Chapter Eleven
CANDACE KIM
NSA Headquarters, Fort Meade, Maryland
“Three minutes until we have contact with the Avenger. Everyone, stand by.”
Candace nodded tersely at the technician who returned to monitoring his computer screen. She began to pace the conference room, her nerves on edge. “Are we ready across the board?”
It was Jim Avers who answered. “Yes, ma’am, we are.”
Over the past forty-eight hours, Candace had read Moby Dick and all references to Ahab in the Bible. She’d reread Ethan Sinclair’s file and scoured through dozens of possibly connected NSA operations, none of which were called Ahab or involved whales or biblical kings. Jim had done the same, and neither of them had come up with anything remotely relatable to the situation. If the Avenger was sending them a coded message, he wasn’t making it easy.
Candace did a quick head count of people in the room. Everyone except herself sat in front of a laptop. Nine people. Six technicians, herself, Jim, and Isaac Remington. She would have preferred to lock Isaac out of the investigation, because she neither liked nor trusted him. Although this operation had become hers to run, Isaac was a director and her equal, as well as the former boss of the suspected Avenger. If he was interested in the case—and he was—she had no choice but to include him. She’d almost invited Slash, too, but decided it would be prudent to keep him working on things behind the scenes. He had an enviable track record of success operating that way, so she’d back-brief him later.
One of the technicians lifted a headphone from his ear. “We’re live. We have contact.”
The room silenced, and everyone slid into a seat except for Candace. She preferred to stand so she could pace as needed. She could always think better when she could walk.
“The first transmission is in,” Jim stated, reading the screen. “It’s an email with only one line. It says ‘Ahoy Ahab, what’s going down?’”
“So it was Moby Dick,” Candace murmured. “What does he want?”
“He’s uploading updates on the terrorist activities he’s been monitoring and wants to know if we’ve confirmed the previous information.”
“Tell him we have,” Candace said. “And say thank you.” She was satisfied the Avenger was delivering on his end, and so she wanted to assure him she would come through on her side.
Jim typed the message and sat back. After a minute, he said, “He wants to know about the request for immunity.”
“Tell him the Department of Justice needs clarification on the nature of the immunity he’s requesting,” she said. “It’s a no-go if he’s been involved in murder or treason, even peripherally. But they’re willing to deal, assuming he follows through on providing more verifiable information on the terrorist threat, turns over the ShadowCrypt patch, and conducts no further criminal activity between now and the time he returns.”
After Jim sent the message, a response came back almost immediately. “He says he’s never hurt anyone, nor has he ever aided a terrorist or anyone with harmful intent toward any persons or the US. Nor has he engaged in treason of any kind. The immunity is for real or perceived virtual actions, and he agrees to the conditions.”
Candace nodded. “Perfect. Tell him I’ll contact the Justice Department and get back to him.” She frowned when she saw Isaac typing at his station. “Isaac, what are you doing? You’re not authorized to respond.”
He turned around in his chair. “The Avenger is a liar. He committed treason when he installed the ShadowCrypt patch. He’s allowed terrorists all over the world to hide their plans, certainly costing thousands of lives. That makes him a murderer.”
Why in the world was Isaac going off plan? It was beyond unprofessional to lose control and get emotional in such a situation, jeopardizing the entire operation.
Still in disbelief, she stalked over to his computer. “What did you do?”
“I sent a message. Short and sweet. I told him there were some of us who knew he was lying and were not on board with the immunity offer.”
The room went dead silent.
Anger swept through her. “You did what? You were to observe only. You have no authority to make direct contact.”
His eyes narrowed at her tone. “I’m a director at this agency, just like you. I have every right to protect the agency from this ill-conceived idea of negotiation with a traitor.”
Before Candace could respond, Jim spoke. “He’s not answering, ma’am. He might not be coming back.”
Candace tore her gaze from Isaac. “Can you tell if he’s still there?”
“Hard to say at this point.”
A thousand thoughts whirled through her head, mostly on how she could fix this, but when she spoke, her voice was cool and controlled. “We wait, then.”
While she waited, she considered Remington’s reaction and her options. He was clearly trying to sabotage the deal, but why? He’d made it clear he considered the Avenger a traitor for shutting the back door. But she’d also caught him eyeing her to see how she was reacting to his actions. He was putting on a show, but why and for whom?
A few minutes ticked past. “Anything yet?” she asked.
“No. Nothing,” Jim replied.
More time passed with no contact. Her mind worked furiously to figure out what was going on with Remington. Was he trying to prevent her from bringing in the Hidden Avenger because he wanted to do it himself? It would not reflect well on her if she failed, even if she was not at fault. Regardless, it was disgusting that Remington would risk people’s lives and an invaluable tool solely to advance his own career. Was he really that selfish or stupid? Or could he be afraid of the Hidden Avenger for some reason? Did the Avenger have information that might damage Remington’s chances of becoming director…or was it something else?
She was about to call an end to the operation when an email from the Avenger suddenly popped up on the screen. Jim leaned forward, reading aloud.
“He’s satisfied we’ll see the deal through. The instructions for our next virtual exchange and more information on the terrorists are in an attached file. However, that file will disappear in three minutes.”
“Get it,” Candace instructed, her voice terse as she started pacing again.
“I’ve already got it,” one of the technicians said. “I’ve opened it, and the data is intact. It’s been saved to another server and is safe.”
Thank God, at least something had gone right. “Thank you.”
“He also says the next conversation will be code-named Pope 264.” Jim glanced at her over his shoulder with a puzzled expression. “Whatever that means.”
“I don’t know, but it’s not random,” she answered. “He’s trying to tell us something.”
“No, he’s not,” Isaac countered. “He’s trying to distract us, send us running down a rabbit hole to keep from focusing on what’s real here—that’s he’s a liar, a cheat, and a treasonous former agent gone rogue who doesn’t deserve immunity.”
Candace saw sympathy and agreement from a few of the technicians in the room. Isaac was stirring up things, and she didn’t like it one bit.
She didn’t address his words directly, but ice dripped from her voice as she spoke. “From this point forward, only Jim and one technician will have access to a laptop for communication purposes with the Avenger. Everyone else stands back or is not permitted to attend. Those are my orders. If anyone has an issue with that, I suggest you take it up with the director.”
Everyone nodded, except Isaac. The smug expression on his face said volumes. The damage had been done. He’d made it known to Sinclair that there were people inside the NSA who weren’t going to make it easy for him to come in. If that spooked him and he bolted, the fallout would be pinned to her.
She wouldn’t underestimate Isaac next time. But she hoped he’d continue to underestimate her.