BUILDING 24-442
He knew it didn’t fit, though Thomas couldn’t quite decide why. The distance from Chechnya to Manila to LA was perfect, and yet, it just didn’t fit.
He picked up a report a DI analyst had prepared a year before on possible terrorism targets in Los Angeles and the impact a 747 loaded with high explosives would have. It was horrible, of course, truly horrendous—but it didn’t fit.
LA had been assumed to be the target because of the photographs found on Kiro when he was apprehended.
But Kiro wasn’t connected with this operation at all; they’d proven that in Iran.
Thomas sat back from his computer, rubbing his eyes. It reminded him of the UFO sightings off Brazil in 1968—two totally different sightings believed to be connected, and only upon further analysis proven to be separate incidents altogether.
Manila was right, but not LA, he decided. But the Philippines wouldn’t be the target if they were buying fuel there. And now that he looked again at the receipts, he saw that the amount of fuel purchased was extremely small—not nearly enough to fill a jumbo jet.
Still searching for clues, he retrieved his folded world map from the floor, spreading it over his desk, then using a pencil to estimate radiuses the plane could fly to. Looking for UFOs, he decided, was a heck of a lot easier than this.