by Jim Magwood
“Ten million?” Now Jake was really interested in the part of the conversation he was hearing.
“Over ten, yes. And many indications that he was hired out often to the highest bidder, beside his work with the CIA.”
Paul was silent for a while and Roger was just about to ask whether he was still there when he spoke.
“I’m wondering though, with all his close contact with the CIA and with his gun-for-hire work, whether he would have the time and interest to mess with Concorde and a bunch of school fires ands so on? I don’t have a good feeling there.”
“Can’t help you with that, Paul. All I’ve got at this point is this basic information. There are indications he pulled Concorde in with him on a few of his jobs, but we can’t find much more than that.”
“So now we’ve got guys in Oregon, Kansas and D.C., plus Concorde who’s here, also. All related in heavy military activity in the past, and at least some of them doing black bag work in the recent years. Any more info at this time, Roger? Any questions, Jake?”
Jake just shook his head and Roger replied, “No, you’ve got the basics. There’s a little more detail that will come when I send you the info, but you’ve got the main stuff.”
The men rang off shortly and Paul and Jake sat for another hour reviewing the material. They put out official tracers on all three men to see what they could find out and then took an early night off.
CHAPTER 87
Early the next morning, Paul got another call from Roger. “Sorry I didn’t give you this yesterday, but with all the info on your bomber, I simply forgot. You gave me that second case to search, the mortgage problems and the Federal Reserve and we’ve hit some links there. I’ve got the info here if you’re ready?”
“You bet. Let me put this on the speaker so Jake can listen. Okay, go ahead.”
“Well, what I’ve got is this. Early on, before you gave me this second search, while I was running searches for anything to do with your school problems, the system pulled in what turned out to be an unrelated set of data. I looked at it but didn’t see anything interesting and put it aside. It was just a lot of numbers at the time. I gave you all that basic info earlier. Now I’ve had some more action.”
“Yeah, we passed that on to the FBI and they’ve been researching it. Now what?”
“All the messages causing the problems apparently went through the Internet. We could see the day and time stamps on the messages and where they all ended up, but when we started tracing them backwards, they all ended up stopping at various cutouts. You know about cutouts?”
“Yeah, like mail forwarding spots that don’t reveal the addresses?”
“Exactly the same on the Internet. You send messages to Joe Smith through Podunk post office, they send it on through Joe’s Bar, he sends it on and so on. Eventually it gets so lost it can’t be found again. You set up all the stops, just like transferring money through Cayman banks and eventually it gets to the Joe Smith you wanted. Except now it’s untraceable.”
“Got it. What happened here.”
“The same thing. We’ve got at least a dozen cutouts in the first tier, then another dozen in the second, and a couple more layers, then we just lose everything. Too many stops; too many places that we can’t continue on through. Except.
“We got three cutouts where both sets of events went through. We had only been following the mortgage messages with all the crazy numbers, but suddenly found ourselves with the messages to the Fed banks coming up alongside the mortgage messages. Both going through the same cutouts.”
“How possible is that, Roger? What are the chances?”
“Well, it’s totally possible. Cutouts are available for anyone, so very possible that two people could be going through the same places. However, quite unlikely two schemes of the same type, money juggling, would be going through the same cutouts, through several of the same series of them, at the same rough time period. Too many similar circumstances to not possibly be related.”
“I like this, Roger. Any chance of getting closer to the sending source.”
“We’re still moving on that and I’ll let you know fairly shortly. However, I saved maybe the best for last.”
“More?”
“Yeah. Check this out. You and I haven’t even spoken of this next item but it came up linked to the first two searches.
“We had read a lot of news stories going around about some massive investment scheme down there that politicians and so on have been getting caught in, even world wide. Well, guess what else showed up going through these same cutouts?”
Both Paul and Jake said at the same time, “You have got to be kidding?”
“No, gentlemen. Both events have multiple threads going through many of these same cutouts, all finally disappearing but all, almost certainly, coming from the same source. Far too much coincidence to be separate perpetrators. Same time frame; same cutouts; same type of crimes—massive disruption of money and/or peoples lives. And I mean massive. Put them all together and we have millions of people and billions of dollars.”
“Tremendous information, Roger. Tremendous find, but let’s get back to that question of a moment ago. Is it possible to trace to the source of all this? Are you locked forward and backward at these cutouts? How do we find the people who did all this?”
“Yes, Paul, we are locked out—legally.”
Jake and Paul sat quietly for a second, then Jake said, “Legally?”
“Yes, legally.”
There was quiet again before Paul added, “So what are you saying—or not saying?”
“Paul, I can’t say anything further. There are things we can do that go around certain laws or practices, but then there are actual, solid laws we can’t break. That’s where we are on this. Legalities.”
Jake said, “I think what I’m hearing is that you could do something but have a major legal hurdle?”
“Yes. I could get into some databanks, for instance, but because of very specific laws against stealing personal information without legal permits or warrants, I could be held in serious jeopardy and you couldn’t use the information anywhere.”
Jake replied, “Such as Internet mail sending services? Is that what I’m hearing?”
“That would be a very good example in this case, yes.”
“And to get the warrants?”
“Would take forever, and then wouldn’t likely happen anyway.”
“But if you got some kind of official permission?”
“Most anything can be looked at if…”
“Jake, what do you think if we talked to a couple of people?”
“I think I’m thinking the same thing. Roger, why don’t you hold those searches for a few and we’ll see what we can get back with.”
“I can hold forever, guys. I’ll wait until I hear from you.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A few minutes later, Paul was on the phone with a certain high placed gentleman in a certain office in a certain white house in downtown Washington, D.C., repeating the information Roger had given them. Chief of Staff Tom Drummond was very sympathetic.
Paul and Jake were waiting when FBI Special Agent Bob D’Arcy called them less than an hour later.
“So, tell me what you guys have got going. I was asked less than politely by the head of my organization to pull out any stops that were needed by you because of the urgency of these cases. I won’t use his exact words, but in fact he said to get it done right now. He was very plain about it. How can I help?”
Paul relayed what Roger had said about the roadblock he was facing. Said he could do what was needed, but because there were such specific laws against what he needed to do, he could face hot water. Also, the fact that the investigators couldn’t use the information retrieved anyway because of the same laws.
D’Arcy understood exactly what was being said, and he also was personally involved in the same cases and was as stymied as the police were. He told the men he would be back with them as soon as possi
ble and hung up.
Shortly after noon, he called them back and said, “I’ve got a faxed warrant from a federal judge in my hand that allows you gentlemen, specifically and by name, to use such investigative processes as you need to, and it okays outside services controlled by you, to gather data on certain Internet messages related to the certain crimes we have been investigating. The “we” is defined as you and your police agency as well as the FBI. The warrant further specifies that you cannot gather information on anyone except those directly involved in these cases, and all that information will be reviewed by the judge before it goes further than you and me. There’s lots more language in it, but that’s the basics. Enough?”
“Sounds like enough to me. Is there a time restriction?”
“Yeah. You have one week, seven days, from today at 1:15 p.m. Then everything comes to a halt and the judge reviews it all.”
Jake asked, “Does it specify just the Internet searches, Bob, or does it allow phone taps?”
“No phone taps at this time, Jake. He said verbally that if you bring him direct evidence identifying specific persons, he will expand the warrant to allow specific taps at that time.”
“You sure used the word “specific” lots of times, Bob.”
“Yep. The judge was very specific.”
“Will you fax that to us, Bob, and can we fax it to our investigator so he has something to hold in his hand?”
“I’m pushing the button as we speak. Good luck, guys.”
“Thanks.”
Within half an hour, they were on the phone and fax to Roger in Canada and Roger was preparing to enter the sacred domains of several Internet service providers. He needed to find out who he was losing as messages went through cutouts around the world.
CHAPTER 88
“Paul, we got a request from D.C. police to get information on a couple of old contractors of ours and we need to think of how to handle this.”
“Why not just deny it as usual? Some concern?”
Ron Kincaide spelled out the possible current background of the men they had used behind the scenes and the potential activity that the D.C. police were investigating. Ron was the deputy director of the CIA and Paul Graves was his boss, the director. Both men knew that a simple denial of any information was the usual, but Graves recognized the concern if one of theirs had gone off the deep end.
“I don’t know Concorde or Honda personally. You’ve looked at their records?”
“Yes, both did the jobs they were sent out on. Nothing too major, but they might have really gone crazy if they did go out on their own around us. Both of them out of our loop for a couple years now, but it looks like they might have stayed busy. Both came to us highly trained and both were very proficient.”
“Okay. What can you suggest? Can we admit anything at all? And can we give them to D.C. at all?”
“Paul, we get immediately to the point of admitting we even use guys like this. We get away from congressional oversight by going off payroll, but the work done is still not known by anyone and would obviously raise waves if it comes to light. We know what needs to be done, but they don’t, and won’t, agree. After the changes of the last few years, you know they never will.”
“As usual, we’re isolated out here with a job to do but no way to do it. Certainly not their way. Anything we can give them? Any hints? I understand what they’re up against, but how far can we go on this one?”
“I’ve personally worked with these specific police officers and can vouch for them. They’re using some special investigators outside the force from Canada that I’ve worked with also, and I can vouch for them, too. But, we’re back to what can we say that helps them but doesn’t burn us? Unfortunately, I know these people and can definitely understand their needs, but we’re treading in deep water on this.”
“I wonder how much we could give them as ‘information we have’ without admitting any direct connection?”
“I thought of that, too, before I came in here, and think that’s as close as we can get. We’d definitely have to close the door beyond whatever we did give them because if it got out about us and a direct contractor, Congress would go crazy. So would the public if they got word.”
“Okay. Let’s go that route. Normally I wouldn’t give them anything, but in this case we have to help. I’m okaying you giving them what we just spoke of—a couple of exmilitary contractors that we’ve investigated, but nothing about having employed them. Go ahead and give them background on them and their activities as we’ve uncovered them, and help them as best you can. Just a thought: We haven’t actually used these guys in any of the activities D.C. is looking at, have we?”
“No, nothing domestic by us. All our work was overseas and completely unconnected with the current problems.”
“Okay, then let’s continue as we’ve discussed.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Paul, Jake, good to see you again. Coffee or anything?”
“No thanks, Ron. We’re good. How’s life in the crazy house?”
“Oh, it stays crazy. We designed it that way, I think.”
“Yeah. We don’t want to take much of your time. Thanks for seeing us on this. You didn’t call me back and say No, so what do we have to discuss?”
“You asked about information on a couple guys you’re dealing with, Concorde and Honda. I’ve got the case you’re working on, but how about some details on why these guys? Where have you seen them; what have you uncovered?”
Paul explained what had been brought out by Roger and Jacob in Canada and Kincaide listened without speaking. Typical dead-pan spook, thought Jake. All take and no give.
When Paul finished, Ron paused for several moments and finally said, “Here’s what I can tell you, and nothing more.” That beginning immediately got both Paul and Jake thinking, So he knows lots but we’re not going to get it.
“We’ve been aware of these two for some time and have some information we can share. We have no record of them doing any domestic work, only international. They were highly trained Army men who did get involved in some behind-the-scenes work for the Army and there’s some indication they did private work after they got out.
“From what you’ve told me, I can’t confirm that they’re involved in any of your events. We don’t have any information on anything like that. I can tell you that they are almost certainly not involved in any of the potential threats to the president that we worked a while back with you.”
“Almost certainly,” Jake broke in. “That doesn’t sound very certain, does it, Paul? Let’s get out of here. We’re not going to get any help. These guys were spooks and nobody’s going to tell us squat.”
Ron quietly said, “I know your frustration, gentlemen, and I hope you can understand mine.”
Paul asked, “Is it possible for you to direct us to them, Ron? An interview? A good current address on them?”
“I don’t have that to give to you. I’m sorry.”
Which is another way of saying I won’t give you what we’ve got, Paul thought.
“Okay, Jake, let’s go home. We’ll go get them ourselves.”
As the men rose to leave, Ron said, “I’m sorry, Paul. I wish I could help more, but…”
Paul looked back at him and just nodded.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As soon as the men got back to their office, they put everything they had into Sammie’s hands and started him searching for addresses, phones, credit cards, water bills—anything possible to find the two soldiers. Jake stayed at the office to file reports on a couple of unrelated cases he was working personally. Paul headed out for an appointment.
CHAPTER 89
“It’s good to see you again, Paul. How have you been? Any news yet from Sarah?”
“No, nothing from Sarah. I mean, I got another postcard a few weeks ago, but nothing live. Just a message saying she’s okay. She wondered if I still loved her.”
“That’s probably a good sign, Paul. If someone is wondering ab
out their reception at home, it often means they’re really wondering if they can come back. Might be a good sign.”
“Well, I can always hope. Other than that, I’m doing okay, but still having problems. Still having those nightmares and the fears of the dark, or whatever that is.”
“Care to describe it to me?”
“Pastor, that’s kind of the point—I can’t very well describe it. There’s no real nightmare or vision. Just a feeling inside that gives me the feeling of the dark, kind of something out there but without a real shape. Just a feeling kind of behind me, sneaking up on me, like that.”
Paul had called his pastor, Steve Sanders, again and said he needed to talk.
“When does it happen, Paul?”
“I guess it’s usually when there’s some kind of heavy stress, and usually on the job. Just kind of pops out of nowhere. But it leaves me shaking, it feels so real.”
“Real like what?”
“Again, nothing real, or physical, I guess. Just a feeling, like an old monster under the bed feeling. I know there’s nothing there, but it shakes me anyway. That time in the alley I told you about. Man, it had me shaking in my boots. The other night when I got shot at it didn’t come on at all. But, the next night, after I went to bed, it hit me harder than ever. Sweats, shaking, it had me up all night and I finally just got up and went down to the station and went to work early.”
“Delayed stress syndrome, Paul?”
“Yeah, maybe, but I think that’s part of the point. There’s no reasoning when it will come on…”
“But it always comes on some time after a stress incident,” Sanders interjected. “I think that’s what I’m hearing, Paul.”
Paul was silent.
“Paul, there’s nothing wrong with this, if that’s what’s got you worried. Or shameful. Soldiers, cops, people from every country get this all the time. Even regular civilians after they’ve had some kind of incident. Plane crash victims report it all the time. Sometimes years after the incident. Falls off cliffs that are survived. Car crashes. Near drownings. And of course you folks in the emergency businesses. It’s probably one of the most reported psychological illnesses around.”