“Not by us, I can assure you. We’ve never had such a security effort and currently have no plans for one. I find these images very disturbing.”
“So do we, Mr. Freiheit. But before we went on any wild-drone chases, the obvious step would be to see if Goldman was in the business. The topic is sensitive, and, I hope I don’t need to emphasize, confidential. So we did need your time today.”
He nodded. “I understand.”
Cohen placed the images back in a folder. “A final item. FBI analysis of phone logs indicates that Mr. Craig made a series of calls to Washington the morning he died. The numbers were resolved to those used by Heidi Moss, the Utah Senator. Since these calls were only minutes before he died, they are of special interest to us. Do you know his relationship with the Senator?”
Freiheit licked his lips quickly and shook his head. “No. I mean, Goldman has many supporters, as well as enemies, on Capitol Hill. It’s not unusual for some of our most important lobbying efforts to come straight from the top, as it were. Business, you understand?” He smiled wanly. “Beyond that, I really have no idea what those conversations might be about.”
The interim CEO walked the agents to the elevator. “Susan will meet you on the Sky Lobby — eleventh floor lobby. You should take some time there if you can. It’s quite a view.” Freiheit smiled as the doors closed.
Cohen smirked as the elevator descended. “Bad actor.”
“Yeah, he’s lying,” said Savas. “Not about the drones — I think he was honest there. But there's something going on with the senator.”
She began typing into her phone. “Next shuttle to DC?”
“Think so. Have the team give Moss the heads up that we’ll need to speak with her today.”
“You going to run it through the Washington branch?”
Savas grimaced. “I should. But that will delay everything. I’m so used to the autonomy at Intel 1. I can’t stand the bureaucratic dances, anymore. It’s likely a dead end, so no harm, no foul. Right?”
“Okay,” said Cohen raising her eyebrows. “You know best.”
Savas frowned at her.
MILLER Deposition 3
[REDACTED]: Why did Savas purposefully keep other FBI divisions in the dark?
MR. MILLER: I'm not sure. That was a judgment call, maybe the wrong one. But it would have cost time and John felt he was on the scent.
CBD: And that's why the two agents immediately flew to D.C.?
MR. MILLER: Yes. At that point we didn't know what was happening. Just got a text message that they were following up on a lead that led them there. Ring the senator's office and let them know.
CBD: That would be Senator Moss?
MR. MILLER: Yes.
CBD: What did the senator say?
MR. MILLER: I wasn't there, but we were briefed when they returned.
CBD: And what were you told in that briefing?
4
Dusk had arrived in Washington. Street lamps engaged, drivers switched their headlights on, and the buildings took on a checkerboard pattern of light and dark. The large window before the FBI agents looked down to the busy streets, the view blocked by the form of an older woman before them.
“This is highly irregular and very short notice, but I understand the circumstances are unusual,” said Senator Moss.
Savas and Cohen had rushed to meet with the congresswoman as fast as possible, but extracting themselves from New York and navigating the D.C. rush-hour traffic had put them in much later than they would have preferred. They were lucky to catch Moss before she left for the day. High-level phone calls had helped constrain the situation — when the CEO of Goldman Sachs is blown up in Manhattan, normal etiquette is suspended.
“Indeed they are, Senator,” said Savas as they took seats around her desk. Moss was nearing sixty, yet still carried the grace and self-assured mannerisms of the opera singer she had been a lifetime ago. Cohen had quickly filled out her resume for them on the way over. A fourth term Republican from Utah, she had been a vocal critic of internet freedoms because of cyber-threats to national security, and had worked to enact laws to bring the wild online world under increasing surveillance and regulation. As chair of the Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation, she now exercised enormous influence on national telecommunications.
Cohen leaned forward toward the senator. “Only minutes before he was killed, Goldman Sachs CEO Jack Craig made several phone calls to your office number, Senator. Can you tell us what these calls were about?”
“Those are privileged communications. Unless we want to get very messy with the lawyers, I can’t divulge what was discussed. However, it was nothing out of the ordinary. Issues of business and telecom, with Mr. Craig arguing for certain approaches that he felt would be beneficial to the country and his business.”
She smiled. For far too long. Savas picked up the thread.
“Could it perhaps have something to do with the highly unusual series of votes that have come from you the last month, Senator?” Moss’ smiled faltered. “My colleague here has tallied not only a surprising reversal of several positions on the congressional floor, but also an increasing number of articles in the press trying to figure out just what exactly is going on.”
“I’m not sure what you are talking about. The press is always looking for a critical angle, you know that. My positions have always been clear. Certainly, different pieces of legislation can embody my positions to different degrees of satisfaction, and voting for or against a bill is often complicated by the sausage-like production methods of these laws, where the good and bad can be mixed together.”
Cohen didn’t mask her annoyance. “I’m sure that’s true. But there are bills that hardly changed where your votes have flipped. For example, Murdock-Holsen. A bill that would have denied the NSA certain access to internet communications. You initially opposed that bill, gave speeches against it, opposing the very nature of limited access by our surveillance branches.” Cohen read from her tablet. “To quote from your speech, you called it ‘A dangerous bill that would tie the hands of our law enforcement agencies and aid the work of criminals and terrorists.’ Yet three weeks ago you stopped speaking against it and have voted twice to move the bill through committee to a vote.”
“I believe that the concerns I had were adequately addressed in the revised version.”
Savas could see the woman’s lip trembling, the tightness in her hand grasping the side of her desk. Cohen seemed to notice as well. This topic had put Senator Moss under tremendous stress, and his instincts told him she was lying to them. What are you so afraid of, Senator Moss?
“Has the topic of domestic drones ever been part of your conversations with Goldman Sachs?” asked Cohen.
The terrified look intensified, and the senator glanced quickly toward photo frames on her desk. She seemed to half-whisper the next words. “No. Never. Why do you ask?” The false smile almost seemed macabre, now.
Cohen ignored her question. “You are on the record as supporting their use.”
“Yes,” she said distractedly, seeming not to see the FBI agents anymore and gazing behind them. “They are needed for homeland security. To make us safe. That’s what I thought.”