by Dan Kelly
“He was giving a speech at a CPA convention right here in Chicago and was adjusting his microphone when he was electrocuted. The electrician at the auditorium found a jury-rigged remote relay hidden in a fuse panel. He also found that the mike was fooled with in that it took two hands to adjust it. When the senator touched the mike, the relay was remotely thrown and he was zapped with sufficient current to stop his heart. The senator had a history of heart troubles and this is well known. He’s been in and out of the hospital several times over the last couple of years. The last time a pace maker was inserted.”
“When did this happen?”
“The President told me it happened at two this afternoon at the beginning of the senator’s speech. I just got off the phone with him and the curious thing about Chamberlain’s death is that the CPA appearance was a last minute thing. It was added to his agenda only yesterday.”
“Hank, this is Vincent. I’m thinking that there’s got to be someone, an insider in the D. C. political arena, that’s feeding information to the people responsible for all the atrocities we’re experiencing. I can think of no better explanation for how this killer knows where his victims are going to be in such a timely fashion.”
“That makes sense to me. I’ll call the President and let him know what we’re thinking. He’ll know how best to handle the situation. I hope. If we can uncover the mole and he isn’t aware that we’ve done so, we could use him to our advantage.”
“And that makes sense to me. In the meantime, Joel and I have been discussing how I’m going to proceed with my part in the search for the bad guys. I’m going to put out feelers through my network that someone has contacted me about finding someone who can permanently eliminate a high profile problem for him and money is no object. I will be the go-between, the decision maker, on behalf of the potential client. If I get lucky, during the interview process I might be able to sense that I’ve found the assassin we’re looking for. It’s a long shot I know, but it’s the best way I can think of to get the ball rolling.”
“I trust that you know what’s best in this situation. That’s why you were brought into the picture. Good luck.” Hank hung up, Vincent stood up and Joel was fed up, fed up with these creeps always being one step ahead of them.
After Vincent left, Joel called Barbara on her intercom. “I need a drink. Care to join me? I will scintillate you with some more devastating news.”
“What’s up?”
“Meet me downstairs at Clancy’s in ten and I’ll spill my guts of all my woe. I’ll be the man that could talk the teeth out of a saw.”
“I’ll be damned! You have been learning to speak the language of the angels.”
With a chuckle he hung up and as was always the case after speaking with her, his spirit got a boost and things didn’t look quite so bad.
Chapter 36
-Washington D. C.-
After his phone call from Hank Aldridge ended, the President sat at his desk both perplexed and irate over the likelihood that there was someone here in Washington, maybe even in the White House, who is in cahoots with the people who obviously have a deep rooted desire to vanquish America’s power structure and way of life. “Who could it be? Where do I start looking? How do I do that without arousing anyone’s suspicion? Lorraine’s well plugged into the Washington rumor mill. Maybe she has some ideas about how I can pull this off.”
Hitting the intercom button he said, “Lorraine, drop whatever you’re doing and come in here. I want your input on something.”
As Lorraine was walking over to his desk he said, “Lorraine, we may have a fox in the henhouse. Please, have a seat and let me tap that extraordinary memory of yours to see if anything jumps out at you that might be of help.”
The President told her what he was up to and why and then started to pick her brain. It didn’t take long for Sam Ferguson’s name to come into view in her mind’s eye. She told him about Sam’s strange behavior over the past couple months and Weinstein was more than a little surprised. “I find it hard to believe that Sam could be a traitor. He’s been a loyal member of my team for over seven years.”
“That’s why they’re called moles, sir. They do their dirty work in the dark to avoid detection.”
“If Sam’s the leak, how is he communicating with his cohorts? He’s been staying here in the White House for months now, and our security is extremely hard to breach.”
“Well, initially he could have used the FEDEX ploy. He told some people who got curious about his sudden FEDEX activity that he was in the process of making some real estate investments and this was the best way for him to take care of the documentation issues since you wanted him available 24/7 here at the White House. Now that his partners in crime have flown the coop, he’s most likely using his computer. He’s too smart to try to use the phones here because of the risk of being overheard or discovered by our security protocol.”
“But wouldn’t he be running the risk of our security people discovering his email messages when they did their periodic sweep for illegal access and viruses?”
“He would be and I don’t know why he would take that kind of risk unless he’s figured out a way to beat the system. You told me that these people have access to some very innovative technology. Perhaps some of that has been input to his computer to allow him to send messages without leaving a trace.”
“Bill Caruthers and one of Hank Aldridge’s men have been working on a way to render the enemy’s latest computer virus useless. I know if Caruthers is given one more computer problem to solve, he’ll have a coronary. See if Hank’s guy can come to the White House and check out Sam’s work station. I know he must be busy too, but chances are he doesn’t have as much on his plate as Bill does.”
“Will do, sir. Will that be all?”
“That’s all for now, Lorraine, except you might try to keep a closer eye on Sam without being obvious about it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter 37
-Breuil Cervinia, Italy-
All of the members of The Last Resort are sitting out on the beautiful terrace behind the chateau, enjoying the view, sipping some superb wine and munching on some sweetened brötchen the kitchen staff has prepared. Ron Baltzinger is saying, “Bob, you definitely picked the right guy for Phase Three. He’s expeditious and his hit and run without a trace tactics must be driving the authorities whacko.”
“He’s perfect for what we need him for and using him exclusively reduces the risk of exposure because we don’t have to bring in any other outside help, any one of whom could do something to ruin everything we’ve accomplished and put us behind bars for the rest of our lives.”
David Zadikoff joined in the conversation with, “Speaking of bars, I’ve got a large shipment of gold bullion coming from Johannesburg and being delivered to Zurich three days from today and I’ve got to pay for it before it’s shipped. This was in the works before we lit out for this Alpine paradise. I’m afraid if I use my normal means of payment it could be traced back to me here.
“Basil, would you be willing to make the payment for me using the system you put in place to finance our stay here and I’ll reimburse you when we’ve accomplished our mission? You can move vast amounts of money around without generating a ripple of curiosity where if I were to attempt to move a hundred million dollars from the States to South Africa I’d generate a tidal wave.”
“Is it only safety you’re concerned about or is cleanliness also a concern?”
“Well, the shipment is a little soiled around the edges. Your system, with your obvious skill and intelligence monitoring the transaction, would be the ideal channel to process the payment without any dire consequences.”
Basil, frowning and pointing at Zadikoff, remarks, “You see before you a perfect example of a sycophant. Smiling he continued with, “It’s obvious that I’m in an extremely good mood as under normal circumstances I would never consider making such a loan without having the recipient mortgage everything he owns i
ncluding his shorts. Give me the particulars and I’ll make the payment tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you Omniscient One. I will forever be in your debt.”
“Don’t push it Nescient One. I could steer that payment to one of my off shore accounts and you’d never find it.”
George Palmer put the kibosh on the jovial mood by saying, “Okay, let’s get back to business. Basil, who’s next on your hit parade?”
Squinting with displeasure Halkias corrected him with, “Our hit parade, George. This is a joint venture as you’ll recall.”
“You know what I meant, Basil.”
“Smiling wryly Halkias responded with, “Yes, George, I know what you meant. I just want to remind you, remind everybody, that we’re all in this together for the good of our country. When we formed The Last Resort, you all agreed to follow my lead and I agreed I wouldn’t pursue any course without unanimous approval. I don’t want any of you to get it into your head that I’m on some vainglorious mission of my own and the rest of you are just along for the ride. All of our joint talents and resources are needed for us to be successful. If any of the targets I select is unacceptable to any of you, we’ll look for someone else. Is anyone dissatisfied with how I’ve handled things so far?”
No one spoke up so Halkias resumed with, “Good. Now, to answer your question, George, Sam has informed us that a special joint sub-committee of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate’s Finance Committee is meeting in secret two days hence in the Capitol Building to discuss specifically the financial effect of our attacks on the U. S. economy and how to deal with it. It will be chaired by the Senior Senator from Massachusetts, Sean O’Malley. In addition to O’Malley, there will be 14 other legislators, all seasoned politicians who have served in the U. S. Congress for decades.
“None of these representatives in our view are true champions of the people they were elected to represent. They are all self-serving hypocrites who think of no one but themselves and are consistent barriers to true progress in our country. The country will be better off without them. Bob, please hand out that list of names I gave you earlier. If there are no objections to the names on the list, Bob will give the go ahead to Malcolm to see that these thorns in the sides of the American people are permanently plucked.”
It took about 15 minutes for everyone to review the list of names and discuss the selection. Basil stood up and asked, “Are there any objections to any name on the list?”
“No? Okay, Bob, do it.”
Conversation returns to more trivial matters, Bob goes to make the call and Basil slips into his introspective mode. “Maybe I’m reading too much into what Palmer has been saying lately? Yet, how he’s been saying things recently has a taint of something close to growing disrespect. Perhaps a vigil for him to start wearing warmer footwear is in order. We’re too far down the road to turn back now. If anyone develops cold feet, I’m going to have to chop them off. If anyone starts to seriously challenge my leadership, I’m going to have to find a way to pull the plug on that individual. I mustn’t let anything stand in the way of what we’re striving to accomplish, collateral damage be damned.”
Chapter 38
-Chicago-
Hank has called everyone together in the conference room to discuss where they are in the pursuit of their suspects. Hank is making sure that everyone is on the same page by providing a summary of events to date . “This is where we are in our investigation. With all of the empirical evidence we’ve uncovered, we’re convinced we’ve identified key participants in the attacks on the American people. We also are convinced that these individuals sensed that someone was on their tail and that’s why they hightailed it out of town and went into hiding.
“Wherever they are they need money and Allison is working on how they’re getting it. I’ll get back to you in a minute, Allison, and you can fill us all in on what you’ve been able to ascertain so far. We also believe that the recent murders of the two U. S. legislators are the work of the same people that are behind all of the other garbage being dumped on us. We don’t have any hard evidence to support this assumption, just very strong feelings in out guts, the kind you should never ignore. When murder reared its ugly head, Vincent Torizzio was brought in to play a more active role in our investigation to find the assassin which when accomplished we hope will lead to our finding the brains behind all of this mayhem. He’s doing his thing as we speak.
“We also have good reason to believe that this group of troublemakers has a mole somewhere in Washington D. C., maybe in the White House, feeding them all kinds of intelligence. We passed our fears on to the President and he called me back earlier this morning saying he has a good candidate for suspicion, his very own press secretary, Sam Ferguson. They have reason to believe he’s communicating with his counterparts via email in some secret fashion.
“Ashok, the President requested I send you to the White House to see if you can figure out how he’s doing it. He’ll keep the press secretary away from the office on some project or other while you check things out. If you confirm the President suspicions and figure out how he’s contacting his cohorts, we won’t nail him. We’ll use him to feed false information to his pals and use the false info to lay a trap. Joel, will you fly Ashok to Washington ASAP?”
“We can leave when this meeting is over.”
“Fine. Okay, Allison, the floor is yours.”
Well, to begin with you’ve got to remember that the businesses of all of these men are very large and sophisticated and they conduct thousands of transactions every day. It would be a monumental task, to track every one of them and, frankly, not the best use of our time. So, instead I began by looking for abnormalities in the daily, weekly and monthly banking transactions, deposits, withdrawals, wire transfers both incoming and outgoing, letters of credit, loan drawdowns, etc. I looked at the transactions that took place the month before these people dropped out of sight and every day thereafter up to today. At first nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Then I noticed some unusual bank transactions generated by various corporate entities belonging to Basil Halkias. They started out under one corporate name with an account at Banco Di Roma in Rome and went to an account under another name at Banco Di Napoli in Naples and then on to an account under another name at Credito Italiano in Genoa and finally to another account again under another name at Unicredito Italiano in Bergamo. What attracted my attention was the size of these transactions. They were unusually small, on average a few thousand Eursos each and there were quite a few of them. Unicredito Italiano is a huge bank with customers and operations in 22 countries, so a customer could go into a branch anywhere and with proper ID conduct their business.”
Hank said, “So this doesn’t really lead us anywhere does it?”
“On the surface, no, but the revelation that Halkias has recently initiated an abnormal number of small transactions in Italian banks has struck an imaginative chord in my noggin. The size of these transactions could be associated with the costs of setting up housekeeping somewhere. The amounts are typical for utilities, furnishings, renovations, etc. The new base of operations for our desperados could be somewhere in Northern Italy.
“Now for my coup de grace. This morning a whopper of a wire transfer, $100,000,000 U. S. Dollars, originating at Unicredito Italiano in Bergamo, went through the same rigmarole as the small payments I just described, but wound up at the First National Bank in Johannesburg, South Africa in the account of some precious metals dealer, Amalgamated Metals. If I remember correctly, one of the people we’re hunting, David Zadikoff, is a dealer in precious metals.
“Therefore, folks, I think we’re safe to assume that our prey has fled to somewhere in Northern Italy. That’s still a lot of ground to cover, but it’s better than the whole world.”
For a moment there was quiet as everybody mentally digested what Allison had given them. Joel was the one who broke the silence with, “Great job, Allison. This definitely gives us a leg up in our hunt for th
ese animals. Hank, we’ll have to get this information out to the various intelligence agencies working with us on this and, Barb, pass this on to your people as well.”