Etzy Millar cringed when he realized this was the person who was indirectly responsible for the murder of his best friend and the nightmare that had ensued. Millar’s face was red with anger when he blurted out, “I hope you’re happy with what you’ve done.”
Trent turned and gave Millar a sharp look that quickly diffused his temper.
“Listen, Etzy,” Trent said, “we all do what we have to do to survive. Sometimes there’s little choice.” He thought of his twin brother, and his tone turned somber. “Unfortunately, sometimes the consequences aren’t what you would have expected.”
Zander’s eyes were full of regret and sadness. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know all of this would happen.”
Trent hoped the hacker would come through for them with some more details about the Bratva. The tracking device he had placed on the man from Kozlov’s security detail had ended up in the Mercy Hospital morgue, along with the dead Russian. His face hardened as he sized up Zander.
“Now you’re in a position where you can help end this so more people don’t get hurt,” Trent said. “What can you tell us about their operation? Where are the other hackers being held?”
Zander explained where they were located and what he knew about the building’s setup. He had Googled it once and found that the building was part of an old steel factory. He provided details around the manpower used to protect the building and explained how some of the men had been moved to another location a couple months ago, so there weren’t as many guards present. He started to run through details about the software he had been working on when Turner stopped him short.
“Thank you. That’s all very helpful,” he said. He pointed to his uncle. “Jack and I are going to head to the compound to do a little recce while we wait for some friends to arrive. We’ll need you to explain the details you have about the botnet to Etzy. You two can work with The Shop on this. Okay?” Turner gave Millar an appraising glance and was pleased that he had calmed down.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Millar said.
Zander looked confused. “What’s The Shop?” he asked.
Trent smiled and said, “You’ll find out soon enough.” He addressed Millar. “We’ll need you to run the PMD for us via the 4G connect.”
“No problem.” Millar answered Zander’s look of confusion with a broad smile. “Just call me when you’re set up and ready.”
Chapter 119
He set his briefcase down on his desk, popped it open and picked up the envelope he’d taken for Director Culder and locked it into one of his desk drawers. He looked out his window onto the quiet streets of Washington, DC for a brief mental reprieve. How quickly fortunes could change, he thought, as he contemplated his next move. Ivor Hood’s meeting with Addy Simpson had gone much as he’d expected. His only question now was whether information about the case involving his goddaughter would remain on a two-way street. He hoped it would. If anything happened to Cathy Moynihan, he would never forgive himself.
He shuffled through a stack of papers on his desk until he found what he was looking for. A red circle from a felt-tipped pen marked the call. Simpson had told Hood about the incident at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, and that the evidence they had indicated Jake Sanders was involved. All of the details were provided in the envelope Simpson had given him. He zeroed in on the ten-digit number that called his goddaughter’s cell phone last night.
Simpson had decided it would be best to put Sanders to the test by dropping the bomb about FBI Director Frank Culder. The degree to which the information would shock him would depend on how much he knew about what was going on. Hood dialed his number, and his voicemail picked up immediately.
“This is Jake. Leave a message after the beep and I’ll get back to you.”
Hood looked out the window as he waited for the sound. When the beep sounded he knew it was all on him now.
“Mr. Sanders,” he started, “this is FBI Deputy Director Ivor Hood.” He paused for effect. “One of our agents, Cathy Moynihan, who works out of the WFO, has gone missing, and, according to Ms. Moynihan’s last report, you are the last person she was with.” Hood decided to let Sanders think about what he’d said for a moment before he continued. “I see that you are a former employee of the bureau, Mr. Sanders, although Ms. Moynihan was under the impression that you were still employed at the FBI, based on her communication. Obviously she had been misinformed. Please give me a call as soon as you receive this message. We are very concerned about Ms. Moynihan. She was supposed to check in hours ago and has not yet made contact. Her car was found abandoned on the side of the road near Leesburg, VA, this afternoon. You can reach me at…” He provided the area code and number to dial
Hood disconnected the call and closed his eyes. He drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before opening his eyes again. He called Simpson.
“Addy here,” he said.
“Addy, it’s Ivor. I’ve taken care of it.”
“Good. How did it go?”
“Voicemail as we expected.”
“Right.”
Hood shook his head. “He’s in for a rude awakening if Culder’s been playing him all of these years.”
Chapter 120
FBI Director Frank Culder and his two men were silent during the short drive back to their hotel. They entered the main area of the hotel room, still coming down from the rush.
Jake Sanders sat down on the couch and shook his head. “That was too fucking close,” he said.
Rudy Pagano looked over and nodded. He and the director were still standing. They had left the local FBI agents at the theater. Culder had made it abundantly clear that if the three of them were mentioned in any official reports, there would be hell to pay.
“So you think he’s working with the Russians then?” Culder asked.
“Sure as shit looked that way to me,” Sanders replied.
“The locals said those men were with the Kozlov Bratva,” Pagano said. “No doubt in their minds.”
Culder palmed both hands on his head. “This is insane. Even for Simpson,” he said. “What could he possibly want with a commie turned mafia boss? It’s just not making any sense.”
“The hacker wasn’t with him in the theater,” Pagano said. “Maybe we stumbled onto some sort of drop.”
“Look, here’s how I see it.” Sanders was getting animated. “One of the local guys went after that Trent character, and the Russian nearly took his head off when he chased him out through the bathroom. That’s hard to explain away.” He shrugged his shoulders. “Not only that, but one of the agents saw Kozlov take off before the shit hit the fan. It’s pretty obvious he knew something was about to go down.”
Culder’s cell phone rang. He looked at the display and recognized the 312 area code.
“Yeah,” he answered. He listened intently for a minute and worked his way over to the desk. “Hold on a sec. Okay, give it to me.” He scribbled an address on a piece of paper and underlined it twice. “No, no. We’ll take care of this.” He listened for another few seconds. “Right, okay.” He disconnected the call and looked at his men. “We’ve got them now,” he said confidently.
Sanders answered the comment with a questioning look.
“We know where their operation is. You boys can go in and take them out.”