Was Tourey suggesting Theodore was a pedophile too? Was Theodore connected to Bernard? George knew if he got caught snooping into Theodore’s private business, he would be banned from working anywhere in the Quarter. Theodore knew everybody. George was tempted to just tell Tourey he couldn’t find anything.
It was as if the heavens planned it, because the next song that came over the piped in radio was “Man in the Mirror.” Wasn’t that what the bartender Jill had said? If you want the world to change, you start with the man in the mirror.
George took a deep breath and walked down the long narrow hall toward Theodore’s office. He had no idea what time he might show up today if at all. When he got to the door and opened it, Theodore was sitting at his desk. He looked up when George entered.
George stammered, “I wasn’t sure if you were here or not. I will need a few more spotlights for the exhibit. Some of these pieces are sixty by eighty, and our lighting won’t work on the north wall. We are getting glare from the oils.” George’s mind was racing. What he had said was actually true. He was surprised he had been able to improvise that fast. Maybe he was better at this spy stuff than he thought.
Theodore looked up and smiled, “Whatever you need George. Do you have the videos from the kiddy art contest for me? I am going to need them for tomorrow night, and I would like to preview them today.”
George answered, “I picked them up from the library yesterday as soon as John finished producing them. They are on my desk. Do you want me to get them for you?”
Theodore was still smiling when he said, “How much trouble would it be to make another copy of them? I think I may start a private library of these contests.”
George felt a shiver creep up his spine. Could Tourey really be on to something? George answered, “Give me a couple of hours, and I can be done.”
Theodore stood and said, “Great. You do that, and I am going to do some shopping. I’ll stop back before we close and pick them up.”
The two men walked back to the main gallery showroom together. George showed him the problem wall and the artist’s pieces he had to display there. Theodore was barely paying attention and waved his hand for George to do whatever he wanted. George watched him leave the building, and he quickly went into his own office and set his computer to download the video of the contest. He made two copies. One for Theodore, and one for Tourey. George’s mind was messing with him as he watched the film in fast speed. These kids all looked so cute and proud of their pictures. Surely these contests were not a part of some sordid plot?
When the videos had been copied to disks, George placed one in his briefcase and walked back to Theodore’s office. Once inside he closed the door and sat at the desk. His heart was racing. He didn’t belong in here. He surveyed the papers on top of the desk. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. He slowly opened each of the desk drawers. In the center drawer was an address book. He cupped it in his hand and left for his own office to make copies. This would have to do for Tourey. George felt like he was going to be sick.
When the copies were all made, he placed them in his briefcase and returned Theodore’s book to the desk drawer. George sat in his own office chair and watched the clock unable to think of anything other than his meeting with Tourey in ninety minutes. What had he started?
Jeanne came down the stairs carrying three bottles of water from the upstairs fridge. She handed Ray and Simon each one. Simon asked, “How hot is it out there now anyway? This air conditioner isn’t even trying to keep up anymore.”
Jeanne answered, “The bank clock on the corner says a hundred and two. With the storm this morning, the humidity is probably seventy percent. At least we aren’t outside this afternoon.”
Simon took a big gulp, “Yet.”
Jeanne looked at Simon, “I am stuck. I feel like I am going in circles. The account Devon received the money from is the same account he sent five million back to. Unless I am going nuts.”
Simon answered, “This will drive you nuts. That’s because this is only a clearing account. I actually have six million coming in and then being split up in Devon’s account. I have been working on sourcing the six mill deposit to the clearing account.”
Jeanne said, “I have been trying to follow the five million from Devon’s account to the payee. I am getting stopped at a clearing account. What transaction identifier are you working with?” Simon showed her. “Why is your number coming in the same as mine going out only with a different sub text number? Wouldn’t that just be a wash?”
Simon answered, “I think what we are seeing is whoever paid the six mill went through the clearing account. Devon kept one mill and sent the five mill on using the same clearing account he received it from. So we have three parties using this clearing account. Whoever paid the six mill to Devon, Devon, and whoever is the owner of this clearing account. That is what I am trying to identify now. It is definitely not an individual. It has a corporate sub text.”
Simon looked at Ray, “Can you access any data from the computer lab that was blown up and search for these two sub-text numbers?”
Ray wasn’t sure he could search anything without sending up alarms that they were looking. Ray answered, “I think I am going to want to enter that cloud through what looks like a hole.“
Jeanne’s interest was piqued. “How did you find a hole?”
Ray answered, “I wish I knew. It seems to be tied to my ID somehow. I think I can enter the data like a snooper.” Ray hoped he hadn’t said too much. He knew Roger was worried about who knew about the cloud. He had to assume his own team was okay. Ray asked, “Should I go in? Roger is beyond anal that nobody finds out about this. Nobody.”
Simon thought back to Roger’s comments in Indy about there being a problem in the New Orleans office. Also, someone had obviously leaked Intel from that computer lab and alarmed someone enough to blow it up. Whatever was in this data cloud was dangerous enough to risk killing two CIA agents.
Simon said, “Roger has good reason to worry about this. Let’s try an amateur hack approach and see if we get booted out. No harm no foul.” Ray and Jeanne nodded, and they watched Ray hit a few keystrokes and quickly get booted out.
Ray shrugged and said, “Well, that was fun.”
Simon thought a minute and said, “We need to know if we can move securely or not. Ray, go in with your ID and see what happens. I’m SSA, this will be on me. We won’t search for anything yet. Let’s just review some log history.”
Jeanne asked Ray, “You want me to do it? I’m already going to be on the Bureau’s shit list for staying in this case and then shooting Devon.”
Simon laughed. “You obviously don’t realize who you are working for. Roger Dance is the Golden Boy of the entire Bureau right now. You’re fine.”
Ray keyed in his ID and logged into the website. Suddenly his screen started scrolling log history from about two hours ago up until real time right now. He was shown the activity path and entries of someone who was in the data cloud making programing changes to CIA programs. Ray pushed his chair back and turned the screen for Jeanne and Simon to see.
Simon watched a minute and said, “Jeanne, follow Ray with a snooper. Make sure we aren’t leaving a path.”
Jeanne hit some keys and watched her screen. “I’m not sure what just happened. Ray’s ID is being split, like network. I’m being identified as him too. No path. No trace. You want me to join our visitor and get screen views on what he’s doing?”
Simon was taking his suit jacket off, “Just a minute, I want to log into the CIA computer and get my own status.” After a minute Simon said, “Can’t log in. System being restored.” They all looked at each other.
Ray pushed away from his screen, narrowed his eyes and asked, “Restored to what? How long has this been down?” Jeanne went to log histories and found a time stamp of when the CIA super-frame had been shut down. The exact time stamp, to the second, of when this snooper history started on Ray’s printout.
Ray s
tood and pointed to Jeanne’s screen, “Whoever we are watching, took down the CIA super-frame and is making changes the CIA won’t see if he restores from this data base. This is way beyond the three of us.”
Simon whispered, “Shit! Ray, start looking for him! Follow him home and hurry.” He pointed at Jeanne. “You start printing this activity log. Let’s pray this hole stays open long enough to fix this. Ray is right. This is way beyond us. I’m calling Roger.”
Thor had Albert park the cab in the far corner of Colby’s parking lot in the shade of a tree. Albert kept the cab running because they needed the air conditioning. The thermostat in the cab said the outside temperature was a hundred and three degrees. Quite a few trucks were parked in the lot for mid-afternoon, and several men walked from the neighboring loading docks into the bar.
Dusty said, “See? I told you it was a dive.”
Thor asked Albert, “You get many fares for this place?”
Albert laughed, “You kidding me? Nobody comes to the port unless they have to. ‘Cept the folks looking to board a cruise, and if they are this far down, they are pretty lost.”
Thor looked at Albert and said, “Based on our history, I want to remind you that you are answering questions to a Federal Agent who expects honesty. You lie to me, you go to jail. That simple.”
Dusty spoke, “I watched these guys kill one dude already today. Don’t mess with ‘em man.”
Albert pulled his head back and opened his eyes wide, “You got the whole truth, anything you ask.”
Just then Dusty shouted, “There’s that ponytail dude! Goin’ in the bar right now!”
Thor asked Albert, “Any chance you know who this guy is?” Albert squinted and then shook his head. They were still watching the door when a black Ford Explorer pulled into the parking lot and stopped. There was something about it that captured their attention. First of all, it was new and polished. Not exactly the typical vehicle in this lot. It slowly rolled directly towards them. Thor considered the possibility it was Mathew Core coming to meet with ponytail. “This could be our man.”
Albert held up a newspaper like he was reading, “You better think of something fast. Whoever this is, comin’ to check out this cab and what we doin’ parked back here.”
Dusty screamed at Thor, “He’s comin’ this way man. You better think of some reason we’re parked back here in the corner!’
Albert yelled, “He’s pullin’ up next to us man! Get to kissin’, do somethin’ fast.” They could hear the gravel crunch under the Explorer’s tires as it crept closer.
Thor looked at Dusty, “Pucker up,” grabbed the back of his head and planted a big kiss on him. Dusty tried to act normal as he watched the Explorer out of the corner of his eye. He was sure the driver was Mathew Core.
Dusty pulled away enough to talk, “That’s your guy, man! The one in my picture!” Thor was wiping his mouth and swearing. Albert was desperately trying to keep from laughing. They must have passed the test because Core drove slowly on by, parked by the door to the bar, and walked in. Thor told Albert to get close enough they could write the plate number down and then get the hell out of there.
Once they were a safe distance from the bar, Thor told Albert to pull over. Thor called Nelson and had him run the plates. The Explorer was registered to a company named Global Corporation. Thor told Nelson to bring Pablo, get street clothes, a cover car, and a couple of GPS locators. Thor called Simon and asked if he could find out anything about Global Corporation and get back with him.
Thor looked at Albert, “I’ll make sure you earn plenty to cover all of this. Do you need me to talk to your boss? We aren’t going anywhere until my guys get here.”
Albert said they could wait and call his boss when they were done. If they called him with a fare, he would just pass. “I guess I owe you that.”
“Damn right!” Thor answered.
Dusty looked at Thor, “You know that kiss you planted on me?” It made Thor cringe to hear those words spoken out loud. “Sad thing is, that’s the most activity I’ve had in six months!”
Thor watched out the window of his door. He didn’t want to miss Core leave. He shook his head and smiled. Damn. Just had to kiss a dude. It was only about fifteen minutes before Pablo and Nelson pulled next to them in an old Impala. Thor told Albert to step out of the car and say hi to the guys again. Albert looked like he was going to wet himself.
Pablo walked over to him and said, “Funny man. Huh.” He started circling Albert and nodding his head. Nelson smiled, stuck his head in the window, said hi to Dusty, and asked him what he was doing with Thor.
Dusty answered, “I’ve been kidnapped! And molested! Save me, man!” Pablo just shook his head, smiled, and walked away.
Thor asked Albert, “Can these guys go in that bar without getting made?”
Dusty stuck his head out the window and frowned, “You look mighty clean.” Nelson bent down and grabbed a handful of dirt from the road and smeared it on his sweaty arms, face and shirt. Pablo did too, and they both waited for the verdict.
Albert looked at Dusty, “I think they look okay. Maybe part-time dock workers?” Dusty nodded. Thor told them Mathew Core and one of his men, ponytail, were in the bar. He asked them if they felt okay to go in and get a beer after planting the GPS. They both nodded. Thor asked if they were armed. Both men pulled up their pant legs to expose ankle holsters.
Thor cautioned them. “Core might remember you guys from the Crab Shack. Even if he makes you, he knows we are in town for some reason. Not necessarily him. I don’t see him starting trouble.” Nelson and Pablo nodded and drove off.
Thor watched as they pulled the Impala next to the Explorer. Pablo casually got out, placed the GPS, and kept walking. Never even broke his stride. Thor watched them walk in. He hoped to hell he hadn’t made a big mistake.
They waited about twenty minutes when Thor saw ponytail guy leave the building and walk around the back. Thor asked Dusty, “Where is he going?”
Dusty answered, “Nothin’ but storage barns and hangers back there. Cargo holders, you know.”
Then Thor saw Core come out of the building, get into the Explorer, and drive off. Thor told Albert to drive down as far as he could into the storage area to see where ponytail might have gone. They couldn’t see him anywhere. Thor’s phone rang. It was Pablo. “I don’t think they made us. We started a pool game with a couple of guys. They talked at the end of the bar and left.” Thor told Pablo not to ask any direct questions because these guys were regulars there. Just see if anyone volunteers anything. Thor said he would have the field office send the GPS signal to both Nelson’s phone and his own. They should leave and take up the tail when they could.
Thor checked his phone and saw the GPS transmission was ready. He showed the phone to Albert and asked, “Where’s this guy headed?”
Albert studied the tiny map and said, “I think he’s headin’ toward the Quarter or Uptown. Give it one minute here, and we’ll see what he does at Highway 10. Yup, he’s going to Uptown. Good residential over there.”
Dusty piped up, “I think we’re at the end of our date, don’t ya think? I got my kiss an’ everythin’. How ‘bout you just dump my ass somewhere in the Quarter ‘fore you start the rest of this field trip?”
Thor laughed and told Albert to let Dusty out as close to Jackson Park as he could.
Dusty said, “Actually, I think I want to visit my favorite bartender back at Mickey’s. Just drop me at Bourbon and St. Peter if you can.” Dusty looked at Thor, “If anyone knows something about this Core dude, it’s Scotty. I might be able to find out something for ya. Scotty already saw me there with you guys at lunch. I want to explain I was tricked into givin’ you a boat ride is all. I sure as hell don’t want people thinkin’ I spend time with FBI for fun!”
Thor laughed, “I’m hurt. You haven’t had fun today?” Thor passed Dusty his card.
Dusty said, “I still got the one you gave me last night.” He shook his head, “Shit, I
can’t believe I’ve only known you less than a day! How many times I almost got killed with snakes and guns and shit?”
Thor laughed, “Yes, but you did get a kiss.”
Wilma walked into the Voodoo shop crying and holding a fistful of tissues. Sasha came from behind the counter to give her a hug. “Wilma, Hun, what’s wrong?”
Wilma choked out, “I just got fired! Mr. Jacobs is closin’ the house an’ movin’ away.” No notice or nothin’. Just called me and told me not to come there no more.” She plopped down heavily on Sasha’s chair behind the counter. “I need the Spirits tell me what to do. I can’t live with no job!”
Sasha hit the buzzer to summon Spicey to the front of the shop. Spicey entered the room, and saw Wilma sobbing into her elbow sitting on Sasha’s chair. Spicey looked at Sasha and pointed to Wilma.
Sasha shrugged her shoulders, “Wilma got a call from that Bernard Jacobs man sayin’ he’s gonna leave town, close up his house. Wilma got no job no more.”
Spicey patted Wilma’s back, and Wilma looked up with tears in her eyes and pleaded, “I’m needin’ the Spirits find me a job.”
Spicey straightened her shoulders, “Wilma, what page in the Bible tells you the Spirits are runnin’ an employment agency?” Spicey was twirling her long beaded necklace and frowning. She couldn’t help but think sometimes people just expected the world to do for them. Take no gumption on them own selves. Spicey added, “Don’t you know anybody thinkin’ bout retirin’ or something? Maybe you could get their job. Hurry ‘em along maybe.”
Wilma perked right up. “I got a lady friend at the church told me she not working after the end of this month. She gonna go live with her boy in Texas. I guess I could talk to her.”
Extreme Heat Warning: A Shallow End Gals Trilogy, Book Two Page 23