Killers and Keepers Read online

  Mary gave me a quick look before she answered. "We haven't decided. We were planning to hang out in Dominica, but Finn's not sure that's a good idea, after Travis found us in Guadeloupe."

  "I agree with Finn. We already know Kent's got the fix in with the independent island nations, so that would mean Travis probably does, too. Based on what just happened, the French islands aren't safe for you, either."

  "What do you think of a pre-emptive strike?" Mary asked.

  "Against whom?"

  "Travis," Mary said, after a moment's hesitation. "Or maybe Kent, depending."

  "Depending on what?"

  Mary was chewing her lower lip again. Aaron let the silence hang. After several seconds, Mary nodded. "Okay. I see what you mean. We don't know who to hit. They could be working together or at cross purposes. Is that your point?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay. Any progress on my other problem?"

  "I left a message in the blind drop like we discussed. There's no answer yet. You two have anything else?"

  "Not me," Mary said.

  "Guess we're done for now, Aaron," I said. "We'll have cell service for the next hour or two. After that, use the email drop."

  "Will do. Take care; I'll be in touch if anything changes on my end."

  I disconnected the phone and waited. Mary was staring at the cabin sole, avoiding eye contact.

  After 30 seconds, she shook her head and looked up at me. "I know you're right. You and Aaron. But when somebody is after me, my instinct is to attack."

  I nodded. "Yes. That's not unreasonable."

  "But sometimes it's better to wait. I know that, but I don't handle waiting very well."

  "People like us are aggressive by nature, Mary. Waiting isn't part of our makeup. It's a learned skill for us."

  "I'm sorry I gave you so much grief about it."

  "Apology accepted. We still need to figure out where we're going. Go up and take the helm for a minute; I'll make us some coffee."

  "How about Isla de Aves?" Mary asked, as I brought the thermos and two mugs up into the cockpit. "I like it there; there's nobody else around."

  "It's certainly — "

  The ringing of the burner phone interrupted me. I set the thermos and mugs down and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

  "Hey, Finn. We need Mary, too. You on the speaker?"

  "Just a second." I switched the phone to speaker mode.

  "Aaron?"

  "Yes. I have Bob on the other line. Hang on a second while I patch him in."

  Mary looked at me, her eyebrows raised. I shrugged.

  "Aaron?" We heard Bob Lawson's voice.

  "Yes, I'm here."

  "Good. Finn? Mary?"

  "Here," we said, together.

  "Sorry for being so mysterious recently. There's been a lot going on with Washington. I won't go into details now, but Aaron told me he shared the rumor about Mike and the Secretary of Defense position."

  "Yes."

  "Well, the rumor wasn't quite correct; we planted that story to provide cover for private meetings between Mike and the president. You'll have to wait to get the details from Mike, but for now, you can rest easy, Finn. Our old operation has been disbanded, and the people who were causing problems for you have been dealt with appropriately. The department is no more. You understand?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Good. Mary?"

  "Yes?"

  "Aaron's filled me in on the hacker. He just replied to Aaron's message, by the way. Aaron?"

  "Yes, sir. The short version is that this supposed client who's still pretending to be your broker wants to rebuild the O'Hanlon network to smuggle drugs into the U.S. He wants you to be a part of that, Mary. Maybe even to run it. The message was lengthy. I'll send it along when we're done so you can mull it over. It gives what I believe to be an accurate summary of your dealings with O'Hanlon from the time he hired you to kill the Daileys right up through the end. He even alluded to Lavrov and election tampering. You with me so far?"

  "Yes, but how could anyone know all that?"

  "I can't answer that. Overall, his story sounds convincing. You'll see what I mean when you read it. You're the one in the best position to tell if it's accurate. If it is, then this person was on the inside, and at a high level. Bob, you want to add anything?"

  "Yes. You didn't mention the closing comments in the message."

  "Right. The final paragraph of the message is an admission that there is no target; the hacker made up this hit because he wants a meeting with you to discuss re-establishing O'Hanlon's U.S. operation."

  "A meeting? What kind of fool does he think I am? I'm nowhere close to agreeing to meet him."

  "Nor should you be," Bob said. "He understands that. He invited you to spell out the conditions under which you'd be willing to meet. We've had experience setting up meetings like that. There are several ways we can make it safe for both parties."

  "Are you suggesting that I should agree to a meeting?"

  "Not yet, but I'm asking you to think about it. I need to bring Mike up to speed on this, and he may want to check with others before we decide. O'Hanlon was playing at international politics. We need to know what this person has in mind. Good old-fashioned crime is one thing. Helping a foreign government get control of our elections is a whole different matter."

  "Any chance this is Lavrov?" I asked. "Or whatever his real name is?"

  "We can't rule that out just yet," Bob said. "We need that meeting, but it would be better if we knew the answer to that question going in. That brings me to another topic. Can we change direction for a moment?"

  "Okay with me," I said, looking at Mary.

  "Sure," she said, with a shrug.

  "Aaron told me about your troubles with this Randall Travis. It's not lost on me that his boss, Michael Kent, was a major player in O'Hanlon's business. It also seems likely that Kent's not too happy with Travis, given Travis's treatment of Kent's daughter."

  "Bob, if I may interrupt?"

  "Yes, Aaron?"

  "We're still working to verify that the girl is indeed Kent's daughter."

  "I understand. That's part of why I asked you to pull out the stops on developing background on Kent and Travis, okay?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Whether she's Kent's daughter or not, there's still evidence of a rift between Kent and Travis, isn't there?" Bob asked.

  "That's right, but it's not like open warfare — just rumors that Travis is doing things Kent's not happy with — testing Kent, maybe."

  "Okay. We could take advantage of that. If the girl's Kent's daughter, it would add leverage. If she's not, we'll have to find another way to get to Kent. All the information you have on him says he's a major player in the international drug trade. We're talking shipping containers full of contraband, and global reach, correct?"

  "Yes."

  "And he was supplying O'Hanlon, wasn't he?"

  "Yes. All indications are that he was O'Hanlon's main source."

  "So, he knows quite a bit about O'Hanlon," Bob said. "Kent would have been in a peer-to-peer relationship with him, as I see it."

  "That's probably so," Aaron said.

  "Kent would be a good source for us. He would know who O'Hanlon's serious competitors were. He'd also have a good idea of who might be trying to rebuild that operation. Besides, he'd have a strong interest in the success of whoever replaces O'Hanlon."

  "That all makes sense," Aaron said.

  "We need someone inside Kent's operation. We could learn a lot from him."

  "Are you thinking of a particular someone?" Mary asked.

  "Only if she's willing. It would be dangerous."

  "Aaron said it a little while ago — everything we do is dangerous."

  "What do you think, Finn?" Bob asked.

  "I don't have Mary's skills when it comes to working undercover. I might be a liability."

  "Kent and Travis already know about you," Aaron said. "So does the hacker."

  "Travis doe
s, but the hacker? How could that be?"

  Aaron said. "He knows that Mary had a companion during her last couple of escapades. He mentioned it in his message."

  "That's good, from our perspective," Bob said.

  "Good? Why?"

  "If we go forward with the meeting, the hacker won't be surprised when Mary brings you along."

  "Okay. Let's see if I'm getting this," I said. "While Aaron dances around with the hacker to set up a meeting, you want Mary and me to work our way into Kent's inner circle. We're going to pump him for information about who's trying to revive the O'Hanlon operation. Is that about it?"

  "Yes, pending Mike's concurrence."

  "Any thoughts on how we should approach Kent?" I asked.

  "I have an idea," Mary said.

  "Let's hear it," Bob said.

  "We tell Kent that Travis was the one who kidnapped Margie. We can use Margie as a reference; tell him we're the ones who sprung her and suggest that he ask her about us."

  "But he already knows that," I said. "At least the Travis part."

  "Yes, but he doesn't know we know it, and if he and Travis are on the outs, he may not know Travis is after us."

  "Okay. Sorry for interrupting," I said. "We go to him and tell him it was Travis. Then what?"

  "We offer to take Travis out for him. If we need to prove our credibility, we won't have any trouble convincing him we were the ones who nailed O'Hanlon and the Daileys. We have enough inside information. Aaron can check those files I stole from the Daileys and give us details of a few of Kent's recent deals with O'Hanlon. With me so far?"

  "Yes, Mary," Bob said. "Keep talking."

  "If Kent says yes, we'll know he and Travis aren't working together. If he waffles, we'll know they're up to something."

  "But if he waffles, then what?" Aaron asked.

  "Then we kill Travis anyway."

  "But Kent will know you did it," Bob said.

  "No. Kent will suspect we did it, but he won't know for sure. Finn and I don't leave a trail. Our next step after Travis will be to tell Kent that we're willing to take over Travis's operation."

  "What if Kent comes after you? Don't you think that's a possibility?" Aaron asked.

  "Sure it is. If Kent comes after us, we'll just take him down and interrogate him. That's what you want anyway, isn't it, Bob?"

  "It wouldn't be the end of the world, but it might be better if we could avoid that for a while. We'd prefer that you have a working relationship with Kent until we're sure we've milked him dry. Then we can eliminate him."

  "Does that mean we should go for it?" Mary asked. "The longer we wait, the more suspicious Kent will be about our approaching him. It's already been a day since we left the girls in the Saintes."

  Bob chuckled. "I like your sense of urgency, Mary. Give me a chance to run this by Mike; it won't take long. Where are you two, anyway?"

  "A few miles southwest of Guadeloupe," Mary said. "We could be in St. Vincent in 36 hours, give or take. St. Lucia's 12 hours closer."

  "Travis is in St. Lucia?" Bob asked.

  "That's right," Aaron said.

  "For now, let's assume you're going to St. Vincent for a meeting with Kent."

  "I have a logistics question," I said.

  "What's that?" Bob asked.

  "We know where to find Travis, but all we know about Kent is that he has a sugarcane plantation in St. Vincent."

  "Aaron?" Bob asked.

  "We have satellite surveillance shots of his plantation, hacked from the DEA. Plus, we have a few phone numbers. There's a lawyer in Kingstown who's Kent's gatekeeper. That's common knowledge in the drug world down there. If you're going to approach Kent, you start with the lawyer."

  "There's also the burner phone I gave Margie," Mary said. "I could call that and see if she still has it. Somebody might answer. If it's Margie, she might be able to pave the way for us."

  "Give me the number of the burner," Aaron said. "I'll see if we can pin down a location for it."

  "I'll have to dig it up," Mary said. "I'll send it to you when we're through with this call."

  "All right," Bob said. "Let me get hold of Mike. Meanwhile, Aaron's got some homework to do. Let's talk again this evening."

  "Thanks, Bob," Aaron said. "Stay on the line, Finn."

  "Okay. Good to hear from you, Bob. Talk later."

  Bob disconnected and Aaron said, "Finn?"

  "Yes?"

  "Will you two have cell service later, or should we switch to the sat phone this evening?"

  "You can try this number first. We're headed south in the lee of the islands. There's a good chance we'll have service. But now that things are okay with Phorcys, maybe we should just switch back to the sat phone they provided."

  "Yeah, let's do that."

  "Good enough," I said. "Talk with you later."

  17

  "Are you pissed off at me?"

  I frowned at Mary's question. "Why would I be pissed off at you?"

  "Because I suggested to Bob that we kill Travis."

  I grinned and shook my head. "No."

  "It's not that I've got a stubborn fixation on killing him."

  "I understand. He's a bad guy. If we need to kill him for the good of the cause, I'm okay with that. How about some of this coffee we were about to have before Aaron called?"

  "You go ahead. Let me get the number for that phone I gave Margie, and then I'll join you."

  I poured myself a mug of the coffee while she was below deck. In a couple of minutes, she came back up to the cockpit holding a receipt for the phone. I filled the other mug and passed it to her.

  "Is there any reason I shouldn't send this to Aaron in a text from the cell phone we were just using?"

  "No. That should work."

  She picked up the phone and sent the text. While she was taking her first sip of coffee, the phone pinged. Glancing at the screen, she said, "That's an acknowledgement. He got it."

  "What do you make of this business with the hacker?"

  Mary looked at me and took another sip of her coffee, her brow wrinkled. She swallowed. "I'm still trying to get my head around it. It's far-fetched, to me."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "The first thing that's strange is that he knew about the blind drop to begin with. Nobody except me and the broker used it."

  "It's a quick and dirty means of secure communication, if you don't want to send emails back and forth. Plenty of people know about blind email drops."

  "Yes. But how would he have gotten the email account address? He must have been monitoring me or the broker, right? With malware on one of our computers?"

  "I'm no expert, but that sounds right to me. Keylogger software on your computer or hers would give him the account name and the password."

  She nodded. "But I always checked the drop from different computers, mostly in internet cafés. A few times, I used our laptop on public Wi-Fi, but our machine's clean."

  "What about on her end?"

  She shook her head. "I don't know, but she's awfully careful. I can't see her letting that happen. And besides, how he got access to the account is only part of the puzzle. He knows at least something about the way she does business, even though he messed up a few things. And he knows a lot about us. How did he learn all that about my work with O'Hanlon, let alone your part in it?"

  "If he was on to you first, he just picked up on me from watching you."

  "That makes sense, but we're missing something here."

  "What's that?"

  "I can't put my finger on it. It'll come to me, though. I can feel it nagging at me, just beyond reach. Let's talk about another part of the hacker thing; that'll help break it free, maybe."

  "Okay. What other part?"

  "The meeting, if we get that far. Bob said they could set up the meeting in a way that would protect both parties. Do you know how that would work?"

  I shrugged. "I don't know what he's got in mind. One way is to hold it in a public place with a
lot of people around. Witnesses are a deterrent to aggression. Another way would be to set up a secure perimeter and let each party put snipers in place. If things go wrong, both parties are equally liable to get shot. Trading hostages is yet another way that kind of thing is done. Meeting in an airport departure lounge where both parties have to go through security has been used, too. There are lots of options. None of them is foolproof, though."

  "Not knowing who the other party is would bother me in any of those situations. They could send a stand-in, and we wouldn't know. And a crowd isn't much of a deterrent to somebody who's willing to kill innocent bystanders."

  "You're right on both counts," I said. "I told you they weren't foolproof."

  "I got it — what was bothering me. Focusing on how this person came to hack into the blind drop was a distraction. He had to know about me to begin with. Otherwise, he wouldn't have even thought of reaching me through the broker's blind drop."

  "You're right again. And that just broke loose another piece of the puzzle for me."

  "What's that?"

  "He had to know you were working through the broker. Just knowing about you wouldn't have been enough to put him onto the blind drop."

  "Yes, you're onto something. We need to figure out who knew both pieces of information — that I was hired by O'Hanlon, and that I worked through the broker. There would still be all the other obstacles for him to overcome. He needed to find the drop and hack into it. Then pull together enough background to write the kind of message Aaron described... but whoever it is knew where to start."

  "It has to be somebody who was close to O'Hanlon," Mary said.

  "Or close to the broker," I said.

  "That's it, then. We know where to start looking."

  "There's one more possibility," I said.

  Mary frowned and shook her head. "I don't see it."

  "Somebody close to you."

  "No, that can't be. There's nobody."

  "Don't be so quick to dismiss the possibility. There are three entry points that would lead someone through this maze: you, the broker, and O'Hanlon. There's a loose end attached to one of them."

  "I hear what you're saying, but there's no loose end attached to me, Finn."

  "Okay, but you have to keep an open mind. We've made a lot of progress. Let's give all this a chance to percolate for a while. It's nearly dinner time. You sail; I'll go find us something to eat."