“It should. I’ll tell you what. I don’t want to know where you are. And I don’t want to hear any more half-truths. Two of your team are dead, for doing nothing but a routine security sweep. That doesn’t add up. People don’t get killed for trying to recover a file or checking phone lines. So either there’s way more going on here than you’re telling me, and you know what it is, and are keeping me in the dark for some reason, or you don’t know, which is almost worse. Either way, though, you need to stay gone indefinitely. And if you call me, do so from a line that can’t be traced, because this is scary shit and I’m out of my depth on it,” Ken finished.
“This line’s clean. I’ll check back in a day or two, Ken. I wish I could tell you something that would help you nail whoever is doing this, but I don’t have anything that will get you any closer,” Michael said.
“Meaning you either don’t know, or you’re sure that these will never get solved because of what you do know.” Ken was astute, and was losing patience with Michael.
“Either way, sounds like I’m fucked,” Michael muttered.
“At least you’re alive. That’s more than Jim and Koshi can say,” Ken reminded him and then terminated the call. It wasn’t going anywhere, and he wasn’t feeling chatty. Michael sounded scared, and worse, resigned. Like he was facing certain death. Ken didn’t envy him.
Although given what he knew of Michael’s background, it wouldn’t be so easy to take him off the board. He was one tough bastard, Ken knew firsthand. His brother had been a marine and had told him stories about the SEALs, so he understood that Michael was a capable adversary and wouldn’t go down without a fight. He just hoped that whatever it was he’d gotten involved in would eventually die down so Michael didn’t have to have a showdown he could never win.
What a cluster fuck.
He turned and made his way back up the stairs to the apartment. Chuck was waiting for him in the hall, the interview concluded. They compared notes. There wasn’t a lot to go on, and their best hope was that CSI would be able to find something, some trace, to point them in a direction.
Ken doubted that was going to happen, but he still had a trick or two at his disposal.
“Sir, we just intercepted a cell call at one of the active sites. The target was communicating with the detective who is investigating the overdose of the computer hacker. We have confirmation that he’s gone to ground and is probably not in the city any longer. Couldn’t trace the calling number, unfortunately, but we were able to record the discussion,” the voice recounted evenly.
“I don’t need to hear it. Just give me the top level,” Sid instructed.
“The detective believes the OD is a homicide and is handling it as such, treating it as linked to the book agent and the surveillance technician’s fall from grace. He sounds sharp, so we should assume he’ll continue to investigate them as a related set of deaths,” the voice said.
“Do we particularly care?”
“No, not really. We’ve taken steps to ensure these incidents will never be solved and I’m confident there are no loose ends. But I would advise that, from this point on, there’s no reason to continue working the literary agent’s staff. The risks now outweigh any possible reward.”
“Fair enough. I’m not sure there’s a lot more to do now other than monitor the detective’s communications and maintain a watch on the target’s apartment, on the off chance he’s stupid enough to stop by. I think that’s a long shot, but you never know. And of course, implement the usual database monitoring so that whenever he accesses funds or uses a credit card, we’re pinged. Am I missing anything?” Sid asked.
“That’s about all we can do. I understand this is less than an optimum solution, but as of now, there’s nothing to do other than be prepared for whenever the target surfaces. I’m sure he will. It’s inevitable. There’s no evidence of the kind of financial resources he would need to disappear indefinitely, so worst scenario, we have to wait for his cash to run out. The moment he uses an ATM, we’ll know. Just a matter of when.”
“I hope you’re right. So far this man has managed to elude your team with little apparent effort and has now vanished without a trace. Given his background, it would be foolish to underestimate him, or his ingenuity. It’s theoretically impossible he would have made it this long without tripping up, and yet here we are, holding our dicks in our hands hoping he makes a rookie mistake,” Sid warned.
“I agree, and your input is noted. He obviously went dark almost immediately upon discovering the agent was dead, which shows above-average paranoia, as well as significant stagecraft. Then again, his business is security, and it pays to be paranoid in that field. So we can expect him to be difficult to trace. But not impossible. Nobody’s that good.”
“Let’s hope we don’t have to modify that statement to, ‘Nobody’s ever been that good before’. What about the source of the document — the author? Any leads?” Sid shifted gears.
“No, we’ve analyzed it, and there’s nothing to go on, other than an e-mail address. But it’s hosted in Austria, and not only do we not have a lot of reach there, but given the depth of knowledge of our operations and capabilities, we can expect that the Austrian address was set up using a blind account somewhere like the Ukraine, so we won’t be able to get anything on it. We’re still working the issue, but for now it’s a non-starter.”
“Until we discover the source, we’re exposed in much greater way than acceptable. I want all available resources committed to tracking down who drafted this, and terminating him. I can’t underscore enough the importance of us putting an end to this misadventure, with extreme prejudice,” Sid stated, slamming the table top with his hand for emphasis.
“I understand. I’ll report in when I have something more,” the voice said and then disconnected.
Sid paced the floor, furious at the way things had developed. They were exposed. Secrets that could bring the power structure of the greatest nation on the planet to its knees were now out in the world, where they could potentially surface at the worst possible moment. Everything he’d worked so hard to build and to protect, his entire life, was jeopardized. The honor of every administration for decades would be called into question and regardless of how much spin and rationalization they brought to bear, the nation’s allies would know the truth, as would the rest of the world. It would be the end of the empire, with a who’s who of the most important dynasties in the country brought to disgrace and ruin.
On Sid’s watch.
The secrets had to stay silenced; the world could never know the truth — too much would be destroyed, too many of the country’s powerful would be humiliated and revealed to be monsters and thugs. Whatever it took, whatever the cost, that unthinkable outcome could never be allowed to happen. He would scorch the earth and crush whatever stood in his way, but the unspeakable realities of history would stay hidden.
The ghosts of the past and the sins of necessity needed to stay buried, no matter what it took to keep them in the grave.