Page 68 of Cyn
And with that, they all grabbed some food and went back to work. A few minutes later, Joe arrived again and distributed the coffee to her friends before taking a seat beside her. She considered setting him up on her laptop, then decided they could share her computer. They were discussing the location of a potential store in one of the photos when her phone rang, and Beni’s number flashed on the screen.
“Do I want to know how this magical set of files made it to you?” she asked by way of a greeting.
“You do not,” Cyn replied. “But you do want to see what’s in them. Three young men, all students at the university where I teach, all buying enough ammo and explosives to bring about doomsday. So, when’s the wedding?”
Beni was silent for a beat, then she sighed. “You’ll send everything over?”
“Of course.”
“I assume, based on Franklin’s call, that you think we had the date right but the target wrong and that something is potentially happening in Boston.”
“By the looks of it, yes.”
“Why didn’t our people pick up on this?”
The question was mostly rhetorical, but Cyn answered anyway. “Because for as many resources as your team has, you can’t be everywhere all the time. The only reason I was able to learn about it is because a Somali pirate kind of likes me.”
Again, another pause. “That sounds like a story I want to hear, but probably for another day. Do you have any idea where in Boston? Or is that too much to hope for?”
“A girl can always hope, but that won’t change the fact that no, we don’t have a location yet.” Cyn then brought Beni up to date on how she and her friends were trying to find a match between popular Boston buildings and the schematic she’d found in the apartment.
“What schematic?”
It was then that Cyn realized that Beni didn’t have, but needed, the full story, so she spent a few minutes updating her on everything from James McElroy to the conversation she’d overheard in the library to Lucy’s involvement.
When she finished, Beni muttered something unflattering under her breath. “Send all the information over. We’ll put a team on it tonight. Between your team and ours, let’s keep our fingers crossed we can figure this shit out in time. Or even better, we discover that the kids are just that, kids, and don’t have what it takes to pull this off.”
“Will you work on warrants for the three students?” Cyn asked.
“It will be my first task once we hang up and I have the evidence to show cause.”
“Just FYI, they are in the wind. Six, my friend Violetta,” she clarified, “popped over to their apartment early this afternoon and they weren’t there. Their phones are, but they’ve abandoned them. Probably have burners.”
“Fabulous,” Beni muttered.
“Yes, this has been an amazing two weeks. Would love to do it again sometime.” Sarcasm and cynicism were something Beni and Cyn shared.
“I’ll be the point person for the Bureau, so if you find anything, call,” Beni said.
“And you, too,” Cyn demanded. In reality, neither woman had the right to make the demand to the other, but having worked together before, they knew they were better tag-teaming this than trying to each run their own show.
“And say hi to Cal for Nora and me,” Cyn added. Beni chuckled, then hung up without a response.
“I’ve been thinking,” Nora said as soon as Cyn set her phone down.
“Yes?” Devil prompted.
“We think the African Meeting House was an initial potential target. It has major significance to the Black community and is a historic site, so its loss would affect the entire city. But what doesn’t it have? Is there a reason they would take it off the list?” she asked.
“Too hard to get into?” Six asked.
“Or too well protected?” Joe suggested.
“Or they aren’t holding an event on MLK day,” Nora supplied, holding up her laptop which displayed the African Meeting House website and a banner saying that some much-needed restoration work was being done and that the facility wouldn’t be holding any events from the first of January through the end of February. “I think if they are trying to make a statement, they’ll pick a place where they can do some serious damage—even if it ends up only being psychological damage. Hitting a target where people will be gathering, probably people of color, to commemorate Dr. King would be a way to do that.”
Cyn glanced around the room, and judging by the looks on everyone’s faces, they all saw the logic in her statement. “I initially thought the flyers just confirmed the date, but Nora’s right. Can we get a list of events happening in Boston tomorrow and use that list to compare against the schematics?”
“On it already,” Devil said.
