“Serious enough that Linda asked and received permission from our lab director to bring her fourteen-year-old twins in to help,” Hager commented.
“Her own children… really?” There was a pause. “Are they, uh, sufficiently experienced to help defend against a professional probe?”
“Actually, their forte doesn’t seem to be defense,” Ferreira corrected.
“Oh.” Another pause. “Is your lab director authorized to do something like that, against another federal agency?”
“I don’t think he asked,” Renwick said. “I gather he’s still a little irritated at the moment. I’m sure the shit will hit the proverbial fan at some point; but I guess that’s what he gets paid for.”
“Then I suppose we should assume this conversation is being monitored?” Achara asked after a moment.
“I don’t think so,” Renwick said. “According to Linda, your call-back was linked through an encrypted Interpol line at our end that would take NSA and their supercomputers several years to break into; and she also made some alterations to our conference phone which she claims will send out an extremely high frequency jamming signal that should fry any unauthorized device that attempts to link into our conference call. I probably should explain that we stole Linda from the CIA a couple of years ago, and she looked pretty pissed — but also pretty determined — when she was working on our conference phone, so I assume she knows what she’s doing.”
“And the twins?”
“As of fifteen minutes ago, they were working side-by-side at a pair of terminals next to their mom’s workstation, and occasionally whispering to each other. I assume she’s keeping an eye on them; but, to tell you the truth, I don’t think any of us really want to know,” Hager said.
“But, in the meantime, Captain Kulawnit,” Bulatt broke in, “on the assumption that we may be dealing with a rogue element within the intelligence community, we’re going to try a more conventional approach to resolving the issue.”
“Really, what’s that?”
“We believe the security clearance my boss — Special Agent in Charge Schweer — holds will be high enough to give him access to that latent print information we’re requesting if he makes direct contact with the appropriate people at our Pentagon and our National Security Agency.”
Schweer leaned toward the conference phone.
“Yes, that’s correct, Captain Kulawanit,” Schweer confirmed. “I’m flying back to Washington DC later this morning in an attempt to do just that. And if I discover my clearance level isn’t sufficient, I assure you that I’ll find someone with the necessary clearance if I have to go all the way to the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service himself. No government agency should be attempting to hack into our federal crime lab servers; and I seriously doubt that any individual in our military forces — active, retired or otherwise — has been authorized to shoot at Thai Rangers, much less a member of Interpol. Someone will give us that information.”
“That’s wonderful, Agent Schweer,” Achara said somberly. “We will all be most grateful for your efforts.”
“Perfect job for a guy with a T-Rex personality,” Ferreira stage-whispered to Hager, who grinned and nodded in agreement.
“What was that?” Schweer growled, glaring at the two scientists.
“Ah, I was suggesting to Mr. Hager that I’m sure the intelligence community will be looking forward to your arrival, sir.” Ferreira smiled cheerfully.
“And, finally,” Bulatt broke in again before the playful forensic harassment of his boss got out of control, “I wanted you to hear from Donn Renwick, our firearms expert, regarding his work in this case.”
Renwick replaced Schweer at the microphone.
“Yes, Captain Kulawanit, Chief Narusan, Donn Renwick here. First of all, I want you to know that ran a background check on that M-Four carbine and determined that it was manufactured in the United States on October twenty-fourth, two-thousand-and-four, for our Military Special Forces Command. The weapon was officially transferred to Afghanistan on March seventh, two-thousand-and-five, as part of a re-supply drop for our troops hunting down bin-Laden; and was never heard from again, until a few days ago.”
“Are you saying our suspects may be American Special Forces personnel?” Achara asked, sounding shocked.
“Not necessarily,” Renwick replied. “Several of our allies dispatched Special Forces or Commando teams to Afghanistan in two-thousand-and-five, many of whom had access to U.S. weaponry; and I have no doubt our soldiers distributed U.S. weapons and ammunition to NATO and friendly Afghan troops. And if you add to that all of the firearms lost or stolen during that conflict, there are clearly many ways this specific M-Four carbine could have ended up in the hands of your suspects.”
“But would it be fair to say there’s an obvious link to soldiers with Special Forces training; especially considering the possible intelligence agency issues?”
Renwick turned to Schweer with a shrug, as if to say ‘your bailiwick.’
“Yes, that would seem to be the case,” Schweer said into the microphone. “I’ll have our office run a link analysis; but I think it’s fair to say the information we have so far corresponds nicely with Chief Narusan’s crime scene report.”
“I think very much, yes, a professional soldier who did shooting,” Narusan agreed.
“Also,” Renwick went on, “I helped Steve disassemble the rifle for latent print processing… and, in doing so, examined the individual parts fairly closely. Apart from some corrosion and recent impact damage, the weapon was well-maintained and otherwise in excellent condition, with very little wear on the bolt, chamber, barrel and firing pin. In my opinion, it hadn’t been fired very often; possibly only a few dozen rounds.”
“Use once, throw away; very smart, very professional.” Chief Narusan chuckled audibly.
“Yes, I think the Chief is correct on all counts,” Renwick said. “It’s probably not likely that we’ll ever be able to match this rifle to any other crime scenes; but I entered the bullet and cartridge data into NIBIN anyway, just to be safe.”
“Thank you very much for your efforts, Mr. Renwick; and all the rest of you as well,” Achara said. “It seems we are making some progress on this investigation, after all. If nothing else, we are certainly ruffling some powerful feathers.”
“A couple more things, Captain Achara,” Bulatt broke in again. “First of all, I think we may have located the manufacturer of the flashers found on the Clouded Leopards and at Tanga Island. I’m going to be checking on them tomorrow morning, and I’ll let you know what I find out as soon as I can.”
“Excellent. That would be very helpful for us,” Achara replied.
“Also,” Bulatt went on, “one of our lab’s electronics experts took a look at the photos you sent of the internal mechanisms of that remote transmitter. As best they can tell, with a nine-volt battery, the device should only be capable of activating flashers within a hundred-meter range. But they also say there’s no reason why the Chief couldn’t construct a new transmitter with much more power that operates on the same frequencies. It occurred to me that you might have other animals in your Wildlife Preserves with similar flashers attached to their necks — or, perhaps, a hidden stockpile of the flashers — that such a device might help locate, much to the dismay of our suspects. I asked our expert to fax the relevant technical information to the Chief at your office, and I believe he’s already done so.”
Chief Narusan laughed delightedly. “Yes, very good idea, Kuhn Ged. I will make new transmitter right away; easy to do.”
“I believe that’s all we have at the moment, Captain Achara,” Bulatt spoke into the microphone, and then looked quickly around the conference table. “Anything else, guys?”
“One more thing for the Chief,” Renwick said. “We’re assuming our wealthy hunter used an expensive rifle on his Thai hunt that he’s not likely to throw away after every illegal kill. As such, during your continuing search for evidence, we hope you can find an expended bullet or cartridge casing from this weapon that we can enter into our NIBIN system.”