by Green, Carey
“I don’t know, but I hope the cat doesn’t have the condom.”
Dylan laughed. “I never thought I’d get to have sex with an FBI agent.”
“With or without a gun to your head?”
“Either works. I thought banker sex would be boring. Like you’d keep your suit on or something. I don’t wear suits.”
“The way you fuck, you don’t need one.”
Their lovemaking had left him spent and tired, like a vessel that needed to be refueled. He was sound asleep when he felt a nudge at his chest. Vanessa was already sitting upright on the bed when he looked at the clock. It was 3:15.
“You awake?” Dylan asked.
“Barely.”
“What is it?” he asked, groggy with sleep.
“I think someone is out there.”
“Where?”
“On my terrace.”
“What?”
“Little Kitty ran towards the window. Then I heard a noise.” The cat was frozen with its nose glued to the side of the glass door. The left side of Vanessa’s bed was directly parallel to a large outdoor area on the top of the building. The terrace door started about two feet past the length of her bed and continued for about eight feet to the adjacent bedroom wall.
“Are you sure?”
“Shh …”
Dylan listened. He heard a slight rustling sound that was coming from outside.
“What do you think it is?”
“Shh…Did you use your cell phone to call me?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Get down on the floor.”
“What?”
“I said, get down.”
Vanessa literally pushed him off the bed, while she scrambled to the ground on her side of the bed. She reached into her nightstand to retrieve her .38 revolver. She checked it. A round was loaded. As she waited on the floor with her gun cocked, a shadow began to form near her terrace door.
His adrenaline was racing now. She had not fired the gun in nearly three years, though her scores on the gun range had improved dramatically. She was ready. She could hear Dylan breathing on the other side of the bed.
“Stay down!” she whispered.
Vanessa saw the shadow get closer to the window. She made a hissing sound towards the cat. Vanessa could see the cat’s green eyes silhouetted in the moonlight by the terrace door. Vanessa made another slight hissing sound, and the cat came towards her. Once the cat was within reach, Vanessa grabbed the animal, and slid her under the bed towards Dylan. The cat reacted with an angry snarl.
“Rarrghhh!”
“Shhh1”, Vanessa whispered towered Dylan, who had assumed control of the cat. Vanessa pointed the gun
at the full-size dark shadow who was immediately outside the door. She put her finger on the trigger and began to shout.
“Who is out there!”
The shadow froze, suspended in the night’s light. A second’s pause. Vanessa steadied her gun as she began to speak.
“Freeze now, or I’ll shoot!”
The terrace door opened suddenly and Vanessa fired several rounds. The figure at the door dropped to his knees and rolled to his left. Someone shot several rounds back into the apartment, forcing Vanessa to scramble from her spot on the floor, directly parallel to the door. Dylan stayed beneath the bed, his heart pounding through his shirt. From under the bed, he could see Vanessa standing against a wall, her gun still peeled at the terrace door. No one entered. After what seemed like a lifetime, she began to move forward towards the terrace door. When she got there, she fell to one knee and aimed the gun out the glass door that now had a gaping hole in it. She looked through the hole in the glass that was left and breathed a sigh of relief. Whoever who had been out there, was now long gone.
Chapter 40
Dylan’s heart was still racing as he got up from under the bed and joined Vanessa on her terrace. She had called Conroy, but he had not picked up. Vanessa was examining her terrace for clues or information. Dylan stood besides her as she examined the broken glass.
“How did they know I was here?”
“When you called me, did you use your cell phone?”
“Why?”
“That could be how.”
“You can tap a cell phone?”
“Not only that. They can track down your location at any given time. The right people know how to do it.”
“So what now?”
“I don’t know. There was information encoded on the disk of the iPod; some type of hash table that contained encryption keys. Do you know what it was for?”
“Josh asked me about this. Whatever it was, Binky figured it out. Now all I have to do is do the same thing.”
“How?”
“There may be a way. Do you have a car?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s parked in an outdoor garage near the West Side Highway.”
“May I borrow it?”
“Where are you going?”
“Upstate, I think.”
“I’m going with you.”
“Vanessa, I don’t want you to risk your career because of me.”
“It’s too late now, ” she said. “I’m already in.” They kissed.
“I’m glad,” Dylan said. “Really glad.”
Chapter 41
They picked up Vanessa’s Civic from the outdoor garage near the West Side Highway and began the trip upstate. Afraid to use their phones, they stopped at a deli with an Internet kiosk, and downloaded a map of New York State with directions on how to get to Troy. Dylan hoped to complete the trip in less than three hours.
“What makes you think there is something upstate?”
“Where else should we go? Adam said Luke found something. The last people who saw him alive were his parents. Maybe he told them something. Who knows?” Silently, Vanessa watched the road and passing cars.
Despite being bone tired, the feel of being behind a wheel exhilarated Dylan. He drove as the sun rose in the east. They stopped at a rest area around six o’clock in the morning, and had a cup of coffee. With a little luck, they would arrive in Troy at around 8 a.m.
They arrived in the small Hamlet of Troy without a problem. The downloaded directions had been flawless, and Dylan found Luke’s parents’ house without a hitch. The home was a pretty cape at the end of a small cul-de-sac. Dylan parked the car, and they approached the door. He knocked. An older gentleman opened the door.
“Hello,” Dylan said. “My name is Dylan Cash. I am … I was a friend of Luke’s. This is my friend, Vanessa.” Vanessa extended her hand. She also reached into her purse and retrieved her badge.
“I’m also an FBI agent.”
The man looked at them with a look that was frozen between uncertainty and sadness. He then extended his hand towards Dylan. “My name is Thomas. Any friend of Luke’s is a friend of ours,” he said, shaking Vanessa’s hand..” Come on in.” They followed him into the house and closed the door.
The house was small and pretty, and Thomas guided them into the living room. A woman was seated on the couch. She smiled as they took a seat on the couch besides her. Vanessa said “hello”, but the woman did not respond, except for a nod.
“I don’t know if Luke told you, but his mother had a stroke.”
“No, I am sorry. I didn’t know,” Dylan said.
“Oh, don’t apologize. Nobody’s fault, I suppose. She’s doing better. Besides, it could be worse: At least she’s still with us.”
“Yes. That’s true.” Both men shared an awkward silence. Vanessa smiled. Thomas rubbed his hands for a moment. He leaned towards Dylan. Then, he began to speak.
“Did you know Luke well? We don’t really know too many of his city friends.”
“To be honest with you, Thomas, I did not know Luke at all.”
“Oh?” Thomas said. Dylan could tell that he was suddenly confused, like a man wandering alone on a deserted street.
“I worked for the company that Luke worked for, but I got there after his accident.”
<
br /> “So, you didn’t even know him?”
“No, I didn’t. This is hard for me to explain, but I think that Luke found out something about the owner of his company. I think they tried to kill me, because I found out the same things. Thomas, I think that Luke was murdered.”
“Why would you say that?”
“It’s just a feeling I have. You see, I discovered some things and went to the FBI. Someone is trying to kill me, and my friend is missing. Something makes me feel there is some connection with my situation and what happened to Luke.”
“Do the police know?”
“As far as I know, they figured Luke was dead because of an accident.”
Thomas leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment before he spoke.
“It always struck me as kind of strange, the way he died on that bike. He had been riding ever since he was twelve years old. It made me wonder, but I kind of figured no one would listen to an old guy like me.”
“Thomas, I was wondering if I could maybe look through some of Luke’s stuff. Do you know where it ended up?”
The man looked down at his hands, then at Dylan. “Follow me.” Dylan and Vanessa followed Thomas as he walked towards a staircase.
Soon, they were in the attic. Boxes were scattered all around.
“This is where we put all of his stuff.”
“All of it?”
“We think it is, but we wouldn’t know. We’d never seen his place in Manhattan. We’re not really city folks, you know what I mean? But this is what we packed out of his apartment. Everything.”
“Thomas, what I want to know is …. Did Luke have some type of computer?”
“Yes, he did. But the computer wasn’t usually in the apartment. He left it here the weekend he died.”
“You still have it?”
“Of course we do. It’s over here.” Dylan followed Thomas over to a corner where a large trunk was. He opened the chest and removed the laptop computer.
“No use for me to have it. There’s a place over there to plug it in.”
Dylan took the laptop to a small desk near a corner of the attic. He and Vanessa found chairs and sat. Thomas watched them with an alien and skeptical detachment. They waited for the computer to start up, and then Dylan began to type on the keyboard.
“What are you looking for?”
“I don’t know,” Dylan said. “Let’s see what Luke was working on last.”
Dylan used the finder program on the Macintosh to sort which programs had been modified last. When the hourglass was finished, the files were sorted by date and time.
Dylan double-clicked on the folder marked trades and found a mix of spreadsheets and documents. Some of the documents were cash transfer balances; other spreadsheets had names and numbers. He found a group of files dated “_01” and “_02”, much like the files he had discovered in his apartment. Dylan opened one of the files. Unlike the ones that he had seen earlier, they were not encrypted. detailing both the names and amounts. Dylan began to scroll through the list, looking for a familiar name.
None of the information made sense. Without an explanation, it was as cryptic as ever. Dylan went back to the finder and looked at the list of items. Luke had been working on a Word document the day he had died. Dylan loaded the document and began to read it. Vanessa peered over his shoulder and read along.
Mr. Highland:
I work for Ray Corbin in the hedge fund of Corbin and Corbin. I have grave concerns about one of our clients, a gentleman by the name of Yosef Fazziz. Ray Corbin referred me to you as someone I could trust.
Time is of the essence. I will be calling you soon in the hopes of speaking to you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Luke Patterson
“There it is,” Vanessa said. “Luke knew about Fazziz.”
“”Who is Fazziz?” Dylan asked.
“He’s on the FBI watch list. And the person who the letter is addressed to, Dan Highland, is our boss.”
Dylan turned towards her quickly. “He’s your boss?”
“Yes. He’s the one who had us investigating you.”
“Me?” Dylan asked. “You never told me this? And why would Ray steer Luke to Highland?”
“If Highland is the bag man, maybe Corbin knew Highland would take care of it.”
“And he did. He took care of Ray too.”
“Perhaps. But even if he did, that still doesn’t explain where Binky is. Or who those guys were last night.”
“No, but it’s a start. Now we need to find out who Highland is working for.”
“Who is going to help us with that?”
“I think we should call Tim.”
Dylan sighed loudly. “You think he’ll help?”
“He’d better,” Vanessa said. “I can’t think of anyone else to call.”
“Thomas, we need this laptop.”
“Did you find something about Luke?”
“Maybe,” Dylan said. “It’s hard to tell.”
“And me also,” Vanessa said.
Dylan said nothing. They packed up the laptop and headed downstairs.
Luke’s mother was still seated on the sofa in the living room, seemingly entranced by the television. Dylan and Vanessa sat down on the chair next to her, and sat with them before saying goodbye. Thomas walked them to the door and waved as they left. Even when they were halfway back to New York, Dylan still couldn’t get the image of him waving out of his mind.
Chapter 42
The Boathouse in Central Park was empty at 4 p.m. on that Wednesday afternoon. The summer heat was stifling, and few brave souls were rowing on the lake. The restaurant was also empty. With a baseball cap over her head, and a large black, oval sunglasses on her face, Vanessa sat at a quiet table on the patio near the water, sipping a cappuccino. Conroy barely recognized her when he met her at the table.
“Vanessa, where have you been?”
Vanessa looked around to make sure that no one had heard him. She then gestured across the table from her.
“Have a seat, Tim.”
“Okay,” Tim said, as he slumped down into the chair across from her. “So,” he said, “Are you going to answer my question? I was worried about you.”
“You’re so sweet. Did you see the bullet holes in the sliding glass door?”
“No, but I heard. What the hell happened?”
“I’m just now trying to piece it together. Do you have any idea? Did Highland tell you anything?”
“No, not really. He didn’t give me many details.”
“Oh, gee whiz,” Vanessa said sarcastically. “I wonder why?”
Conroy said nothing. The waitress came and Conroy ordered an espresso. Vanessa ordered another cappuccino.
“Well, to answer your question, I’ve been hiding out a bit.”
“I know that,” Conroy said, as he slumped awkwardly into the plastic chair across from her.
“How are things at the office?” Vanessa asked in a mocking voice, framed by sarcastic lips. “Do I owe you for the sports pool?”
“Everyone wants to know where you are, and what the hell is going on.”
“Are they looking for me?”
“In a matter of speaking.”
Vanessa sat down on the rock. “We took a trip upstate to see Luke’s folks.”
“Pumpkin hunting? Who is we, and who is Luke?”
“Luke was the previous head trader at Corbin Brothers. He died on a road upstate in a very questionable accident.”
“So what does that have to do with this?”
“He wrote Highland a letter, mentioning Fazziz.”
“Where is this letter?”
“It’s on his laptop. We have it.”
“So what does that mean?”
“Tim, whatever happened to Corbin and Binky … we can prove that Highland is involved. Luke wrote a letter to Highland explaining that Corbin was involved in something. Next thing you know, he’s dead.”
“So wh
at does that have to do with Dan?”
“My friend had a photo of Fazziz. He’s someone connected to the Middle East.”
“You have no proof.”
“I do, Tim. It’s on an iPod. It’s in the drawer at my desk.”
“What’s on it?”
“Encryption codes to some type of database.”
“How do you know?”
“Yardley Trussell examined it. He said it was some type of hash table for encrypted data.”
“Do you know what the data is?”
“Something very valuable to a group of dangerous men.”
“Where is it?”
“It’s in my desk drawer.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“No. And I explained to Yardley not to tell anyone.”
Conroy took another sip from his espresso. He looked out at the lake for a moment. He then turned back towards Vanessa.
“I’ll get Binky’s iPhone, and I’ll call you. Is there a number where you can be reached?”
Vanessa took out a pen and scribbled her number on a napkin. “If you get the phone, call me at this number. Do it from a secured phone.”
“I will.” Conroy got up to leave. Vanessa stopped him when she placed her hand on his arm.
“Thanks, Tim.”
“You’re welcome,” Tim said. “Take care of yourself.”
“I will.”
Tim returned to his office that night to retrieve the iPhone. It was roughly ten o’clock in the evening. Most of the offices were closed, with the occasional light on.
Vanessa’s office was down the hall from his own. He walked down the linoleum corridor. He stepped in her office.
Tim stepped quickly behind her desk and opened the top drawer. The iPod was in a plastic zip-lock bag, just as Vanessa had explained. He looked at it. It was a typical iPod; probably the latest version. He quickly folded the bag in half and placed it in the pocket on the inside of his jacket. He exited her office and quickly shut the door behind him. When he turned, Dan Highland was standing right behind him.
“Timmy, what’s up?” Conroy jumped as if he had seen a ghost. A nervous laugh rose from his belly.
“Dan, you scared the bejesus out of me.” Conroy turned and looked at Highland. Not a hint of amusement was in his face.