BooksBarbecue
Back 3 a.m.
Chapters (67)
  1. :01
  2. :02
  3. :03
  4. :04
  5. :05
  6. :06
  7. :07
  8. :08
  9. :09
  10. :10
  11. :11
  12. :12
  13. :13
  14. :14
  15. :15
  16. :16
  17. :17
  18. :01
  19. :02
  20. :03
  21. :04
  22. :05
  23. :06
  24. :07
  25. :08
  26. :09
  27. :10
  28. :11
  29. :12
  30. :13
  31. :01
  32. :02
  33. :03
  34. :04
  35. :05
  36. :06
  37. :07
  38. :08
  39. :09
  40. :10
  41. :11
  42. :12
  43. :13
  44. :14
  45. :15
  46. :16
  47. :00
  48. :01
  49. :02
  50. :03
  51. :04
  52. :05
  53. :06
  54. :07
  55. :08
  56. :09
  57. :10
  58. :11
  59. :12
  60. :13
  61. :14
  62. :15
  63. :16
  64. :17
  65. :18
  66. :19
  67. 3:46 a.m.

My phone has two more texts. Both are from Ingrid. She still hasn’t wrapped up her new case. She won’t be able to come over tonight. She misses me.

I text that I miss her too.

I take a giant bite of the delicious sub and reread the review once more:

THIS MOVIE ROCKS!

My wife and I saw this movie on our first date eight years ago. (It was love at first site.) We watch the movie every year on our anniversary, August 5th. Smith and Jones are amazing together and Heghil did a great job directing. My nine-year-old, April, loves the movie too. She gives it twelve stars.

Published 10/2/2014 by Henry B.

My dad thinks that August 5th and eight years ago is a date.

I agree.

I flip open the laptop and Google the date.

The top result is from Wikipedia, and I start skimming. August 5, 2006 was a Saturday. George Bush, Jr. was President. The Orioles and the Dodgers played sixteen innings. SARS was back in the news.

There are a couple of other highlights, but only one that interests me. Only one that makes sense. Two high-ranking Al-Qaeda operatives were killed in an explosion in northern Iraq.

If my assumptions are correct, then my mother wanted me to read this exact sentence. But why? What did the death of two terrorists mean to me?

I continue reading.

The two men, Abdul Al-Rahmin and Hammad Sheik-Alzar, were rumored to have been in a basement in northern Iraq when there was an explosion. One of the bombs they were building detonated and the basement caved in on them.

Two dead terrorists? Is this why my mom was flagged as a Red Four?

There had to be something I was missing.

I reread the Amazon review.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Then it hits me.

There wasn’t one date, there were two.

His nine-year-old. April. Twelve stars.

April 9, 2012.

I Google the date.

Nothing related to terrorism in the least.

I switch out the numbers.

April 12, 2009.

Skim the results.

My brows furrow.

Two Al-Qaedas killed in an explosion. This time in Afghanistan. Nearly the same fashion. Building a bomb. Cave-in.

I go back and reread both snippets.

Two explosions, two cave-ins. I could only imagine what condition the men’s bodies were in. They must have been torn to pieces. How did they even identify the victims?

But, then, that was it. Someone didn’t want the bodies to be identifiable.

I was still missing something.

I reread the review.

Love at first site.

Not sight.

Site.

There had to be a link to a website.

But there were millions of websites. How was I supposed to find the right one?

I Google “terrorist website.”

There are thousands of hits.

I scroll through ten pages.

On the eleventh page, there is a match for both “terrorist” and “site.”

But it isn’t a website.

Men in Black didn’t have anything to do with the CIA.