“Are we going to provide any evidence of that?”
“We’re not going to reveal too much but will ask the public for tips.”
“Whose idea is this?”
“There’s consensus. To be blunt, we need people looking hard at their neighbors.”
I didn’t say anything to that. I looked past Venuti, and Venuti said, “You’re thinking this may push them to act sooner with the remaining C-4.”
“It could and we’re not really giving the public anything to work with.”
“We are. We’re giving probabilities.”
Venuti ticked them off as if that would convince me. The sleeper cell most likely was predominantly male with an age range between twenty-one and forty-five. He went right down his list, but he had many of the same doubts as me.
“If the analysts are right, there’s a sleeper cell of seven to ten individuals,” he said.
“Where are they getting these numbers?”
“Through hours required for tasks performed, coordination, phone analysis they’re not talking much about, and an algorithm drawing from the variables. So do we adjust what you’re doing? Do we still put hours into Mondari?”
“How did we jump from this to Mondari?”
“We’re going to see a flood of tips, and we’re going to need everyone. We’re going to account for every house, every apartment, trailers, hotels, everything in southern Nevada.”
Another computer-driven idea, I thought, someone’s metadata fantasy. Before he could explain the grand plan, I said, “Mondari told me a much different and more credible story last night of a bomb maker moved north via a cartel pipeline and brought across by them.”
“And how would he know?”
“By chance, through a scam his tech thieves had going. They were remotely stealing information from a Sinaloa cartel manager.”
“There’s a bright idea. Where are they now?”
“Missing.”
Venuti laughed.
“The cartel operative they targeted is enough of a high roller to stay in the same casino suite every month when he comes through here. From the room he logs into a dark site to retrieve his e-mails. Mondari’s geeks were reading his e-mails right along with him, and they were able to take screenshots. Don’t ask me how it works, but one e-mail screenshot they caught talked about the delivery of a fabricante de bombas and payment for delivery. He says he told Jane part of this but not all.”
“Bullshit. She would have told me. She would have been all over it.”
“No kidding, she would have. Mondari’s two tech guys disappeared about two weeks ago. That’s right about when Mondari started moving around.”
“He got scared.”
“Yeah, he put it together, though he swears he had nothing to do with stealing information from the cartel.”
“Sure, he had nothing to do with it, but, okay, let’s stretch our imaginations. Let’s say Mondari is telling the truth. What do we do?”
“We look hard for Mondari’s tech guys and put agents on finding the Sinaloa manager. If we find him and put it to him the right way, it might be worth it to him to give us the information. We can let him know that otherwise, it’ll get whispered that he’s working with us. That could lead to a real job-promotion setback for him. He might talk, and he’s the one who can verify what Mondari claims his guys saw on the screenshot.”
“And that’s the problem—it’s according to Mondari.”
“Hear me out, Dan. The fabricante des bombas, the bomb maker I think we’re looking for is a traveler and experienced. He may have arrived ready to blend in and go to work. He may not be with the sleeper cell. A pro bomber is going to want to do it his own way, in his own space. He could have ID, credit cards, everything he needs to get set up. The e-mail said a fabricante des bombas was delivered. The Sinaloa cartel delivered him. They’re capable. It fits. It’s a smart way to bring a traveler in.”
I expected Dan to brush that aside, but he heard me. He knew I was serious.
“You’re saying one of his tech criminals worked for the hotel and knew about this cartel mid-level guy who stayed there monthly.”
“Yes.”
“Targeting a cartel manager is stupid but also believable. How hard have you looked for these missing tech guys?”
“Not very hard. I’ve reached out to contacts, and Lacey is working it different ways. We do know their phones were canceled within minutes of each other on June 21 and that they were last seen approximately forty-eight hours before that. The girlfriend of one called the North Las Vegas police, but she’s not quite enough of a girlfriend to fill out a missing-persons report. She told Lacey she’d have to take off from work to do that.”
“It feels real to you.”
“It does.”
“You went out with a BOLO on Mondari and his car this afternoon. What’s that about?”
“I can’t find Mondari today after all but tucking him into bed last night. He’s missing again, and I’m asking for help finding him, so yeah, I went out with a be-on-the-lookout-for.”