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Authors: Carsen Taite
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regrets, which was one of the reasons for abruptly breaking things off with April. The moments before the explosion she’d shared with Sarah Flores made it clear she was done dating women like April, but apparently, it had taken a monumental tragedy to get her to act on her impulse.
Sarah Flores. Special Agent Sarah Flores. She’d lost track of Sarah in the crowd that night. Had she saved lives? Had she been hurt doing so? In what distinct ways had the bomb changed her life? If she’d had her number, she liked to think she would call her to ask these questions, but the truth was solitude seemed to be her best friend right now. Still, a lingering desire to know more about Sarah edged closer into her consciousness with every passing day.
She probably hasn’t become a hermit. Ellery laughed at her self-chiding inner voice. Going off-grid was so against her nature that it had taken days to get used to it, but now that she had would she be the same person when she emerged? Maybe tomorrow she would start her reentry into the real world with a phone call. She could let Karen know she was close to being done, set a time for her to come by and see the rest of her work. Maybe she would call her parents and check in or join Leo on his front porch for an afternoon beer. Maybe.
*
Sarah walked through the office, nodding to the support staff. She’d brought donuts that morning which meant she was everyone’s hero. Things sure had changed over the past couple of weeks, and she knew it wasn’t just the donuts.
“Hey, Flores, got something you should take a look at.”
She looked over to see Liz sitting at her desk with a couple of the other agents hunched over her shoulder. Since the night of the bombing, when they’d worked side by side, Liz, and by extension, the rest of the group, no longer treated her like an interloper. She smiled at them, happy to be part of a team again. “Be right there.” She handed the donuts to Beverly, the secretary they shared. “Save me one apple fritter, okay?”
Bev smiled. “You got it.”
She strode over to Liz’s desk and the rest of the group made space for her. “What’s up?”
“We got in a bunch of records for nonprofits with foreign ties. I just started looking at them this morning, but look at this one.” She pointed to the screen.
Sarah followed her finger and saw the name Welcome Home International, WHI. According to their website, they had formed in 2011 and were headquartered in Dallas. Established for the purpose of aiding refugees who entered the US from the Middle East to assist with basic needs and education. Sounded innocuous enough, except for the Muslim stigma. “Okay, I’ll bite. Something funny going on with their financing?”
“Maybe. I’ve just started looking, but they don’t appear to have much in the way of assets. They operate out of a local mosque. One of their board members is Amir Khan, who just happens to be a relative of Sadeem Jafari, who happens to be on a CIA watch list. I’m wondering if we should pass this along to them or Homeland Security.”
Sarah took a moment to consider. Everyone in law enforcement was frustrated by the fact that two weeks out they weren’t even close to making an arrest in the bombing case. No one had claimed responsibility, and if the CIA or Homeland Security had any viable leads, they weren’t talking. She had more invested in catching the assholes who’d bombed the arena than most. The images of the dead and broken bodies she’d helped pull from the wreckage were forever etched in her mind, but she also knew the minute they handed over this information to another agency, they’d be shut out. No matter what anyone said about the improvement of interdisciplinary relations since 9/11, relationships between the agencies had slipped back into a natural state of competition. She shook her head. “Let’s dig a little deeper into the financials and then talk to Mason before making that call. Deal?”
“I
Sarah Flores. Special Agent Sarah Flores. She’d lost track of Sarah in the crowd that night. Had she saved lives? Had she been hurt doing so? In what distinct ways had the bomb changed her life? If she’d had her number, she liked to think she would call her to ask these questions, but the truth was solitude seemed to be her best friend right now. Still, a lingering desire to know more about Sarah edged closer into her consciousness with every passing day.
She probably hasn’t become a hermit. Ellery laughed at her self-chiding inner voice. Going off-grid was so against her nature that it had taken days to get used to it, but now that she had would she be the same person when she emerged? Maybe tomorrow she would start her reentry into the real world with a phone call. She could let Karen know she was close to being done, set a time for her to come by and see the rest of her work. Maybe she would call her parents and check in or join Leo on his front porch for an afternoon beer. Maybe.
*
Sarah walked through the office, nodding to the support staff. She’d brought donuts that morning which meant she was everyone’s hero. Things sure had changed over the past couple of weeks, and she knew it wasn’t just the donuts.
“Hey, Flores, got something you should take a look at.”
She looked over to see Liz sitting at her desk with a couple of the other agents hunched over her shoulder. Since the night of the bombing, when they’d worked side by side, Liz, and by extension, the rest of the group, no longer treated her like an interloper. She smiled at them, happy to be part of a team again. “Be right there.” She handed the donuts to Beverly, the secretary they shared. “Save me one apple fritter, okay?”
Bev smiled. “You got it.”
She strode over to Liz’s desk and the rest of the group made space for her. “What’s up?”
“We got in a bunch of records for nonprofits with foreign ties. I just started looking at them this morning, but look at this one.” She pointed to the screen.
Sarah followed her finger and saw the name Welcome Home International, WHI. According to their website, they had formed in 2011 and were headquartered in Dallas. Established for the purpose of aiding refugees who entered the US from the Middle East to assist with basic needs and education. Sounded innocuous enough, except for the Muslim stigma. “Okay, I’ll bite. Something funny going on with their financing?”
“Maybe. I’ve just started looking, but they don’t appear to have much in the way of assets. They operate out of a local mosque. One of their board members is Amir Khan, who just happens to be a relative of Sadeem Jafari, who happens to be on a CIA watch list. I’m wondering if we should pass this along to them or Homeland Security.”
Sarah took a moment to consider. Everyone in law enforcement was frustrated by the fact that two weeks out they weren’t even close to making an arrest in the bombing case. No one had claimed responsibility, and if the CIA or Homeland Security had any viable leads, they weren’t talking. She had more invested in catching the assholes who’d bombed the arena than most. The images of the dead and broken bodies she’d helped pull from the wreckage were forever etched in her mind, but she also knew the minute they handed over this information to another agency, they’d be shut out. No matter what anyone said about the improvement of interdisciplinary relations since 9/11, relationships between the agencies had slipped back into a natural state of competition. She shook her head. “Let’s dig a little deeper into the financials and then talk to Mason before making that call. Deal?”
“I
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