“And he hasn’t?”
“No.”
“Still?”
“No.”
Charlene asks if his team has made any progress getting through that USB drive she gave them yesterday.
“At the time, it wasn’t placed on the top of our priority list,” he answers. “But we’re getting started on it this morning.”
“You mean, you didn’t place it at the top of the priority list.” Charlene is obviously not happy that they didn’t take her seriously yesterday.
He looks at her severely. “Correct. I didn’t place it at the top of the priority list. But I am now.”
“It may take you awhile to get through the security on it.”
He scoffs at that. “I’m sure our technicians won’t have any trouble.”
“It took Fionna all day, and that was with Lonnie’s help,” Charlene tells him.
He eyes her with a touch of suspicion. “Who are Fionna and Lonnie? And what do you mean it took her all day?”
“Friends of ours. They’re good with computers. They made a copy of the drive to work on.”
“They made a copy of the drive?”
I cut in, “We weren’t confident you and your team were going to look into it promptly.”
And as it turns out, you weren’t, I think, but keep that to myself.
I debate whether to tell him what Fionna found in the files and finally decide that giving him as much info as possible will be the best bet in seeing any serious progress, so I fill him in about the Groom Lake shift schedules and access codes.
“Groom Lake,” he says skeptically.
“That’s right.”
He doesn’t seem too impressed. “Well, we’ll look into that.”
“Did you hear what I said? These are codes that would allow someone to—”
“I heard what you said. We’ll look into it.”
“Do you want us to send you the files?” Charlene asks.
“That won’t be necessary. As I said before, I’m sure our technicians won’t be needing any help. Let’s focus for a moment on Akinsanya. How did you find out about him again? That he was involved in this?”
It’s not impressing me that this guy is refusing our help when it comes to information about the drive that he and his team decided not to make a priority. I have the sense that something more is going on here, but at the moment I can’t guess what that might be.
Since Solomon took a risk and was willing to help us last night, I don’t really want to give his name to Ratchford. However, if I don’t explain where we got the information, it might hinder the Bureau’s efforts to sort out who Akinsanya really is or where he might be.
Last night Solomon had asked us straight out if we were with the law enforcement community, so I doubt he’ll talk to the FBI even if they do locate him.
Charlene speaks up before I can. “Our source would rather remain anonymous.”
“Miss Antioch, I would advise you not to get in the way of this investigation.”
“We’re not getting in the way,” I tell him. “Everything you have so far came from us. You weren’t even going to expedite this until you started to take us seriously last night. And we just offered to give you what’s on the drive, but you weren’t interested.”
He takes off his glasses and polishes them with his shirt. “Is there anything else you know that you aren’t telling me?”
Okay, this guy is officially starting to annoy me.
“No,” Charlene answers. “Obviously, Tomás knows more than we do. You have him in custody, ask him.”
“I did. This morning.”
“He can lead you to Akinsanya.”
“Yes,” he says, and I can’t tell the extent of what that answer is supposed to mean. “Did your source, the one who would prefer to remain anonymous, mention anything about a timeline?”
The lemony scent in here is getting to me. I wish we were at least walking around outside. “A timeline?”
“We intercepted a communiqué. We have reason to believe that this man, Akinsanya, might be in the area. Something is going down.”
Why on earth is he sharing this with you?
“No.” I feel a surge of suspicion, and suddenly I don’t like the idea that we are in this building alone with him. I glance toward the door. “We don’t know anything about a timeline.”
“And you still refuse to tell me the name of the person who told you that Akinsanya was involved?”
“He’s not a fan of talking to law enforcement personnel,” Charlene notes, almost certainly understating things.
For a moment the air in the room seems to stiffen, and then Ratchford glances at his watch. “Yes, well, I have an appointment. If you find out anything more about Akinsanya, I want you to tell me about it immediately.”
And that’s that.
Even though it’s warmer outside than it was inside the building, it seems less oppressive.
On our way to the car Charlene says, “Well, that was even shorter than the abbreviated church service.”
“No kidding. And didn’t that whole conversation just seem weird to you from start to finish?”
“Yes.” She pauses. “Are you thinking we should go back to Solomon? Maybe follow up to see if he’ll give us more info on Akinsanya?”
Actually, I haven’t been.
The idea of appearing before Solomon again doesn’t exactly thrill me. “I think we should pursue some other avenues first.”
I click my key fob’s unlock button.
“Like what?”
“I’m not sure.” I climb into the driver’s seat. Charlene slides in beside me. “But I have the sense that if Solomon found out that we’ve been talking with the Feds, and then we suddenly show up again and ask him for more information about one of the Bureau’s most wanted terrorists, he might not be as… well, as…”
“Beneficent?”
“Sounds like a word Maddie might use.”
“I think that’s where I heard it.”
“Well, yes. Not as beneficent.”
“So what are you suggesting?”
“As far as Akinsanya, I’ll need to think about that. But I do know two things I’d like to do.”
“Yes?”
“Grab a burger, then head on to the Arête. I think we’ll have just enough time before the show at the children’s ward of Fuller Medical Center.”
“Just enough time for what?”
“There’s something I need you to help me pick out.”
“What’s that?”
“A gift for someone special.”
A Girl’s Best Friend
Undersecretary Williamson arrived at the Plyotech Cybernetics research and development building.
Yesterday, she’d made it clear to Takahashi that today when she returned she wanted to see the research areas that would clear up the gaps she’d noticed in the reports. Also, based on information she’d been given, she had a strong reason to believe that Akio had not been completely up-front with her.
He was standing beside the security checkpoint near the front entrance when she arrived.
Though it was Sunday, two security guards were on duty and requested that she pass through the metal detector.
“You have got to be kidding me. I’m the Undersecretary of Defense for the United States of America.”
“It’s our policy,” Takahashi explained awkwardly. “Even I have to walk through there.”
“Even you do.”
“Yes.”
“Well then.” Though she was tempted to say more and had some choice words already in mind, she chose to hold back and instead clomped her purse onto the conveyor belt, dropped her keys, watch, and cell phone into the tray, and walked briskly through the metal detector.
The buzzer went off.