“Department of Homeland Security.”
“I need to talk to someone about a terrorist attack that’s going to happen tonight.”
“Just a moment, please.” The operator sounded so calm, as if she heard such words every day. My heart was already beating double time. This was my last chance for help.
“Hello, I’m Greg Branson. You say you have news of a terrorist threat?”
Relief trickled through me. “Yes.” I launched once again into my story. “The video says 7:00 p.m. tonight for the western electrical grid, and 10:00 for the area that includes Washington, D.C. Tomorrow and the next night, it’s the rest of the country.”
“And you say this video has been given to the sheriff’s department in Moss Beach.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t matter. Sergeant Wade is part of the terrorist group. And I think Deputy Harcroft is too. I don’t think they’re doing anything with the video.”
“Why do you think this sergeant is part of the group?”
“He sent two men to kill me. At my house. Now he’s hunting me down on TV, telling everyone I’m a suspect in the death of Morton Leringer and two other men. I didn’t kill them! I just stopped to help at an accident.”
“If your local law enforcement are asking you to come in and talk to them about some homicides, it’s important that you do that.”
“But who knows what will happen to me if I’m put in Wade’s custody? And meanwhile, no one’s doing anything about this video!”
“You don’t know that. They may well be working on it.”
“Really? Have they contacted you about it?”
Silence.
“Don’t you think this is something Homeland Security should know?”
“Certainly. Here’s what we need to do. You should go to the nearest police station so you can talk to the sheriff’s department about the homicides. They’ll want to question you. I will contact the Moss Beach substation to see what they know about the video. We’ll take it from there.”
If he called the substation, they’d just put him in touch with Wade. Or Harcroft.
“There’s not much time for talk. You need to get the key to the encrypted message, which tells how to stop the attack.”
“I will speak to the sergeant about that.”
“He won’t tell you the truth! Look, I think the key may be sewn into—”
Aunt Margie’s doorbell rang. I froze.
“Hello?” Branson’s voice filtered through the phone. “You there?”
Had that cyber team already discovered where I was?
I crept over to the window and eased back the curtain.
A police car sat at the curb.
Chapter 36
SPECIAL HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE INVESTIGATION INTO FREENOW TERRORIST ACTIVITY OF FEBRUARY 25, 2013
SEPTEMBER 16, 2013
TRANSCRIPT
Representative ELKIN MORSE (Chairman, Homeland Security Committee): So we are now up to around 11:15 a.m. on February 25, 2012. What were you doing at this time?
Sergeant CHARLES WADE (Sheriff’s Department Coastside): I was going door-to-door in the area where Morton Leringer lived, asking if anyone had seen anything that might have been related to the homicides. This procedure took time. I was also in regular contact with the San Carlos police regarding the homicide of Arthur Rozland. And, of course, I was in contact with many people in the field who were trying to locate Hannah Shire. We had deputies and police officers talking to her neighbors, her friends at work, friends at the church she attended.
MORSE: And you learned some information about Hannah Shire, correct?
WADE: By that time we’d heard from Tina Crylon, the employee at the motel at which Mrs. Shire and her mother stayed briefly. Miss Crylon had seen Mrs. Shire on the news and called our department, but that was a couple hours after the two women had checked out. We then discovered that Hannah Shire had an aunt about an hour away in Fresno—Margaret Dexter. And a policeman in the area thought he may have spotted Mrs. Shire’s car headed in that direction. I called Fresno police and asked them to send someone to Mrs. Dexter’s house.
MORSE: Okay we will come back to that. So what time did you return to the Moss Beach substation?
WADE: About 11:50 a.m.
MORSE: This was after you received the calls from Homeland Security?
WADE: Yes. The first call came into my office line around 11:20. The second came in right after. The substation alerted me on my cell phone. I immediately called the first number—the Computer Emergency Readiness Team of DHS—and spoke with Agent Johnson. He told me about a call from a woman who must be Hannah Shire. In the second call I spoke with Greg Branson of DHS, who told me a similar story.