course, you can use my office.”
Then he called Lakshmi who was leaving the situation room and said
“Lakshmi, this is Admiral Donnelly, who collaborates with the State Department. He needs to meet you now in my office.”
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