Christen
Monday, Safe House, Singapore
Lynx lifted a finger and a picture filled the screen. “From satellite imagery, these are still shots of the attempted kidnapping of William Davidson.
Christen saw her father hunkered in the corner, Gator was taking a blow to his cheek; that explained his bruise. Blaze was blocking punches from two men, and there was a man on the ground. “Tibor Zoric. Gregor’s nephew.” She pointed to one of the men near Blaze with his face exposed. Another photo flashed up. Gator had the guy who punched him in a headlock and was putting him out. “Ivan Sworski.” She pointed first to the one in the headlock then to the guy on the ground. “Marco Kis, is the guy who’s lights-out. The fourth man is, as yet, unidentified.”
Well, now Christen understood the warmth that her dad had shown Gator and Blaze. they’d saved him from the attack. Hell of a coincidence though, that they were near this scene right when they were needed. This stank of a CIA manipulation – but Christen couldn’t put her finger on how all of that would have unfurled.
“Gator,” Lynx said. “I have some questions about the day that you saved William Davidson from being kidnapped.”
Christen’s body tensed.
“You’re at the restaurant. Blaze sent me the video of you walking in.” She nodded at Nutsbe, and Nutsbe brought a screen down and a video played. It was her father and Daniel in a restaurant. Was she going to see someone trying to hurt her dad? Christen wasn’t sure she was up to that at this moment.
Gator sent a quick glance her way. Just enough, it seemed to draw some conclusion, then he watched the action play out on the screen. Daniel got drenched and her dad was yelling at him.
“It’s this part here, that I’m interested in. It’s hard to tell from the video. Nutsbe can you play it slowly that part just before the waiter comes out?”
The video played again. “Here,” she said. “It looks like he’s holding your dad up. Keeping him in the area where you’re standing, waiting. Daniel turns his head and sees the waiter with the tray. He steps forward. There. See that? It looks to me like he’s flipping the tray onto himself. That he had planned this event. Do it again, please, Nutsbe.”
While it played again, Christen could see exactly what Lynx had seen. It looked completely different than when it had played the first time.
“It’s interesting,” Gator said, “because I blocked the door to keep them from coming through. But the driver and Daniel both knew how to get around back since they had to circle the block over and over, there was no place to park a car that long. They knew Davidson was on a terrace.”
“When they couldn’t get through the door, at least one of them should have driven around to help their boss,” Jack said.
“They didn’t get off the X the entire fight. It was me and Blaze and the four kidnappers. Then when the door was unblocked, they popped through like avenging angels.”
“And Christen, you observed Daniel engaged in oral sex with Gregor,” Lynx said.
Christen felt herself blanch.
“Don’t worry I’m not going to play the video of that one. We have no way of telling what that relationship is about. It could have been a whim. Weird kind of whim to have with the storm going on. But that’s thankfully not where I was focused. It was interesting that your eyes were getting droopy. You were having trouble keeping them open. It means that the drugs were affecting your system. Red, was feeling the effects, too. We could see it in her camera lens, but it didn’t seem from the video that either Gregor or Daniel were affected. Did you see them take the medications?”
“Gregor, yes. I saw him swallow them,” Christen said. “Karl asked security not to take them because they could cause drowsiness.”
“Maybe his size stopped them from having the same effect as they had on Christen and Red,” Striker suggested.
“Let’s let that simmer, we don’t have a tox report yet.” Lynx said. “D-day, if you don’t mind I have a question for you.”
Christen sat still.
“Before your audio was turned on, when you returned to Ruffles the day that you spent at the beach, you snuck away from Gator and Blaze and followed Nadir and the Sheik outside. You sat on a bench, and I’m assuming used the fact that you had not yet been introduced to them to hide that you were eavesdropping.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Your file says that you are a fluent Arabic speaker. Can you tell us what they said?”
“The Sheik was telling Nadir that Russia had discovered that the US allies in Five Eyes were intercepting comms from Davidson Realm. The Sheik had approached my father with the information and my father said that he had already set up sophisticated jamming equipment and there would be nothing they could pick up. It would make things a little difficult for the guests because there would be no communications of any kind. But this would help keep everyone safe. Each guest would be searched for any recording devices, they would be removed, and returned at the end of their stay. While uncomfortable in some respects this should comfort them in others. There could be no spying of any kind while we were there.”
“And you brought this to Johnna’s attention?”
“She said that wouldn’t be a concern with our equipment.”
Johnna cleared her throat. “Before we walk any farther into the data, I am just going to take a second and remind everyone that the CIA is an intelligence gathering community. We don’t arrest. That’s not our goal. We observe. We document. We get that information to the people with the authority to act. We have observed a pattern emerge on the global playing field that is both interesting and concerning. On this mission, it was our objective to add more data to those observations.”
“To that end, I’ve put together some thoughts,” Lynx said and pointed to the white boards crowded with information.
There was a ding at Nutsbe’s computer. “Incoming. This is from Blaze’s comms. He must not be lying in bed, letting the nurses mop his fevered brow. Huh. It needs translation. Did any of you know Karl spoke Russian?”
“I did,” Johnna said. “He practices with Daniel. Is that who he’s talking to?”
“I don’t know. Here we go, the computer has it worked out.” He tapped a key, and they heard Karl say, “This problem is monumental. Your family has been fucking this up. Fucking this up. Fucking this up. The entire Virginia bunch are arrested on trafficking charges in DC.”
Nutsbe stopped the tape and said, “There was a major arrest of the Zoric family members in DC last February.” He tapped the computer to continue the robotic voice of the translation software.
“Which meant the team didn’t have the manpower to support the attack on the school,” Karl said. “They get nutso-crazy and decide to kidnap a school teacher who was engaged to a fucking American G.I. Joe. Your camp in Paraguay is destroyed. All the men who were training for our assignments are fucking panther food down there. Then I find out that the Bowmans were rescued. That was supposed to go on for months. Months of angst and hand ringing. The scientists who were kidnapped out of the Ngorongoro hotel, that was supposed to go on for months, to create the fear that we needed. We need people to be terrified. Terror creates pathways to wealth. You put too much trust in Momo. Momo was supposed to take my father. Dad was supposed to die without his damned chemo. The horror of knowing a man was out there without his meds, living in a hovel…sympathy was supposed to be on my side. Political goodwill should have been on my side. But fuck, Momo gets himself killed, and you send in the clown squad to pick up my father.”
Nutsbe hit the button and stabbed a victory hand into the air. There were grins all around.
“What?” Christen asked bewildered.
“That’s a mighty fine piece of evidence right there,” Gator said.
“Ah.” Christen didn’t understand all of the ramifications, but it did indeed seem that Karl had just dug his grave.
“Go on, what else is he saying?” Johnna leaned forward in her excitement.
Nutsbe tapped the key.
“Had Blaze and Gator not been out on the terrace—”
“Who’s talking to Karl?”
Nutsbe played a snippet from the original. “That’s Gregor.” He tapped an arrow and they were listening to the translation again.
“All would have gone as planned. Have you asked yourself through all of this why the men, who happened to have fighting skills and close protection certification, happened to be on the terrace at that exact moment? I have. There’s a rat in our pantry.”
“Well put out rat poison and kill it.”
“This is not going as planned, but there is some good. Your sister is dead first. With her out of reach at the Army Base in Iraq, we couldn’t figure out a way to remove her first. But now it’s done. Congratulations.”
“Yes, I’d rather not have had to ride through the storm to give myself an alibi but at least I can tick that off my list. It’ll make a hell of a news conference when I break down in front of the camera. Everyone will think warmly of me and my brotherly affection. It might even make up a little bit for my not getting that publicity for concern over my father. Not as much. Not the same. But something that makes me look good.”
“Your father can be enticed back to Tanzania, and we will get him the second time. Or…”
“Or?”
“Your father is in frail health. Perhaps hearing of your sister’s sudden death, he will experience a rapid and unsurvivable decline. On the island, without the quick action of medical intervention. This could mean a second devastation for your family.”
Christen swallowed hard. She tried to let that conversation sink in. Karl was so blasé over her death. She knew he didn’t like her, but this sounded like he was ordering a sandwich. And her dad. Her dad was sick? Dying? What the heck!
“Okay great, let’s put a pin in that for a second,” Lynx said. “It seems that Karl put a target on his father’s back and that he knew Momo Bourhan. Momo was involved in the Bowman’s kidnapping and was in charge of the Ngorongoro attack. Right now, I want to layer this conversation with one Christen and Red picked up in the limo on the way to the airport, Nutsbe, if you would.” Lynx turned her head in his direction.
Nutsbe played the tape.
“My father was jumped by four men and saved by his security team,” Karl said.
“Do you know the names of the men he was meeting with?” Nadir asked.
“He’s still trying to find the right players, the right pressure points,” Karl responded.
“Momo Burhan was not at that meeting, I can assure you.”
“How exactly do you know that?” Karl asked.
“He is dead.”
“Momo’s dead?” Karl asked. “How? When? Wait, how do you know that?” There was panic in his voice that Christen hadn’t picked up at the time.
Nadir answered, “Sources. In terms of your ongoing negotiations, now that the eco-pawn is off the chess board, we can get some work accomplished.”
“The problem with the Bowmans,” Karl said, “followed by the attack in Ngorongoro Crater means that this region will be considered a hot spot. The men who come to work for us will want hazard pay. The cost of business will go up.”
“Experts, yes,” Nadir said. “Of course, these incidences will also effect the local economy as tourism falls away, that means the locals will be desperate for new jobs and their wages will fall. It might end up that this works in your economic favor.”
“Even if this is so, the businesses will have to be extremely lucrative to follow through. Our continual cooperation is the only way to make this happen. I’m glad you were able to join our little adventure. Thank you for coming.”
“Now,” Lynx said. “We believe it was Karl who called the meeting together. Because of this exchange Karl had with Lula.”
Nutsbe played another recording.
“Well, no. I had brought these businessmen together, we, Father and I had planned a business gathering, and so we had just invited the men.”
“But why was Christen endangered? What would the purpose be? She wasn’t targeted for kidnapping but murder,” Johnna said.
“Nutsbe was able to hack into William Davidson’s cloud as he approached his island in international waters.”
Christen thought Lynx was being very specific to make sure that everyone knew they hadn’t broken any laws in procuring the information.
“FYI,” Nutsbe cut in. “There was a break in cloud cover, and I just downloaded the recordings from Gator and Christen’s devices. I’m scrolling to the end to see the last things you both saw before you went overboard. With my fist glimpses, we’ll need computer enhancement for this. I’m putting them into the parameters of those we know are on the boat. We should have our suspects in just a moment, hopefully.”
Christen felt like she’d been doused with a bucket of ice water, pain started at the top of her head and flooded down.
Lynx, looked at her and nodded then cleared her throat. “Here’s another interesting conversation Christen picked up.”
“Christen for someone not in the industry you’re batting a thousand,” Johnna said.
Lynx turned to the board and pointed to a written conversation she’d posted there in her tight neat handwriting. “Gregor Zoric asked, ‘Do you know someone who has a team to get the job done?’ he’s talking about getting a replacement team for Momo Bourhan. Nadir then asks the sheik, ‘Properly?’ He continues, ‘Momo’s activities failed three times in a row. He was not the professional he led us to believe he was.’” Lynx turned and let her gaze sweep over everyone then rest on the camera looking at the group huddled in Singapore. “Again, three possible activities that we might assign to that conversation: one, he might have sent the extremists to train in Paraguay where the Zoric’s held Suz and her students; two, the Bowmans were kidnapped but rescued; three the attack on Ngorongoro and the kidnapped scientists including Meg Finley and Honey Honig. ‘I do. I’ll handle it,’ the Saudi replied.”
“So who do you think tried to kill me?” Christen asked. Surreal. These last few days were the poster child for the word surreal.
“Here, we go,” Nutsbe said as he put up a grainy video. “This is what Gator saw. Two seconds.” He tapped at his computer, up came the images, side by side, incontrovertible. She knew it was coming. But still, it was a body blow. “Daniel and Karl,” she whispered. “Karl,” she said again.
Johnna came over and wrapped her arms around Christen but all Christen wanted was to bury her head against Gator’s shoulder. He got up, went to the kitchen, and brought her a glass of water.
“Thanks,” she said. For nothing. What the hell was wrong with Gator?
“The Slovakian Zoric family is helping Middle Eastern terrorists because the terrorists have illegal channels of distribution – art and drugs, some sex trafficking. Those are the three big money makers for the Zorics.” She began, walking to the board and picking up a magic marker. “The Zorics, especially Gregor, are about money and power. Terrorism helps them develop political power, and the Zorics, in return, help the terrorists to manipulate the political dynamic. As far as I can tell religious or other ideology plays no role. These attachments are strictly business dealings. It’s a game of three-dimensional chess.”
“You were taking a look into helium,” Johnna said.
“We have some interesting folks when it comes to helium, for sure. Right now, those who want a helium crisis to bolster helium prices, need Qatar to shut down their delivery of goods.” As she discussed a point on her board, she’d check it off. She wasn’t going in sequence, but she was painting a pretty clear picture. “Qatar created a problem by aligning with terror groups. Why would they want that? It seems counterintuitive. But having that connection meant someone else could use it as a reason to shut down their port. In steps Saudi Arabia. The dynamic means that industries are reliant on the US which is far away, with helium reserves that are depleting quickly. The price of helium will go up.”
“If the price of helium goes up then the Russians and the Qatari’s will make more money when they distribute their gas,” Nutsbe said.
“The Tanzanians, where the new gas discoveries have occurred, doesn’t have the ability to develop their own helium fields. The government doesn’t want to enter into contracts with the Russians even through Slovakia, but they will consider contracts with Americans. Enter Gregor Zoric and his manipulation of William Davidson.” Lynx circled that point, then drew an arrow to her father’s name. “Davidson wanted the contracts – the Tanzanian government doesn’t want that. They were hoping for contracts with Hesston Oil which would mean sustainable energy and a boost to their eco-tourism trade.”
“Which would put more helium in the market, by a group who was not-for-profit,” Red was massaging her thumb along her jaw line as she considered the data in front of them. “That wasn’t going to wash with Russia, the US, or Qatar. The helium industry needed to get Bowman out of the way.”
“It would make sense then for someone to arrange for Bowman with Hesston Oil to be kidnapped. Hesston steps away from the poker table, once Bowman retires. Now the field is open there are few other companies that could compete with Davidson for the contracts. All they need is to get everything signed. A few crises in the area will scare scientists off working for environmental stability and also drive away competition. It’s not going exactly as planned but close enough.”
Everyone was frowning as the enormity of the collusion was laid out.