Cole

Disaster Hits

The first notice of the impending disaster started in History class of all places.  I was taking notes on the American Civil War when the class was interrupted by principal Barska when he showed up at the classroom door.   He called the teacher over to the door and the two of them disappeared into the hallway for a few moments.  My teacher then returned to the doorway and waved me over to the door.

I got up from my seat and when I passed into the hallway I noticed that my teacher and principal were accompanied by a uniformed police officer and two other men that had jackets displaying  Department of Homeland Security identifications.   They told me I was needed for questioning down at the police station.

I could not think of any reason they would want to question me.  The only problem I had had with the law was when they took me into questioning following the fight and rescue of Manda at Lance's party.  I was cleared of that.

They took me by the arm and put me in the back of a police car and brought me back to the local police station I had been to before.  I noticed when I arrived that mom and dad had been brought there too so the whole situation seemed very strange to me.  Mom and dad looked even more grim than they were following the rescue of Manda.

I was led into a small room with the two DHS agents.  The police officer did not enter.  I was thinking this was really weird.  One agent was young and slender and the other was heavy and much older.  They began their questioning.

"We are going to ask you some questions.  If you feel you can't answer them then you can have a lawyer if you wish."

I looked at them for a moment. Their faces were pretty blank. I had no idea what was going on.

"Sir, I have no reason to avoid answering your questions.  I hope I can help you, but I don't know any reason why you would want to talk to me", I said.

They brought out a digital recorder and started to record my statements.

"Please state your name."

"Cole Hammond"

"How old are you Hammond."

"15"

"Have you ever travelled overseas to countries in the Islamic part of the World?"

"No"

"Have you gone on internet web sites looking for information related to terrorist organizations in the World?"

"No.  You can check my computer to verify that."

"We will."

"Have you ever travelled to Syria?"

"No.  I also do not speak arabic so I would not want to go there.  It's also dangerous."

I had a lot of dreams about Syria and Islam but I wasn't going to tell them about that. I had no idea why I liked to dream about that stuff. I didn't know anything about it. I was sure it was because it was in the news a lot and maybe it was a guy macho thing with me.

"What do you know about Syria and why do you think it is dangerous?"

"There is a war going on there and lots of terrorist activities.  I see it on TV all the time.  Other than what I see on TV sometimes I don't know anything."

"Mr. Hammond, we have reason to believe you have been there about a year training in terrorism.  Your fingerprints collected by this police station a few months back match that of a known recruit to the Islamic State that may have been heavily trained to conduct terrorist activities.  He went missing about a year ago."

Both of them just stared at me, looking for a reaction.  I didn't say anything at first I was so surprised.

"I..I...don't know anything about terrorism.  I am just a 15 year old kid trying to get through high school.  My main focus right now is girls.  I don't even watch the news.  I don't have any interest in that stuff.  I am just a kid."