3 Great Thrillers

by Churton, Alex; Churton, Toby; Locke, John; Lustbader, Eric van; van Lustbader, Eric

  If Callie Carpenter had been born three inches taller, she wouldn’t have to kill people for a living. With her spectacular looks, she’d be a one-name supermodel by now. I drained my glass and placed it on the end table. I stood and walked back through the parlor to the balcony and chose the chair that angled toward the Santa Monica Pier.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Reach over the naked whore and flip on your TV.”

  I sighed. “How little you think of me. Truth is, I’m here all alone on a hotel balcony, enjoying the unseasonably warm February temperature. Which channel?”

  “Take your pick.”

  I went back to the parlor, found the remote control, and pressed the power button. The words Breaking News flashed below the live feed of an interview in progress. The man being interviewed was telling reporters that the event that had just occurred was unprecedented. The electronic runner at the bottom of the screen flashed the words Homeland Security confirms unauthorized spy satellite breach.

  The man identified himself as Edward Culbertson, head of Research Operations for Skywatch Industries. He said Skywatch had a government contract to provide artificial intelligence applications to enhance radar imaging. He said, “This is one of the five so-called Keyhole-class satellites that fly above us every day. The exact specifications are classified beyond top secret, but we know a few things about them.”

  “For example?” a reporter said.

  “We know they travel one hundred miles above the Earth at a speed of Mach 25,” Culbertson said. “We know they cover every inch of the Earth’s surface twice a day, taking digital photos of specific locations that have been programmed into their tracking mechanism.”

  “Is that what happened in this case?” the reporter asked. “Did someone hack into the satellite computer and direct it to take the pictures we just showed on live television?”

  “That’s the current speculation.”

  Another reporter spoke: “Dr. Culbertson, there’s a lot of argument regarding the accuracy of spy satellite imaging. What’s the truth? For example, can they effectively display a car’s license plate?”

  “Under normal conditions, they have a resolution of five inches, meaning they can accurately distinguish a five-inch object on the ground.”

  On the phone, I said to Callie, “Did you know that?”

  “No, but if I did, I wouldn’t be telling the whole world about it.”

  A different reporter asked if the surveillance satellites could be tapped by authorities to help solve other crimes.

  “No,” he said. “The odds are probably impossible to one.”

  “Why’s that, doctor?”

  “Because,” he said, “the crime scenes would have to be programmed into the satellite’s computer at least an hour in advance of the crime.”

  “So what you’re saying is, whoever’s responsible for the kidnapping—they’re the ones who breached the satellite’s security?”

  “That’s what we believe, yes.”

  “To what end, sir?”

  “My best guess? Someone wanted to watch the kidnapping from a remote location, someone who knew ultra-secret details about the satellite’s orbit path in advance.”

  “Do you suspect terrorists?”

  The expert suddenly looked uncomfortable and backed away as an FBI spokesperson took over the mic. “At this time, we are unable to confirm whether the satellite breach or the abduction were terrorist events. I’m afraid we don’t have time for further questions, but we’ll keep you informed as future details develop.”

  Now, back at the TV studio, the newswoman said, “For those of you who just tuned in, Homeland Security has confirmed an unauthorized breach of one of their so-called spy satellites. This particular satellite had been tracking over the Southeastern Seaboard this past Tuesday when the following images were viewed remotely by an unknown person or persons.”

  On the screen behind the newswoman, they showed about forty photos in rapid sequence. For me, the pictures would have been riveting even if the abduction hadn’t involved Monica Childers, the woman Callie and I killed for Victor four days ago.

  Callie said, “Do we get to keep the money for the hit?”

  That was Callie, always good for a smile.

  The news reporter said, “As most people in the Jacksonville area already know, Monica Childers has been the focus of one of North Florida’s most extensive searches.” Behind her, they displayed a picture of Monica’s husband, Baxter. The newscaster identified him as one of the most prominent and widely respected surgeons in North America.

  “Baxter’s a big shot,” I said to Callie.

  “Baxter? What channel are you watching?”

  “I don’t know, one of the big three.”

  “Flip till you find CNN.”

  “Why?”

  “They’re talking about us.”

  23

  The station I’d been watching had shown photos that chronicled the entire event, starting with the two women jogging out of the resort entrance and ending with pictures taken from the opposite angle, as the satellite moved out over the Atlantic. The final photo showed the van turning left onto a narrow overgrown path.

  But CNN had dug up a computer imaging expert who was displaying close-ups of the three people standing by the van. Baxter Childers was on a split screen with CNN news anchor, Carol Teagess.

  “Dr. Childers, good as these photos are,” she said, “we still don’t have quality resolution on the faces, though we’re told Homeland Security is moments away from providing definitive photos. Are you prepared to tell us at this point whether one of these women is your wife, Monica?

  “There’s no doubt in my mind,” he said. “Monica’s the one standing between the other two. The jogging outfit she’s wearing in the photographs is the same one she laid out on the chair the night before she disappeared.”

  “And you said she left the hotel room early Tuesday morning while you were sleeping.”

  “She always jogs around sunrise, so yes I’m usually sleeping when she gets up.”

  “Dr. Childers, if you’re right, this is visual proof that Monica was kidnapped by a man and woman driving a white van.”

  A third person appeared on the screen, and Carol said, “We are joined by Duval County Sheriff Allen English, the officer in charge of heading up the search team. Sheriff English, you’ve had fifteen hundred people combing the area for four days. These satellite photos clearly show the kidnappers took Monica Childers a mere six hundred yards from the hotel room the Childers occupied last Tuesday. How is it possible you missed the van or any evidence of Monica?”

  The sheriff gave a withering look and said, “Because the van and Monica were gone by the time we learned she’d been missing.”

  “We now know the van turned left on a small path,” Carol said. “Any chance your people missed that particular spot?”

  “None whatsoever. Our search began from the beach and moved inland to AIA, so we hit that area a few hours into the search.”

  “I’m told that since these photos were released, you’ve had a forensic crew working at the site. Any new evidence yet?”

  “Nothing I can report at this time,” he said.

  “But you’re working on it?”

  “We are,” he said.

  “Thank you, Sherriff,” Carol said, and I muted the sound.

  To Callie, I said, “I gave her a lethal injection. There’s no way she could have survived.”

  “What did you use?”

  “Botulinum toxin.”

  Callie laughed. “Maybe she’s been pumped so full of Botox she’s become immune!”

  “Maybe Victor had someone pick her up after we drove off, someone who gave her a dose of Heptavalent.”

  “Is that some sort of anti-venom?”

  “It’s an antitoxin, but yeah, it works the same way. Botulinum paralyzes the respiratory muscles, but its effects can be reversed with Heptavalent. It’s not a perfect science, a
nd it takes weeks or even months.”

  “Thanks, doctor,” Callie said sarcastically. Then she added, “You think Victor’s behind this satellite thing?”

  “Has to be.”

  “But why take that chance? You think he just wanted to watch the hit go down?”

  “Maybe. He doesn’t have much of a life, so maybe that’s how he gets his kicks. It’s also possible he tapped into the satellite so his people could find her.”

  “But he knew where she’d be. He even marked the path for us.”

  “Yeah, but this was our first job for him. Suppose he wanted her alive? He couldn’t be certain we’d do it exactly the way he told us to. Also, what if someone had a flat on the side of the road near the trail? Or what if someone was camping out in the area and would have seen us make the turn? A dozen things could have gone wrong that would have caused us to kill her somewhere else. If he wanted her alive, he’d want to know exactly where she was.”

  “So you think he had Monica kidnapped.”

  “I do.”

  “Why didn’t he just ask us to kidnap her?”

  “Maybe he wanted her for himself and didn’t want us to know.”

  “So the midget captures the trophy wife of the doctor who saved his life.”

  “It’s just a theory.”

  “Why would he want to punish her?” Callie asked.

  “There’s probably a lot to the story about Victor and the doctor. A lot we don’t know.”

  “Think we ought to have a chat with Victor?”

  “Eventually, but I want to put Lou on it first.”

  “Research his connection to Baxter?”

  “Right. Lou finds the connection, he’ll have Victor’s real name. Then we fast-forward his life, learn his abilities, figure out his motivations.”

  “And his friends,” Callie said. “Any guy who can hijack a top-secret spy satellite…”

  “Yeah,” I said. “This is no circus midget.”

  Suddenly, the television had my full attention. I turned up the sound. “Are you watching this?”

  She was.

  CNN news anchor Carol Teagess was showing a close up of Monica Childers from one of the satellite photos. “This just in,” she said. “FBI officials working in conjunction with Homeland Security have released the following image taken from one of the spy satellite digital photographs.” The TV screen displayed the new close up on the left, and a recent photograph of Monica on the right.

  “It’s official,” she said. “The lady who was abducted at Amelia Island on Valentine’s Day has been positively identified as Monica Childers, wife of the nationally prominent surgeon Dr. Baxter Childers.”

  Carol touched her earpiece and paused. “We take you now to the FBI field office in Jacksonville, Florida, where I’m told that FBI Spokesperson Courtney Armbrister is ready to begin her live press conference. Sources familiar with the story expect her to give further updates and reveal the kidnappers’ identities.”

  On the phone, Callie said, “Darwin’s gonna shit!”

  “Ya think?”

  The TV screen showed a bunch of people milling around a large room at the FBI’s Jacksonville field office. It was clear the press conference would be delayed a few minutes, so Carol began a voice-over dialog to keep the viewers from switching channels to watch Hee Haw reruns.

  Callie used the time to ask, “What were you saying earlier? About getting a tattoo on my ass?”

  “I found an adorable one on the lower hip of your new body double.”

  “You found a hooker who looks like me?”

  “I resent the implication,” I said. “In any event, she’s close enough facially, and our people can do the rest.”

  “A tattoo,” she said.

  “And you’re also going to need a small red birthmark on your scalp.”

  “No pubic piercings?” she said with great annoyance.

  “I wish,” I said. I took a few seconds to conjure a mental image of Callie naked, but she was so far out of my league I couldn’t even fantasize it. “I’ll send you digitals when I get back to HQ,” I said.

  Body doubles are disposable people we use to cover our tracks, or, in extreme circumstances, to fake our deaths if our covers get blown. We put a lot of time and effort into these people, monitoring and protecting them, often for years at a time, until something happens that requires us to place them into service.

  Of course, our body doubles are totally clueless about their participation in our reindeer games of national security. If they knew about it, most civilians would disapprove of the practice, just as most disapproved of the army’s plan for wide-scale use of the ADS weapon. However, from my side of the fence, collateral damage is a fact of war, and civilian sacrifice a necessary evil. When managed judiciously, body doubles can buy us time to eliminate paper trails or change our appearance so we can get back to the business of killing terrorists.

  Callie asked if Jenine was prettier than her—just the sort of crap you’d expect from a gorgeous woman. “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “Remember, she doesn’t have to look exactly like you. She only needs to be the same age, shape, and height. The fact that she’s beautiful, with high cheekbones, is a plus. The tattoo and birthmark are small and easy to replicate.”

  “What sort of butterfly is it?” she asked. “Is it stupid looking? A tattoo is a permanent fixture, Donovan. It sounds creepy.”

  “Think of it as a shrine to Jenine’s memory,” I said. “And try to show some respect, will you? She’s putting her life on the line for you.”

  “Not knowingly,” Callie said. “Not willingly.”

  “A technicality,” I said.

  “If we ever terminate her,” Callie said, “I’m going to be stuck with a tattoo and birthmark that my next body double won’t have.”

  I let that comment hang in the air unanswered, and soon we were back to exchanging theories about the Monica hit. I wasn’t ready to completely dismiss the terrorist angle, so Callie asked if it were possible Sal Bonadello was involved with terrorists. After all, he’s the one who gave Victor my cell phone number. I told her Sal was many things, all unsavory, but a terrorist sympathizer, no. I told Callie to keep watching the news and let me know if anything interesting developed.

  “This isn’t interesting enough for you?” she asked.

  24

  I was about to turn off the TV and take a shower when I got sidetracked by Courtney Armbrister’s live update on CNN.

  FBI Special Agent Courtney Armbrister was a media dream. Playing to full advantage her shoulder-length auburn hair, perpetually pouting lips, and killer body, she managed to appear beguiling despite the seriousness of the occasion. Courtney sported the obligatory dark suit favored by the bureau, though hers was obviously tailored. Her jacket framed a white blouse that appeared more silk than cotton. Her eyes glared fiercely into the camera, and when she spoke, it was with such conviction you knew she had to be telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

  Although in this case, she was lying like hell through those perfect, dazzling teeth.

  I knew the cover-up was in full swing when S. A. Armbrister informed the CNN audience that FBI computers had identified the kidnappers as former Soviet agents with confirmed ties to terrorist leaders. On the screen behind her, the bureau displayed phony names and doctored images of Callie and me. In these photos, I was younger, smaller, and had no facial scar. Callie had been aged at least ten years, and they’d done something to her nose and eyes she wasn’t going to like. They also displayed fake profiles obtained through “classified sources” to show they were on top of things. She said the bureau was sharing these photos and documents with the public so we could be part of the process. It was a total load of crap, but as far as the Joe and Mrs. Lunchbox crowd were concerned, any words coming from that face would seem credible.

  “Until we have proof to the contrary,” Courtney said, “we have every reason to believe Monica Childers is alive and being hel
d captive. So we’re asking for your help. We want you to be our eyes and ears on this one. If you see anything, if you hear anything, please, call our hotline. There is no clue too small when it comes to saving an innocent life.”

  Almost brought a tear to my eye, she did.

  Then she talked about the white van and showed her national audience a picture of it. She said police around the country were working on that lead but they could use the public’s help on this, also. Finally, on behalf of FBI agents and law enforcement officers everywhere, Courtney promised to hunt the kidnappers down and bring them to justice. She ended by issuing a special alert: “If anyone has any information regarding these two former Soviet agents, please call the FBI hotline at …”

  The phone vibrated again, and I answered it.

  “Creed, you son of a jailhouse bitch! What did you do with the body?” The man I knew only as Darwin had only just begun yelling at me. He told me how much trouble they had to go to in order to doctor the photographs and plant the phony Russian suspects. Darwin called me stupid, careless, and a bunch of other names that would have hurt my feelings had I not been keenly aware of his indelicate nature. So he unloaded, and I sipped my bourbon and took my lumps and waited for him to get on topic, which he eventually managed to do.

  “I want to know who hired you, because whoever it was, he managed to throw a monkey wrench into our national defense system. And don’t tell me Sal Bonadello, a guy who thinks software means sweaters.”

  Darwin fell silent, but only for a moment. Then he said, “I’m waiting.”

  “I can’t give you a name,” I said.

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  “Can’t. But on the bright side, I know how to get it”

  “Creed, listen to me. You’ve done a lot of stupid things over the years, things I’ve turned a blind eye to because up to now, you’ve been more valuable than the shit storms you’ve created. But this is too much. We can’t let someone hack into our national defense systems, and we can’t let the government find out that you and your people are running around taking contracts from criminals to kill people,” he said. “They’re funny about shit like that. How the fuck did you let this happen? No, don’t bother telling me. Just tell me this: what are you going to do about it?”