by Bob Blink
"We thought it might be interesting to see what happens when we don't react as these people expect when one of us is shot," Laney said. "It should confuse them a bit, and make them wonder if they are correct in their belief we have a Back-Tracker."
"We didn't think they would be at risk," Susan added. "I can't see another believing one of them would be the person who could Back-Track, and they've only been peripherally involved up to now. But it makes it clear that these people might go after anyone. I've told Shaun he has to disappear for a while. He left a short time ago with a couple of agents the Director assigned to watch him. He'll be relocated someplace secure. Most of what he needs to do is finished for now anyway, but he took along enough equipment he can set up remotely if needed."
"How did you contact them?" Jake asked, referring to Solly and Lester.
"I called them on my cell phone from Norm's place last night. The three of us were discussing the status of things when I decided they could help."
"Your phone has been compromised," Tony said immediately.
"So it would seem," Susan agreed. "While this is my private phone, the number is not something that is widely circulated. There are some here at Headquarters who knew, mostly the members of this group. There are a few others, and I guess I'll have to call them and see if they might have been asked about my number. I'm not sure how whoever is behind the attack would have learned the number. Norm is off at the provider right now checking into who might have managed to get access to my calling history."
"It's likely he won't learn anything," Tony said. "My guess is whoever this is has access to equipment that allows them to mimic your phone. If they are near the same tower you are using, they can listen in on your conversations. From this point onward, you need to use a cheap throwaway phone for your calls."
"Already doing that. I gave Shaun one of the phones, and I have another one for such calls. For our core group, I assume we are secure using Tony's phones."
"Even if they know what we have, they can't break into them," Tony reassured her.
"It would be interesting to know who the attackers were," Jake said. "It wasn't our friend Jeff Rineri. It looks like he is still in his apartment, so he couldn't have made it down there and back."
"How about those he's been talking with the past couple of days?" Jim asked.
"Possible," Tony agreed. "There are too many to check on, unless we have some descriptions to go on."
"Solly got a pretty good look," Susan said. "Jim will send you the sketches the police had made up."
"I can't help wondering if this Paul Martin character might not be behind this," Jake mused. "We haven't seen him since coming to New York. It is possible he's gone to DC, and used his underworld contacts to arrange for some cheap labor to make the attempt on your friends."
"Unfortunately, we don't want to give the police his picture," Susan said. "That would alert him to the fact we have an idea who they are."
"For now I agree," Jake said. "The more we can limit the Back-Tracking and corrective actions they take, the better our chances are. Eventually, we might need their help. The eyes of several hundred beat cops might increase our chances of finding out where he is hiding."
"I guess for now, we continue to wait and watch," Susan said. "Shaun left us a file on what he learned on Rineri's sister. Her name is Natalie, but I haven't gone through the file yet. This shooting incident has taken priority. I'll go through it, and send anything useful your way."
"Meanwhile, we'll see what our friend Jeff is up to today," Tony said. "If he had any hand in the attacks last night, something should show in his actions."
"What do you think?" Jake asked when they had completed their call with Washington.
"He could have set something up," Tony replied. "Some of the people he has been visiting could easily have driven down to DC last night, made the attempt, and could be on their way back now. We'd never be able to chase them all down."
"I'm thinking we need to have a talk with our friend Rineri," Jake said.
"I thought that was what we were trying to avoid?" Tony asked.
"I can talk with him, then Back-Track to just before we approached him, and he'll never know it happened," Jake said. "I'm beginning to think we are being too careful with our efforts."
Tony raised an eyebrow, then shrugged.
"I'm not used to having such flexibility," he admitted. "Let's go and look him up. You're not going to alert Susan?"
"Not unless we learn something," Jake said.
"She's a knockout," Jim said as he showed Susan the image of Natalie Rineri that Shaun had captured from some publicity photos her company had released. "Also a genius. She apparently stumbled upon a serum that they believe will result in a cure for diabetes. Her company is in the final stages of testing now, hoping for a formal approval to begin limited human testing, with a targeted release sometime next year. Oh, and the company she now works for is here in Washington, DC."
"Here?" Susan asked, immediately interested. "I thought she was supposed to be working at a firm outside Boston?" Susan asked.
"She was for a while, but moved a couple of years ago."
"It's too coincidental that she is here in the same area where all of this is taking place. What is the name of this company?"
Jim looked through the summary Shaun had provided. Finally he found the reference.
"It's a place called East Coast Pharmaceuticals," he said.
Susan was suddenly silent. Jim noticed the change that had come over her.
"Does that mean something to you?" he asked.
Susan was annoyed with herself. She didn't usually forget things. But the events of the past couple of weeks had been so unusual that the phone call from her old college friend had slipped her mind entirely. Anne Barker worked at East Coast, and she had called Susan with some kind of problem she felt was important enough that she wanted to run it by her before raising it more formally. She had promised to get back to Anne, and never had. Now, by sheer coincidence, Jeff Rineri's sister turns out to work at the very same company. Susan wasn't much of a believer in coincidences. She tried to remember what Anne had said when she had called. Something about their new program and the person responsible for it. Anne had had reservations about that person, who must be Natalie based on the information Shaun had left for them, but hadn't said just what over the phone. She hadn't even named Natalie.
It took Susan a few minutes to find Anne's phone number in her written log. She didn't make a habit of storing numbers electronically in case her phone were compromised. She knew of an agent who had been blackmailed by a felon threatening to harm those who he had discovered listed in the agents phone.
There was no answer at either her cellular or home number. Susan left a message on both, but couldn't help but be uneasy about the lack of response.
"Come on," Susan said. "Call Norm and tell him to meet us there."
"Where?" Jim asked.
"East Coast Pharmaceuticals," Susan said as she noted the address from the computer screen. "I'll explain on the way."
"You're not going to tell Jake?" Jim asked.
"Not until I've talked with someone," she replied.
Chapter 27
Tuesday Morning, May 17
"Who is this Anne Barker?" Jim asked, as he drove the FBI assigned vehicle containing Susan and himself out of the downtown Headquarters and headed in the direction that Susan indicated. She had programmed their destination into the built in navigation system, a feature that Laney actually detested.
"She's the CFO of East Coast Pharmaceuticals, " Susan explained. "She's an old classmate from my college days. She called me almost a month ago asking if we could meet. She had something on her mind about one of the company employees. Given what we just learned, who do you think it probably was?"
"Natalie Rineri," Jim guessed correctly. "How come she hasn't called you back if it was important?"
"Probably because I told her I'd get back as soon as possible.
We don't correspond that often, and she probably didn't want to press. But I agree it has been too long. The Anne I recall wouldn't let it sit if she felt it was important, which she must, otherwise she wouldn't have called me in the first place."
"How long after she originally called was the first attack against you?" Jim asked.
Susan thought for a moment, placing the days in order.
"More than a week," she said finally. "I'd have to look at a calendar to be positive."
They were through the heavily wooded section of highway and were approaching the industrialized area where the company was located. Norm should be there, or just a short time behind them, as he was actually closer to the place when Jim had called him.
"There," Susan pointed to the road ahead at almost the same time as the mechanical voice of the built-in navigation system began warning him to turn right at the next opportunity.
Jim said nothing, but made the turn as dutifully instructed, and within a hundred yards spotted the large sign that marked their destination. He turned into the parking lot, driving toward the entrance, assuming any guest parking would be conveniently located near the door. As they drove toward the clearly marked slots set aside for outsiders, Susan noticed the slot with the name of her old school friend marked on the painted curb. It was empty. One slot away was another space marked 'Rineri', which she was able to read only because Anne's parking place was empty. A large sedan filled the Rineri slot. Jim drove past and into the first of the empty guest parking places, and they had just stepped out of the vehicle when Norm drove up in a matching vehicle.
"What have we got?" he asked after exiting his own vehicle.
Susan explained the relationship between Anne and herself, and the call she had received a couple of weeks back, along with the coincidence that Jeff Rineri's sister worked here.
"She's here now?" Norm asked.
"Her car is," Jim replied.
"I don't plan on approaching her," Susan explained. "She shouldn't know who we are, and I just hope to find out from Anne what her concerns are. We'll follow up with Miss Rineri later."
Together, the three agents stepped into the comfortable lobby where the security guard waited to greet any visitors.
"May I help you?" he asked.
"We would like to speak with Anne Barker," Susan said. "I'm an old friend of hers."
The guard's face changed markedly at her words.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Barker isn't here," the man said, not entirely surprising Susan. With the car not being in the slot she'd expected as much, but she hoped to be able to get information where she might be. Not being at work, and not answering her phone was disconcerting. Before Susan could ask where she might be, the guard spoke again, this time softly and with regret. "She was killed in a car accident a few days ago," he added.
Even expecting that something was amiss, Susan was momentarily taken aback by the startling news.
"An accident?" she asked.
"She apparently was driving far too fast and missed a turn on her way home," the guard explained. "She struck a large concrete underpass, and was killed instantly."
"Have the police investigated this accident?" Susan asked.
The guard nodded.
"They were here and spoke with our CEO. He called a group assembly afterwards, and told everyone about the accident. Anne was well liked, and we all feel the loss."
"Is your CEO available?" Norm asked, as Susan was uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
"Mr. Harriman is in," the guard admitted. "Would you like me to contact his secretary and see if he is available? Without an appointment, I don't know if he can make time in his calendar at such short notice. He has been even busier than usual without the assistance of Mrs. Barker. Her position has yet to be filled."
Norm pulled out the case with his badge and showed to the guard whose eyes widen at the sight of the badge.
"FBI?" he asked. "I thought you were friends of Mrs. Barker?"
"I am," Susan replied. "We went to college together. But her death comes as a surprise, and I intend to understand more about it. Please relay to whoever you contact to tell the CEO that we are FBI agents, but here in an unofficial capacity?"
Less than a handful of minutes later they were escorted into the comfortable, but not elegant office of the CEO. Karl Harriman indicated the chairs that surrounded a large oval table across the room.
"We can be more comfortable sitting there," he suggested. "Cindy indicated you were friends of Anne's?"
"I was," Susan explained. "We went to college together. She called me a few weeks ago wanting to get together, but because of other conflicts I wasn't able to do so. When I tried to contact her, she failed to answer, and since we were in the area on another matter, I decided to drop by. I was shocked to hear that she'd been killed in an accident."
Susan carefully made no mention of Natalie or that there was any interest in anyone else at the company.
"It was a hell of a shock," Harriman admitted.
"The guard said the police informed you of the crash. Are they certain it was an accident?"
Harriman explained what he had been told of the events surrounding the crash, and that Anne's car had the road nearly to herself and had been involved in a single vehicle collision. There was no chance it could have been anything else."
"When did this happen?" Jim asked.
"Five days ago," Harriman explained. "It was raining lightly, which might have contributed to the crash."
"The guard indicated that Anne was well thought of," Susan said. "Is that really the case, or did she have issues with some of the people here? Someone in upper management often is forced to take positions that are unpopular with others in a company like this."
Susan noticed the CEO briefly appeared to be about to say something, then his face changed and he said, "nothing important. Is there reason for you to ask?"
"Occupational hazard," Susan replied. "I investigate so many situations where matters are not what they appear."
"Sadly, this time it is only an unfortunate accident," Harriman said.
A few more questions, and then they were shown out. Harriman had a meeting that he'd delayed, but indicated they were free to contact him anytime if they wished. As they walked back toward the cars, Susan was undecided how to proceed.
"We need to call Jake from the office," she said. "He could go back and we could prevent Anne's death. It might be the best way to learn what is going on."
"I don't think Harriman was totally frank with us," Jim said. "It seemed he was about to say something, probably about Anne and Rineri, but thought better of it. Rineri is probably too important to the company, and he feels there is nothing that can be done for Anne."
Susan nodded. So Jim had sensed it also. Had she known Anne was dead, she never would have driven out here to visit the company. With Natalie Rineri so close, she wanted badly to charge in and interrogate the woman, but that could be dangerously counterproductive. They would put a watch on the woman, and see where she went, but given Anne's sudden death, Susan was more convinced than ever that they had found the link they needed. She even wondered if the missing Paul Martin might be found somewhere around Jeff Rineri's attractive sister.
Natalie watched as the three visitors walked back to the two nearly identical vehicles in the visitor's lot. She didn't need the official looking cars to alert her to trouble. While she didn't recognize the woman or one of the men, the tall, good-looking black man she knew. It was Jim Laney, the FBI agent they had kidnapped, before she'd Backslid and cancelled the attempt. That made it almost certain that the woman was Susan Carlson, the woman that Anne had contacted to start this entire mess. The last man must be an agent as well.
She wondered if they had learned of Anne's death, and that was what had brought them here. As bad as that was, any other reason was even worse. The fact they hadn't been directed to her office made her certain the visit was to check on Anne. What worried her was the fact they hadn't Backs
lid and warned Anne of the danger. It had only been five days since the accident. Natalie could have gone back that far if really pressed. Perhaps they wanted to check matters out before doing so, and were on the way back to the office to initiate that action. If so, this would all cease to have happened shortly. Or perhaps whoever they had with the ability was even more limited than her. Maybe they couldn't reach back a full five days. She'd have to hope that was the case, otherwise very soon they would know far too much about her and what Anne had attempted to contact Carlson about.
It made no sense to simply wait around and hope. Setting down the clipboard she had been carrying back to her office on her desk when she had spotted the departing trio, she headed toward the lobby where she planned to ask Sam, the lobby security guard, what they were here for. She avoided Karl's office, concerned he might want to speak with her especially if they had been asking questions about Anne. She felt time might be critical, and couldn't afford the distraction.
"They didn't know about Mrs. Barker's accident," Sam told her when she asked about the unexpected visitors. "The woman apparently was an old friend of hers," Sam added.
So, it was Carlson, Natalie thought. Natalie knew all she was going to learn, and the longer she waited the worse this might become. If they Backslid before she did, any chance to correct this situation could be lost. She reached into her mind, found herself in the past and triggered a short Backslide. She only went back to Sunday morning, when she was in bed with Paul. She needed to discuss with him what had happened so they could jointly decide how to proceed. She didn't want to go back far enough to prevent the accident. They had worked so hard for that goal. Hopefully there would be some other way to salvage this operation.
"They came to your company?" Paul asked sharply, sitting up suddenly in bed when Natalie told him what would happen in a couple of days. "Tell me what happened."