by Lynn Ames
“Bonjour, Peter.”
“Good to see you, my friend.”
“It is good to be seen.”
“Hi, Sabastien.”
“Katherine. It is a pleasure to see you. You are looking radiant.”
“I’m looking like I just finished working out.”
“Well, then. That must be the glow.”
“You’re a smooth talker.”
Sabastien shrugged. “I am French.”
“Kate. Peter.” Vaughn appeared on the screen.
“Vaughn,” Peter said. “What’s the situation?”
“For the moment, we’re secure. It appears that Sabastien tripped a fail-safe when he downloaded and sent us the files. The Black Knight was able to lock onto Sabastien’s location and put some boots on the ground almost instantaneously.
“That’s some serious resources and connections,” Peter said.
“Very Commission-like,” Kate added.
“Whoever it is, they’ve obviously got global assets,” Vaughn agreed. “Sabastien was able to lose his company in Gibraltar three days ago.”
“Is it safe to know where you are now?” Kate asked.
“In one of Sabastien’s safe houses outside of Casablanca.”
“Smart. Morocco has no extradition treaty with the US.”
“I used my marbles, Peter.”
Both Peter and Kate laughed. Vaughn simply shook her head.
“Did I make a funny?” Sabastien asked.
“The expression is, ‘I used my head,’” Kate said.
“Oh.”
“Were you able to make any progress on cross-referencing the hacks with the affected companies?”
“Oui.”
“How soon can we have it?”
Sabastien smiled. “You have mail.”
At that moment, Peter’s computer dinged to indicate an incoming e-mail.
“I am sorry for the delay, but it was necessary in order to throw the foxes off the scent.”
“Hounds, or dogs. Not foxes,” Vaughn corrected.
“They are all four legs with noses, yes?”
“Four-leggeds.”
“I am hopeless.”
“Sabastien? You were saying?”
“Yes. It was necessary to create a diversion before I felt it was safe to communicate with you, even by encrypted e-mail. So I reversed the tables on him.”
Kate started to correct the mangled idiom, then thought better of it.
“I hacked into the Black Knight’s last hack and sent him to chase his behind. While he is doing that, I was able to repair the hole and re-secure communications.”
“Still, I recommend that we keep the chatter to a minimum,” Vaughn cautioned.
“Agreed,” Peter said. “Give the three of us time to digest what you sent.”
“How long do you think you’ll need?”
“I guess that depends on what we find.”
“Let’s plan to talk again in seventy-two hours, unless you find something that requires immediate attention,” Vaughn said.
“Or unless something breaks, or breaks down, on your end,” Peter said.
“Agreed.”
“Be safe.”
“That’s the plan,” Vaughn agreed.
“Au revoir, mes amis,” Sabastien said.
“A bientôt,” Kate answered.
When they’d signed off, Peter switched to his e-mail server and downloaded the spreadsheet Sabastien had compiled.
“There are two hundred entries,” Kate said.
“It’s going to be a long few days.”
“I wish Jay was here to help us.”
“How is she doing out in LA?”
“She says it’s going great. She and Rebecca have really clicked. She’s enjoying the challenge of writing for a new medium and Rebecca’s been very patient with her. They’ve been writing for a solid week, and Jay says they expect to wrap things up in the next few days.”
“This is the longest I can remember you two being apart in…”
“Forever,” Kate finished Peter’s sentence. “God, I miss her. It feels strange.”
“Well, we’ll have plenty to keep us busy for the next three days. It’ll make the time go quickly.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Are you two just about done?” Dara stood in the doorway to their office. Jay and Rebecca were sitting side-by-side, staring at the computer monitor. Rebecca was completely engrossed in what Jay was saying. Jay’s hair was standing at odd angles, no doubt from running her hands through it as the two of them worked out a tense scene.
They’d been at it for ten days, and Dara had watched them work long enough to recognize some of Jay’s habits. She thought it was endearing.
“Earth to Rebecca? Jay? How’s it coming along? We have to leave here in about twenty minutes if we’re going to be on time for our reservation.” Dara had secured a dinner meeting with the director, George Nelson, to give him a copy of the treatment and the screenplay and talk about possibilities and strategy.
“Huh?” Rebecca looked over her shoulder. “Oh. We’re on the last few lines of dialogue right now. Give us about ten minutes and we’ll have it.”
“I hope you can get ready in a hurry.” Dara retreated to the back deck and watched the waves lap against the sand. She’d read the pages at the end of each day. The work was good—very, very good. The material would make for an edge-of-the-seat ride for theater-goers.
Dara smiled as she imagined playing Bryce Maddox. It was a meaty role, and she would have to do a lot of research to inhabit that skin. It’s exactly the kind of new challenge I’ve been looking for.
“Hey.” Rebecca wrapped her arms around Dara from behind and kissed the side of her neck. “We’re done. It’s printing now, and I’m off to get dressed. Can you put it in a binder?”
“I might be able to manage that.” She turned in Rebecca’s arms and kissed her gently. “Congratulations.”
“Jay gets a lot of the credit for getting it done so fast. It didn’t take her any time to adapt to the differences in format and nuance. It also helped that her original dialogue was so crisp. All we had to do was bring it into Final Draft from her Word document and tweak it.”
“You can tell me all about it later,” Dara said. “Get dressed.” She shooed Rebecca back inside, returned to the office, and put together the package they would give to the director at dinner.
They had finished the meal, the server had cleared the table, and Dara had insisted on picking up the tab, much to Jay’s chagrin.
Now the three women sat quietly while George Nelson flipped through the pages of the treatment. Jay wasn’t quite sure what to expect. She’d never had an Oscar-winning director look at her work before—well, not that she knew of, anyway. He said he’d read several of her books, but it was quite different to have someone of that caliber sit right in front of her reading the words she’d put on a page.
Jay had no idea how the man could make an informed decision simply by reading a five-page description of a full-length novel and a one-hundred-twenty page screenplay.
“This is engaging. It’s really, really solid.” George looked over at Jay. “That manuscript of yours must have been quite something for you and Rebecca to be able to put together a treatment and a complete screenplay in less than two weeks.”
“Her prose is fabulous. The dialogue was pitch-perfect,” Rebecca said. “And the richness of the characters and depth of the plot—”
“You can stop anytime now,” George said. “I’m intrigued. I want to take this home and give it a thorough read-through. But I already can tell this is something special.”
“You know some of the challenges we’d face,” Dara said to George.
Jay squirmed in her chair. She wasn’t certain how much Dara had shared of the situation with getting the book published, nor what the director might have read in the papers. This was where the discussion would get real for her.
Dara must have notic
ed her discomfort, because she subtly placed a hand on Jay’s knee under the table to stop her from bouncing.
“I am aware that the book is being blackballed by Black Quill and likely other cowardly publishers, as well.” George directed his attention to Jay. “I’m sorry for that. I admire your work, and I trust Dara. When she calls me to extol the virtues of a manuscript as she did with yours, I know it must be something truly special. Now that I’ve had a glimpse of what the screen treatment looks like, I am more inclined than ever to agree with her.”
“Mr. Nelson—”
“George, please, Jay. My father was Mr. Nelson.”
“George… As I have explained to both Dara and Rebecca, there are very powerful people both in the government and the private sector who do not want this story to see the light of day. If you were to decide that you wanted to move forward with this, I’m afraid you might experience significant push-back. It could get very ugly.”
George leaned forward. “Jay, you don’t know me, but I can assure you, I don’t intimidate easily, and I especially don’t cotton to the idea of being told what projects I should and shouldn’t undertake.”
He held Jay’s gaze a moment longer, and she could see in his eyes the fire of a fighter. No, he wouldn’t be pushed around. But she wondered if he really understood what the Feds and/or the Commission were capable of. Hollywood no doubt had its share of sharks, but this was a different breed of shark than he or Dara were used to.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” George winked and got up from the table. “Ladies. I’ll be in touch.”
Kate stood and stretched her back. She, Peter, and Lorraine had been working on the list Sabastien provided for three solid days. They’d broken only to eat and sleep.
“What we really need is an updated roster of Commission members.” Kate quickly added, “No offense, Lorraine. Your memory is fabulous and the notes you took during your time on the inside are amazing…”
“But they’re twenty-five years old,” Lorraine finished Kate’s sentence for her. “No offense taken. I wish I still had full access.”
“I’m glad you don’t,” Peter said. He kissed his wife sweetly on the cheek. “Let’s review where we are right now.”
“We have a dozen corporations on the list across every segment of technology and industry that have been known strongholds for the Commission in the past,” Kate said.
“We have another ten whose functions would be too appealing to the Commission for them not to have someone on the inside,” Lorraine added.
“That’s twenty-two entities, down from the original two hundred. We’re making real progress,” Peter said.
“When are we supposed to Skype with Vaughn and Sabastien?” Lorraine asked.
“Later today,” Peter said.
“I don’t suppose Vaughn is still in contact with Sedona?” Kate asked.
Lorraine held up a hand. “I’m not sure you want to go there with Vaughn. She’s still nursing a broken heart.”
“What are you thinking?” Peter asked.
“I’m thinking that Sedona has more current contacts inside our security agencies than any of us. She might be able to save us a significant amount of time and energy. If any of these companies are on a government watch list, she might be able to ferret that out.”
“I don’t think we want to take that route,” Peter said. “And not because of the personal issues either. If we assume, and I think we can, that the Commission still has people in key positions inside the Beltway, we don’t want to tip them off that we’re poking around.”
“Excellent point,” Lorraine said.
Kate took her seat again. “Maybe there’s another way.” She opened a Google search. “It wouldn’t give us watch list information, but that might not be what we really need.”
“What are you suggesting?” Peter asked.
“Government contracts generally are a matter of public record. We could simply do a search to see if any of these corporations have government contracts and, if so, what types of contracts they’ve got.”
“Not a bad thought. That would at least narrow things down on one side of the equation.”
Kate typed in the words, “federal government contracting.” Immediately, thousands of entries popped up. She clicked on a promising website called “washingtontechnology.com.”
“Well, now this is interesting,” she said. Peter and Lorraine both came to stand behind her.
“All of the major players you’d expect to see received major government contracts in the past year.” She scrolled down.
“Go to the ‘search’ tab and plug in our likely suspects,” Lorraine suggested.
Twenty-two searches later, they had matched sixteen of the companies to government contracts. Kate sat back. “We didn’t narrow it down much, did we?”
Peter’s computer beeped. “It’s Sabastien.” Peter answered the Skype call.
Kate and Lorraine moved their chairs so that all three of them would be visible to Sabastien and Vaughn.
“Bonjour from sunny Casablanca.”
“I take it you are still feeling secure?”
“We’re fine for the moment,” Vaughn answered. “I had Sabastien create some credit card and bank transactions for himself out of Brazil and Argentina to further obfuscate.”
“Good thinking,” Peter said.
“How is the research going on your end?” Sabastien asked.
“We’ve narrowed the possibilities to roughly two dozen likely Commission-infiltrated-or-owned companies that Robie hacked within the last two years,” Lorraine said.
“We were just cross-referencing that list against government contracts awarded in the past year,” Kate said. “That wasn’t as helpful as we would have liked.”
“Where were you looking?” Vaughn asked.
Kate named the website.
“And what companies did you match?”
Kate rattled off the names.
Vaughn nodded. “Those are the usual suspects for major government contracts.”
“I guess we need to come up with another approach,” Lorraine said.
“Perhaps not,” Sabastien piped in. “I may be able to help.”
“We’re all ears,” Kate said.
“Quoi? Qu’est-ce que c’est, ‘We are all ears?’”
“We’re listening,” Vaughn supplied.
“When I was hacking on behalf of your government, checking the security of the computer interfaces, I was required to investigate the major contractors, of course. Those are the names you mentioned. But there was more. I also was responsible for poking into the systems of the contractors that worked underneath the major contractors.”
“Subcontractors,” Peter said. “It would make sense that the Commission would lurk behind the scenes where they would be subjected to far less scrutiny.”
Kate pulled her laptop closer and did another Google search. “I don’t see any way, by examining public records, that we could unearth all of the subcontractors.” She sat back and pushed the laptop away.
“Why would you need to do that?” Sabastien asked. His forehead wrinkled in puzzlement.
“Because we need more information?” Kate countered.
“Vraiment,” Sabastien agreed.
“What am I missing?”
“I was responsible for investigating all of the subcontractors with access to sensitive government information to make sure they were not compromising your government,” Sabastien said. “This is no problem. I backed up for my own protection all of the work I did.”
“You have the names of all of the subcontractors working for these major players?” Lorraine asked.
“Oui.”
“I think I love you!” Kate said.
Sabastien’s blush was visible on the screen. “Give me your list, and I will get you what you ask.”
Kate retrieved her laptop and cut and pasted into an e-mail the list of the twenty-two companies. Just as she was abou
t to hit Send, Peter put a hand on her wrist.
“Not from yours.”
Kate nodded and deleted the e-mail. “How do you want to do this?”
“I’ll send it to him from an encrypted account when we finish here.”
“Is there anything else new to report?” Lorraine asked.
“All else is status quo,” Vaughn said. She addressed Sabastien, “How long will it take to compile what we need?”
“Several hours, a day at most.”
“Okay. Let’s talk again in forty-eight hours. If we have something of note sooner, I’ll ping you.”
“Roger that,” Peter agreed.
Sabastien said, “I will send the file to you with appropriate encryption, Peter.”
“Thank you, my friend.” Peter disconnected the call and closed Skype.
“Put that on a thumb drive.” Peter pointed to the database file Kate had open on her screen.
Kate did as instructed. Maybe they really were making progress after all.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Dara watched Jay from a distance as she stood at the water’s edge. Today was Jay’s last day in Los Angeles, and Dara was surprised to realize that she would miss her friend’s sparkly presence when she was gone.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Rebecca wrapped her arms around her wife from behind.
“Oh, you do, do you?”
“Mm-hmm. It’s the same thing I’m thinking.”
“And that is?”
“This place is going to be awfully quiet without Jay here. I’ve really enjoyed collaborating with her. But more than that, I’ve loved her company.”
“You did know what I was thinking,” Dara agreed. “It’s so strange that you and I, two people who jealously guard our privacy and our space, should feel so comfortable with someone we don’t know that well.”
Rebecca released her hold and came to stand beside Dara at the glass. “I agree. But there’s just something about Jay that puts you at ease.”
They watched as Jay jumped back to keep her rolled-up pant legs from getting splashed by a wave.
“Do you think we should tell her that George is on his way over to discuss the screenplay?” Dara asked.
“Hmm. Maybe we should hear what he has to say first.”