Bureau’s SLC field office visited the store, but no security camera footage was available.”
“Still,” said the Sec State, “this is a huge breakthrough. Where’s Wong now?”
“Up until this morning we knew exactly where he was. Then he disappeared.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yesterday, Wong purchased a last-minute airline ticket to Nashville, Tennessee. This morning, LAPD officers followed him to LAX and watched him pass through security. The Bureau’s Nashville office arranged to have a Nashville PD detective who works on several of our task forces be at the airport when Wong landed. The last-minute travel had piqued our interest and we wanted to see what Wong was up to. The only problem is Wong never got off the plane.”
“What happened to him? Did he even get on the plane?”
“He got on a plane, all right, just not this plane.”
“What does that mean?”
Roe advanced to her next clip, which showed footage from several different security cameras. “After clearing security at LAX, Tommy Wong proceeded to the American Airlines Admirals Club where he purchased a day pass, hung out for less than an hour, and then boarded a plane for Omaha.”
“Omaha?” The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said. “Why?”
“So that this man,” Roe replied, advancing to her next clip, “could travel to Nashville on Wong’s ticket.”
CIA Director McGee looked at the Secretary of Homeland Security. “How many times have we talked about this? Anyone can switch boarding passes once they’re behind security.”
The DHS Secretary didn’t want to discuss it. He knew it was a flaw in the system. He also knew the airlines had screamed bloody murder every time they tried to get them to start checking IDs at the gate again. “Talk to Congress, Bob. I’m on your side. I personally don’t care if it triples boarding times.”
McGee shook his head. “Wait’ll some bomb maker checks a bag and then switches boarding passes with some patsy who thinks she’s getting a few hundred bucks just to take a flight to Miami.”
The bomb would still have to make it past all the baggage-screening mechanisms, but the point was taken. The boarding card system was a problem. The DHS Secretary nodded in agreement.
“This is footage of the passengers deplaning the LA to Nashville flight that Wong should have been on. The man you see here,” said Roe as she paused her presentation and zoomed in, “entered the United States today from Shanghai and was supposed to change planes at LAX for Omaha.
“His name, at least the name we have on file for him, is Bao Deng. He is allegedly a Chinese businessman who holds an American green card and owns part of a poultry-processing plant in Nebraska.”
“Is there any known connection between Wong and Deng?” asked the Secretary of State.
“None that we have been able to make so far.”
“What about CIA?”
“Nothing,” replied McGee. “But it wouldn’t be the first time a nation-state has used a criminal organization to assist with its activities.”
“So who’s the bigger fish here? Who should we be more concerned with? A triad member who buys phones for terrorists or a Chinese businessman who switches places with him at the airport?”
“The FBI wants both of them,” Director Erickson asserted. “And to answer your question, you don’t fly a guy all the way from China just to be a decoy. Tommy Wong is a street thug with no tradecraft. If he’d been properly trained, he wouldn’t have been caught on camera buying those phones.”
“Good point,” said the Secretary of State.
“Do we have any leads to either of their current whereabouts?” asked the DHS Secretary.
Erickson nodded to Roe, who continued her presentation. “Both our Omaha and Nashville offices have been fully mobilized and additional assets are being sent in. For the moment, all we have is the footage from the airport CCTV systems. Upon arriving at their respective destinations, both men boarded hotel shuttles and disappeared.”
“What do you mean disappeared?” said the Secretary of State.
“Tommy Wong took a shuttle to the Super 8 motel, two miles from Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. The Super 8 doesn’t have any external cameras. He got off the shuttle but didn’t check into the motel. FBI agents spoke with management and staff, showed them Wong’s picture, and no one fitting his description has been seen by anyone other than the shuttle driver.”
“What about this Bao Deng?”
“We have a little more there, but not much. Based on CCTV footage from the Nashville airport, after Bao Deng deplaned, he went to the baggage level. There, he bought a ticket and took a