Alex Kava - Black Friday

She started pacing again. This time Nick watched. He tried to piece together where she was going with all this.

"You think UAS is the target of this group?" Even as he asked it he didn't think the idea made sense.

Maggie didn't look like she discounted the idea. Instead, she stopped again. This time she sat down next to him so she could look at the list she'd left open on her computer screen. She turned and reached over to put her hand on his arm. Waited for his eyes.

"I asked for your help because I need someone I can trust to help figure this out."

It took Nick off guard. He knew his face registered his surprise before he could control it.

"I don't trust A.D. Kunze. I had to tell him everything but I don't trust what—if anything—he'll do with the information simply because it's coming from me."

"What is it with that guy?"

"He blames Tully and me for Cunningham's death."

"That's ridiculous."

"Yes, it is, but he's interim director and he has the ability to make us miserable. I think that's the only reason I'm here. He knew this would be an impossible profiling assignment. I think he wanted me to fail. Even the parking lot fiasco, I think he expected me to screw up. You saw those surveillance videos. Very unlikely that we'd ID those young men from the videos or from any profile I'd come up with. And here's the thing," she said, gripping his arm now, "it didn't matter."

"What do you mean it didn't matter?"

"It didn't matter who the young men were that carried the backpacks. They were incidentals. They were cutaways." There was an urgency in her eyes, a frenetic pace to her words as if she was thinking out loud and Nick was simply there to hear it.

"Back in their dorm room they'll find Web sites in their computer caches for how to make bombs," she continued. "They may even find traces of bomb-making material. But no matter how much time and effort we put into finding out who Chad Hendricks and Tyler Bennett were, or if Patrick was even involved, none of it will matter. The cutaways won't lead us to who really did this. They can't lead us, because they didn't know who planned this. They didn't even know what was planned for them. There is no path because the Project Manager didn't leave one. He took care of everything."

"Wait a minute. Who exactly is the Project Manager? "

"That's what I need your help in finding out. If I can't connect him to any of the John Doe #2 suspects then I need to try and figure out where he's going to attack next."

Maggie suggested they turn on the TV. She wanted some background noise as long as that noise didn't include news alerts or footage of her chase scene or interviews with neighbors who knew Chad or Tyler. Nick handled the assignment by stopping at a channel that was playing Christmas movies all weekend to celebrate the beginning of the holiday season.

"One of my favorites," he said, causing Maggie look up long enough to identify Ralphie in

A Christmas Story

Why was she not surprised that a movie about a little boy wanting a Red Rider BB gun was Nick Morrelli's favorite.

They had an hour until they met Kunze and Wurth downstairs. Maggie still hoped to find something, anything that might steer them in the right direction. While she and Nick sifted through court documents and FBI files online she kept trying to put some rhyme or reason to the Project Manager's choice of airport.

Nick had made a good point about the impact of the attack. The number of casualties may not be his priority. Was he more interested in the effect on the American psyche? A crowded shopping center in the middle of the country the day after Thanksgiving. That was something everyone could relate to, making it even more frightening because of that. It wasn't a ritzy resort, a five-star hotel, a nightclub or casino. A shopping center in the heartland struck at the very heart of every single American who would be thinking, " That could have happened to me."

Maggie brought up the list of airports on her computer screen, again. Was there something equally telling in which airport the Project Manager had chosen? The list—according to Henry Lee—hadn't been written in any order:

McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada

General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Salt Lake City International Airport, Salt Lake City, Utah

Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona

Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport, Cleveland, Ohio

Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington, D.C.

Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Detroit, Michigan

"Believe it or not, Las Vegas is the number one busiest airport for the Thanksgiving weekend." Nick interrupted her thoughts, glancing over at her computer screen.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"It'd be a pretty big impact."

She considered it then shook her head.

"I don't think he chose Vegas."

"Gut instinct?" Nick asked.

"Think about how you prefaced it with 'believe it or not.' It might be a reality, but not everyone would relate to choosing a gambling casino over Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. He's hoping the impact here is the idea that it could happen to anyone."

Nick pointed the remote at the TV and muted Ralphie right before he got a mouthful of Lava soap.

"What about another Midwest hit? Could he be looking for someplace close? Milwaukee's about a five-or six-hour drive. Detroit's a bit farther. Maybe ten hours."

"Too difficult a drive in that snowstorm. My guess, he was at the airport and gone before they were putting the wounded in ambulances."

"There were flight delays because of the snow," Nick said. "Ceimo mentioned the state fire inspector was stuck in Chicago and Yarden's supervisor was trying to get back from New Jersey."

"How much in advance was this storm predicted?"

Nick furrowed his brow, giving it serious thought.

"They were talking about it early in the week," Nick told her. "I only remember because I promised Christine I'd go with her to buy a Christmas tree on Friday. I was hoping the storm would make her cancel." He shrugged. "It's a good day for college football."

She nodded and smiled, remembering her own plans for Friday. Was that only yesterday?

"Anyway, the storm ended up missing Omaha. Do you think he factored in the snowstorm?"

Her turn to shrug.

"I'm looking at a logical process of elimination. How many of these airports are hubs for an airline?"

Nick leaned closer and took a look. Pointing with his index finger, he went over the list, one by one.

"Milwaukee is Midwest Airlines, Salt Lake City and Cleveland are Delta, Sky Harbor is Southwest and US Airways. Detroit was a limited hub for Northwest. Why? Are you thinking it might be a hub?"

"Actually I'm thinking the opposite. You said UAS has been trying to get airports to upgrade the arrival and departure areas, right? At an airport that's a hub aren't the majority of their passengers simply making a connecting flight?"

She caught the glint in his eyes as he followed her logic.

"So most passengers wouldn't be going through the ticketing area or picking up baggage," she continued. "Not a big enough impact. And Reagan National on the Sunday after a holiday will be a good deal of politicians returning to Capitol Hill."

"You just eliminated every airport on the list."

"Both Las Vegas and Phoenix would be destination airports?" she asked, thinking out loud and not really expecting an answer from Nick. "Someplace where families would go for Thanksgiving for a treat to get away. Maybe get out of the winter cold."

"I just remembered something," he said. "Airports depend on state and federal revenues so we usually take that into consideration when we're talking to them about upgrades. Phoenix is being considered for a chunk of federal dollars. Something to do with Homeland Security. The city's number two in the world, second only to Mexico City, for kidnappings."