Chapter 46
A Bombshell ! We Learn About the Next Planned Bombing
Back on the Land Yacht, finally out of the Carolinas and into Virginia, Max walked up to the front of the bus and sat on the console between Skip and Rocky. “The pieces are starting to fall in place,” he said quietly. “It’s starting to make sense. Lisa just called. I called her back, in private, back at that truck stop in Winston-Salem. All I did was listen. First, Dougherty is not the guy’s real name; it’s Rafferty, Jamie Rafferty. Second, that guy you stayed with in Sacramento, Skip – the former SLA guy, Gordy Ettinger – well he had a girlfriend in the SLA, first name of Jane – that’s all I know so far, no last name yet – who is now Dougherty’s girlfriend– make that Rafferty’s – and she’s the insider who tipped Gordy off about the Dodger Stadium bombing! . . . which led to you getting tipped-off. Wonder what she thinks about her guy hustling Susie back in Boulder.”
“Wow!” Rocky broke in, trying to be quiet. “We got everything we need. What’s the plan for telling the FBI all this?”
“Well, here’s the bombshell,” Max whispered, “Lisa’s on board with not going to the authorities just yet – wants to give her brother and Gordy a chance to help Jane get away from Rafferty’s clutches. Once you hear this, it’ll make you both, me, my exes Lisa and Ken, all hundred percent complicit in whatever goes down . . .”
“Max,” Skip said softly. “It was me who first brought you into this. I’m sorry about that. We’re all in this a thousand percent. We’ll figure it out. What else did you find out?”
“. . . the even bigger deal you said might be in the works?” . . . Max continues in a way we can hardly hear him. “. . . Well, Lisa says the plan is to bust these terrorists before it goes down, but they’re talking about bombing Times Square on New Year’s Eve! And Lisa says we have to sit still, keep this to ourselves, and let Ken and Gordy head it off. It’s out of our hands.”
“No!” Rocky interjects. “We’re supposed to just twiddle our thumbs?! We’re on our way to New York City. We could be there on New Year’s Eve. We’re counting on an old SLA guy, and a Hollywood gigolo, to stop an impending terrorist attack?! Rather than the FBI?! Suppose it’s all dis-information. Today we hear it’s gonna be Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but who knows, by tomorrow they could have changed plans, and while we’re doing nothing about it, they’re deciding to bring down the Empire State Building on Christmas Day, or before.
“Wouldn’t that be ironic, Skip? You’re in the elevator on your way to the observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building, and you get a call, like the call you got on your way to the Dodgers’ game, but this time the caller says, ‘Sorry sucker, the bomb’s going off in 30 seconds.’
“When we get to your sister’s in Lexington,” Rocky finished, “we stick to our plan to get the authorities in on the sex trafficking part of the puzzle, and that might stop their terrorist attack as well.”
“Good luck with that, given the current sheriff in Boulder,” Max pointed out.
Skip said it might be time to bring lawyer Steve current with everything going on. “What would a court of law say about us? Are we partners in crime, or are we the good guys here? Yeah, we got some information – that may or may not be enough to bring down a criminal enterprise . . . Max, I say we go along with your ex and her brother . . . let Ken pull the trigger on going to the authorities. I think our lawyer will tell us that not going to the authorities with what we already know is legit if we’re doing it to stop a much larger harm from happening.”
“Good luck with that,” Rocky cackled, “when that StarTribune reporter asks why you kept it to yourself – with hundreds dead or dying on the streets of New York.”