CHAPTER 5

Zach placed down the folder back on his desk after going through the report that his field agents did over the explosion site that happened. He sat up straight and typed into his keyboard, looking at the footages his agents had gotten from the CCTV’s installed by the city.

His phone suddenly rang, and he reached into his drawer to see who’s calling.

“Zach,” he said after answering the call.

“Hi!” A sweet voice came, which belong to the woman he is currently dating, Jacinta Jacobs. “Did I call at a bad time? I can call again later.”

He leaned back on his chair.

“No, no, it’s okay,” he assured gently. “Is there anything wrong?”

“I have to cancel for our date this weekend,” she said apologetically. “Mom called me up this morning and asked if I can make a trip back home. Dad’s not doing well, and she just wants to be prepared for anything that might happen.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he answered. “You know that I can go with you if you’d like.”

“That’s alright,” she responded softly. “With the happening yesterday, I think it’s best that you stay here in case anything will come up. I’m going to be fine, but I promise to call you if something major happens.”

“Alright,” he finally agreed. “I’ll drop by at your apartment later, okay?”

“See you, then,” she said and ended the call.

Zachary then looked up when there was a knock on his office glass door.

“Sir, we have the audio files from the CCTV’s extracted,” his agent, Mark Simpson said formally, as he handed him the USB. “We need a translator.”

After plugging in the USB, Zachary pressed play and listened to the audio.

“What do you think?”

“It’s Semitic, sir,” Mark answered seriously. “It could either be Hebrew or Arabic. But we also need to take note of the dialect. Thompson also mentioned that he heard some Urdu in their as well. We might be dealing with more than one language.”

“Check on the list for possible translators,” Zachary ordered patiently. “Get back to me within the day so we can have these broken down and get to the bottom of it. Are these all the footages we had gathered?”

Mark nodded.

“I already coordinated for a search warrant, sir for those private establishments that we can check their CCTV’s,” he then relayed. “I might get it this afternoon so me and Thompson can immediately gather for the investigation.”

“Have the warrant extend within twenty-kilometer radius,” Zach instructed. “We can check on the first five and then we’ll go from there. We just need to get the direction they came from.”

“Yes, sir,” Mark answered and then took off.

Zachary looked back at his screen and played the audio again. He listened attentively to the conversation, playing it back just to get a familiar word from it. He vowed that he would learn that language right away. During his pre-law days, he took an elective course on Foreign Languages, selecting Mandarin and Spanish, since he was set on entering his family’s law firm in the future.

However, when he entered Harvard Law school and worked under one of the state’s biggest law firms, which has an involvement with the FBI, his preference had changed. Much to his family’s disappointment, he entered the bureau and trained intensively for twenty weeks to become an agent.

After an excellent performance for seven years, he was promoted to a position in the Counterterrorism Division and is now in line again for another promotion as Associate Executive Assistant Director for National Security Branch.

“Zach?” His secretary called calmly thru his intercom.

“What is it, Anne?”

“There’s an Alex Walters here,” she answered. “She said that she needs to see you and had brought something that you might need.”

“I’ll be right out,” he replied, somewhat surprised.

Zach stood up and immediately went out from his office and saw Alex, sitting on the chair in front of his secretary’s desk. He noted that she was surveying the office quietly. She managed to turn to his direction, and she looked him up and down when she saw him.

“Hmm, you look the same as a while ago,” she commented dryly.

“Is there anything that I can do for you, Ms. Walters?” He asked and noted that she had somehow concealed the bruise on her eye. “I don’t seem to remember that you’ll be coming here much less told you my exact office.”

“Please. I just need to ask where your office is and I can have the answer,” she retorted confidently as she stood up. “I’m here to give you the footages you need or in a way, ordered to have. Malcolm’s got a lot on his mind, and I don’t want him bothered over this simple task. You can check it if you want.”

He took the USB she handed, and he immediately turned to his secretary.

“Let her wait here,” he instructed.

“That’s alright,” she replied patiently. “I’m not staying long. I can guarantee you that the videos there are authentic, Mr. FBI. I swear my name on it.”

She then turned around and left.

Zach noted a small and amused smile on his secretary’s face, and he gave her a light frown. “She’s a nuisance, Anne,” he simply stated. “Trust me on that.”

He then went back to his office and plug the USB to check on the footages. There are a total of six footages, and he clicked on one file. He watched when the two men came in the diner and occupied one table. Moments later, Alexandra approached them to take their orders.

“Sh1t,” he muttered when one man grabbed her and groped her.

A few minutes later, Alex had managed to free herself from him and had automatically disarmed him, pointing the gun immediately at them before the second guy could react. Malcolm approached them and stood beside her, holding his own gun as well and had ordered the two on their knees and have their hands up and then radioed for support.

The support team arrived a few minutes later and while Alex handed over the gun to one man, the man who held her took that time to take his hidden knife in his jacket sleeve and lash at her arm and butted his head towards her face.

Alex recoiled from the attack but automatically fought back as she threw a hard punch on the guy’s face and kicked him hard on the groin. Before she could further do harm, Malcolm was holding her back and pulling her away while she was spewing curses at him.

If there’s one thing that Zach had concluded, it was this.

Alex is no woman to mess with.