The Assassin's list Page 11

  The front lobby was manned by a uniformed security guard, controlling entry to the offices and classrooms above ground. He also made sure no one wandered into the research lab below, where Valencia ostensibly worked as a contract research chemist. What a joke, he thought, passing him off as a chemist. The only chemistry he’d been around was in the meth labs he operated for his dad. If that’s how Kaamil wanted to pass him off, it was okay with him. All he wanted to do was provide the cooperation his dad had promised ISIS, and live to enjoy another day.

  The security guard looked up just long enough to recognize his security badge and wave him toward the sign-in roster on the counter. A retired cop who seemed unaware of the secret nature of the company he worked for, he had always been respectful.

  “Afternoon Mr. Valencia, working today?” the man asked.

  “For a while, Ken. I have some tests to finish, then I’m out of here. How about you, como esta, bien?”

  “Sure, I’m okay Mr. Valencia. My son is bringing the grandkids to visit this weekend. The wife has been getting ready all week. Don’t see them nearly as often as we’d like,” the old man said.

  “Have a good weekend,” he said, walking to the elevator.

  He knew what the man was talking about. He dreamed of being back in Mexico with his dad, and hoped he would be soon. The odds of pulling off Kaamil’s plan successfully were slim to none. Maybe he even wanted it to go wrong, just to prove Kaamil wasn’t Allah’s chosen.

  The elevator descended a floor and opened to a lab on the left, and storerooms on the right. Next to the lab door was a keypad and a handprint scanner that opened the electronic locks. He didn’t know how many others were cleared to enter the lab, but from the look of the place, he was the only one to enter recently. Half windows ran the length of the front wall on either side of the door. There were two island counters inside, with all the usual lab equipment. Another door at the back of the lab was marked “Supplies.”

  Valencia pulled down the Venetian blinds on the front windows and went directly to the door marked “Supplies.” When he entered the code into the keypad, the green light came on. He then placed his hand on the handprint scanner and placed his right eye onto the iris scanner. Ten seconds later, the lock on the door clicked open and he entered the secret lair ISIS used to hide and train its jihadists.

  The lair consisted of a long hallway with two classrooms, four sleeping bays, a large locker room with showers, an exercise room, and a dining hall. The walls throughout were bare cement, and the gray vinyl floor tiles did little to brighten up the place. It resembled an old fallout shelter.

  At the end of the hallway, another secured door led to an escape route. A tunnel ended at a ladder to a locked manhole cover. It opened at the base of a tree near the barbed-wire fence on the southern end of the ranch. If the underground facility was discovered, trainees could make their way to a nearby trailhead and disappear in the national forest that bordered the ranch.

  There was also an armory with another tunnel leading to the airstrip, that allowed personnel to come and go without being seen.

  Kaamil’s plan for the big evening was to decorate the dining room to look like a harem’s quarters. Fragrant garden flowers, screens depicting tiled harem walls, and satin pillows under soft lights were to be brought in. Natural-colored tent canvas would drape the concrete walls, and Persian rugs would cover the floor. No expense was spared to create the right atmosphere for the three young martyrs.

  Valencia thought it was a waste, trying to create a fantasy for men who were certain to be killed. Even if they believed they were going to be met by adoring young virgins in Paradise, why give them their prize before they got there? Malik had developed a designer drug for Kaamil’s men that combined the sense of confidence ecstasy provided, with the energy and aggression produced by meth. He doubted the men would need anything more to motivate them.

  He was upset, though, that he would be wasting three pretty young girls. None of them would survive the evening. The effects of the drug potion and the stimulation of the evening would make their lovers hard enough on them. He knew Kaamil would not let them live to connect ISIS to the assassination plot.

  Valencia quickly checked the armory, where the supplies and decorations for the send-off feast had been delivered. Everything was there and organized, just as he had ordered. With any luck, he thought, I won’t have to come back here after next week. Partnering with these crazies was too dangerous. If they weren’t killed, they’d wind up in jail, or hung. Either way, it was bad for business.

  Chapter 25

  When Valencia didn’t come out of the ISIS training facility after half an hour, Drake drove back to Hood River. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast. After picking up a sandwich and some ice tea at a drive-through Subway, he headed back to Portland.

  Kaamil was up to something, that much was clear. He and Valencia appeared to be friends, but even that didn’t explain what Valencia was doing at the ISIS training facility. Kaamil could be in business with Valencia, letting him use the warehouse, and ISIS might not know about that. But the security guard waved him through the gate, so someone at ISIS had to know about the drug dealer.

  He hadn’t learned anything today that got him any closer to tying Kaamil to the men sent to kill him. Hell, the most he could prove was the guy kept bad company. His instinct, though, told him Kaamil was behind it all.

  The trick would be to get someone with the resources to investigate Kaamil and ISIS. For that, he needed something he didn’t have-evidence of a security threat involving the Secretary or the homeland. Liz Strobel was only interested in protecting the Secretary, and then the country, in that order. He still wasn’t sure he could trust Strobel, though. She hadn’t done a very good job keeping his name out of things.

  He would just have to go it alone for the time being. He’d operated solo before, and with the restraints on law enforcement, he might even be more successful. Things like search warrants and probable cause didn’t apply to private citizens, as long as you weren’t breaking the law. If you were real careful, no one would know even if you did.

  As he drove past the historic Columbia River Gorge Hotel in its manicured gardens perched high above the river, Drake decided to call Liz Strobel. Even if he didn’t trust her, she may have learned something that would help.

  She answered on the first ring.

  “I’ve been waiting for your call. Where are you?” she demanded.

  “Hey, calm down. Was I supposed to take you to lunch or something? If so, I’m truly sorry. I forgot. How can I make it up to you?” Drake asked lightly.

  “I’m not in the mood to play games with you, Mr. Drake. I’m the one that got stuck answering questions you should have been here to answer. Half the imams in this city are demanding to know what happened to three Muslim men they claim have disappeared. The press is demanding to know what we know. I’m trying to keep you from being arrested for murder.”

  “We need to meet. I stumbled onto something this morning you need to know. Can we meet for a drink, say in an hour? It’s important.”

  There was a long pause. She was either trying to compose herself or considering whether to have him arrested.

  “I’ve borrowed an FBI office in the Crown Plaza building. Is there somewhere close?” she finally said.

  “Yes, but I don’t want to be questioned by anyone from that office just yet. I know most of those guys. We need somewhere a little farther away. Are you staying downtown?”

  “I’m staying at the Marriott.”

  “Why don’t you go there? I’ll meet you in Champions, the sports bar, say 4:30 p.m.”

  “All right, I’ll be waiting to hear what you’ve learned. We’ve discovered a few things ourselves.”

  Drake hoped the things she’d discovered were more than just the names of the three dead guys. He didn’t care who they were. He was anxious to know who sent them and why. That would give him a target.

  Before he turned off I-84 an
hour later, in Portland, Drake called his office. The afternoon traffic was starting to build, slowing him to thirty-five miles per hour as he crawled along through the east side of the city, with the bright afternoon sun in his eyes.

  “Margo, I’m meeting the person from Homeland Security at the Marriott in a few minutes. I’ll be back before the end of the day.”

  “Everything’s quiet here. I may be gone when you get here. Paul’s taking me to the coast for the weekend and wants to beat the traffic.”

  “Great idea, Margo. Tell Paul I said so. We’ll pick up the pieces at the office next week when you get back.”

  “I’ll try. Sorry if I’ve been snippy, I wasn’t prepared for all of this. I’ll be better next week.”

  Drake could hear the relief in her voice that she was getting out of Dodge for the weekend.

  “You’ve been great, Margo. I wasn’t prepared for it either. Have a glass of wine, enjoy a sunset and don’t worry about any of this.”

  Margo had worried through too many nights, wondering if her husband would come home. Worrying about her own safety was something new. He was proud of the way she was handling it.

  The Marriott was only a block away from Drake’s office, but he decided to park the Land Rover at the hotel. The only place to park at his office was his reserved space, labeled with the unit numbers of both the office and his condo, where Paul and Margo were living. If someone ran the plates on the Land Rover, he didn’t want them crashing through Margo’s door to arrest him.

  He tossed the keys to the valet parking attendant and walked directly to the elevator on the south side of the lobby. The hotel was busy for an early Friday afternoon. While he waited for the elevator, he looked around and saw the reason why. The hotel was hosting a day-long seminar with the catchy title “21st Century Health Insurance Trends.” Most of the attendees were wandering around, probably looking for the nearest bar. Who could blame them, he thought. The best speakers never got scheduled last on a Friday afternoon.

  When Drake’s elevator stopped on the second floor, he saw that Champions wasn’t crowded yet. Windows ran along the length of the east wall. Bar-height pub tables were placed to take advantage of the view of the river, and Mount Hood in the distance. The other walls were covered with sports posters, framed Trail Blazer uniforms, and sports memorabilia. Drake chose a table towards the rear and sat facing the door to watch for Liz Strobel.

  Portland was known as America’s Microbrew Capital, but when the waitress asked him for his order, he asked for a pint of Full Sail Pale Ale, brewed in Hood River. Should have joined Kaamil and Roberto and had a glass there, he thought. It might have saved a lot of time, for all of us.

  Drake took a drink of beer and saw Liz Strobel walk in. With a quick look around the bar, she spotted him and walked briskly to his table before he could wave to her. She was wearing a black skirt and a creamy, long-sleeved blouse, and didn’t look like someone who had just left her office. She looked like someone going out for dinner. Drake wondered if she had changed her clothes just for him. Whatever the reason, she had most of the men in the bar watching her walk to his table. If they knew this was just business, he thought, most of them would be lining up to introduce themselves the moment he left.

  “Thanks for coming. I appreciate it,” he said, as he stood and pulled out a chair for her. “Get you something, or are you still on the clock?”

  “A glass of wine, please. Yes, I’m on the clock. I still have quite a mess to clean up, thanks to you.”

  “I didn’t invite them to pay me a visit, remember? What’s this about the imams raising hell? I thought you were going to put things on ice for a while.”

  “We tried,” she said. “Someone with the FBI or the morgue must have tipped the press and the press contacted the imams for a comment or something. I don’t know. My relationship with the FBI isn’t as smooth as it could be. They think we’re poaching on their turf. Someone in the office may have leaked it, to make us look bad. Your sweet little Portland hasn’t helped the situation much either by ending their partnership with the FBI in the Joint Terrorism Task Force. Now the FBI is afraid to offend anyone in this city, especially Muslims,” Strobel said.

  The waitress returned and asked for her order.

  “Wine please, 2002 Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay Reserve, if you have it,” she said.

  “You know your wine. You will have to try Oregon’s chardonnays. We have some excellent ones,” Drake offered.

  “I grew up in California. Sonoma wines have always been my favorite. Didn’t mean to offend Oregon,” she said. “So tell me what you think you stumbled onto. I’d like to think there’s something that makes sense of all of this.”

  “In a moment,” he said as the waitress set her glass of wine on the table. “First tell me what you found out about my three visitors.”

  “The JTTF would like to meet with you tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. They’re going to tell you what they want you to know. I can tell you that your three visitors have criminal records and were Muslim men who apparently converted to Islam while in prison. That’s no surprise. We’re trying to find out what they were doing here in Portland, but the imams are making that difficult with the ruckus they’re raising. No one in the Muslim community is willing to talk to us. Now it’s your turn.”

  It was about what Drake expected. Sam Newman had suspected a couple of the ISIS security guards were ex-cons. The men he’d killed had the scraggly facial hair of young Muslim men. He couldn’t connect the two directly, but he doubted it was a coincidence Kaamil was a Muslim. All Muslims weren’t criminals, of course, but it was a connection.

  Drake took a drink of his ale and told Strobel what he’d seen in Hood River.

  “You know about my suspicion that ISIS and its manager are somehow involved. I followed their head guy up to Hood River today. It’s about an hour or so up the Columbia River Gorge. When he got there, he drove to an old warehouse down by the river and picked up a man for lunch. Someone I know, because I prosecuted him for smuggling drugs. When they finished lunch, Kaamil headed back to Portland. I followed the other guy out to the ISIS Regional Training Facility. The drug smuggler drove right in, past the security guard at the gate. There’s no way in the world this guy should be anywhere near a legitimate security firm.”

  Liz Strobel turned to look out the window toward Mount Hood.

  “Who’s the guy you saw up there?” she asked, turning back.

  “His name is Roberto Valencia. He’s supposed to have skipped on his parole and be in Mexico, with his dad. I could report him and have him arrested, but we might never know what he’s doing with Kaamil and ISIS.”

  “And his dad, who’s he?”

  “Armando Valencia, head of a powerful drug cartel in Mexico,” Drake explained.

  “And you think this guy or his dad is somehow involved? That’s all I need right now. Drug cartels and terrorists trading drugs for weapons is one of our biggest headaches.”

  “I don’t know much about his dad these days. That’s something you could check out.”

  “I’m starting to wish I’d said no when you asked for this meeting. What do you know about this training facility ISIS has in Hood River?”

  “Not enough. It’s located on a big ranch. They train their guys for executive protection work and even do some training for law enforcement. It’s got firing ranges, a track for evasive driving training, and an airstrip for small planes and executive jets. I had a friend check it out,” Drake answered. “It sounds like a big-time operation.”

  “Anything else you think I should know before the meeting tomorrow? I don’t want any surprises, after the problems I created when I agreed to take those bodies off your hands. The FBI hates it when we step in, then leave them holding the bag when we leave town.”

  “No, that’s all I know. If you learn anything about ISIS or the Valencias before the meeting, I’d appreciate a call.”

  He watched her walk out before taking out his wallet to pa
y for their drinks. She reminded him of Kay in a lot of ways. She was tall, beautiful, and self-confident. Kay was passionate about teaching and Liz seemed passionate about her work with DHS. He hoped her passion was more about protecting the country than her career, though. If it was just about her career, she wouldn’t risk it to save his neck. He would know tomorrow, one way or the other.

  Chapter 26

  Saturday morning started out to be a warm day. After a decent night’s sleep and a run with Lancer, Drake treated himself to a chorizo scramble breakfast with chorizo sausage, red potatoes, sweet onions, jack cheese and three eggs at the nearby Black Walnut Inn and Vineyard. The scramble was only on the menu during the winter months, but he knew the owner, who was also the Inn’s chef.

  The Inn was designed to look like an old Tuscan villa, with ochre walls and a red-tiled roof. Set atop a south-facing ridge with a new vineyard planted below, it was one of the newest attractions in the area. Drake was able to enjoy it all without being a guest at the inn. To be neighborly, he had offered to cut his hourly rate in half if his legal services were ever needed. So far, he had the better end of the deal.

  After fortifying himself for his meeting with the JTTF, he took his time driving into the city. Driving usually relaxed him. Today, his mind was wrapped around the puzzle of ISIS.

  Thirty minutes after leaving the Black Walnut Inn, Drake pulled into the parking garage across the street from the Crown Plaza building and found a parking spot on the top floor. Shoppers were out early this Saturday morning, eager to work off their pent-up need to spend their week’s earnings.

  Walking across the street brought him to the security guard station just inside the building that housed, for the most part, government offices. Drake signed the register for visitors, took off his watch, put his wallet and keys in the tray, and walked through the metal detector. On the other side, he collected his things and took the elevator to the fourth floor. The elevator opened onto a reception area for the Portland FBI office.