“I figured that Lockhart’s contact must have met him and paid him cash. Then they had a drink to celebrate. The hotel operator on duty that night vaguely remembers a black van parked across the street from the hotel, but he didn’t get any identifying information.
“After Lockhart was out from the first drug, my hunch is the hit squad was called in to do the rest of the job. This group was all pros.”
“You seem to have this all worked out except for who did the murder.”
“You’re correct – except most of what I’m telling you is pure conjecture on my part. We’re a long way from proving any of this. We’ll need a lot more evidence to make it stick.”
“Is there anything I can do at this point?”
“I’m very interested in this CID guy, Mashburn, who is now conveniently out of the country on a special classified covert assignment. It would be helpful if you could provide any information about who he reports to and where he’s located.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
“I would appreciate that.”
His mind still was trying to grasp the facts when Wade posed another question. “Will you be able to obtain the foot impressions taken by the forensics team at Fort Benning? I’d still like to know if Lockhart was our shooter.”
“That’s a good question. If I’ve led you to believe this will be a fight to the death over jurisdiction regarding Lockhart’s body, I misspoke. Aside from this squabble, I happen to have an excellent relationship with Fort Benning. Most of the forensics people at the base trained with or know my forensics people. In fact, I can pursue some of this off-line, just between my forensics folks and theirs.”
“Secondly, the base and I usually end up cooperating on almost all investigations. In the long run, negative publicity doesn’t work well for the base, and ongoing disputes with local police don’t buy them good press. From your story and what I know of the Fort Benning staff, I don’t believe they were part of the actual Lockhart murder. I think they may have gotten caught up in the cover-up story somehow. That usually comes from orders coming from higher up, outside the base. Your question about your Agency’s involvement may not be unfounded.”
Before he replied, Wade reflected back on his interrogation after the incident, which they’d called a “debriefing.”
“Your explanation makes perfect sense to me. During my debriefing, I didn’t get the sense that Colonel Miller had a clue about Lockhart’s true identity. At least that was my take on it at the time. Of course they may be really good actors who fooled me, but I doubt it.”
Gabe swallowed a sip of water. “We know from his prior arrests that Lockhart was mentally unstable and carried a grudge about a lot of things. It’s also possible that he might have had some information that certain parties didn’t want revealed. Perhaps it was something he knew about Army operations in Vietnam, and he demanded to be paid to keep his mouth shut. It’s also possible that he discovered Mashburn was a CID plant in his group and felt threatened. He might have thought you guys were somehow involved in that CID operation – and that could have pushed him into taking the sniper action.”
Wade was in deep thought, absently tapping his fingers on the table. “That may be true, but why would the Army allow someone who was already disturbed to take a course in preparation for another Vietnam tour? I don’t understand that kind of thinking. He was a loose cannon.”
Gabe nodded. “You’re absolutely right, but your story just gave me another angle to pursue. What if back in Vietnam, Lockhart discovered something that had gone wrong – with bad intelligence or a senior ranking Army officer – that got his men killed? He might have thought the intelligence community was going to take him out because of what he knew. For example, what if he discovered a cover-up over a botched job by an intelligence officer in ‘Nam? Lockhart was supposed to be in the group the day that his platoon was killed. Why wasn’t he in that group?”
Wade shrugged. “That’s a very good question. I’m speculating here, and I may be way off base, but Lockhart survived three tours of recon missions in Vietnam. If Lockhart had proof that someone on our side was a bad guy, he could have tried blackmailing the government or someone in the government to get a big payoff. He might have assumed he would be safe in the U.S. Then when Lockhart felt threatened, something snapped, and he went on his own misguided black ops mission. He obviously didn’t realize or believe the U.S. would turn their own black ops team on him.”
“That’s an interesting angle. Let me do some digging around, and see if I can find out who the CIA intelligence officer in Vietnam was and learn some more about his platoon.”
“That might not solve our local murder case, but it could help explain a lot about why Lockhart was taken out.”
After a pause, Gabe continued. “Another thing still bothering me here is that we’ve found no money trail—at least not that we’ve discovered so far. In most murder cases of this type, you follow the money. You know, I have a hunch the Vietnam connection might have a money component to it, but that’s just a hunch on my part.”
Wade jotted a note and set down his pen. “I’ll look into that angle as well.”
“Can you get me the names and contact information of the others in your Red Team training group? I may want to have some private discussions with them to confirm some of the facts we’ve been discussing here.”
“I happen to have their contact information right here.” Wade pulled out a folded document from his pocket and handed it to Gabe.
“Thank you. I’ll keep their names confidential and keep them out of any formal investigation.”
“They would appreciate that, I’m sure.”
“Now, are you ready for some collard greens and ham hocks? They also have homemade root beer and apple pie.”
“I sure am.”
Chapter 13
Greenstone, Alabama
During his drive back from Georgia, Wade’s mind raced with killing scenarios, evidence, and possible Vietnam connections. The more Wade thought about what had happened, the more moving parts he saw in motion. He and his team had been caught up in a nefarious murder plot being played out at Lockhart’s expense. His suspicions kept coming back to his own Agency, and he kept asking himself why that was so. The evidence didn’t point to a direct Agency involvement, but his instincts told him differently.
There was some link between a CIA Vietnam intelligence officer and Lockhart that involved people higher up in the Agency. The mysterious death of that intelligence officer occurred by a strange hit and run car accident just after he returned from Vietnam. The hit and run driver was never found.
Lockhart had a connection to the CIA operative in Vietnam. It was Lockhart’s platoon that was wiped out from bad intelligence from the CIA officer. Lockhart wasn’t on the mission that evening but never forgot it was the CIA intel that got his men killed.
Mashburn and the CIA agent had also been in Vietnam at the same time. Wade had to find out more about them. Perhaps there was a person at the Agency who could quietly access that information. He knew one person there who excelled at getting that kind of information, but could he trust Megan with that task? Would she even be willing to take the risk? Wade decided to wait. He wanted to mull over and sort out these connections further.
A few days later, Wade returned home to find the red light blinking on his answering machine. It was a call from Yari. When does this guy ever sleep?
“Hi, how did your meeting go with Detective Morrison?”
“Good. Things are more convoluted than you might imagine. Were you able to get any more information on Mashburn or the intelligence agent in Vietnam?”
“Yeah, it turns out that Mashburn attended security training at CID. He also took special classes at the Army’s biological weapons facility over the past three years. I’m still digging out what those courses covered.” Wade could hear Yari shuffling papers before he went on.
“I also found out CID has been doing joint assignments with
the CIA and foreign intelligence agencies. One internal memo shows the two agencies were also dealing with organized crime figures involved with Castro during the Cuban conflict. It seems Army Intel played a part in some joint covert activities with mob characters who were trying to do away with Castro. Mashburn’s record looks like it includes some of those covert activities. There were sections of his file that prove he was doing intelligence work in Vietnam after he was a medic. Much of it is blacked out even for Army eyes. I’m still digging.”
“Anything on Lockhart while he was in Vietnam?”
“Lockhart was in Charlie Company Recon Platoon under Major James Wister, near a town called Moc Bai along the Cambodian border. It seems much of their work included excursions into Cambodia. Their missions were geared to breaking up supply lines between Vietnam and Cambodia along that border region.”
Yari paused as he read through some of his notes. “It seems those same supply routes were also used by the Vietnamese to bring weapons and ammunitions out of Cambodia. I found one briefing memo that says this particular region was also used to bring out cocaine, which was sold on the black market to raise money for the North Vietnamese. The memo suggests that some of that cocaine might have gone through U.S. hands, but gives no details.”
Yari shuffled some papers as Wade listened intently, taking notes on their conversation. Continuing with his report, Yari stated, “There was one mission where one of the platoons was wiped out because the informant they used was a double agent who double-crossed us. The platoon walked right into a Viet Cong ambush. The memo is classified top secret. That may have been Lockhart’s platoon. I can’t tell because the name of the platoon is redacted. I’m still trying to find out why Lockhart wasn’t on that death mission.”
“That’s good intelligence work. Keep digging in that area.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
“Were you able to find out where Mashburn is now?”
“I’ve got a trace on an unverified phone call that he was in Spain. It’s been interesting.”
“What do you mean?”
“A week ago he was using a CID secure line and passwords. His CID line uses an older form of encryption, but I was able to break most of the codes and heard parts of several conversations. Those conversations kept using the code word ‘Macho.’ I had to do some real digging into CID records to find Macho. The code refers to the President of Spain, Francisco Franco. Mashburn seems to be on a CID assignment for Franco in Spain. I wanted to get more confirmation before I gave you that information, though.”
“That’s weird. I didn’t think the U.S. was supporting that character.”
“I was also interested to learn that Mashburn is no longer using that CID line.”
“Then how are they communicating?”
“I’m still going through old messages to see what happened.”
“Let me know as soon as you find anything.”
“Will do, partner.”
After finishing his Sniper Navigation Class at Fort Benning, Wade only had one surveillance field class and two minor classroom training classes left before graduating from the Intelligence Agency. He often compared notes on the countdown of classes when he spoke with Megan in the evenings. This evening’s call was no different; Megan got right to the point.
“You still have to take your final Surveillance-Counter-Surveillance (SCS-7) Class here in D.C. But the class is given all the time, so there should be no scheduling problems. Just let me know when you want to take it.”
“Is that graduation reception still taking place in two months?”
“Yes, that date won’t change.”
“It might be good to take SCS-7 around that time.”
“We can make that work. I hope you’re still planning on getting together when you’re here.”
“I sure am. D.C. would be very a lonely place without you.”
“Okay. I’ll plan on it.”
“What else have you been doing?”
“Nothing. I have no time. They gave me three more recruits, since you’re getting near graduation.”
“That’s unfair. I didn’t take up the equivalent of two recruits, did I?”
“Close to it. By the way, did you ever hear any more about that shooting incident at Fort Benning?”
“No. Have you heard anything?”
“There was some discussion around here, but nothing specific. Something about an ongoing investigation.”
“Well, somebody should certainly be investigating it. Did they ever find the guy who shot at us?”
“I think they found the guy dead, but apparently there’s some question regarding whether or not he’s the one who fired on you.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Beats me. I’m just glad you got through it okay.”
“I guess my group was lucky.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
“What did you hear?”
“I heard you and another team member went after the shooter bare-handed in the middle of the night. That’s what made the shooter leave the area. At least that’s the story circulating in our office.”
“I lucked out, it was a very dark and foggy, overcast night.”
“Hmmm, one day you’ll have to tell me the real story.”
After a pause, Wade abruptly changed the subject. “Do we have anything scheduled for this week?”
“No. You’ve got the week to yourself. Just make sure you get those incompletes removed. I don’t want any black marks on my record.”
“I can’t imagine you with black marks.”
“I wish you were here right now.”
“Me too.”
A tiny part of Wade remained suspicious about Megan and the agency. He wasn’t sure if the agency was directing her to pump him for information or if she just asked too many questions out of curiosity. Either way, he couldn’t take a chance. His gut told him she was as honest about her feelings toward him as he was with her. The last thing he could afford now was to send a suspicious message that something might be wrong in their relationship.
Wade was working intently on his final class paper when the phone rang.
“Hi, it’s Yari. I think I have the name of the CIA guy in Vietnam: Daniel Spencer. He left the agency after his Vietnam tour and went back to being an insurance agent in his hometown in Raleigh, North Carolina. He died shortly after he returned home.”
“Really? How did he die?”
“According to the local newspaper article, he was killed by a hit-and-run driver. They never found the driver.”
“Do we know why he left the Agency?”
“I wasn’t able to find out specifically why he left, but there were a few notes about a drug investigation that might have involved him. Most of his file is buried under lock and key at the Pentagon, so I’ve hit a dead end on Spencer. I think there could be something in his file the Agency doesn’t want discovered.”
“His death seems like another strange coincidence.”
“I’m also monitoring Morrison’s communications. He received a toxicology report on Lockhart’s death. The drugs involved go by some obscure names, which nobody seems to know anything about. One of the drugs seems to come out of India and the other out of Malaysia. There are some other high-end binding chemicals involved. These are not street drugs. From monitoring Morrison’s calls, it’s clear that he’s spending a lot of time trying to track down the source of these drugs.”
“Is there anything else going on at Fort Benning on this issue?”
“Apparently Morrison is working with someone at Fort Benning regarding what was found at our shooting site. Benning has agreed to release their forensics findings to him.”
“Anything else?”
“Yeah, actually. Remember the CID communication link I had on Mashburn?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s dead now. For whatever reason, Mashburn and CID aren’t communicating.”
“I wonder if CID cut him off, or if
they’re using another communication device. Maybe Morrison was getting too close with his investigation.”
“I’ve got a tap on the phone Mashburn uses for most of his calls. But all of a sudden, CID has stopped calls in both directions. I do have Mashburn making two calls to a new number in Brussels. I’m now tracking that number.”
Wade shook his head. “What the hell is that all about?”
“I don’t know, but they’re easy to monitor. The two calls still referenced Macho, but I’m not sure if that refers to a person or an operation. The person on the receiving end of Mashburn’s calls is referred to as ‘Condor.’ I’m in the process of tracing that code name to the Brussels location.”
“It sounds like command authority may be shifting its focus to this Condor person.”
After a long pause Yari broke the silence. “There’s something else going on in the conversation that you might find interesting.”
“What’s that?”
“They’re talking about extraction routes and options out of Spain.”
“That’s interesting. Sounds like something has or is about to go down. Where are Mashburn’s calls originating from?”
“Mostly from a town in Spain called Zaragoza, which is about midway between Madrid and Barcelona.”
Wade nodded without realizing it. “It’s normal operating procedure to be close to two extraction points. My instincts are telling me we have to double our efforts on Mashburn right now. I’m going to do some research on President Franco and Condor. Keep me posted on any discussions Mashburn has.”
“Will do, partner.”
The university library was far from Wade’s apartment, and he used it often. There were a couple of things he wanted to look up at the library for his class paper, but mainly he wanted to research President Franco of Spain.
He was amazed at how much public information was available on Spain and the Franco regime. It didn’t take a genius to see the U.S. was clearly shuffling its feet between blasting the guy for his brutal, tyrannical methods and maintaining some semblance of diplomatic protocol.
The contradictory political positions of the U.S. didn’t explain why the U.S. would covertly support a dictator by sending in a covert assassin like Mashburn. Something was amiss. Wade’s instinct had him thinking: Could Mashburn be there as a double agent?
Lethal Authority (Wade Hanna Series Book 2) Page 11