“Am I to understand that you are the one responsible for our guest this evening?”
“Yes, partially,” she replied.
Before Holden could continue, Johanne interrupted.
“OK, everyone, let’s get into the conference room and get started. This is going to take a while.”
The group of law enforcement officials made their way en masse down the hall towards the conference room. Holden was towards the rear of the group, near Kit. He spoke to her in a low voice.
“I need to see Garrett,” he whispered.
She shot him a glance without uttering a response and kept walking with the others into the conference room. The door shut as everyone took their seats around the table and settled in for the debriefing. Holden looked at Kit, but she would not acknowledge him. Frank sighed, took a deep breath, and shifted his attention to Johanne, who was addressing everyone at the table.
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
As Johanne finished speaking and took his seat, Kit sat forward in her chair, preparing to address those gathered around the table. She began with a brief history of the assignment. Then she began to recount the events that had occurred over the past several months. As she spoke, the others at the table followed along in their copies of the case file. Finally, Kit ended her presentation with the events that had occurred over the past seventy-two hours and sat back in her chair.
One of her colleagues was the first to speak.
“May I inquire?” he asked, “Where is this Garrett now?”
Kit replied, “He’s gone. I told him to disappear.”
There were murmurs around the table. Johanne spoke up. “Kit, that was ill advised,” he said, “He should have been brought in, too.”
Kit was tired and fired back, “Why, sir? As far as I knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. The man saved my life, for crying out loud. Besides, if he came in with me, it may look like we sanctioned him. And considering his past, it may have caused us problems we don’t need.”
Holden spoke up, “You know him?”
Kit looked at him quizzically.
He continued, “You mentioned his past. Have you two met before?”
Kit’s eyes went to her notes momentarily and then back to Holden. She swallowed
“Garrett and I knew each other from years ago. No one was more shocked at him showing up in the middle of this than I.”
Johanne stood, “Kit, what are you doing?” he demanded, “You’re letting a past relationship, whatever it may have been, cloud your judgment. Do you realize you may be putting your career on the line?”
Kit answered, “Sir, again, with all due respect, I had no idea he was wanted for questioning. Everything happened so fast over the past few days that the thought never occurred to me to bring him in. Besides which, he almost single handedly took out a large portion of the organization, including Simon himself. Now, how would any of you have handled it any differently if you were in my shoes?” she challenged those seated in the room.
The others were silent, some looking down at their files, feeling a little ashamed. Johanne relented some, looking at his agent who had been under cover for several months and preparing for the assignment prior to that for yet another six months. Most of those seated around the table had been under cover themselves. They knew the toll it could take on any agent in a similar situation. Although they, of all people, were in position to sit in judgment, not one person in the room was going to contradict her decision.
Holden broke the uncomfortable silence in the room and tried to change the subject.
“Could you go over what our assassin told Garrett, again?” he asked.
Kit relaxed a little and, looking over at Holden, reviewed her recollection of events once again. Johanne stood and poured a cup of coffee while she spoke and returned to his spot at the table. When she was finished with Holden, Johanne thanked her and told her to relax.
Addressing everyone in the room, he announced, “We’re going to question our prisoner later today, but I have a feeling that Garrett got everything there was to get, out of her. Assuming, that is, he told you everything he heard,” he finished looking at Kit.
Kit answered, “I don’t know why he would hold back. He got the revenge he came here seeking. He’s probably holed up somewhere resting and trying to forget everything.”
“You’re probably right,” the commander said, putting the subject to rest. Turning to the others, “Let’s go over what we have so far,” he began. “Let’s assume that all we know is true. First, we have the Chinese or someone in their military, hiring a group of assassins. Second, we have hits on ex-Russian military workers. Third, we have assassinations of a high-ranking U.S. official and two corporate security men investigating technological leaks. Fourth, we have information that some Chinese Generals are planning some kind of action. And finally, we have the words attack or millennium strike. Any ideas?” he asked.
The silence was broken by one of the agents on Johanne’s detail.
“One connection could be the words millennium strike and hi-tech. Everyone knows about the Y2K problem otherwise known as the millennium bug. The others nodded, indicating they knew. He continued anyway, “You know, all the computers that are going to have a problem because they can’t calculate the year 2000.”
Everyone around the table thought about it for a moment, none rejecting his guess out of hand.
“All right,” Johanne continued. “Let’s follow that line of thought for now. What next?”
Another of the group pitched in.
“We would have to determine who the strike would be against. Everyone’s heard about it in the states. Could they somehow be trying to disrupt the world’s financial system?”
“Could be,” someone else said. “But isn’t Wall Street pretty much ready for it?”
Holden spoke up, “Yeah. But I wouldn’t want to rule it out. Put that down as one possibility.”
“OK. What else?” Johanne prompted.
It was Kit’s turn.
“We have the Russian connection. How are they doing with the Y2K problem? Does anyone know?”
“Not too well, I’m afraid.” It was the military expert’s turn to speak.
“Reports are, that even the U.S. military isn’t as far along as they had indicated. With the current political and economic conditions in Russia, our best guess, from the available intelligence, is not promising.”
“Could the purpose of the assassinations have been to keep those that could help solve the problem from doing so?” It was Kit again.
The Soviet expert nodded.
“It’s possible. We have only cursory information on the victims. It’s going to cost us, but I may be able to get more detailed files on them.”
“Be extremely discreet,” Johanne said, giving his permission. “With the political instability over there now, we can’t afford to alert them to this. It could plunge the country into chaos and possibly start a war.”
“Yes, sir,” he answered.
Johanne continued, “Let’s keep going with this, people. Assume that the target is the Russians. Why would the Chinese strike at them?”
“What about eastern Siberia? They have a lot of oil and mineral deposits,” someone piped up.
“That’s a possibility, too,” Holden admitted. “But why at the millennium?”
“Because,” the defense expert jumped in, “it’s possible that the Russian missile systems wouldn’t be functional. Computers and computer chips control the missile guidance and firing mechanisms for their land based, sea based, and air launched systems, the jets that fly them, the radar installations, hell, the whole defense network. Maybe these men were killed because they could repair or were repairing these systems. Or maybe they could help identify which systems would be vulnerable.”
“Yeah, but wouldn’t the
Chinese have the same problems?”
It was Johanne.
“Maybe,” someone else jumped in, “but you have to take territory on the ground. They wouldn’t necessarily need or really want to use missiles or other high-tech equipment to a great extent in this scenario.”
“But wouldn’t that kind of troop movement be detected?” Kit asked.
“Only by satellite,” responded one of the intelligence experts. “The Chinese could probably count on some the older generation Russian models to fail. The later ones have been copied from us. Those would probably continue working, unless they had the technology to blind them with, say, high-powered lasers. But, to our knowledge, the Chinese aren’t at that stage of development, yet.”
The military expert, sitting next to Holden, leaned over and spoke in Holden’s ear.
“Shit!” Holden choked.
The whole table became silent and looked at him.
“They don’t have that capability, do they, Frank?” Johanne asked.
“I’m afraid they do, Johanne. Your military expert just informed me that the Chinese tested a high-powered laser, within the past twenty-four hours. It was powerful enough to blind a satellite.” Holden just sat there shaking his head.
“What else Frank? What’s wrong?” Johanne asked.
“I just realized we’ve been investigating the wrong thing all along, that’s all.”
“What’s that, Frank?”
“Nothing, Johanne,” he responded, becoming silent.
Everyone else around the table became silent in turn, each processing the information they had just been exposed to. After a moment, Kit asked, “Sir, if this is true, what’s our next move?”
Johanne thought for another moment.
“First. None, and I mean none of this conversation leaves this room. I’ll make the appropriate contacts with our respective governments. Second. I want confirmation on all of these Soviet victims. I want to know every detail regarding their technical expertise. And, let me remind you,” he addressed his underlings, “ I want it done discreetly.” Turning to Kit he continued, “We’re going to have to try and find this Hung character and trace this back to its source. You feel up to it?”
Kit nodded, “Yes. Just give me a few days’ rest.”
Turning to Holden, he asked, “Frank?”
Frank turned red in the face and replied.
“The technology they’ve used for these lasers had to have been obtained from us, and now I think I have a pretty good idea of where it came from. I’ll be heading back to the states today and follow things up from that end.”
“OK people,” Johanne said as he started to recount the session. “It is very possible that we have a military strike coming in a matter of weeks. It could be launched on the world’s financial system, or possibly Russia herself. Whoever is behind this is going to use the confusion due to the Y2K problem to try to get away with this. I want all scenarios nailed down to the last detail in the next twenty-four hours. If anyone has any other thoughts or possibilities, speak up.”
No one spoke. There was only strained silence.
“Well, if that’s all, we’d better get to it,” Johanne said, adjourning the meeting. Everyone stood and left the room, heading towards their respective offices. Frank approached Johanne.
“Will I be able to question your prisoner before I leave this afternoon?”
“Of course, Frank. We can head down to the interrogation room in about twenty minutes,” the commander replied. “I’ll meet you back in my office then.”
The two men had left the room during their brief conversation. Frank noticed Kit walking down the hall towards the office exit. Walking quickly to catch up, he beckoned her.
“Kit. Kit, wait up.”
She stopped and turned to face Holden as he caught up to her.
“Mind if I walk down with you?” he asked.
“No, not at all,” she replied.
Once they got on the elevator, Frank spoke.
“You know, if Garrett were still around, he would come in handy, no connections, plausible deniability and all,” he offered.
Kit tilted her head.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I hadn’t really thought about that. Too bad he’s gone; we could have used him.”
“Cut the crap Kitten,” Holden said. “You and I both know he’s still around. Your indignation towards Johanne didn’t fool me.”
Kitten was beginning to feel uncomfortable inside.
Holden continued. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to cause him any problems, but we found four of our agents, dead, on his property. Something like that needs to be explained. Thoroughly explained,” he added with emphasis.
Kit continued her silence.
Frank continued, “Look, if this scenario plays out like we discussed in the meeting, he’s going to be more useful out of hand for now anyway. As a matter of fact, I would use him if I were you. From what I gather, he’s good at getting things done. I just want to talk to him when this thing is all over. Do we have an understanding?”
Looking at Holden, Kit responded. “I heard what you said,” not giving any outward signs confirming Holden’s claim.
The elevator opened and they exited into the lobby. Holden stopped and held out his hand.
“Good luck to you. I’ll do everything that I can to help.”
Kitten took his hand.
“Thanks. If this does turn out to be true, we’re all going to need luck. Good luck to you, too. I hope you catch those responsible back in the states.”
Holden stood and watched Kit’s back as she walked to the front door and out of the building.
“Garrett’s a lucky man if he’s involved with her,” he thought as watching her disappear around the corner. Holden turned away and punched the elevator button. After a moment he got on and rode back upstairs. He got off and headed back towards Johanne’s office. When he got there, he found the office empty, so he had a seat and waited for the commander to return. He really didn’t know what he was going to ask the assassin. His experience in interrogations had taught him, if nothing else, that every interview was different. Some people had a knack for drawing out information, others didn’t. Holden had the knack and hoped his interview would produce additional results.
He was snapped out of thought when Johanne stuck his head in the door.
“You ready?”
“Sure,” Holden responded rising from his seat. “You lead the way,” he added, extending his arm.
The two men walked towards the back of the office to a private elevator. On the way, they were joined by two other agents, one of which, Holden was informed, was their psychological expert. They waited as the elevator came up to their floor. Once they were all on, Johanne pushed a button with no markings on it. Turning to Holden he explained.
“This room is high security and can only be accessed by this elevator. We’ve kept her awake all this time, going in and out of the room, making small talk. We feigned the beginning of an interview about an hour ago, and then got up and left. She’s probably quite on edge right now. It’ll be you and I in the room with her, Frank. These two,” he said, indicating the other agents, “ will be watching from another room.”
The psychologist spoke.
“Remember that most people in this profession are certified sociopaths. Most often they don’t recognize the rule of law, and in the rare cases that they do, they don’t feel the law ever applies to them. Obtaining enough leverage to get them to speak is always difficult.
Frank and Johanne both nodded, indicating they understood. The elevator stopped and the four agents exited, walking down the narrow hall a short distance to two doors. The other two agents chose the first door and entered while Frank and Johanne waited. When their door had closed, Johanne looked at Frank.
“You ready
?”
Frank nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
Johanne opened the door and the two men entered the room. The assassin was looking at them as they entered, having heard the noise from the other side. Frank immediately recognized the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. He didn’t know exactly how to explain it, but there were some people who you could just tell were outside the bounds of civilized people. It most often showed in the eyes and her eyes told him all he needed to know. Johanne stood, while Frank seated himself at the table, facing the assassin.
“This is agent Holden with the FBI,” Johanne addressed the woman. “He’s going to ask you some questions and he’s got a plane to catch, so no games, O.K.?”
The killer looked up at Johanne and smiled.
“What, no games? I’ve been sitting here for hours, bored out of my mind, and when I finally get some company, you tell me I can’t play games. I’m truly disappointed,” she ended shifting her glance from Johanne to Holden. “You won’t play a game with me, agent Holden?”
“That depends on what kind of game you had in mind,” he responded taking up her offer.
“Oh, I don’t know. Now let me think…I guess Russian roulette would be out of the question so how about chess or cribbage or backgammon? You choose.”
“OK,” Frank said, “Since you brought up Russia, how about we play a game where I ask you about some dead Soviet ex-patriots.”
“No, I don’t want to play that game,” she said, laughing.
“OK,” Frank continued calmly, “How about a game where both he and I leave,” he said pointing to Johanne, “and I let a guy named Garrett come in here visit with you for a while.”
The smile vanished from her face in an instant and it was replaced by a look of apprehension.
“You know him? He’s one of yours?” she asked.
“Do you want to talk or take the chance that I do know him and that I will do exactly as I said?” Holden pressed.
The assassin looked first at Johanne and then back at Frank.
“I want a lawyer.”
“You’ll get one in due course Madame,” Johanne responded. “Remember, this is not the U.S., our laws allow us a little more latitude here.”
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