They entered the dome through an open doorway and Brodie looked around. An inverted cone of mirrored glass rose in the center of the space, probably to reflect sunlight on nicer days. A ring of informational placards and photos illustrating the building’s tumultuous history stood in the middle of the floor. A few dozen people were ascending or descending the spiral ramp.
Brodie and Taylor followed Kim up the ramp. He stopped as they curved around to face the southwest, where they had a view of the Tiergarten. In the distance Brodie saw the low skyline of western Berlin—once known as West Berlin, an island of liberal democracy surrounded by a hostile nation.
Now, as David Kim had put it, the Germans were one big happy family again. And there was no clearer symbol of the new united Germany than the Reichstag, which had suffered a mysterious fire during the Nazis’ rise to power, been bombed by the Allies during the war, captured by the RedArmy, then neglected for decades sitting alongside the Berlin Wall. Now it was restored as a symbol of the nation, the seat of the united parliament, and one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city. Like the city of Berlin as a whole, the Reichstag was a phoenix risen from the ashes, an almost impossible story of resurrection and resilience—yet pocked with scars that would never quite heal.
They looked out at the view as the light rain pattered against the glass. After a moment Kim said, “I’m sorry about how this played out.”
Brodie really didn’t need another obligatory apology from the FBI. Whitmore and Butler’s bullshit was enough. He didn’t respond. Neither did Taylor.
Kim continued, “I have an update on the case, if you want it.”
“Love updates,” said Brodie.
Kim nodded, then looked around to make sure no one was within earshot. He said in a low voice, “The BKA’s tech specialists were able to crack one of the phones recovered at the site of the bombing. It was mostly clean—no texts, photos, or personal e-mails found. These guys sometimes use smartphones like burners, regularly wiping the memory and installing new SIM cards. But then the tech guy checks the drafts folder on the e-mail account. That’s how a lot of these jihadis communicate. They share a single e-mail account, one guy writes a draft, never sends it, next guy logs in, reads the draft, and then deletes it before writing his own. No e-mail is ever sent, no recipient listed, no trace of the communication on the servers. So, the Germans found a single message in the drafts, written in Arabic. And it mentions a plan to, quote, ‘execute the American agents to avenge our brothers in Tripoli.’?” Kim looked at Brodie and Taylor as if expecting a reaction. After a moment he asked, “You guys read the CID case files?”
Brodie replied, “Not yet. We’ve been following a different lead.”
“What lead?”
“Continue.”
“Okay, so about eight months ago Harry Vance and his partner, Mark Jenkins, were sent to Tripoli to arrest a prominent Syrian businessman named Jibril Saleh. Mr. Saleh had been providing intelligence to U.S. military personnel who were helping the Kurds battle ISIS in northeastern Syria. Turns out Saleh was secretly affiliated with the al Nusra Front—that’sal Qaeda’s Syrian franchise and a main ISIS rival—and he was using money provided to him by the U.S. Army to fund and train an al Qaeda–aligned militia in Libya. Typical double cross. So, Vance and Jenkins fly down to Libya, locate Saleh in Tripoli, and enlist the local police to assist in his arrest. Things go bad, shots fired, Saleh and his jihadi pals end up dead. And to make matters worse, the Libyan cops that CID had looped in took the bodies of Saleh and the dead jihadis and paraded them through the streets in celebration. Not good. Especially since Jibril Saleh had a lot of powerful friends back in Syria who saw pictures and video of his corpse getting dragged through the streets of Tripoli. This made the news, along with the fact that U.S. Army investigators had been involved in his death.”
Brodie said, “We asked Jenkins about what recent cases might have led to him and Vance being targeted. This seems like an obvious candidate, but he only mentioned the Khazali network drug ring out of Mannheim.”
Kim shrugged. “Something about Harry’s murder made Jenkins suspect Shia terrorists. I made the same assumption. Looks like we were both wrong. Besides, Jenkins might be a terrorism specialist but that doesn’t make him an expert on the domestic politics of Syria. Maybe he didn’t understand the kind of network that Jibril Saleh still maintained in his home country, and he figured that Jibril’s most dangerous allies died along with him in Libya.” He added, “Or he didn’t mention this because it was compartmentalized information and not to be shared without prior approval.”
Taylor asked, “Any evidence that the three Syrians who blew themselves up in Neukölln had ties to Saleh or the al Nusra Front?”
Kim looked at her. “No. And no formal ties need to be established to indicate motive. Al Qaeda thrives on self-initiated attacks. That’s why terrorist groups are so active on social media. Get people invested in your org from afar and they will commit violence on your behalf.”
“But were any of these three Syrians previously known?” asked Brodie. “As active or aspiring militants?”
Kim shook his head. “But their years living in Idlib during al Nusra’s occupation of the city could have given them all the extremist contacts, indoctrination, and military training they would have needed.” Kim looked between the two of them. “You’re overthinking this, guys. We’ve got the men who killed Harry Vance. And they’re all dead. They had the motive, themurder weapon, and the deceased’s eyeball in their freezer. If that don’t fit, nothing does.”
“What about Tariq Qasim?” asked Taylor. “How does he fit?”
“Not sure. Captain Soliman’s unit interviewed people around Neukölln who knew Qasim by his alias, Abbas al-Hamdani. Apparently the man was having financial trouble, and also dealing with some mental health issues.”
Maybe Colonel Qasim had been haunted by the memories of all the innocent people he’d gassed on behalf of Saddam Hussein. But that might be giving the guy too much credit. Brodie said, “Rafeeq Nasir mentioned that Qasim owed him money.”
Kim nodded. “That was probably the financial trouble being referred to.” He added, “Nasir will be kept under tight surveillance, and the police will continue their search for Mr. Qasim. This is an avenue we will continue to pursue with your CID colleagues.”
“Our replacements,” said Taylor.
Kim did not reply.
“And what about Odin?” asked Brodie.
“Hell of a story.”
“More than that.”
“Right. Also an embarrassment to the U.S. military and a travesty of justice.”
Taylor said, “Anna thinks Harry’s search for Odin is what got him killed.”
“Yes, she was pretty adamant about that to Schröder and Soliman as well,” said Kim. “Though she didn’t do her credibility any good by failing to come forward in the first place.”
