“You’re starting to sound like a willing coconspirator,” he said.
“Shut up.”
She twisted the knob, and they entered. Suite 812 was broken into three offices distinguished by the letters A, B, and C. A and B were vacant, and hadn’t been used in a while. C had a lone occupant, a skinny guy with shoulder-length hair and a ring in his nose. He was listening to music on a pair of headphones while staring at his computer screen. The music owned him, and he acted like he was on another planet.
He looked up as they approached, then pointed at his incredibly messy desk.
“Just leave it there,” he said.
Daniels stuck her badge in his face. It brought him back to earth, and he ripped off his headphones and tried to speak. She cut him off.
“Back away from the computer, and keep your hands where I can see them.”
His face turned white, and he rose from his desk. It was almost comical how scared he looked. Like he knew he’d been breaking the law, and had been worried that it might catch up with him. Judgment day had arrived, and he didn’t look the least bit ready.
“What’s your name, and what do you do?” Daniels said.
“Garret Oldham. My friends call me Gar. I’m a programmer.”
“Does anyone else work here?”
“There was a girl named Wendy, but she quit last week.”
Lancaster was standing to Daniels’s right. He wanted to see what was on Gar’s computer, and he stepped between them, using his hand to swivel the PC so the screen was facing him. Gar tried to object, and Lancaster showed him the fake warrant.
“Do you know what this is?” he asked.
The remaining blood in Gar’s face drained away, and he sank back into his chair and shut his eyes. Daniels grabbed his wrist and checked his pulse.
“He’s passed out. You really scared him.”
“Take a look at this.”
Daniels turned her attention to the PC. On its screen was an aerial map of the Tampa area with dozens of pulsating dots of light. The dots were different colors and expanded and collapsed like heartbeats. Suddenly, one of the dots darted across the map like a player in a video game, and left the picture.
“What are we looking at?” Daniels asked.
“I think he’s following people,” he said.
“On their cell phones?”
“That would be my guess.”
The program’s operating system was Microsoft Windows, and there were multiple open folders displayed on the bottom of the screen. He dragged the mouse over the first folder and clicked on it. An aerial map of Saint Petersburg appeared, also with pulsating dots of lights. Examination of the other folders showed maps of several cities in Florida.
Gar’s desk was cluttered with papers, and Lancaster sifted through them, hoping they might shed some light on the images. They turned out to be overdraft statements from Gar’s bank and dunning notices from creditors, and they painted a picture of a man up to his eyeballs in debt. Gar began to stir, and mumbled under his breath.
“He’s coming to. What do you want to do?” Daniels asked.
“I want to grill him. You okay with that?”
“Sure, but no rough stuff.”
“I just want to scare him.”
He went to the door and locked it. Returning, he borrowed Daniels’s handcuffs, and slapped one of the cuffs onto Gar’s wrist, then locked the other to the arm of his chair. Daniels shot him a disapproving look, but said nothing.
A bottled water sat on the desk. He unscrewed it, and poured the contents onto Gar’s head, soaking his neck and shirt. The programmer awoke with a start, and tried to stand. Seeing that he was a prisoner of the chair, he howled. “Let me go!”
“You’re in lots of trouble. Don’t make it worse,” Lancaster said.
Gar rattled the handcuff. “Is this necessary?”
“That’s entirely up to you. Are you going to cooperate?”
He blinked, thinking hard. “Define cooperate.”
“We want you to explain the work that you do.”
“I do lots of different work. Which campaign are you talking about?”
“Tell us how you’re tracking people’s cell phones.”
“I want a lawyer.”
“You sure about that?”
Gar smiled, thinking he had the upper hand. “Damn straight.”
Gar was being cute, believing that a lawyer would bail him out of jail, and that he’d walk away unscathed. His eyes needed to be opened, and Lancaster decided to play his hand. “The company you work for is in trouble. They willingly sold encrypted cell phones to a drug dealer, which is a third-degree felony, and could get you sent to prison. You got any priors?”
“What?”
“Prior arrests.”
Gar swallowed hard. “I got busted for pot once.”
“You’ll do five years. You’ll make a lot of new friends.”
“I didn’t have anything to do with those phones,” the programmer protested.
“Good luck proving that in court. Meanwhile, Special Agent Daniels will tell the judge you’re a flight risk, and ask him to post a high bail, which you won’t be able to meet. You’ll have to plot your defense behind bars, which isn’t easy. Think about it.”
Gar fell back in his chair. “They’ll kill me if they find out I squealed,” he said.
“Who’s going to kill you?” Daniels asked.
“My employer, the bikers,” he said.
“You mean the Outlaws,” Lancaster said.
“That’s right, the Outlaws. They’d cut my heart out if they found out I betrayed them. I’ll take my chances in prison, thank you very much.”
It wasn’t the response Lancaster was expecting. He shot Daniels a glance, needing her help. She took his cue, and placed her hand on Gar’s sleeve.
“If you help us, I’ll get you put into the government’s witness protection program,” she said. “You’ll get a new identity, and a new life. We’ll relocate you to another part of the country where the Outlaws don’t have a presence. You’ll be home free.”
“You’re not screwing with me, are you?”
“I’ll put it in writing, if you want me to.”
“What about my girlfriend?” he asked.
“What about her?”
“Can she come with me?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Gar wasn’t sold. His eyes fell on the stack of unfriendly mail littering his desk. Were those obligations going to follow him as well? Daniels picked up on his vibe.
“I can take care of those as well,” she said.
“You’ve got yourself a deal,” the programmer said.
Chapter 33
Once he was uncuffed, Gar’s attitude changed for the better. He grabbed a soda from a small fridge and offered them drinks as well. He wasn’t a bad guy, just a guy who’d gotten himself caught up in a bad situation. If given a second chance, he would probably walk the straight and narrow for the rest of his life.
“How did you come to work for the Outlaws?” Daniels asked.
“It didn’t start out that way,” Gar said. “When I went to work for Phantom, they were a legitimate marketing company who specialized in mobile advertising campaigns. Our motto was, Data won’t change the world without the right people to understand it. We did ten million in sales our first year.”
“Out of this office?” Daniels asked.
“I wish. The company started in Miami, then branched out, and opened satellite offices in Orlando and Tampa, which is when I joined. We used to have thirty employees, with four working here.”
“Did you sell encrypted cell phones?” Daniels asked.
“No, I did not,” he said emphatically. “That was a side business out of Miami that I wasn’t involved with.”