Boyage. Excuse me, on your left. The woman with the stroller pulled to the right a bit to let me pass. Thank you. There were a lot of people by the Ashley River this morning, which was odd. There was only six. The sun just rising. I had about three more miles back to the house. I checked my watch. I was averaging six minute miles today. Finally, back to my average. I felt my phone vibrating. I didn't want to stop, but when I noticed it was Andy, I quickly pulled it off my arm band.
Hey Andy, seems bit early for you. I have a flight. A flight? I wanted to catch you before you went into work. I'm coming home for the weekend. That's sudden. Everything okay? Yeah, everything's fine. Just needed a break. Well, that's fine with me. As we talked, I noticed more people walking up onto the sidewalk. They were all looking towards the river. You talked to your father? I'm calling him after you. Oh, I didn't know what everyone was looking at until I saw one man point.
I followed his finger to the building, smoke rising in the distance. Mom, you there? Yeah, yeah. Sorry. Something's on fire across the river. Something's on fire? Yeah, must be a building. Looks like they're dealing with it though. Oh, okay. Sorry, sorry. So when do you land? You need me to pick you up? No, Mom. I'll take a ride, Sher. But will you be free this weekend? Yeah. Are you sure? Because it's not. I can stay with Dad and Sarah. No, no, Andy. I don't work weekends.
And that's what you said last time. That was one time, really. Let's do something this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing you. Okay, Mom. And then I'll see you soon. Have a safe flight. Love you. Love you too. I went to the edge of the water and stood on the concrete wall, leaning on the railing. Several people around me were taking pictures and checking their phones. I was about to do a search, but realized I could do that when I got home. I already stopped for too long.
Let's finish these last three miles. I think that's him. We arrived at the scene about an hour after the call because of how far we were. What do you think he's saying? It doesn't matter. Anyone from our department contact him? Not yet. We stood by some caution tape waiting for the CEO of Gaines Corporation to stop talking to the media. While we waited, I looked over the crumpled warehouse. Half the roof was caved in. Mind if I have a look around? My all means.
My partner Rainy was always on the go. She was probably itching to find out more details. So was I, but I wanted to talk to Mr. Wilson first. Five minutes later, Rainy had disappeared into the right side of the building much to the chagrin of some firefighters and Mr. Wilson had ended his interview. Mr. Wilson. Mr. Max Wilson? He looked over at me quizzically. I'm Agent Connors. I need to talk. Mr. Wilson took me all around the premises explaining what had happened.
Eventually, he led me to the second floor of the warehouse where I saw Rainy talking to a firefighter. I guess she wasn't buying what they were selling because she gave me her signature. They don't know a thing. Look, after we walked the interior of the warehouse, Max got a call and left me alone. That is until Rainy walked over. Well? I noticed she was biting her bottom lip. She did this every time she was unsure of something. Well, what? What'd you find out? They think it was electrical.
Yeah, that's what they told Wilson. Told him that's where it exploded. But I looked over the railing, careful not to lean on it. In case it was any structural damage to this side of the warehouse. So a spark sets off one of the missiles? She rolled her eyes. I asked if he did an inventory check, but he said he didn't get around to it. Half of his crew is dead and with the media. He's talking out of his ass. Who knows? We'll chat with him more when he's done.
Have the local authorities seen the merchandise? Highly doubt it, but we'll ask. I also want to get a look at his surveillance footage. Yeah, aren't we on a time crunch? As always. Then shouldn't we knock him off his call? She motioned to Wilson who was downstairs, pacing and yelling into his phone. Looks important, but yeah, you're right. Come on. We need to set up a field office in Charleston and get the entire team here. I want this debris combed. You got it.
LAUGHTER Always after a run, I stopped by food mart on the corner. Hey, Jess. How far? Today. I check my watch. Six point two miles. Charleston, Marathon, and June! I know. I think I'm almost ready. Mr. Newton, the owner of the food mart, was a super friendly and chatty older man. Oh, Sandy doing. Still over in Texas? Yep. Austin. Just like her mom. Go along horns. And she's doing well. Gonna be visiting this weekend, actually.
Oh, that's wonderful. As Mr. Newton rang me up, the store room door opened and Alexi appeared. He was another friendly face that worked at the market. Hey, Jess! Hi, Alexi. Two other men trailed behind him. Both a little older and thicker. I'd like you to meet my uncle Pavel and his friendly on it. Nice to meet you both. Pavel smiled at crooked smile. But Leonid was the one to approach and extend his hand. This Leonid had a slight scar on the left side of his nose. It's a pleasure to meet you.
I took his hand and smiled warmly. As they are passing through on the right of New York City, so I'd surprise me if I was a visit. Oh, I love New York. For visiting anyway, I wouldn't want to live there. Too fast-paced for my taste. I feel the same way. We're happy when we're done there. Just then, Leonid's eyes diverted to the small TV screen over the front counter. It displayed news images of the billowing smoke. I saw that on my jog. I quickly read the subtitles.
There were casualties reported. Nine bodies so far. Oh, awful. Can't imagine what families are going to. Both Leonid and Pavel shook their heads in dismay. The image on the screen changed from destruction to an anger man, who said a few things before it cut to commercial. So, what do you two gentlemen do? We're efficiency experts. People hire us to solve problems. Leonid smiled at Pavel, showing his approval. It was obviously Leonid was the one in charge.
Oh, interesting. Just then, another commercial popped up, showing kids running around the daycare center. Hey, I wrote this commercial. You do advertising. That's right. Everyone was focused on the commercial. And while we couldn't hear it, we're still able to read the subtitles. It was a proud moment because it was one of the only times I got my full commercial outlet without too much client interference. The commercial was for a senior living facility.
But I wanted to use kids to make it more playful and distract from people's dispersions of growing old. You're never too old to play. Is that's good. It's called misdirection. You make your audience think the ad is about one thing, then reveal it's about something else entirely. I would be interested in senior community for my parents. They had to be good for them. I have some info on it at work. I'll bring it by the next moment. That'd be great. How many cameras we have here?
Eight cameras on the warehouse, but only six points of view. Apparently, one of the cameras was damaged during a storm and never replaced. And the other must have been knocked several months ago and now faces the corner over an exit ramp. You saying they skimmed? Mr. Wilson did admit to a lack of checkups. I didn't even mention nine cameras. Mr. Wilson was also lacking knowledge as the ninth camera was a dummy. Wonderful. Lucky us.
We'd set up a terrorist network task force field office on the second floor of a downtown office building. Rainy was scanning through surveillance and while she hated that I often hovered, I couldn't help myself. We'd finally acquired all the footage and it wouldn't be long before we had something. At least that's what I'd hoped. Hello, Blake. Rainy. I spun around a C agent, Mina Farid. She tossed a file under the desk by my hand. Got some bad news for ya. What are you doing here?
Chief wants two field teams on this. I remembered him saying that on our call but he didn't say who the other team would be. Oh, don't tell me. That's right. He's got me with Kirby. And Joe will be here any minute. Lucky us. I thought you were on the West Coast. How'd you get reassignment? She took a seat at the empty desk across from me and put her feet up. I asked for it. And the chief granted it. You want to work under Kirby? No one wants to work with Kirby. I have no problems with it.
We worked together in Syria. So what's this? I picked up the file and flipped through. Is this your momar? Hmm. We had quite the chat. So you're already up to speed? And then some. By the way, electrical myass. What do we got? A missing Tomahawk Block 7 cruise Just one. Only one not accounted for. Wonderful news. I don't get what I've been saying. What else does that have to do with it? I don't know. Well, it's sweet. It's like a damage this time. Be careful with that rung pic.
And the financial самое is killing me. I can't believe you're gonna get leaps when you visit me. We also had a great surprise. Er, it was an excitement, love you. Just enjoy the quality of your meal. I don't want to know too much about that. It kinda is if you consider how many were in that warehouse. Well, Ranny, you never seem to be a glass half full type of person. Uh, makes our job easier if only one is missing. Mina dropped her feet and leaned up.
I'm sure you guys are messing around, but uh... This is serious, right? What's a block seven? Ranny spun around in her seat and grabbed the file for me. Oh, it's a great piece of hardware. 2,000 mile range. Exceeds Mach 5, extremely accurate. Far from here, you could say, hit a moving vehicle. The size and speed of a Lamborghini all the way, Vegas. And leave a crater the size of a football stadium. Damn. Hey, Ranny, let's see that blast. Oh, sorry, sorry.
She spun back around and scanned through more footage. So, any idea who did this? Similar MO to the terrorist cell we took down just outside Damascus last year, right? Ali Salman? We never got him. Hmm. Any headway on the type of explosive used? Um, Omar and his team are still working on it. Ah, shit. It's just an agent Joe Kirby entered. He moved through the offices like he owned the place. I reluctantly stood to greet him. Joe? Blake? He turned his attention to Mina.
I heard you were reassigned. I was. What happened to Chase? Blake didn't say, but I figured you'd rather have me. She smirked and put her feet back up. That's accurate. So, what do we have? Missing hypersonic missile. Our lead for the moment is Ali Salman. Kirby looked to me. Ah, your guy that got away. It smirked. So Blake, I was told to set up shop and help out. Looks like they needed two field teams. Push past me as Mina jump and followed.
Why the hell would she ask for a reassignment with that asshole? Who knows? But this should be fun. I'm sorry, Mr. Marks. I'll be two minutes. I was able to break free from the meeting long enough to call Andy back. I couldn't believe Stanley wanted me to come in this weekend. But he kept pushing the fact that Mr. Roberts was one of, if not the most important client we have currently. Mr. Roberts wasn't happy with the mockups. So now it was my job to come in on my days off.
How do I break this to Andy? Hey, Mom, what's up? So, I hate to do this, but... You're busy this weekend, aren't you? My boss needs me to come in. I tried my hardest to get out of it. But you just told me you were free. I already called Dad. I'm sorry, Andy. Sometimes unexpected things come up. Just like last time? Andy. No. No, it's fine. I'll stay with Dad. That's not necessary. I'll be free in the evening still. We'll figure something out.
Okay, Mom. I looked over to see Stanley tapping on the window of the conference room and angrily waving me back. I have to go now. I look forward to seeing you tonight, Andy. If you're not too tired, we'll watch a movie, okay? Yeah, Mom. Bye. We arrived back at the scene after getting a call from agent Sammy Rishi who led the forensic team. Arrani and him talk and went looking for Mr. Wilson. But after talking to a member of the fire crew, I found out he'd left for the day.
Let the follow-up with him later. There you are. What Rishi have to say. Well, he asked about surveillance footage. I told him we were still piecing things together. That it was hard because we didn't have enough angles. He said that may have been something that was known beforehand. Inside job? Possibly, or meticulously scouted out, which they could have done. They? The blast was no spark, but I told him that was obvious.
You made our way to the warehouse, careful not to get in the way of forensics. I even saw Sammy watching over us from afar. It was done from the outside, Blake. Is that right? I gave Sammy a friendly way of as it to say, we know we're being careful. They're thinking grenade launcher. And the way the debris settled, they're thinking a thermobaric grenade. We've reached the blast site and stopped. Thermobaric? Are you sure? Pretty sure. You know what that means, Rene? It means it wasn't Syrians.
Right. This was the Russians. I'll contact the Chief. For as angry as I was today, I still managed to grab a brochure for Alexi. Like always, the place was quiet. The only person I saw inside was Mr. Newton. He was up on a ladder, changing out of fluorescent bulb. Hello again, Mr. Newton. Hello there, Jess. Brings you back today. Got something for Alexi. Oh? Some info on the senior living community for his parents. Is he around? On break. I think I saw him go out back.
Both Alexi and Mr. Newton worked from sun up to sundown. Sometimes, I felt bad for how much work they put into a place that saw maybe 20 customers a day. You mind? Oh, of course not. Go ahead. I went down the aisle to the exit door in the back. I opened it and instantly froze, as Alexi was being violently confronted by his uncle Pavel and their family friend Leonid. The two men I had just met this morning. I was about to interject when I saw Leonid one knife. I didn't know what to do.
I took a step back, but knocked a bottle. A stupid beer bottle with a label ripped off rolled under the wheeled dumpster. Shit. What's that? I dove behind the dumpster. I'm not going to get any fish. I can't get up. I'm not going to get up. I slowly moved past the dumpster and in between the food mart and the building next door. Here's a small two foot space, but I forced myself to fit. Especially since Pavel was searching the area by the food mart's back door right now.
I spent a whole week here looking for places that fly to his home with the �근 of the library in 7 connects with Pavel but what sigh is that? I think you want to self- Shakti? You should. Yes, then I 치fe d'Oho san Pes Bat traveller is the heart and rock anyone you'reuden I sat there for a while listening and willing to move, but you have to, Jess, you need to get out of here. We and it was holding his knife to Alexey again and shouting.
I look down the small gap between buildings to see a chain length of the wall. I look down the small gap between buildings to see a chain length fence jammed there, blocking my path. I could climb it, but that would make noise, more noise than the bottle, but then I knew it was Pavell making his way back to the other two. Now was my chance. I quickly brushed back the way I came, crouching the whole time. I quickly went back in through the door.
This time hearing a shot which made my hearts give a beat. They had to have heard that. I ran. You find him, Jess? I have to go. Jess, what's wrong? Jess? I quickly pulled away. Just now realizing I should have said something to Mr. Newton. They had to hear the door shut and what about my car? But I was in panic mode. It doesn't matter. Just call the cops, Jess, that's all you have to do. I dialed quickly while also maintaining speed. I was still so in shock. I wasn't exactly sure what to say.
Now we're back. Yeah. Uh, hello. My name is Jessica Saunders. I, uh, just witnessed a friend of mine being threatened. It might have been a family thing, but he had a knife to his throat. They were shouting in Russian. Why is it so slow? Yeah, so I don't know. I don't know what they were saying exactly. Oh, OK. Thank you. But please, hurry. For some reason, the dispatcher said she needed to transfer me to an FBI agent. But what the hell for? Hey, Joe, you might want this. What is it?
A call coming in for Blake, but I don't see him. 911 dispatch picked up a threat. What kind of threat? I walked around the corner, coffee in hand to see Mina on the phone with her feet up. Russian. Jesus, I'll take it, but I need you to. Don't worry, I'm on it. She's slid her feet off the desk and hit a few buttons on her phone, transferring the call to me. There. Go ahead, Joe. I picked up as she got to work on her computer. Agent Kirby. Yes, Agent Kirby?
I'm not sure if this was an actual threat, but I heard these men arguing outside of local food mart. It was intense. I was so in edge, the dispatcher said she needed me to talk to an FBI agent, but I don't know why I'm... Ma'am, we're talking because you mentioned to the dispatcher that they were speaking Russian. They were. And how do you know they were speaking Russian? I mean, I'm not really sure, but I know one of the men is Russian. How do you know that? He works at a store I go to a lot.
Ma'am, the FBI receives hundreds of threats a week and even if they were speaking Russian, that wouldn't necessarily... No, the night they put it to this guy Alexi's throat. Alexi? I noticed Mina, mouth the name and shrug. The guy you know? Yes, Alexi Balakin. The woman that knives to his neck. The other tour is Uncle and his uncle business associate. Those two are just passing through town this week on their way to New York. Passing through town this week? That's what they said.
Mina nodded and went back to work. I noticed Rainy staring at me from the break room. Alexi Balakin, you said? Yes. Could his uncle be named Pavel? That's correct. What was your name again? Jessica Saunders. Jeff. Looked over to Mina who continued to type frantically. And your friends with Alexi Balakin? Yes, kind of, but they can't believe he'd be involved in anything. I mean, the dispatcher said I need to talk to him agent? One moment, Miss Saunders.
Mina turned her screen my way so I could see the address. Miss Saunders, I'm going to need to interview you in person. Do you still live on Anderson Avenue? Uh, yeah. How? How do you know my address? Are you home? No, but I will be shortly. Go home and stay there. I'm going to send agents Cummins and Taff to pick you up shortly. Pick me up? Pack a bag. It'll be safer to put you in a hotel for a few days. I'm going to text you my personal cell number, okay?
Jeez. Here I thought I was going to be able to go home in real life because after a rough day at work. I'm sorry about this Miss Saunders, but for what it's worth, you did the right thing calling. Ha! That was legitimately scared after my talk with that agent. I hurried upstairs to my room. I found an old carry on bag in my closet and quickly started packing. I couldn't stay here? Agents were coming to pick me up. Why? What was this all about? And how long would I be gone?
I threw in two shirts, a blouse, pants, jeans, underwear, socks, then stopped. I took a moment to catch my breath and stare at my bag. I couldn't go anywhere. What about work? What about? Oh God, Andy. I called Andy, but she wasn't picking up. Come on. Come on, Andy, where are you? You've reached Andy. Leave a message or shoot a text. Thanks. I hung up. Knowing her, she would never listen to her voice mail. It was in the middle of texting her when I heard something downstairs. Oh, please.
I ran downstairs. Hoping Andy was here. She had a key, but the front door was still shut and mocked. What the... The front door may still be shut, but I noticed the back door down the hall. It was a jar. Andy? Andy, I didn't leave it open. I never left it open. Did she have a key to the back door? Andy? Just then two hands grabbed me from behind. One over my mouth, the other over my chest. I was dragged back and into the corner of the room, into the darkness.
The third threat is a production of voyage media. The series is produced by Nat Mandel, Robert Midas, Dan Benemore, Robert M. Lam, and Jack Austin, executive produced by Ray and Barbara Chatterden. Adapted by Robert M. Lam, from the screenplay by Jack Snyder, and the third threat series of books by Barbara Chatterden. The novels are available on Amazon, a link is in the show notes. Starting Gina Coyle as Jess, and Jack Austin as Blake. Additional cast credits available in the show notes.
edited, sound designed, and mixed by Andres Cooca. Original music by Darles Gonzalez. If you're enjoying the show, please leave us a five star review on Apple Podcasts or anywhere you're listening, and subscribe now for future episodes.