Before she opened the door Andromeda took in a long breath. Her heart was thumping with excitement because she had been working toward this for months. So much was riding on this interview.

"You'll have to wait out here," Mike told Parker.

"Not happening." Parker told him flatly. "I don't care what you say. She," he pointed a finger at Andromeda, "is not going in there without protection."

"I'll be with her," Mike said placatingly.

Parker gave him a long up and down look and crossed his arms. "Exactly."

Oh, shit!

"You two need to quit. I don't need this right now." She looked at Mike. "Parker goes in with me."

His expression coldly furious, Mike nodded once in agreement. "Fine. It's your call. If he breaks his muzzle it's on you."

Grinning, Parker leaned in and snapped his strong white teeth at Mike, making the other man jump back. Andromeda would have laughed if it wouldn't have been mean to Mike. This was the Parker she remembered from years ago.

* * *

Parker stepped into the room and scanned every square inch. It had a decent view of the Scioto River and concrete, and that was it. He doubted the young man handcuffed to the table cared about the view, though. Crossing to the man Parker pulled his chair away from his ass and stood him on his feet, then started to search him. The man was cranked over the table and started cursing, but Parker continued. He found what he was looking for in the bottom hem of the tan jail uniform shirt. Working the small hard thing with his fingers, he pulled it from the fabric. A paperclip had been straightened and inserted into the heavier hem fabric, camouflaging it. Parker handed the modified clip to Mike, then continued to search. He found a second, similarly bent piece of metal in the hem of the white t-shirt he wore beneath the tan, this time in the back hem. He handed that one to Mike as well.

The prosecuting attorney glared, but not necessarily at him. "Two of them?"

"One in front and one in back, useful for either way he's cuffed."

Parker 'helped' the gentleman back into his chair and scooted him tight to the table, then stood back one foot and off to the side just a bit. He had a perfect view of every move the man could make.

Andromeda, looking beautiful and strong, sat across the table from Mozi and began removing papers and her computer from her bag. There was a raised electronic bank in the center of the table and she flipped a couple of switches.

"Thank you for choosing to speak to me, Mr. al Fareq. I know this hasn't been an easy process for you. I'm sure you remember my name is Andromeda Pierce. I've been prosecuting your case. And this is Mr. Michael Maddox, lead prosecutor."

Mozi muttered something under his breath and Andromeda looked at him, then down at her notes. "Now, since you've waived your right to further counsel, do you consent to speak to us without representation?"

The young man glared at her but didn't say anything.

Andromeda smiled patiently, unruffled. "Mr. al Fareq, you have to agree or disagree verbally. This conversation is being recorded."

"Yes," he hissed. "I consent, jendeh."

Parker's anger spiked as the punk called her a slut, but Andromeda didn't even blink, just continued to unpack her bag. Finally, she set a pen on top of a legal pad and smiled. "Now, then. I know you're very angry right now, but you really are doing the right thing. If we had gone to court you would have been even more publicly humiliated than you already are. I mean, I appreciate that you were trying to honor your family and the Islamic State by pulling off the attack on the art fair, but even you have to admit it was pretty lame. I mean, did you think that you and the bomb you put together would actually blow up? Our techs looked at it and the timer wasn't even wired into the explosive. Were you aware of that?"

"Kiram too un dahane sag gaaeedat."

Fuck your dog raped mouth. That was a good insult, Parker thought, but not in relation to his woman.

He glanced at Andromeda, but she gave him the tiniest shake of her head.

"Mr. al Fareq can insult me all he wants, if that's what he just did. It's not going to change the fact that he fucked up and his family has washed their hands of him." She looked directly at Mozi. "Doesn't that piss you off that you are basically giving your life for a family that won't even recognize you? Why are you protecting them?"

"You have no concept of honor,” the young man snapped.

"Mm," Andromeda looked down at her notes. "But I bet your brother did. Dalir. He was the one that drove the truck in the Christmas Parade, wasn't he?"

Mozi glared at her, disgust curling his lips. His dark eyes blazed with fury. "Yes, kusi, and he will be blessed beyond measure for ridding the earth of unbelievers and supporting the Islamic State."

Andromeda frowned, tilting her head. "Those children were noncombatants, which makes your brother's actions an insult to Allah."

Mozi rattled his cuffs against the metal loop they were connected to in the center of the table. "They don't matter. They were part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State. My brother will be blessed, and I will be blessed. We are doing as we are commanded."

"How will you be blessed, Mozi?"

He clamped his lips and looked out the window, anger sitting heavily upon his young brow.

Parker looked at Andromeda. She was in her element. There was an excited light in her eyes that couldn't be tamped down.

"So, what were you plans when you drove the truck through the crowd, Mozi?"

"I wanted to kill as many people as I could, because they are enemies of the Islamic State."

Andromeda gave him a condescending smile, and her expression turned sympathetic. "Ah, but you didn't, did you? You completely botched your lone wolf attack. And you got taken down by a lowly security guard, a mall cop. Isn't that embarrassing? Will ISIS disavow you as well as your family?"

Parker actually heard the young man's teeth grinding in his mouth, but he didn't say anything. But Andromeda didn’t seem bothered.

"So, let's get down to brass tacks, Mozi. Your plea agreement stipulates that you will name your co-conspirators, and those of the Christmas Parade attack. So let’s get to it. Your brother Dalir carried out the attack on the Christmas parade, but who planned it?"

"We all planned it. There is shared glory in a goal achieved, and we wanted to kill as many Americans as we could."

"So your father supports ISIS as well, and your mother. What about your three sisters, and the rest of your brothers?"

He shook his head. "We will all be blessed. You Americans have no chance against us, because we will attack you when and where we want. We are all soldiers and we will sow terror."

Andromeda leaned forward, intent. "But will they remember your name? Will the Islamic State remember you as a nameless bumbler who screwed up an easy job? If you give me the names of your co-conspirators, only then you will receive the glory you deserve, because you will be standing up for what you believe in. And you will bring them glory because they've fought their fight. They will be given credit for the attack on the Christmas parade that killed so many."

That seemed to make Mozi think. Parker had to admire Andromeda's craftiness.

"Your family members will be recognized as fighting for the Islamic State,” she told him. “That's what you want, right?"

He blinked, and when Mozi looked down at his hand, Parker knew she had him. Andromeda began to list names. Parker recognized the names of Mozi's family. When Mozi answered yes to every name, she nodded. "These are your co-conspirators in the attack that killed nine children, correct?"

"Yes."

"And who of them helped you plan the art fair attack?"

"Ibrahim, my younger brother. We walked the path I was to drive the week before but there were barriers put in the way I was going to go. I had to work around them."

With the Islamic State encouraging truck and semi attacks against pedestrians, many cities had adopted the practice of placing concrete barriers at venue entrances and exits to keep people safe. Parker was sure, though, that they would come up with some other devious way to kill innocent civilians.

It took them an hour to interview Mozi, but at the end of that time they had a list of fifteen people. As well as the incredibly important addresses. Now they knew where they were.

"Mozi, they will talk about you in videos and on Bayan."

Mozi's eyes lit with a fanatic heat at the mention of the Islamic State radio station, and he nodded his head.

The three of them left the room after that and Mike called a deputy to transport Mozi back to jail. "I've already called the jail administrator and they're going to place him in Administrative Segregation for his own protection until he's shipped out to prison, which should be within the next few days. The judge has already signed off on the plea deal."

Andromeda nodded, then looked at Parker. "Thank you for not stepping in when he was insulting me. I've been called worse than a whore or slut before. I didn't catch the other one, though. Something about a dog?"

Parker looked at her, brow raised. She'd known what he'd said? "I'd rather not repeat it."

She smiled slightly and nodded.

It didn’t surprise Parker that she’d understood some of the language. Andromeda had a passion for her job that would make her acquaint herself with every aspect of a case. She wouldn’t allow a language barrier to impede her progress.

When they returned to Mike's office he made a copy of the list of names and addresses Mozi had given them. "I already notified both Columbus PD and Franklin County that we might need their SWAT teams to execute warrants. I'll call Judge Aviano and get warrants on these people within the hour. Hopefully, if the al Fareq family is as bright as the son, they'll stay exactly where they are and just wait for us to come get them."

Andromeda laughed. "Somehow I doubt it will be that easy."