Operation Hell Gate - Marc Cerasini [86]
"From the intelligence we've uncovered here in Los Angeles and with our agents in the field, we've concluded that the goal of these terrorists is to shoot down a large number of civilian airliners in an effort to bring air commerce to a halt and cripple the nation's economy.
"Fortunately, we were able to get a digital outline of the plot, down to the smallest detail. That is why I propose we assemble strike teams in each of these cities, place them in strategic locations around each of the airports. When zero hour comes, we'll be ready..."
"It's risky," said Phillip Keenan, RD of CTU, Seattle.
"It's an opportunity," countered Chappelle. "With all our tactical elements in place, we have the potential for a perfect storm, a sweep of terrorist suspects larger than any in history. This raid could be a real feather in all of our caps."
* * *
2:09:48 P.M. EDT
Los Angeles Freeway
"I met Frank Hensley after he returned from the Gulf War, at a party at UCLA. He was still in the Army, waiting to be discharged. I was majoring in art history; he was working toward his law degree. We got married the following June... Frank was in kind of a hurry."
Katherine Hensley seemed small and fragile after the attack. As Tony drove back to CTU, she sat next to him in the passenger seat up front. Eyes downcast, the bruises on her face, throat, and breasts livid against her tan, Mrs. Hensley answered questions posed to her in an emotionless monotone.
From the backseat, Captain Schneider strained to hear the woman's soft voice over the muted road noise. A blanket, bandages, and a painkilling shot from the first aid kit were all the medical care she would accept until they got back to CTU. Jessica was determined to interrogate Katherine Hensley herself. "How was the marriage?"
"When we first met, I thought Frank was the strong, silent type. Too late I found out he was just a man who never talked — never to me, anyway. People... people who knew him before the war... they all said he'd changed."
"Changed? How?"
"Frank was captured by the Iraqis. He was a prisoner for several weeks. I guess he had a pretty rough time because Frank would never, ever talk about it. When the war ended he served out the rest of his enlistment, then quit the Army."
Captain Schneider, face pale and shiny with perspiration, fought hard to focus on the woman's stumbling replies, to ignore the throbbing pain from the stab wound, the dizziness from loss of blood. She leaned forward from the backseat. "You said Frank was in a hurry to get married?"
Mrs. Hensley nodded. "I thought it was because his parents both died while he was a teenager, that he wanted stability in his life. But after he joined the FBI, our lives were anything but stable."
"The job affected him?"
"Frank took on dangerous assignments. He worked undercover and things between us became... tense. Then I found out he'd been having an affair with a coworker and I filed for divorce. In the end, I think my father was more upset than I was. Dad had helped Frank get into the Bureau, treated him like a son."
Mrs. Hensley looked up. She met Jessica's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Maybe you should be having this conversation with Frank's girlfriend. She knows more about my husband's business than I do."
* * *
2:11:57P.M. EDT
Houston Street, Lower Manhattan
Jack leaped from the bottom rung of the fire escape, landed in a narrow space between two buildings. He moved through a smoky haze to the sidewalk. Fire engines blocked Houston Street, hoses curled along the pavement like thick vines.
Jack slipped through the crowd, rejoined Caitlin.
"You did good," Jack told her.
Caitlin blinked. "I burned the bloody building down's what I did. I feel terrible about it, too. I was so stupid, so stupid..."
"It was a terrorist safe house. You may have saved