Moonlight Warriors: A Tale of Two Hit Men by Joseph Rogers Page A

conversation.  Ana mentioned that she is a vegetarian, so I told her that I would be an honorary vegetarian for the day.  I’m having a grilled cheese sandwich.”
    “Actually a grilled cheese sandwich sounds good to me,” Charlie said.  “I’ll also be a vegetarian for the day.  I would also like a vanilla shake.” 
    “A vegetarian waitress at Steak and Shake,” Jenny remarked.  “That’s rather ironic.”  She glanced at the waitress’s name tag.  “And you spell ‘Ana’ with one ‘n.’  I don’t think that I have seen that previously.”
    Ana laughed.   “Well, my actual name is spelled ‘Anna,’ but I prefer to spell it with one ‘n.’  I suppose that I like to be unique.”
    After Ana departed to get their food, the two police detectives and the FBI agent lowered their voices.
    “While we were speaking on the phone a little while ago, I had the impression that you share some of our concerns about Sam,” Jenny said.
    “I have always considered the guy to be very overrated.  He is supposed to be one of our best experts on the jihadist movement, yet almost every operation with which he has been involved has failed.  When he was stationed in Europe, he participated in several raids against terrorist groups, but something always went wrong, and someone besides Sam got the blame for the failure.  A few months ago his team raided a pub in Berlin, but they were ambushed and several German intelligence officers were killed by the terrorists, who then escaped. In five major raids led by Sam, only a few low-level operatives were arrested or killed.”
    “Sacrificial lambs,” Charlie said, deep in thought.
    “Sam also unsuccessfully led the FBI’s pursuit of an assassin named Saud Tariq.  Tariq murdered numerous moderate Islamic leaders in Arab countries and in Europe.”
    “Why was the FBI involved?”
    “Saud Tariq killed a CIA agent in London.  The CIA agent had infiltrated an extremist group, but somehow his cover was blown.   He was stabbed to death when he entered his apartment in the Soho district in London.”
    “That sounds familiar,” Jenny said.  “That computer programmer, Rebecca Wright, was stabbed to death when she entered her apartment.”
    “It’s possible that Saud Tariq killed her,” David said.  “We think that he assassinated Douglas Neldt and arranged for his company to be bombed.”
    “Why are we just hearing about Saud Tariq now?” Charlie asked.
    “Sam did not want me to mention him to you.  We weren’t sure that Saud Tariq was involved, and Sam said that he didn’t want to tell you about him until we had more facts. He is big on the concept of need to know.  He said that he doesn’t believe Saud Tariq is in St. Louis, so there is no need for St. Louis police to know about him.  We aren’t even sure that Saud Tariq is in the United States.”
    “But you think that he is here?” Jenny inquired.
    “I would bet a year’s salary that he is.  You two are lucky to have each other as partners.  Working with Sam is a pain in the neck.  To tell you the truth, Sam doesn’t have much respect for the police.  He can be a snob sometimes.  Sam hasn’t said anything negative about either of you, though.”  He grinned slightly.  “In fact, you’re the first police detectives that he hasn’t made snide remarks about to me.  So, in a way, that’s kind of an indirect compliment to you.”
    “Be still my heart,” Jenny said with a sardonic grin.
    Ana arrived with the shakes and plates of food.
    “Just before you arrived, Ana was telling me about her high school graduation,” David said.  “She went barefoot beneath her gown.”
    “Yes,” Ana said with a smile.  “I didn’t think anyone noticed that I was barefoot, but my grandmother asked me about it after the ceremony.  Apparently when I came down the steps from the stage, she noticed my feet.”
    “The barefoot graduate,” Jenny laughed.  “That is hilarious,