Chapter 6
She took a deep breath and followed Rhodes into the big government-looking building. For some reason, she expected the DA to have an office in a much smaller, more private setting. She didn’t know if this was normal or just set up for today. Rhodes seemed to know where he was at least.
At the DA’s office, they were seated in a small boardroom at a table, waiting for the meeting to start. A few minutes later, a tall, very lean-looking male walked in. He seemed in his late fifties, with an air of cool competence as he joined them. He shook their hands and introduced himself. “I’m District Attorney Robert Forrest.” He nodded as a second man joined them. “This is Bobby. He’ll help you with whatever you need. He’ll get the box we have collected.”
Even though the two names were similiar—one was just a shortened version of the other—she worried she’d mixed them up, her nervousness getting the better of her. Even gaining strength from Rhodes’s presence wasn’t helping much.
Robert immediately got down to business. He pulled out the sheets forwarded to him. She recognized her handwriting on one.
“Now I understand you guys know of these two men.” Robert pointed to the mug shots of the cousins.
Rhodes nodded. “Yes, that’s them.”
“Good. And you?” He turned to look at Sienna. “You’re the one who pulled the names from this series of spreadsheets, is that correct?”
“Following the pattern I saw in the software code, the banks stopped the employee who’d hacked their system. These sheets were found in his possession,” she said. “Those are the names the code decoded down to.”
She was very careful to say she hadn’t been the one to do anything. But at the same time, Robert didn’t seem interested in placing blame or giving credit.
Again, he nodded. He opened his briefcase and pulled out several more spreadsheets. “Having seen this work before, potentially you could find more information in these?”
She pulled them toward her and looked at the first one. She quickly scanned the seven sheets. “They look to be similar, yes.”
“Do you see any other names?”
She frowned. “Potentially. If they decode down the same way as the other sheets, then yes, that’s easy to do.” She wanted to say it would be easy to have them done without her being here, but she didn’t. She glanced over at his briefcase and asked, “Is there a scratch pad and pen I could use?”
Instantly both appeared in front of her. She picked up the pen, grabbed the first spreadsheet and very quickly had the first ten lines listed. She went back to the spreadsheet, noting the repetitions within the lines. On the fourth page, she came to a new name. She wrote that down, and her system continued, and soon she had them all down on the sheet of paper in front of her. She turned the pad around, pointing it to Robert so he could read the names.
He stared, and some of the color washed out of his face.
She glanced at Rhodes. Had he noticed how nervous she was? She hoped not. Once again, she didn’t have an explanation for her feelings. He reached across and grabbed her fingers and squeezed them reassuringly. She relaxed some and said, “Is that what you were expecting?”
The DA sat down in the chair heavily. “No. It’s worse than that. Some of these names are pretty high up in the city.”
“But there’s no proof they’ve done anything. That’s the problem,” she said quietly. “Without tracking these accounts and the banks that have been hacked, there’s no way to see just where they lead and what’s been done under these people’s names. For all we know, their identities have been stolen, and they aren’t involved at all.”
Robert looked at Rhodes and said, “I spoke with Levi about this. I believe your other man, Bullard, is involved on the banking end. This case is obviously global. My concern is less about the hacking and more about drugs and arms dealings in my city. But we’ll obviously look in to all of it.”
The door opened, and Bobby walked in, carrying a file box. He placed it beside the DA and walked out without saying a word.
The break was good timing as far as she was concerned, considering the DA’s stand on his city needing to be clean. She kept her opinion to herself, but couldn’t help thinking that nobody wanted to have this garbage in their area. Yet, if it were pushed out beyond their boundaries, they were fine. But it wasn’t prudent to open that discussion.
“What you really mean is, we can’t have it at all,” Rhodes corrected. “Doesn’t matter if it’s in the cities or somewhere else, it will filter into the cities eventually.”
Distracted, the DA said, “Yes, of course.” He looked back at Sienna. “What do you need to get proof?”
“I’m not sure. I’m a programmer. But without access to the banks in question, I only have the spreadsheets to go on.” She motioned to Rhodes. “He will be more help at this point. Or Levi’s team at home.”
“As I said earlier, some of these names are very high profile.” He turned to look at Rhodes. “We can keep you out of this and the courts if we have actual physical proof. But if the methodology of how we got this information should ever be questioned, you might be required to come in as a witness.”
She slumped in her chair and shook her head. “My reputation won’t stand up in court.”
Silence filled the room. His gaze narrowed, and he shot her a look. “Just what does that mean?”
She glanced over at Rhodes and shrugged. While she listened, Rhodes gave a short explanation of her history.
“As an end result, her name was muddied from all this.”
The DA tapped the sheet of paper in front of them, then the box, and considered the issue. “I guess it’s down to finding any hard facts, so it’s not your word against theirs.”
“Most of these people won’t have very much registered under their names,” she said. “If they’re doing investment banking, offshore accounts, or anything like that, we’ll find it with enough time. However, usually companies are involved, not an individual person. Shell corporations have doctored books to hide the profits that are moved. They wouldn’t list arms dealing anywhere, unless they have legal licenses to do so.”
“Sounds like you are the person I need right now,” the DA said. “You specialize in banking security, which means you understand money.” The DA pointed at one name on the list. “Find out everything you can about this man.”
She looked down at the name. J. R. Wilson. She frowned. “Wilson’s a very common name.”
“He also owns and runs a company—a huge charity for refugee camps in the Middle East.”
She slowly raised her gaze and said, “Which is perfect for gunrunning.”
“Exactly.” He gave her a quiet nod. “He also has headquarters in Dallas and Ghana. That’s the connection to the African banks.”
She looked over at Rhodes. “I don’t know how long we’re expected to be here, but I could get started now.”
“Anticipating that you’d be willing to stay here and begin now,” he said, “I have a brand-new clean white laptop. Every step you make will be tracked.” He patted the box beside him. “And this holds everything we have on the company.”
She looked from the box to the laptop and nodded. “It’s the best way.”
All gazes were on her, but still she hesitated.
In a low voice Rhodes whispered, “You don’t have to.”
She gave him a veiled glance, took a deep breath and opened the laptop. “How can I not?”
*
Rhodes watched her. She’d been put in an awkward position she hadn’t been ready for. He understood the DA wanted as much information as he could get from her, given any names on her decoded list were in this office, understanding there would be even more problems using those people in this investigation.
Bobby got up and walked to a coffee service on the sideboard. “Can I get anyone a coffee?”
“Yes, please,” Rhodes answered for the two of them.
Bobby turned to look at Robert. “Do you want a cup?”
The DA shook his head, his gaze intent on Sienna. Rhodes wasn’t sure he liked that either. She’d been put through enough for doing her job. She’d come here to work for Levi with a completely different expectation, and she had every right to avoid the same murky water she’d traveled before. Still she’d agreed. Stepping up when the need was thrust upon her.
On the other hand, she was gifted, had something everybody needed, so it was hard not to utilize her skills.
“I’ll be nearby if you need anything else,” Bobby said before leaving.
Two hours later, while the DA worked on his files here with them, she said, “Do you have a printer?”
Rhodes, sorting through the contents of the box, glanced at her. She looked a little pale. Then again, she hadn’t had lunch either. Her breakfast had been various contents of Alfred’s basket earlier. Or was her expression something more?
He had one hard-bound ledger in his hand. He opened it to find what looked like standard accounts. The interesting thing was, it was a paper copy. Didn’t everyone do digital accounting these days? Still, it wasn’t illegal. Unless they were keeping a second set of books. He replaced it in the box.
Robert lifted his head and stared at her in surprise. “I guess the laptop isn’t connected to that printer, so email it to me and I’ll print it.”
She hesitated, and Rhodes understood why. “Robert, do you have a small printer she could hook up here?” he asked. “To keep everything completely separated.”
Robert stood up and said, “I’ll go see.” He buzzed for someone to come help but after five minutes with no answer, he got up and walked from the conference room and left Rhodes and Sienna alone.
Rhodes placed a fresh cup of coffee in front of her. She looked startled for a moment and accepted it gratefully. She picked it up and hugged the hot cup close to her.
Concerned, he asked, “Are you okay?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. But she didn’t say anything. When he saw her white knuckles gripped the cup, he realized something was even more wrong than he expected.
“Can you tell me?” He glanced around the room and realized it was quite possible the room was bugged. It shouldn’t be, but they had been led to this room in particular. Although they hadn’t been left alone until he requested a printer, that didn’t mean everything they said wasn’t being taped and/or recorded. He could send her a text asking what was wrong, but if anybody saw them doing that, their phones could be confiscated before they left.
Feeling protective, he made a sudden decision and said, “Let’s go back to the hotel. You can work there if you feel up to it. But really, you look like you should probably lie down.”
He studied her face, and in truth, she did look ill. Her skin was white, and her forehead was moist, as if she had a fever. He frowned, walked over to the door and opened it. As he stepped into the outer hallway, the DA approached, accompanied by Bobby, carrying a small printer. Rhodes quickly explained the problem, motioning toward her.
Robert frowned. “Damn. Well, I guess you couldn’t stay here much longer anyway. The office will close soon. Although I thought maybe we could keep working into the evening.”
“We have hotel rooms booked for the night,” Rhodes said. “Let me take her back so she can lie down. She might just need some fresh air. She also hasn’t eaten since morning. If she feels better, we can come back.”
The DA hesitated and glanced at Bobby, who shrugged. The DA turned back to Rhodes and said, “Take the laptop and box. If she feels like working, she can do so from there.”
That was the best news he’d heard yet. Not giving anybody a chance to argue, he pointed at the printer and said, “Her reasons for needing that still applies. May we bring that too?”
Without a word Bobby handed it over.
Rhodes had his arms full. He laid the clean laptop inside the box and stacked the printer on top. With all that under one arm, he very gently snagged Sienna’s elbow and lifted her to her feet.
“Come on. Let’s get you into the room so you can lie down.”
She gave both men a half-hearted smile and murmured, “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Rhodes told Sienna. “I hadn’t expected we’d be in the office that long. If I’d known, we’d have stopped for lunch.”
As they walked out and went to the elevator, he wasn’t sure if she was acting or really was sick, but her footsteps were getting fainter as they went along. By the time they got to the elevator, he was half supporting her, and now he was really worried.
The elevator was full. He got them both inside and down to the ground floor. Outside, still not knowing if she was physically ill or not, he led her to the truck and quickly got her inside and buckled in. On his side, he put the laptop and printer in the backseat and hopped in. He considered whether anything had been placed inside his truck to monitor them.
And realized someone could have put a tracker on their clothing. He knew all too well how gifted some sleight-of-hand people were. It was also quite possible the laptop had something going on in it which she hadn’t shared. Levi had already reserved the hotel suite for them. As Rhodes drove, he contemplated the options.
First was to get her safely inside. He quickly shifted her to the hotel room and had her stretched out on the bed. He made several trips back to the truck to grab their overnight bags and the box that contained the laptop and printer. On his last trip, he picked up the basket of food, the electronics from the compound, and the dashboard box where he had stowed his weapons—not allowed in the DA’s building. Inside the room, he turned on the meter to see if any unexpected electronic devices were in the room. He did a full sweep, then came back to the clean laptop. Instantly the laptop caused the meter to buzz. He stared at it in shock.
She nudged him with her foot and said, “Exactly.”
He lifted a finger to his lips, fished his phone from his pocket and stepped outside the hotel room. Still not happy with the distance, he walked to the parking lot where his truck was. There he stood and called Levi. He quickly explained what was going on.
“What? The laptop was bugged? That the DA gave you? You sure it wasn’t just the fact that the document was being tracked?”
“No. She saw something. She immediately became ill or faked it. We’re at the hotel now, and the new testing device Bullard sent us tells me the laptop is bugged. They know where we are. It doesn’t change the fact that she needs a laptop to work on.”
“Did you bring yours?”
“I’ve got the one that comes with the truck.”
“See if she can use that. She can log on to the main server here. We need to get to the bottom of this and fast.” Levi hung up, leaving Rhodes staring at the empty truck. He had taken the company laptop up to the hotel room with the other stuff. He walked back to the room, picked up the laptop from the DA’s office, brought it back to the truck and locked it behind the driver’s seat. Then back in the hotel room he once again tested for more electronic devices. The sweep was clean this time.
Laying down the testing kit, he said, “Okay. Now we can talk.” He sat gently on the bed and leaned beside her, looking down at her. “First off, are you really sick? Or is this just a pretense?”
“Both,” she said. “When I realized that laptop was recording our voices, I realized I was right back into the same damn thing I was in before. And that’s when I felt sick.”
“Right. Levi says to use my laptop to do whatever work you need to. Their laptop is locked in the truck.”
She gave a sigh, rubbed her eyes and shifted her position so she was propped against the headboard.
“What else did you find?”
“The initials R.F. again.”
He studied her as she tried to figure out who R.F. was.
“The DA’s name has both those letters.”
“Ah, hell.” That was not good.
“Exactly. Either he wants this information so he can bury it or to figure out how to better hide his tracks, or there’s a completely different R.F.”
Rhodes reached for his laptop, flipped it open and placed it on her lap gently. “One of the hard rules of this kind of work is the fact that there’s only one way to know how bad a scenario can get. You have to keep digging through the surface for the meat underneath. Just because R.F. is there, doesn’t mean it’s the DA’s name being referenced.”
“Three names were decoded. Or rather three sets of initials, because three of those patterns were just numbered accounts, which we can’t easily access to find the corresponding names, and then we have the initials R.F.”
He nodded. “We’ll go on the assumption the DA’s a good guy. But we won’t take any chances, and we’ll always keep in mind, if we find any proof he’s not, it’s an entirely different story.”
“Then what do we do?” she cried. “He’s the DA.”
“That’s easy. We go above him.”
“And what if above him is corrupt too?” she said, her voice bitter. “That’s what happened to me. And when it all came back down, they blamed everything on me.”
“I won’t let that happen. You won’t be too involved. You’ve been asked to come in and help out, that’s it.”
“In theory I understand that. But my heart still tells me to get the hell out and run in the opposite direction.”
“You could look at this as an opportunity to leave all that behind. Because as soon as you step up and face it, it helps put your life back in control, like you’re no longer a helpless victim. That you are the one with the power to turn it around.”
She stared at him, fear in her gaze.
He tugged her into his arms. “Take it easy.”
“It’s not that easy …” she began.
He just held her close, feeling the trembling inside, even though she was doing her best to hide it. So strong, and yet so fragile. “Of course it’s not. You were railroaded last time. That’s not the same thing here. But you do have the ability to put some of these people—who have been doing this for a long time—in jail. And maybe you won’t find anything. You won’t know until you start looking.”
“He wants me to look into the company books, but …” she reached over and lifted the same ledger he’d looked at in the office, “the tears from missing pages look suspiciously like the scanned pages Bullard sent us with its ripped edges.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, the DA didn’t give me the information I needed, but whether that was an oversight or deliberate, I don’t know. There should be all kinds of information online and on paper to back this up and the accounting program they used on the laptop, but the only thing loaded here are the company books.”
“We have to trust somebody.” He opened his phone and quickly phoned Robert.
“She says she’s missing a lot of information here. So, she can’t check through the code to see what might be there. Are you sure it’s all here?”
“Did she check the box? The answer is yes. It’s all there, or it should be.” There was a pause in his voice. “What do you mean, that’s not all of it? I had our department look. I’ll check with them to see if they still have anything.” The DA’s voice sounded muffled. “I’m walking over there right now. I’ll call you back in ten.”
Staring down at his phone, wondering if he should notify Levi, Rhodes said, “Several others had the information first. He’s gone to see if they still have any of the material. He thought it was all contained in the box and laptop.”
She patted the box and said, “Not even close to what I’d expect.”
His phone rang almost immediately. “My men said they put everything in the box. However, they digitalized everything first so we do have copies.”
“Send us a digital copy via Levi. We can compare what’s there versus what’s in the box.” His voice deepened as he added, “You might want to consider somebody in your office carefully removed a few things.”
“That would be too obvious surely. John’s the one who scanned in everything. Sending it now.” And for the second time the DA hung up on him.
The email came in moments later, routed via Ice. Rhodes brought up the scanned ledger from the DA and flicked to the back. It was missing the same pages. He glanced at Sienna. “It does have missing pages. So quite possibly the scanned ones Bullard sent you belong in this ledger.”
“So the question here is, how did those pages end up in Ghana and the ledger in Houston?”
They smiled at each other. “J. R. Wilson,” they said at the same time.
“This is great evidence of his involvement.”
“Or someone who works for him,” she corrected. “And guys like him are slippery. If they can pin it on someone else, they will.”
“As you already know,” Rhodes said quietly.