The Sweeper File (Remote Traveler Series Book 2)

by Finian Blake

  “Thank you, I would love to have a more involved discussion with you, but not over the phone.”

  Boris made his suggestion. “Perhaps we could meet in my office for some tea. Are you in early?”

  “I usually come in around six although I could be there earlier.”

  “Six would be perfect.” Boris started scurrying around his office cleaning it up the best he could. Even with all her bruises Cherry was still a knock out with her Auburn hair and pale blue eyes which is why Boris decided to take a personal interest in this case. After Felix had called, Boris decided to check out the FBI files and became wildly infatuated with the bruised vixen when he opened the spread eagle shot. Boris was a sensitive person and was much offended when he saw the extent of the beating that Cherry had received. Boris developed an intense dislike for the perpetrator especially when Felix implied that he had anything to do with hurting this angelic beauty. Boris turned to one of the many screens on the wall in front of his work station. Several personal pictures of Felix and all of his personal information were on the screen. Boris decided to build his retaliation slowly by canceling out Felix’s cable TV and personal internet making his declaration of war.

  Cherry turned to Rhonda who was dying of curiosity. “That rat Felix is checking your name out through witness protection. We need to find out what he is up to on that front.”

  Rhonda was confused, “He knows my old name what in the hell is he doing checking Witness Protection. Who were you talking to?”

  “I was talking to that romantic Russian, Boris. I cannot wait to meet him. Felix claimed that he would not have punched me out if you had not set up Boris to fry his computer. He is trying to get Boris to pull the information off of his computer.”

  Rhonda looked panicked nobody wanted Boris to start screwing with them. “What did Boris say to you and why did you start speaking Russian?”

  “He asked if I were alright and I noticed that he had a Georgian accent so I switched. It turns out that he had done business with my mother before. He would like to do some business with me.” Cherry smiled warmly thinking of Boris, “I have a six o’clock appointment with him tomorrow morning. You know he really is a very sweet man.”

  “Are you Russian?”

  “No I was born in Chicago. My adoptive mother was from Georgia which was part of Russia at the time she left. She taught me how to speak Russian, French, Arabic and Farsi. I also learned some of her other talents such as photography and forging.” Cherry realized that things were moving too fast for Rhonda. She lightly brushed Rhonda’s cheek. “I promise that I will take you to our little meeting tomorrow so you will know as we go.”

  Felix was going crazy. He started out to do a favor for Senator Belight finding himself buried in shit. The closer that he got to Rhonda the more things went wrong. He couldn’t access the file since he was banned from all of the NSA facilities. At present there were two warrants out for him in Maryland and the FBI refused to help. There was Victoria Strong from the U.S. Marshal’s Office that arranged the Witness Protection for Rhonda Savage in the first place. She arranged the truce between Rhonda and the group that took out all six of the sweeper teams that she was running. If he could convince them that Rhonda had broken the truce, they would take care of Rhonda for him. He had called the Marshal’s Office and they never heard of a Victoria Strong. He knew that she had setup Rhonda’s new identity so Felix was going to try the back door, only witness protection had no record of Rhonda Savage, Pauline Rider or a Marshal Strong which was really not a surprise. He accessed the security check for Cherry Newly and everything checked out, former addresses, work history, school records, university, driver’s license, Social Security and passport finding everything in perfect order. The IRS even had records of her taxes which really stunned Felix. The idea never occurred to him before this to check Rhonda Savage’s back ground since he already knew what he would find. He decided to give it a go anyway. Felix did not find the usual witness protection set up in when he made a request through the witness protection channels he found that they had heard of her, but not Pauline Rider.

  Felix requisitioned a lap top from supply that had a secure WIFI and started to load all of his information from the desk top to his lap top. This was an exercise in frustration. Things kept popping up that he did not want and file transfers disappeared into limbo. This lasted all day causing him to arrive home around midnight angry and frustrated.

  Betty had fallen asleep on the living room couch waiting for him. “Felix this is your second late night without calling. What is going on?”

  “I’m sorry this case has me going crazy. I was loading up my new lap top. I made a mistake loading several files on my personal lap top. I pulled some strings and had one issued to me. It has a secure WIFI so I can work at home more and email you during the day.” Felix opened the screen turning on the computer. I have access to FBI files since it is a secure link. When he hit the FBI icon all of a sudden a picture of Cherry’s bruised body appeared on the screen standing naked palms out and legs apart.”

  Betty was shocked. “My god what happened to her? Just look at those bruises. I hope you prosecute that case. The bastard that did that deserves to have the book thrown at him.”

  Felix closed the screen quickly. “We don’t prosecute assault cases out of my office. That happens several levels below me.”

  Betty was still incensed by the picture. “Well make some calls that bastard should have the book thrown at him.”

  “How do you know that it was a man that beat her?”

  “Just look at her breasts, and look at her inner thighs whoever did this has definite anger issues with women. “I am a psychologist and all of the signs are there. They need to get this sicko off of the street. Who is she?”

  “I can’t interfere in somebody else’s case it might blow it for them and the perp might walk. Let’s go to bed.”

  Rhonda and Cherry were up early walking in the NSA building around five thirty. When they reached Rhonda’s office Cherry called Boris on a whim and was surprised to be greeted by a wide awake cheerful voice. “Boris I have a friend with me may I bring her to our meeting?”

  “Bring her and we can adjust later if necessary.” Cherry went to the room that Boris had directed her to and was about to knock when the door flew open.

  “Welcome ladies please come in. My room is just down this hall.” Before they entered his room Boris pulled up a wand and moved it around their bodies. When he was through Boris directed them to place their phones in a lead lined box. The room was twenty by thirty with one wall lined with computers and monitors. Seven work stations had Russian time zone clocks, and five had U.S. time zone clocks including Hawaii. Down the center of the front half of the room there was a two sided work bench and a work bench along each wall. In the back of the room there was a small kitchen, a cheap single bed that looked more like a cot, a lounge chair and three television sets.

  Boris indicated the chairs around the table. “I took the liberty of getting some pastries for our tea.”

  Cherry eyed Boris as he put the water on to boil he was freshly out of the shower and wide awake. “When did you get here?”

  “Except for the pastries I haven’t left here in three days.” Boris indicated the time zone station for Moscow. Our section monitors seven time zones for Russia and I am the Tech. Each of these work stations is a mirror for one being operated by an agent just down the hall. I handle the repairs and watch for attacks on our system. When our systems are working I periodically watch to see how we are being attacked by our friends the Russians.” The kettle started to boil and Boris made a show out of brewing the tea. He placed three glasses for tea on the table. “Rhonda, since you have Cherry’s trust you may stay if you wish.”

  “Thank you Cherry told me about your observations. I would love to hear what you have.”

  Boris noticed Cherry examining the tea glasses in their silver holders. “I spend much of my time here and these little luxuries m
ake me happy.” Boris was not the typical geek type he was socially adept, and well groomed. At forty Boris was reasonably fit and suffered from none of the common traits of a man finishing middle age. She noticed a picture of herself on the bookshelf near the kitchen table. Boris followed her gaze to the picture. “Oh that…! No I am not a pervert. I pulled that out of the FBI file and attached it to Felix’s new lap top. I set it so that every third time that he clicks on their icon the picture comes up. He pissed me off with his nonsense trying to say that it is my fault he suckered punched you. Then he said that it was your fault too.” Cherry noticed that he was staring at Rhonda’s shapely legs which were her most apparent asset.

  “Rhonda, please standup,” Cherry grabbed the hem of her skirt pulling it to her waist. “Ok you can sit down.” Cherry turned to Boris, “Now you don’t have to pretend you are not looking up her skirt.” Cherry removed her blouse, “…or my cleavage.”

  Boris quickly studied the bruises. “So how did you get Felix to sucker punch you?”

  “Why do you think that I sucked him in?”

  Boris chuckled, “There are ten square feet in that room not covered by that camera and you just happened to fall in them.” Boris held up his thumb and forefinger half an inch apart. “The sound did not pick up what you said, and your head was pointed down so that I could not see your lips.”

  “Needle dick, I called him ‘needle dick’ all the way to the room and moved out of range until we were in the room and in front of the camera. I moved closer and fell to the floor as soon as he hit me.”

  “And the bruises…?”

  “We do a full speed work out and contact is inevitable. I never claimed that he did all of this damage. I just kept saying ‘What did I do’. Everybody jumped to the conclusion.”

  Boris laughed, “Stalin would have been proud of you.” He caught the surprised look on her face. “It was not an insult. Stalin started with the Communist Party in Georgia and it was a way to say that it was a strategic move.”

  “No it’s not that, mother used that saying when I had done something wicked that she had to laugh at.”

  Rhonda had to ask “Did she say it often?”

  “Often enough that I am familiar with it…”

  “Was she from Batumi?” Boris was getting excited. Cherry nodded her head. “Our families may have known each other! Your family and my family came from the same city and crack the same jokes.” Rhonda was sitting in silence trying to learn about Cherry, being quite surprised that it was Boris teaching her.

  Boris carefully studied the old scars that circled Cherry’s wrists and ankles, judging that it was from abuse.

  “May I ask who did this to you?”

  “When I was thirteen, I was sold by my bitch addict mother for a few fixes to three Russian generals that defected. They tied me hand and foot doing whatever their perversions told them to do. A group that my mother Sara belonged to killed them and then rescued me when I was only thirteen. Sarah bought me from my mother for five balloons of pure heroin. Sarah raised me as a daughter teaching me all of her tricks and left me with her fortune.”

  Boris exclaimed, “That is so Tolstoy. You are a walking talking Russian novel.”

  “Boris please let me see your papers.” Cherry held out her hand. Boris walked to a safe pulling out the papers that he left Russia with plus the set with his new name handing them to Cherry. Cherry looked at both sets. “Mother did the Russian papers and I did the U.S papers. Russia uses cheap paper intentionally so that new documents will always be necessary. They fall apart in a few years if they are used, and it is difficult to get the exact stock. The only reason that they have not fallen apart is that you have only used them once. They are so old if you try and use them they will know that they are forged. They will have a very close look at the papers, so these are only good for souvenirs, but not much more. If you need another set to work with, I will be happy to provide them”

  Rhonda could not believe her ears, “You are a forger?”

  “Yes, I did your papers. Harry had me do them instead of the witness protection program. That was why I was not worried about Felix playing around. You might say that I know you better than you know yourself, but right now I must get back to Boris.”

  Cherry switched to her no-nonsense business mode. “Boris exactly what do you need?”

  “My mother only has a few months to live and I would like to bring her here. Things are very unstable in Georgia since the last revolution. I have a brother, sister and they have five children between them plus my sister in law wants to bring her mother. I would like to get out as many as I can, starting with my mother.”

  Cherry started to calculate. “The Russian papers are no longer necessary so with a complete set including a full back ground that would be $50,000 each so that would be $500,000.” A dejected look came over Boris. Cherry quickly followed, “Or we could trade. With the changes in homeland security, it is harder to get into their computers. If we had someone with the right touch, we could drop our price.”

  Boris was interested. “By how much…!”

  “Getting us in the right places would let us keep working. We would call it an even swap for all ten sets. Have your family take a vacation in Trabzon, Turkey. I will provide the transportation to the first processing point and you can make the arrangements from there. Can you get them settled from there?”

  Boris jumped out of his chair. “Ten, you said all ten. Tell me what you need. I will have it by noon!”

  “I am stuck here, so my sister Cassandra will handle things for you at this end. Here is her number and I will give her a call to get things going for you right now.” Cherry dialed Cassandra on Boris’s satellite phone.

  “Hi darling do you know who this is? What do you mean four in the morning?” Cherry smiled, “That’s right dear, and I am going to put Boris on the line, so that you can work directly with him. He will help you with your computer problem in return we will provide transport and papers for ten people. Yes, I will stand behind the whole thing just have Lynn make the proper withdrawals from my account. I love you here’s Boris.” Rhonda pulled her skirt down and Cherry put her blouse back on as they walked to the door. They waved goodbye and went down to Rhonda’s office. Cherry refused all conversation until they closed the door of the inner office.

  When the door closed Rhonda leaned against it. “What do you mean that you did my papers?”

  “Vicki didn’t go through witness protection. She went through me. When they do papers they enter it in the system but there is no history. When I do a set of papers you are entered in the system, the dates are spread out, the pictures are different, and you have a complete history including an earnings record, payments to Social Security, former addresses, school records and we even salvaged all of your degrees. Part of the $50,000 is transferred to Social Security along with your prior earnings so that when you retire you can legally collect. If you applied for a security clearance, it would all check out. When your documents expire you would get a renewal notice and you need to issue a change of address when you move.” Rhonda looked confused as Cherry pressed on. “When Vicki set you up, you had the best. She didn’t abandon you. I tracked you over the last two years. That’s why I am here. If there any problems I will take care of it.”

  “Is that your business?”

  “It is one of my businesses. I also own a production studio, an advertising agency and a design studio plus when needed I work for Four Diamonds.”

  “Then what are you doing here?”

  “If somebody hadn’t rescued me I would be dead or doing the same thing that they did to me to someone else. It isn’t the money although we take it. Vicki decided that you were worth the salvage. We went with her call just as Cassandra will go with my call.” Cherry led Rhonda to her chair and pushed her back into it gently. “Let’s get busy we have some work to do before we start our weekend.” There was a frantic knock on the door. When Cherry opened the door Boris was standing in
the opening with a frantic look on his face.

  “I called Georgia and they gave me fifteen names.”

  Cherry held up her hand to stop him, “I will do extra and go to fifteen if you will do extra.”

  “Tell me what you need!”

  “I don’t know yet. Will you help me later?”

  “You are a kind lady.” Boris reached in his lab coat pocket and produced six tubes that looked like lipstick tubes. He made a twisting motion with the tube. “It disconnects all cell phones with in twenty feet of it every thirty seconds for forty-eight hours. Unfortunately, it has the same effect on WIFI. They can be very handy if you want to get the people that screw with you. I make them myself so nobody knows about them. Will you accept my promise?”

  Cherry smiled warmly giving Boris a hug, “Of course I will take your word. Give Cassandra the names and I will make the call. May we call you our friend?” The word ‘our’ was not wasted on Rhonda, since Cherry put her arm around her waist when she said it. “The plane has a limited capacity so you need to clear the passengers with us. We will do our best to work with all of your requests.”

  “I would love to have a beautiful kind lady as a friend.” Boris disappeared as quickly as he had shown up.

  Rhonda was curious, “You took the extra five just like that?”

  “Darling in the computer age, a friend like that is invaluable. Would you doubt his loyalty?” Rhonda silently shook her head no. “Besides, Boris knows exactly what that computer access is worth. He was just being polite and I will give him what he wants. There is no way that he can afford to house his relatives. I will arrange for the transportation, jobs and housing for all of them, plus I will cover that too. In our business we rely heavily on people and Alex taught me that goodwill will go a long way. Rhonda could not argue with that sentiment, but after listening to Cherry’s conversation with Boris she realized everything that Vicki had done for her.