“Yeah, I have a program, but I need something to put in it.”
“Go get it. We’re going to use the only thing on that Qatar license that’s legit—his photo. Brett, see Mike for our DHS creds.”
They left the room and Knuckles said, “If I get any pushback over there, I’m going to be a bull in a china shop, so I’m going to need some backup. If they start asking about needing warrants or something else, I’m calling back here.”
Wolffe nodded, saying, “Take one of the black Suburbans. It’ll make you look official.”
Knuckles went to the door, then stopped, saying, “It’s probably not going to happen, but if I get hot on his trail, you know I’m not calling back here for permission, right?”
Wolffe said, “Go to a team room. Take what you need.”
Chapter 74
Knuckles had them load up in one of the enormous black Taskforce Suburbans, now looking suitably like flunkies from a government agency, and crossed the Potomac, entering the boundaries of the District of Columbia.
He began driving north to the National Zoo, saying, “Okay, let me do the talking. Creed, I’m going to gain access to their video security system. I’m pretty sure they’ll have enough cameras to make London look like a desert. You take the photo from the Qatar license and run it against the videos in the system. Please tell me that the software doesn’t have to literally view the entire video.”
“Not if the video’s digital—which it will be. The program uses AI. It can skip real time, only stopping when it encounters a face or faces, but it’s still going to take some effort. I can only review one feed at a time, and if they have a shit ton of cameras, then that’s a shit ton of feeds. It’s almost six p.m. now, and that’s when they close.”
“Don’t worry about the closing time. I’ll handle that. And start the feeds after the time stamp of the license scan. Begin at the entrance. If we don’t find him there, then he didn’t enter and we can forget about this.”
Twenty minutes later they rolled into the first parking lot of the zoo, mostly empty due to the lateness of the hour. Knuckles made a pass through all three parking lots, but didn’t see the suspected rental vehicle. He returned to the first lot nearest the entrance and parked.
They walked to the front and instead of a ticket kiosk, he saw a placardwith a QR code. He read the instructions, then said, “Creed, see what that QR code does.”
He walked to the main gate, seeing a stream of people exiting. A man with a T-shirt identifying him as an employee said, “Sorry folks. Latest entry is five p.m. We close in fifteen minutes. You’ll have to come back another day.”
Knuckles said, “How do you get a ticket?”
“Either online or you can use that QR code to do it from your phone. It’s free.”
Creed held up his phone, showing a form asking for personal information. He said, “You fill this out and they send a voucher to an email address.”
Knuckles asked the attendant, “Do you keep the data when someone gets a ticket?”
The man said, “Beats the hell out of me. I just check them in.”
Knuckles pulled out his Department of Homeland Security badge and said, “I’m with DHS. We have reason to believe a suspect wanted for questioning involving national security entered the zoo sometime today. Please call your head of security.”
The attendant’s eyebrows shot up and he went from the badge to Knuckles. Knuckles said, “This is time sensitive.”
The man said, “I have to get my radio,” and retreated to the rear of the entrance area to a table. He picked up a handheld and started talking into it.
Knuckles turned to Creed and said, “I’ll bet they keep the information of the visitors. If he registered with a phone using that QR code, would you be able to identify the phone from the information?”
“If I can get the actual email sent, I think I can find the IMEI of the handset that received it.”
The IMEI was the unique serial number given to each handset, and with it, Knuckles knew they could determine everything about the phone, to include its current SIM card and more importantly, its location.
Knuckles smiled and said, “Do that first.”
Creed said, “I can’t find it with facial recognition. If he used all false information, it’ll just be one record out of a million.”
“Maybe he’s stupid. Use the information from the license.”
The man returned, saying, “Ashley says to meet her at the Panda exhibit. It’s the first exhibit on the right.”
Knuckles nodded and they entered the zoo at a fast walk. They passed an education center on the left, then saw a sign for the pandas. Knuckles followed the arrow to a path that wound through bamboo shrubbery, opening up to reveal the entrance to a building. Standing at the door was a trim woman of about fifty wearing a safari outfit of brown cargo pants and a long-sleeved khaki shirt.
