The Groove
Saturday October 19th, 2024 with Elorious Cain
EMILY BRISK 12: The U.S.B. sticks

It suddenly started pouring "cats and dogs" onto the crowded Interstate 93 passing through Boston. There was already a debilitating traffic gridlock on it preventing Fatima's brand new Mini Cooper from going anymore than 20 miles an hour. Half of the time she wasn't moving at all! The Mini was a wonderful gift from her parents celebrating her recent graduation from Harvard. The truth of the matter is that no words or even this car could communicate how extremely proud they were of her accomplishments. Fatima sat in her car listening to quiet piano music trying not to think anymore of Catriona. She had just left Catriona's house in Quincy with a completely devastated family. She had a tremendous amount of difficulty understanding why Catriona had committed suicide. Fatima was very sensitive about death and violence. As she sat slowly following an oil truck in the blinding downpour, she suddenly flashed back to sitting listening to Hodan Nalayeh's inspiring speech in a hotel conference room back in Mogadishu. Hodan's words had given her a new sense of purpose and possibility. It was largely because of Hodan, Fatima had really applied herself and became so successful at High School and Harvard University. Fatima was still raddled and tortured by the reality that she suddenly had to go the bathroom, only to return to the utter chaos caused by the stupid Al-Shabaab terrorists attacking the hotel and killing Hodan and so many others. Fatima narrowly escaped the situation alive. All of these years later Fatima still couldn't understand why those idiots had to kill Hodan who had returned all the way back from Canada just to help and inspire girls like her. Her parents realized then that staying in Somalia has no longer safe. The hellish trek to Kenya would take it's toll on her younger sisters and brothers. It all had made Fatima so incredibly sad and desperate. Even as she sat listening to the piano music she couldn't help but to hear the sounds of war. Now she couldn't accept that Catriona had really taken her own life. It tore her apart seeing Catriona's children so devastated and emotionally lost. Catriona's husband had asked Fatima to go and open the store. He said that he wanted her to assume the whole operations there. She knew she was up to the task. Anything she could help with was fine. She was just somewhat concerned about a meeting that Catriona had missed with people from the F.B.I. She had evidently killed herself right before that meeting that Friday morning. Her husband quickly closed the store down. It was now Monday morning and Fatima figured that the folks for the F.B.I. would be waiting for her, She suspected that they might want to talk about that Emily Brisk girl. She still could remember every last detail of that Saturday morning. It was something she was never going to forget. Not since almost getting killed at that hotel in Mogadishu had any specific event affected her so much. As she finally parked outside the South Bay Center the sun had come out and the rain stopped. She wasn't nervous walking into the mall at all. She was stunned by all of the store owners and employees of different businesses who approached her to offer their condolences and moral support as she slowly walked to the store. There was even Arthur Simms from the charity thrift shop who came by and asked how she was doing. Fatima remembered the many times he used to come into to the store with old cameras for Catriona's husband's collection at home. As she approached the store she could finally read the sign: "Closed temporarily due to family tragedy!" The store looked so dark and sad. As she turned off the alarms, she suddenly saw a small crowd walk into the door. Fatima instantly recognized Special Agent Nancy Brisk and said, "Agent Brisk! I remember you!" Special Agent Nancy Brisk answered back in a very positive tone and started introducing F.B.I. Profiler Dora Fuentes and all of the 'specialists' from Homeland Security. Fatima suddenly felt overwhelmed saying. "I thought I was going to meet F.B.I. people! Why are there Homeland Security people here also?" Dora assured her that everything was perfectly alright. Fatima kept the sign up in the window and locked the door. Dona asked if Dora, Nancy and Fatima just stand and wait by the door for a few moments. Ajinder Gill took out a device and started meticulously scanning all over the store looking for bugs. Dona said, "We don't want anybody else listening to our conversation" Ajinder also set up another device which he described as a "blocker" in the case someone else was using a long distance microphone somewhere else in the mall. As he was finishing his scan, the other "specialists" -Genevive Dino, Cindi Gander, Jerry Spic and Isaac Smith wandered near the windows looking out into the mall in a chaotic formation and took out their smart phones. They all started pointing at each other's phone and laughing hysterically as if there was some kind of joke or set of comical images on the phones. Every one of them looked ridiculous and juvenile. Fatima thought it all looked so strange until Dona said, "They are all actually photographing the crowd of people standing outside of the store. They are sending all of the photos to Ajinder's computers so that we can establish who those people are. We constantly check everything and everybody" When it was established the everything is all clear, Fatima escorted everybody to the very same bathing suit section that Emily was taken to in order to relax. Special Agent Nancy Brisk even verbally recalled those emotion-packed moments trying comfort her sister there. Dona Smith from Homeland Security just had to say, "I just love your hijab! I've never seen such a beautiful pattern!" Fatima thanked Dona with a big smile before she started enumerating the events from her perspective of that morning she discovered Emily in the changeroom. She noticed how the Homeland Security people were making notes with avid interest. When she got to the point when Nancy left with Emily, Fatima said, "Now there is more events in that day after you girls left. I have a tremendous amount difficulty saying it because I don't like speaking ill of the dead." At that stall Dora Fuentes informed Fatima that a Murder Investigation was already going on about Catriona. It shocked Fatima that the F.B.I. didn't believe she had committed suicide. After Dora said that any information about Catriona might help finding out what happened, Dona added that anymore information she had would be important to National Security. Fatima agreed to continue her story. " After you and Emily left, Catriona's demeanor drastically changed in a flash. Instead of being warm, caring and concerned, she was cold and uncaring. The last time I saw such a radical change in anyone like that was back in Kenya at the Benadir refugee camp. The Kenyans were so caring and interested in our well being when U.N.H.C.R. officials or the international press was around. Once the guests departed they quickly became just as cold and uncaring. The change was brutal and demeaning. Catriona hardly talked to me. She snapped about things I should have done all the time talking about me in the third person as if I wasn't there. The only thing she said to me directly was to erase the security feed from our cameras on the computer. After that day she wanted me to erase the feeds everyday at closing. Our relationship was never the same again." Tech specialist Ajinder Gill assured everybody that he could get deleted material from the computer in a few days. Fatima said that wouldn't be necessary. She took out a cloth bag out of her purse and presented it to Ajinder. It was filled with U.S.B. sticks which she had bought at the nearby Radio Shack. Fatima had downloaded all of the camera feeds from the computer onto the U.S.B. sticks everyday before deleting anything. Ajinder was excited like a kid in a candy store. Fatima smiled and said, "I sensed that just such a meeting like this was coming. I didn't want to know about what going on here or get involved. I just concentrated on doing my job to the best of my abilities. After the incident with Emily Brisk we had four other women and girls who disappeared in the changerooms. Two came back like Emily, all confused and freaked out. Catriona made them feel as if they had fallen asleep and had weird dreams. The others never came back and nobody came looking for them. Catriona never even called the police. And that is just what I know about." All the agents in the room freaked out. Dora said, "You're smart! That was a great idea, possibly dangerous." Dona suggested that Fatima's life might be in jeopardy. Dona added that Homeland Security will generously pay all other employees at the store to stay at home. She said, "Our Genevive Dino and Cindi Gander here will be your new employees while we sort things out, With these agents here nobody will be able to hurt you!"