by Robin Mahle
“Which means the person who killed Kendrick is most likely the same one who came after us in the restaurant. The problem is, we still don’t know who that is.”
“No registry on the weapon?”
“No, and it’s not standard issue FBI either, as you probably already know.”
“Right.” He cast his gaze away. “Which puts us back at Square One. And I’m still working on Turner, but I just don’t think I’ve gained his full trust.”
“We may not be entirely back at Square One. Delgado is connected to the Dalian Company somehow. Lacy followed him yesterday. It’s becoming clearer that they’re tied to the MSS.”
“What? Caison, you got to tell me everything. Maybe if I know, Turner will confide in me. You’re asking me to put my ass on the line without knowing all the details.”
“Okay, okay. But before we go down that road, she also discovered something else.”
“And that is?”
“Like I said, she followed him to the Dalian offices. He was there for a while, meeting with someone, we don’t know who, but then he drove out to McLean and met with a CIA Counterterrorism official. A Camden Meeks.”
“Well, what the hell is Axell going to do about that?”
“I’m leaving that up to him. It hit him hard, though. First he loses Colburn and then finds out his own people are involved. This thing is going to come to a head and fast.”
“Right, well, you’re not leaving until you give me everything. Give me something I can use to get Turner to trust me.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Alone in the house that had begun to feel more like a prison, Lacy sat at the workstation where Aaron had set up a secure laptop. The time had come to find out if Delgado was being extorted by or was on the receiving end of money from the Chinese-based Dalian company, a company that had signed with Argus Solutions and had been Jay’s largest account.
The deeper she delved into this conspiracy, the darker her feelings became about the motivations of governments, whether elected by its people or appointed by a leader. All seemed corrupt. Nothing like what she used to believe after joining the FBI. But the time had come to expose this corruption and no threats would stop her this time.
Her heart raced as she doubted her own expertise in an area in which she hadn’t worked for quite some time. But she’d been watching Aaron, learning from him as he’d taught her when they were younger. And so she began. Delgado was smart enough not to have any social media accounts, which Lacy quickly learned. Moving on, she instead opted to search for financial records, which meant getting inside the credit bureaus to find out which banks he used. Sounded simple enough, except it would require Lacy to find out Delgado’s social security number. Aaron had already attempted to find his information in the Office of Personnel Management files, but Delgado’s were marked SIC and neither had that clearance, nor could they get it. And no matter how good a hacker he was, SIC was well outside of his ability to hack. So, now it was up to Lacy to dig around and put her tradecraft to use. The first part was easy. She knew Delgado, based on what she’d already learned, had been born in Massachusetts, meaning his social security number would begin with numbers ranging from 010-034. Social security numbers were assigned in much the same way as zip codes, by area. Those numbers encompassed those born prior to 2011 in Massachusetts. But things would get a little more difficult from there.
Delgado was born after 1962 when the second set of numbers were revised to reflect when a child was born in a state and not assigned based upon his or her nationality, a practice that had contributed to the earliest forms of identity theft. This meant that Lacy could dwindle down, based on the year of his birth, the second set of numbers. The Social Security Death Master File was public information, and with that, she was able to eliminate the numbers already assigned, because once a person had died, their number would never again be used. And now, through the process of elimination and Delgado’s birth date, Lacy now had the first three and the second two numbers. She was getting close now.
Finally, the last four numbers. These would prove the most challenging because they were randomly generated. However, by utilizing the year of Delgado’s birth and reconciling it with the Death Master File, the process of elimination became easier. The final part of this scenario involved utilizing a random number generator. She already had the first five digits and had excluded the numbers issued that year in the Death Master File. While the combination was extensive, Lacy further eliminated numbers based upon a simple equation. Using a validator issued by the Social Security office for the purposes of employment background checks, Lacy could now enter the most likely numbers based upon the pattern she had developed.
There was, however, a limit to the number of times she was allowed to enter a sequence. But there was a simple work around for this too. Proxy servers. Aaron had set up a service that would disguise their IP address and give the appearance that another IP was being used in another part of the country. This allowed her to use multiple IP addresses to access the validator. She recalled a conversation she’d had with Aaron and Jay back in school. At the time, identity thefts were on the rise and they discussed the reason for this was the fact that Social Security numbers were never used twice. And with the increasing speed at which programs could run combinations of numbers, they realized that the most vulnerable to identity theft were those born after 2000. They knew then there would come a time when the entire system of issuing numbers would have to be revamped.
Lacy checked the time. Will and Aaron would be there inside the hour. But she was getting closer. One of these combinations would be it. It had to be or else today was for nothing. Accessing the social security number of someone with top clearance was no easy task. If this failed, she had nothing else in her arsenal.
Her attention was returned when she finally got a hit. “This is it. Holy hell—I did it.” She wrote down the number and now the easy part could begin—running a credit check. This would tell her what banks he used via identified loans. From there, she would need Aaron to get into them. He’d done it before, like it was second nature to him. But she had the number, and now she could find out if Delgado was on the take as others had been in this game.
She heard the door open, immediately shut down the computer, and shot up from her chair.
Aaron made his way inside. “Good. You’re already here.” He approached her. “What’s wrong? You’re looking at me funny. Did something happen today?”
“Aaron, I got hold of Delgado’s social security number. I need your help to find out if he’s taking money from the Dalian Company.”
“How did you get that? You didn’t ask anyone, did you?”
“Of course not. I do have skills, you know. I figured it out.”
“Wow. Okay. I never doubted you.” He patted her on the shoulder. “Come on, then. Let’s get to it.” He rubbed his hands together and blew on his fingers.
“What are you doing?”
“This is my ritual. It’s what I do.” He smiled and sat down. “So, what’s the number?”
♦ ♦ ♦
Agent Axell sat in the guest chair, studying the woman across from him. “We’ve been friends for a long time, Elizabeth.”
“We have.”
“And when I told you about Colburn, you did what needed to be done to make sure his family was taken care of.”
“I did. Why don’t you ask what it is you came here to ask, Trevor?”
“I need your help and I don’t know who else to turn to. I have reason to believe Camden Meeks is involved in dealings with a foreign entity and getting the help of someone in the FBI.”
“What?” Her smile wasn’t because she was pleased, but because it seemed hardly believable. “What kind of dealings?”
“You’re the station chief, and you’re the only one who can authorize a team to look into this. I want to lead that team.”
“You’re not a field agent anymore, Trevor. And this is not something I can just shoot fr
om the hip and hope it all turns out okay. You know what you’re asking?”
“Yes. I know exactly what I’m asking. I’m asking you to do this for Keith. I’ve found myself involved in something that I thought I could take on alone. And I have, but I’ve discovered that Meeks could be compromised —likely is compromised. But I need to know for sure and I need resources. Resources I can’t get on my own—not anymore.”
She took in a long breath. “I don’t want to know anything, you understand? Not unless you get something concrete. This one will have to be off the books and I’ll have to figure out a way to keep it as such until you do.”
“Thank you, Elizabeth.” Axell stood and began to leave.
“If Meeks is involved in whatever it is you’re working on, chances are, you’ll end up like Keith Colburn.”
“Not if I can help it.”
20
Lacy peered through the front window and into the darkness. “Why isn’t he back yet? He should’ve been here a half hour ago.” She dropped the curtains and turned to Aaron. “I don’t like this. We have to call him, make sure he’s okay.”
“Maybe you’re right.” Aaron reached for the burner phone. “He needs to know what we found. Here, you call him.”
Lacy dialed his number and the line rang. She turned her attention to Aaron and shook her head. “He’s not answering. Son of a bitch. He’s not answering.”
“It’s okay, Lace, just take a breath. Let’s think for a minute. Did you talk to him at all today?”
“No.”
“So you have no idea what his schedule was like?”
“No, I don’t. I’m sorry. I left early to come here and find out what the hell Delgado has himself wrapped up in.”
“I’m not trying to upset you, Lacy. I’m just looking for a reason as to why Will isn’t here yet.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I guess I’m more worried than I thought. What about Axell? You think he might know?” She didn’t wait for a reply and tried him. “Trevor? It’s Lacy. Have you heard from Will today? He’s not here and, well, he should’ve been almost forty-five minutes ago.” She listened, nodding her head a few times. “Okay, I will. Thank you.” She ended the call. “He hasn’t heard from him either. Says he’s working on something right now but will call back later.”
Aaron began to pace the living room. “Okay. I’m sure there’s a good reason why he didn’t stick to the plan. You said yourself that you broke protocol and came here earlier, right? And you had a good reason. So let’s not jump the gun here. If we haven’t heard from him in the next hour, we’ll—I don’t know—we’ll figure something out.”
Lacy’s eyes began to redden. “If something happened to him. I just couldn’t…”
“He’s fine, Lacy. I’m sure he’s fine.” He examined her for a moment. “Do you have feelings for him? I mean, it’s none of my business, but I was just…”
“Of course I do. He’s my friend.”
“You know that’s not what I meant. Look, I’m not judging. After everything we’ve been through, I wouldn’t do that. You shouldn’t be alone for the rest of your life. It would be easy to understand if you did feel something for him.”
“He’s my friend. You’re my friend and so is Trevor. So can we just drop it? Please?”
“Yeah, sorry.” Aaron walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of water.
“Headlights!” She peered through the window. “Aaron, I see headlights. That has to be him.” She waited as the car approached. “It’s him. Gotta be.” Her worst fear had abated. If someone else she cared for died because of this, there was no telling what it would do to her and she was grateful not to have to find out.
The door opened and Will walked inside.
“Where the hell have you been? You have any idea how terrified I was that something happened to you. Why didn’t you call one of us? For God’s sake!”
Aaron returned from the kitchen. “Yeah. You had us pretty freaked out there for a while.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve called. I just didn’t have the opportunity. There’s some things we need to discuss.”
“Same here.” Lacy turned to Aaron. “We were able to get something of interest on Delgado. He’s receiving money from the Dalian Company. They’re paying him for something, but we just don’t know what that is yet.”
Will furrowed his brow. “How did you find this out?” He raised a hand. “Never mind. I’m asking a hacker how he got information.”
“It wasn’t just me,” Aaron replied. “Lacy did most of the work.”
Will continued inside. “Guess that helps solidify my findings. I was with Fraser.”
“What is it? The weapon?” Lacy asked.
“We did have a match with the restaurant shooting and Kendrick, but no way to trace who the gun belongs to. But, because Fraser is working on the Kendrick investigation, it allotted him some flexibility for following up on potential leads, even if the potential was nominal at best.”
“Are you saying you and Fraser did some digging around on your own with regard to Delgado?”
“Under the guise that it pertained to the investigation—yes. At the very least, to rule out Delgado and refocus our efforts on Sajwani.”
“And?” Lacy pressed on.
“And, according to a background check on weapons he owns, we discovered he, at one time, owned a Glock 22. Those generally fire .40 caliber bullets, same as the one from the restaurant and from Kendrick’s home.”
“That’s a pretty common hand gun.”
“That’s true. However, he was on record as having sold his last year. We obtained the serial number of that weapon and found out that he’d sold it to a gun shop owner.”
“Okay. Sorry, you’re obviously getting at some sort of a connection here, but I’m not seeing it,” Lacy continued.
“Fraser and I visited that gun shop this afternoon, which was why you couldn’t reach me. We began looking at the inventory and everything seemed legitimate, until I spotted one that clearly had the original serial number scraped off and replaced. I’ve seen it before, so I knew what to look for. This made me start to question the shop owner’s legitimacy. And after a bit of questioning, and our assurances that we would not pursue any case against him, we questioned him about Delgado’s Glock. He remembered it. And remembered that Delgado had asked him to remove the serial number and he’d buy it back, only with cash and off the record, and for a lot more than he’d sold it for, leaving the record of sale to the gun shop owner, but not its resale back to Delgado.”
“And that’s what he did? Sold it back to him?”
Will nodded. “I think he used that weapon to kill Kendrick. I also think Kendrick knew him because there were no signs, according to Fraser, of Kendrick attempting to flee. I mean, who the hell wouldn’t run when you see someone coming at you with a gun, right? Which, to me, means he knew him. He knew his killer.”
“You’re also then saying that it was Delgado who shot up the restaurant.”
“It was a professional hit. He was wearing a motorcycle helmet, no plates on the bike. He knew what he was doing, which also leads me to believe it was a warning shot.”
“And, because he was monitoring me, he knew we would be there.” Astonishment bore down on her. “Son of a bitch. That gives us all the more reason to believe he’s working for Jian and so is the Dalian Company. You can’t tell me those two aren’t in bed together. Makes perfect sense. Jian wanted Dalian to replace Nova Investments. I guess it wasn’t Ahsan Sajwani after all, but still one of Jian’s men, so there’s that.”
“I did talk to Axell just before you arrived,” Lacy said. “He said he was working on something but didn’t say what, and I could only guess it had to do with this Camden Meeks. He should know what we found. It might help him.”
“Should I tally this up for us, then? The MSS, CIA, and FBI are after us.” Aaron looked to Lacy. “What the hell chance do we have of making it through this?”
“We’ve hit
one hell of a nerve. There’s no denying that. And it brings to mind something I want to do that might help put the nail in the coffin. The dedication ceremony for the mall memorial,” Lacy replied.
“Dedication ceremony?”
“I’ve been asked to speak at it.” She turned to Will. “Can you believe that? They want me to speak because I work for the Bureau and I lost Jay.”
“Why am I just now hearing about this?” Aaron asked.
“Because I’d forgotten about it when Michelle asked me a few weeks ago. And just today, she asked again. Said the groundbreaking was due to be next Friday.”
“What is it you’d like to do, Lacy?” Will asked.
“Exactly what I should’ve done six months ago.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Axell pulled his keys from his pants pocket. “You ready to go?”
“You’ve got a lot of balls putting this together.” Agent Hicks grabbed his coat.
“Hey, you don’t want to be a part of this, then I’ll find someone who does. Colburn was your friend too and I thought Elizabeth said you could be trusted.”
“No offense, man. I can be. Don’t you worry about that. Keith was a hell of a friend and if this shit is real, then I got your back 110 percent.”
“Good. We don’t have much time. He and his wife are at a charity event. We have to make our move now, or we won’t get another chance.” Axell pushed through the doors of the Washington station lobby and toward his car. “We get in and get out. From there, the rest will be up to me. You won’t need to get your hands dirty.”
“Axell, I’m sorry, man. I want to do this. If what you say is true, and the chief believes it could be true as well, then we’ve got a major fucking problem here.”
“Thank you, Hicks. That’s what we’re about to find out.” Axell wanted to check in with Lacy, just to be sure they heard from Caison, but he didn’t know just how much he could trust Hicks, even if Colburn had. All Hicks knew was that Colburn was killed and that Meeks might have had a part in it. He wouldn’t reveal anything more to a kid he knew very little about. Except that the kid seemed like kind of a prick.