“So the city destroyer detonates. Takes TEDAC with it. Then step three. The smoke bomb is found. It has the same technology inside it. Plus Khalil’s fingerprint.”
“That’s the way it was supposed to happen.”
“But the first transponder didn’t trigger the city destroyer.”
“No. It should have done. I have no idea why it failed.”
I smiled. I was tempted to tell him that the transponder didn’t fail. That it didn’t have the chance to. Because Fenton had destroyed it weeks ago. But I resisted. I needed to keep him focused. He had some big questions coming up. So instead I said, “Then why try to stop the smoke bomb? Why not make sure it went to TEDAC so its transponder could finish the job?”
“The smoke bomb had the same transponder. It would have triggered the truck bomb. That’s true. But I didn’t want to risk wasting the fingerprint.”
“Wasting it?”
“Right. It was damn expensive. Two million dollars and a fair employee. It might have survived. But a blast that size? It could easily have been destroyed. And think of the scene. A hundred thousand pieces of evidence are already there. The fingerprint could have survived then got mixed up with the rest. And got lost.”
“OK. Tell me what you did after the demonstration I watched. What you added to the smoke bomb before you put it in the truck for me to drive.”
“I added nothing. Why would I?”
“Because you didn’t want the fingerprint to be wasted. The T in TEDAC stands for terrorist. Not protester. Not attention seeker. Those agents are specialists. They don’t get out of bed for a pretty puff of smoke. So unless you spiced the bomb up a little it would have gone to a local field office, at best. Maybe just the police department. Where it would have sat on a shelf in the evidence room, gathering dust until long after you’re dead.”
“I disagree. TEDAC would have taken it. Because of all the press coverage. I didn’t add a thing.”
“You didn’t smear the outside of the shells with VX?”
“Where would I get VX from?”
“You didn’t pour VX into the shells?”
Fenton came back inside. She stayed near the exit door. She peeled off a pair of latex surgeon’s gloves and jammed them into her pocket.
Dendoncker said, “VX is a weapon of mass destruction. I wouldn’t touch it.”
“And the third smoke bomb. The last one left in your workshop. You didn’t fill it with VX?”
“I don’t even know where it is.” Dendoncker pointed at Mansour. “He disposed of it. He didn’t say where or how.”
“You didn’t add anything to either bomb. You don’t know where the third bomb is. That’s the story you’re going with?”
“It’s not a story.”
I waited a moment to give him one last chance to come clean. He didn’t take it. So I said, “OK. I choose to believe you.”
“Then I can go?”
“In a minute. There’s still one thing I don’t understand. You want to blow someplace up and let Khalil take the fall. But why does that place have to be TEDAC? There are plenty of softer targets out there.”
Dendoncker was silent for a moment. “I thought, if I hit part of the FBI they’d take it personally. Leave no stone unturned. Make sure the fingerprint was found and—”
“No.” I shook my head. “Here’s what I think. You learned that there was some evidence against you at TEDAC. Something that hadn’t come to light yet. But that would. Soon. Then you were offered Khalil’s fingerprint. And you saw your chance. Two birds, one bomb.”
Dendoncker didn’t reply.
“I know what that evidence is. I’ve joined the dots. But I need to hear you admit it. And I want you to apologize. Do those two things, then you can walk.”
Dendoncker stayed silent.
I pointed at Mansour’s body. “Do those two things, or that’s how you’ll leave this world. Your choice.”
Dendoncker took a deep breath. “OK. The Beirut barracks bomb. I didn’t build it. But I taught the guys who did. They used parts I touched.”
“You were an instructor? That’s how you were in a position to pick the driver?”
“Correct. And it’s why I recognized your name when we first met at the morgue. You won the Purple Heart that day. I read about it afterward.”
“OK. And?”
“And I’m sorry. I apologize. To everyone who got hurt. For everyone who got killed.”