by JT Kalnay
"Fuck you,” Tonia said. “I’ve got a year in on this assignment. I’ve fucked him in the sand. I’ve sat through a dozen stupid baseball games. I’ve listened to more computer geek shit than you can even imagine. You think I want to let him get away now?”
Stan watched her intently.
Tonia did not like how close Stan was standing.
"Why don't you get off that thing and sweat a little on me?" Stan said.
"Fuck off.”
"You give it up for Calloway and Angus and lord know who else...”
"Get out of here,” Tonia said. "NOW.”
"Maybe I will, maybe I won't,” Stan said, reaching out to feel her breast.
Tonia cracked him on the head with her hand weight. Stan went down in a heap.
"Jesus,” she said, resting her head on the stair master. "I've got to get out of here.”
Five minutes later Tonia was packed and out the door.
Chapter
After the missed assassination attempt, two surveillance teams were assigned to watch Jay's apartment. Knowing that he probably wouldn't return there, it was one of their only chances to reacquire him. Their setup included inside and outside patrols and phone monitoring. What they overlooked was that Jay was a computer geek and MacKenzie Lazarus had given him $50,000 worth of computer equipment for his apartment. No-one thought to turn it off or disconnect it from the network cables Jay had run.
Teams were also assigned to watch Angus and Stan, both to protect them and to try to catch Calloway if he did try to approach them again. Stan Krantz was leaving no possibility unchecked.
The final team was trying its hardest to unearth anything about Rick Hewlett. From the interviews with Jay's father and from the pictures in Jay's apartment, they realized Rick was Jay's only friend. They figured Jay would have to eventually contact him.
But Rick Hewlett was turning into a puzzle for them, one they could not seem to unravel. He had simply disappeared after Miami. Rick Hewlett appeared in their files as a draft dodger in 1973. According to FBI records he'd been to Canada and returned with the Presidential Pardon. He had been clean up to and including his graduation from Miami University. His current whereabouts were unknown. He had just vanished.
If the team had thought of Rick as anything but a draft dodger turned computer geek they might have recognized some of their own electronic track covering methods. But they didn't. Rick had most certainly not dodged the draft, had never been to Canada, and had been extremely busy from 1968 to 1974 and even busier in a much different way since graduation.
Jay pulled off the interstate just outside of Columbus, Ohio. His back was tired from the ride from New York City. Dark was falling. "Better go to ground,” he figured. Jay found a dark roadside copse of woods and coasted quietly in. After keeping vigil for an hour to make sure that no-one was watching, he set up trip wires, connected them to the empty cans from his dinner and crawled into his sleeping bag. Jay slept uneventfully by Ted's bike. The thought of going to a hotel never crossed his mind. Jay wanted to be alone, outside, safe.
"Every day you screw-ups find nothing is one more day he has to get away for good,” Angus MacKenzie blustered. Stan Krantz took it. His patience with Angus was wearing thin but he didn't let it show. Stan wanted to point out that his teams were doing everything they could but knew that would sound like a very weak excuse. Stan also knew Angus was right. He could feel Jay Calloway slipping through his fingers.
"Maybe we could try Tonia again,” Stan suggested.
"Tonia?" Angus snapped. "Thanks to you we don't even know where she is, remember? Or did that crack on the skull fuck you up even more than you were before?” Angus took another deep breath as the memory of how Tonia had disappeared crashed into him.
"How did this go to shit so fast?" Angus asked.
Chapter
"Jay Calloway. Welcome home,” Fr. Dan Brennan said as the he helped the road weary cyclist off his mount. "Your ass must be raw from that thing.”
"Yes Father it is,” Jay answered. He looked deep into the eyes of his missionary friend. "I didn't do it,” Jay said simply. “I didn’t do any of it.”
"I know my son.”
"Someone set me up. They played me for a fool. They killed all my friends.” Jay appeared ready to break down.
"I know. I know,” the burly man soothed.
"But Father I have sinned.”
“Confess your sins and you shall be forgiven,” Father Dan recited.
Jay took a deep breath and then let it all out. An hour later the priest knew everything that Jay knew, everything that Jay had done.
"You are forgiven,” Fr. Dan said. “For your penance you will live here in the mountains for the next year helping me.” He made a sign of the cross over Jay's forehead. Jay fell into the big man's arms. His lip started to tremble. He sniffed back a tear. Jay lifted his head and looked into the comforting eyes of the huge priest.
"How'd you know?" Jay asked.
"I told him,” Rick Hewlett said as he emerged from the rundown backwoods church.
"Rick? How'd you? When did? I never….” Jay could not finish a sentence. He was certain he'd never told anyone about his rural pilgrimages. Tonia was the only person he'd ever brought here.
"Nice to see you too,” Rick teased. "Come on inside, I'll explain the whole thing to you,” Rick said. Father Dan Brennan took large strides to keep up with the younger men.
"Hey slow down. I'm not sure I got it all the first time Rick,” Fr. Dan said. "I want to hear all this again.”
Chapter
"Why don't we all get a drink and sit down?" Rick started. Fr. Dan Brennan got diet cokes for Rick and Jay, an icy glass of water for himself.
"It's hard to know where to start,” Rick said. He tugged at his beard in thought.
"The beginning my new friend,” the big priest counseled, "always start at the beginning.”
"It could take a while,” Rick said.
"I've got nothing else planned for today,” Jay said.
"Me neither,” Fr. Dan added.
"I think that the beginning must've been in 1968.”
"1968?" Jay asked.
"Patience,” Fr. Dan soothed.
"1968,” Rick repeated. "I was in the Army Signal Corps. My unit was getting ready to ship out to Vietnam. I was a green lieutenant right out of ROTC. Let me tell you I was scared.”
"You were a lieutenant in 1968? That means you're more like 45 than 35,” Jay injected.
"45 in July,” Rick said.
"That explains the 'premature grey',” Jay said.
"Anyway…" Fr. Dan prodded.
"Anyway,” Rick continued. "When we got to Vietnam the Army had just started to use some early computers to help break codes. They found out that I'd had lots of math and languages in college so they put me on the project. By '74 I was a captain specializing in cryptography. I'd worked out some pretty sophisticated algorithms.” Rick was obviously proud of his achievement.
"So it's 1974 and I've got my six years in and it's time to get out of the Army. I'm thinking maybe graduate school but one day I get a visit from an army buddy. He asks me if I'd be interested in working with computers for the government?"
"The government?" Jay asked warily.
"That's what I said. I'd seen enough crooked double dealing in Nam to know that 'the government' could mean just about anything, and that anything was usually bad. Turns out it was on the up and up. So since 74 I've been in the employ of what is now known as the DEA.”
"DEA?" Fr. Brennan asked.
"Drug Enforcement Agency,” Rick expanded.
"I still don't see the connection,” Jay said.
"Hold on,” Rick said. "It'll be clear in a minute.”
"Okay.”
"Alright.”
"In 86 and 87 I got involved in some field work in Central America.”
"The contras?" Jay asked. Rick shot him a look that made it clear he wasn't going to answer questions like that.
<
br /> "So I'm in Central America. We're intercepting radio signals and decoding messages. Our job was to report on drug shipments, troop movements etc. etc... But we stumbled on what turned out to be a major money laundering operation that seemed to have links to elements of our own government.
"Here's where you came in Jay. By 1987 we'd implicated a middle ranking CIA man, Stan Krantz in the money laundering operations of a Colombian drug cartel.”
"Holy shit,” Jay said.
"Ditto,” Fr. Brennan added.
"But by 1988 the DEA decided I was too old for field work and brought me back into the shop. I had 15 years in with them so we worked out a deal where I'd go back to school, get my Ph.D. in computer science, specialize in computer security, and then come back to the DEA as a senior technical guy.”
"Nice career path,” Jay said dryly.
"Anyway. Right before our last year, I started back part time for the DEA. I was shocked to learn that 4 years had gone by and they still hadn't nabbed Krantz. His network had grown and they figured he was responsible for laundering up to a billion dollars a week for the Colombians.”
"How'd he do it?" Fr. Dan asked. "That's a lot of money.”
"We still couldn't figure it out at that point,” Rick answered. "We suspected that he'd gotten inside a large brokerage house or a large check clearing house where there are thousands of electronic transfers an hour. We figured that's the only way he could have distributed that weight of illegal currency and not drawn suspicion. But we couldn’t figure it out.”
"Electronic transfers?" Jay asked slowly. He thought he knew where Rick might be headed.
"Right,” Rick answered. "91 came and went and we were no closer. We were almost ready to drop the theory. You and I graduated in 92 and I went back full time with the DEA.”
"Small environmental outfit in Oregon eh?" Jay teased.
"Depends on your point of view,” Rick answered. Jay pondered the response. It was a good riddle, well told.
"Okay, okay I see your point,” Jay said. "So that's why you didn't want me to mention you to the CIA?" Jay asked. "You were investigating some of their people?"
"Right. Not that it would have really mattered. They probably checked me out and I've got a complete electronic and paper history as Rick Hewlett anyway.”
"You mean?” Jay and the big priest asked at the same time.
"Right. Don't ask. I wouldn't tell you anyway,” Rick answered the unasked question about his real name.
"So anyway, you went off to New York and I went somewhere else. We still didn't have anything in November when we met in Tennessee. In fact we were looking at some other angles by then. But then, you remember those people who were following you?" Rick asked Jay.
"Yeah.”
"They were CIA.”
"CIA?"
"Right. Working for MacKenzie Lazarus.”
"Why would MacKenzie Lazarus have CIA watching me?"
"To make sure you weren't FBI, CIA, DEA, Treasury, or any other nasty agency.”
"I'm really confused,” Jay said.
"Me too,” Fr. Dan added. He went back to the cooler and got a soda for himself. "Wouldn't they already know if he was CIA if they were CIA?"
"You'd think so. However, Stan Krantz' private network had expanded by this time to include FBI and DEA. Nobody could trust anybody. They had plans for our boy genius here and needed to make sure he was clean and exploitable. They also needed to make sure he wasn’t working for the ‘good guys’ and trying to infiltrate their network.”
"I think I see it now,” Jay said.
"I'm still in the dark,” the burly priest added.
"Well it was the fact that I saw CIA agents trailing a MacKenzie Lazarus computer guy that broke the case wide open for us. Once we had an idea that it was MacKenzie Lazarus that Stan Krantz had infiltrated we could focus on it and my little buddy over there,” Rick said.
"You thought I was in on it?" Jay asked timidly.
"Not even for one second Jay,” Rick answered immediately. "Not even for one second. We knew you were as pure as virgin snow. And besides, we kept our eye on you to make sure that we knew whatever MacKenzie Lazarus and Stan Krantz knew.”
"You were watching me?"
"Sure! And it wasn't always easy. Let me tell you. If we hadn't already known you were going to spring training in Florida you'd have lost us at the same time you were dropping Angus' men. Remember when you said you dropped three agents in NYC?"
"Yeah.”
"It was six of theirs and three of ours.”
"Wow.”
"Yeah. Not bad for a rookie,” Rick teased.
"I still don't get it,” Fr. Brennan said. His face was turning red in frustrated concentration. "I still don't see how it all fits together.”
Rick carried on. "Stan Krantz was using MacKenzie Lazarus to launder his drug money. They could easily hide ten thousand transactions a day in MacKenzie Lazarus' million transactions. Stan Krantz and Angus MacKenzie were in it together,” Rick said.
"So what happened in Panama?" Jay asked.
"This last deal with the Panamanian currency was used to get $700 billion in drug money laundered all at once. They figured if they staged a coup non-one would notice the money laundering,” Rick explained.
Jay and Fr. Dan looked at each other.
"What was in it for Angus MacKenzie,” Jay asked.
"Yeah?" Fr. Brennan asked. "It seems to me he was risking an awful lot for a man in his position.”
"How do you think he got that position?" Rick asked. "Angus MacKenzie had a long and sordid history of illegal activity before he ever met Stan Krantz. Those two were made for each other. Good old Angus has his hands in everything from drugs to arms to organized crime to union control to influence peddling all the way to the Supreme Court. I figure he's one of the ten biggest crooks on the planet.”
"So why doesn't someone take him down?" Jay asked.
"Patience,” Rick said. "I think we may finally have him. I doubt if there's a judge he can't get to but if we try him in the press first there'll be enough public pressure to put him away.”
“Why try him at all?” Jay asked.
The three men fell silent pondering the depth and breadth and the scope of the Angus MacKenzie and Stan Krantz enterprise, and Jay’s proposed solution. After a while Jay looked up from the table. His eye's caught Rick's. Rick knew what he was going to be asked but let Jay do it in his own time.
“There’s more,” Rick said.
“More?”
“Not only did they launder the drug money, but Angus was also hedging on the Balboa to dollar conversion. Normally the Balboa is pegged at 1:1 to the U.S. dollar, and both currencies circulate freely in Panama. The surge of buying put a tremendous amount of currency in Angus’ control. But, the buying had gotten the 1:1 peg out of whack. So when, conveniently, the US government had to intervene and realign the currencies, Angus made another fortune.”
“Damn,” Jay said.
Fr. Dan Brennan’s eyes were beginning to roll up into his head.
Rick paused to let everyone catch up.
"So where does Tonia fit into all this?" Jay asked, trying to sound objective and detached but failing in the attempt.
"Tonia's involved in this?" Fr. Dan asked. "That nice girl you brought to help on the last house?"
Rick sat bolt upright. "You brought Tonia Taggert here?" he demanded.
"Yeah. You didn't know?" Jay asked.
"No I didn't know. When did you bring her? No. Wait. It must've been Thanksgiving. You ditched all of us at Thanksgiving. No-one knew where you were. You brought her here?"
"Yeah.”
"Shit,” Rick snapped. He got up and looked around like he was expecting Panamanian hit squads to materialize out of the woods at any second.
"Relax,” Jay said. "She could never find it in a million years. I brought her in after dark and she slept most of the way back. I never told her where we were. She never asked.”
<
br /> "But Jay. If she told Angus or Stan they could be scouring the area right now. It's very dangerous for us here.”
"Rick,” Fr. Brennan started. "It’d be more dangerous for them than you. These are my people. I knew you were coming at least an hour before you got here and I know you were trying to be sneaky. These good ol’ boys know a thing or two about keeping to themselves. You're as safe here as if you were in Fort Knox. Probably safer.”
Rick thought about it for a minute. "An hour?" he asked.
"At least,” Fr. Dan replied. "And in that time you passed through the sights of two squirrel guns, one shotgun, and one particularly nasty muzzle loader...”
Rick nodded, he tugged at his beard. He believed it. After what he'd seen of the locals in Central America and their ability to melt into the countryside, he respected the ability of a home grown to know what was what on his own ground.
"So back to my question,” Jay said. "Where does Tonia fit into all this?"
"Yeah,” Fr. Dan prodded.
Rick spread his hands on the table. He knew what he was going to say was going to hurt his friend. But he had to tell him.
"Tonia Taggert was used to spy on you, to manipulate your emotional state. Her job was to get you romantically attached to her for the expressed purpose of keeping you isolated and becoming your one and only confidant. She was supposed to know your every thought before you even had it. You were supposed to fall in love with her and worship the very ground she walked on. If it came to it, she was going to coerce you into doing the dirty work for Angus on the trades.”
“But she didn’t have to,” Jay said. He looked down at the ground.
“For that sin you have already been forgiven,” Fr. Dan reminded him.
Rick paused. Jay's eyes seemed to have lost some of their focus. His gaze drifted far off into space. Rick went on slowly and more softly.
"Her real name is Sonia Salmudge. She is actually Angus' wife. They've been married six years. He literally saved her life. She'd been a college track star but fell in with the wrong crowd and got mixed up with steroids and then drugs. Angus pulled her out of the mess and in her gratitude she married him. We won't even be able to make her testify against Angus. She'll probably go down with the rest of them.”