31 October—2:12 a.m.
Lower Manhattan, New York City
Dahlia lifted the rear door on her Jeep Renegade and stowed two small suitcases. Sliding the black duffle bag off her shoulder, she tossed it alongside the suitcases and, with both hands, slammed shut the door. She climbed inside the vehicle and started the engine before rotating knobs and sliding levers on the control panel, trying to get heat into the compartment. It had been a chilly night, only getting colder as the early morning hours drew nearer.
Cranking the steering to the left, Dahlia backed the Renegade out of the parking spot before navigating the SUV forward. Her mind settled on the timeframe ahead of her. She would arrive at her destination around 4 am, spend a couple hours doing a search of the area, and then make her move. If all went as planned, she would be back on the road before daybreak.
She pushed down on the turn signal lever and cranked the steering wheel to the left. As the Renegade traveled north onto West Street, her thoughts transitioned to Aaron Hardy. Would he be able to locate Tahir Muhammad? Muhammad was the terrorist cell’s leader, and she planned to kill him. I doubt it. She had taken everything of value from the four men inside the house in Bedford Hills. A thin smile formed on her full lips.
She had seen the people on the roof of the house across the street and recognized Hardy. They were setting up surveillance equipment. Having worked for the FBI, Dahlia knew how the agency operated, and she knew exactly how much time she had to get out of the house. All she had to do was wait them out.
After killing the last man, she had waited upstairs. Hearing the teams breech the house, she slipped out the bedroom window and disappeared into the night.
The smile on Dahlia’s lips faded. Hardy had interrupted her plans at the house, and he had almost caught her with Sayed in the men’s bathroom at Goodmans. Her eyebrows curled downward. She hoped she had seen the last of him. Checking her side mirror, she changed lanes and pushed her foot down on the accelerator. If he gets in my way again, then I’ll just have to… Her thoughts trailed off. Would she be able to kill him? She had ended the life of many a terrorist, but taking the life of an FBI agent was another matter. If life had turned out differently, maybe he and I would have worked together at some point. A quick breath of air slipped past her lips and she saw the irony. In a way, she and Hardy were working together, bringing down a terrorist cell before it could carry out an attack on innocent civilians.
Buildings and cars zipped by her, while she blankly stared at the road. She blinked her eyes and shook her head. That was then and this is now. I have a job to do, and no one’s going to get in my way.