"Ma'am, step aside." A man pushes Rosanne away, while the other man finishes reading Kasim Bashar his rights.
"I'm New York BCI special detective Kasim Bashar. Is there some kind of mix up?" He asks.
"No. You are the Kasim Bashar we are looking for. Please follow us and don't make a scene. You know the drill."
Rosanne cries out, "Wait, officers, what agency are you guys from? I work with Detective Bashar and he just wants to go around different neighborhoods in New York City. He has not done anything wrong. He's a detective investigating a suspicious radical group. Maybe there's some misunderstanding."
"We are from the FBI, and we know who he is. Please, step aside."
Rosanne is stunned. She watches Kasim Bashar being hand-cuffed and taken away right in front of her. She has to call somebody. But who should she call now?
*** *** ***
In a Chinese restaurant, Jack and Bob are eating shrimp dumplings, shrimp shumai, shrimp buns. Anything that comes with Shrimp.
Bob says, "Hey, Jack, I might sound like a real cheap-o, but can I please get another order of shrimp dumplings to go? I mean, you can come to my apartment tonight to eat it. I just want a few to eat tonight at home."
Bob is, of course, thinking of letting his ghosts/spirits see the shrimp dumplings they requested the other day.
Jack laughs, "No problem. Let's order some to go. I hear dumplings taste better cold anyway."
There are two televisions near them, and one of them is on a home improvement and life style channel. It is currently airing a show about improving life style and such. The show host is a very handsome man with very beautiful green eyes. His eye color is very rare. So dreamy and pretty that Jack wonders if the eye color is fake. Like, this show host is using special contact lenses to make his eyes look that way.
The show host's name is Andyo. Like, Andy with an -o attached at the end.
"You seem to be very into this show? You are watching it so closely right now." Bob comments.
"No. This guy just kind of bothers me."
"Oh, I thought it was the content of this episode that got your attention. Are you even really watching? Or you are just distracted by the show host?"
Jack then takes his eyes off the TV screen, "What is the content of this episode? Sorry, I guess I wasn't really paying attention."
"This guy... Andyo? He is talking about how to be smart with passwords. Because people's accounts online get hacked." Bob says.
"OK?" Jack grabs another bun to eat.
"Many people who start to set up accounts on social media platforms earlier than everyone are the most targeted ones. Such as, people who start using those platforms when they first became available in the early 2000s. Those early users have simple account names, such as '@ Lizard' or '@ Dragon' or '@ Cool' The simple ones. Using only one popular word. They didn't have to add additional words, for example, Cool is simply Cool. It's not Cool1845_USA. Because no one has registered the name 'Cool' on those platforms. That name was never taken at an early stage. But they are very popular handle names. So hackers hack those accounts, and take their account names over, and then sell them to people, asking thousands of US dollars."
Jack's attention is now fully on Bob's words. "Wow! Shit. I didn't think of that. It's true. There is no way I can register my account as just 'Jack' because someone must have already use that name before me. So, first batch of users are the targets, because they get to have those names?"
"Yeah." Bob nods.
"And you think this concerns me, because I was just trying to capture a hacker."
"Yeah."
"Well, I don't know if that hacker, Dominic, was doing that. I just knew he was attacking gas stations." Jack shrugs.
"Speaking of which, did you message Keith back yet?"
"Not yet. Oh. I should do it now then. He wanted me to read some news reports about a missing student, Jamila. I will text him now."
As Jack takes his phone out to type, Bob feels his phone vibrating. He takes it out, and it is a phone number that he has not entered into his contacts.
But Bob has very good memory. He has seen this phone number not that long ago. This is Rosanne's phone number on the business card she gave him and Jack.
Bob finds himself a little nervous, which is rare. He answers it.
"This is Bob."
"Bob! This is Rosanne, I just spoke to you earlier..." It is indeed her. She sounds like she has an emergency, so Bob sits up.
But then Rosanne's voice lowers and becomes less confident.
"Eh... um... I am calling you because... I guess this is strange to call you now that I am calling you."
"What is it?" Bob asks.
"It's about BCI Detective Kasim Bashar. You know him, right? Because he knows you well, I believe."
"Yeah. I've done some translation for him and assisted him with some information. Bashar knows Jack as well. They have worked together on organized crime. Do you want to speak to Jack?" Bob says as he looks at Jack. Bob somehow wants to direct the call to Jack.
Jack is still on his phone, texting.
Rosanne answers: "Um, I don't think that's necessary. I just wanted to ask, do you know why Bashar would be arrested? Because I just saw him arrested right in front of me."
"Huh?" Bob is surprised. "I can't think of why."
"They read him the charges, and they are accusing him of … terrorist related crimes." Rosanne speaks in a lower voice, feeling bad to even say that out loud.
Bob says, "Hmm, I wonder if it's part of the act, because he goes undercover to mingle with potential radicals."
"Oh….."
Yeah, Bashar did say he was going to go under cover soon.
"Do you know who arrested him?" Bob asks.
"The FBI. I don't know whom to call. I tried BCI already, they wouldn't talk to me. I don't have any connection with the FBI."
"I don't have any connection either. I'm just a police records clerk, filing things away." Bob says with some laugh in his voice.
"Well...," Rosanne sounds like she is not sure what to say now.
"I would say, you should not worry too much right now. There is nothing you can do. If I hear anything, I can try to let you know. But really, it's out of our hands. We are not the FBI." Bob says calmly.
"OK...." Rosanne replies, "I guess I was just so taken by surprise. I was about to help him with something. I can't believe he is arrested."
Bob wants to say-- um, lady, you have got a lot to learn. Is she new to law enforcement? Is she inexperienced in witnessing arrests?
"Like I said, Rosanne, don't worry for now. There's nothing you can do. But, you should carry on what Kasim Bashar was asking you to do. He hasn't been suspended and his work should be continued unless you've been asked to stop."
"OK. Thanks. Let me know if you hear something. Bye." Rosanne hangs up.
Before Bob can ask himself if he was being too harsh on this girl, Jack immediately interrupts Bob's thoughts, "Your phone call sounds dramatic. What happened?"
"It was Rosanne calling me. She said Kasim Bashar just got arrested."
"Why?"
"Sounds like for terrorist-related charges."
Suddenly, Jack has a thought. A raw idea that has no evidence to support. Just a random thought. Totally just a hunch.
"The thing Keith wants me to work on has something to do with a student with Middle Eastern background. I wonder if these two incidents are connected." Jack says, but he says it quietly.
Bob raises his eyebrows, thinking.
They both lift their heads up a little to look at the TV screen. That show is still on. That Andyo guy is still on TV.
And suddenly, Jack gasps so loudly. It's like he sucks in all the air in the room.
"What?" Bob asks.
"The.... the girl standing next to Andyo is...." Jack's voice is dry. He can't finish the sentence. Why the hell is she there?