Double-Back (Jake Waters Book 3) (19 page)

Saturday Afternoon, May 14

Jake looked around the mini-fortress they had barely finished moving into.

"Looks like we're going to leave this all behind us," he said.

Tony nodded.

"I don't think either of us would have been very happy sitting here doing nothing.  This way we can be part of the solution, and by being in a place they won't expect us, we'll most likely be every bit as secure as we would be hiding here.  You won't be in a place you can Back-Track as easily though."

"I don't think that will be very significant, unless something major happens.  In that case, we'll simply have to drive back toward Washington so I can deal with whatever happened."

"First thing is to load up a few things we might be needing," Tony said as he led the way to the study and opened the large vault door that led to the gun safe and hidden panic room. 

"That Sig of yours is an effective sidearm, but it's a bit large," Tony said.  "That's not a problem if you are playing Fed, and can flash the ID Susan supplied you with to anyone who inquires, but we might want to be a little less forthright at times."

He grabbed something from one of the shelves and handed it to Jake.  It was a surprisingly light and tiny pistol.

"A Kimber Solo," Jake said looking at the diminutive pistol.  "Susan lent me one a long time ago.  I never got a chance to shoot it as I recall.  This one's a bit fancier than the one she had."

The tiny striker fired 9mm weighed a mere seventeen ounces, and had a laser on the grip, as well as Tritium Nite Sights.  It wouldn't be worth much at distance, but it was certainly something he could conceal.

Jake grabbed the pair of already loaded magazines that were sitting on the shelf next to where the pistol had been and shoved them in a pocket.  Each held only six rounds.  He knew that Tony carried a small 1911 Springfield in .40 S&W, but he didn't see anything like that on the shelf.

Next Tony handed Jake one of the AR-15s and an ammo can, then grabbed one of the shotguns and a couple of boxes of shells. 

"This will provide us with more firepower than we should need," Tony said and led the way out to the SUV in the garage. 

He opened the rear hatch, and then a concealed compartment in the floor of the vehicle.  This wasn't an add-on, but something the government had built into the vehicle when it was ordered.  Jake spotted a long rifle, something he had seen Tony use in the past, as well as a variety of explosive devices that could potentially cause a lot of havoc.  They placed the long guns in the compartment, along with the ammunition, then closed it up.

Tony stood after closing up the vehicle and looked at Jake. 

"I'm unknown to these people," he said after a moment.  "At least, I should be.  Only a handful of people know that I'm involved, or that Susan even knows me.  That means I don't have to worry about being recognized.  We don't know how much they know about you, however.  With luck they haven't even stumbled onto the fact that a Bob Trask has been acting as a consultant to Susan, nor do they have any idea what he looks like.  But I don't think we want to risk it."

Tony reached into another compartment along the sidewall of the vehicle, and pulled out a narrow kit roughly the size of a normal attaché case.  He signaled Jake to follow and they headed back into the house. 

"I recommend a change of hair color, a pair of heavy framed glasses, and perhaps a moustache," Tony said once they were back inside the house.

Jake looked at the contents of the makeup kit, which contained a variety of items in various colors along with bottles of dye.  More than once in the past he'd colored his hair for a change in appearance, but that had been a very long time ago.  He fingered the pair of glasses with the non-correcting lenses, then slid them on.

"Let's try to get by without the moustache," he said finally.  "They drive me crazy and I'd probably rub it off at an inopportune moment."

Fifteen minutes later Jake reappeared from the bathroom, his hair considerably darker with the glasses in place.

"That should be sufficient," Tony agreed.

While Jake had been coloring his hair, Tony had filled the SUV with their limited luggage and some linens from the storage closet, and had rendered most of their communications gear inoperable before stashing it in the panic room.  Before the secret gear could be used again, the password that Tony had input had to be used while the units were connected to a special piece of test gear not available outside of his headquarter's labs.  Any attempt to use the gear without the proper steps being followed would cause the gear to self-destruct.  The only thing they would be bringing would be the small hand held devices that looked like large smart phones.  He had also performed a quick search on the Internet and found them a monthly rental near Columbia University, paying the full month's rent from a secure account he kept for such things.

"Let's go," Tony said, after giving Jake's modification his approval.

A short time later they were headed northeast on I-95.  Depending on traffic, the drive should take roughly four hours, getting them into New York by early evening when Tony had arranged to meet the landlord of the small house he'd chosen.  They passed somewhat east of Baltimore, stopping briefly for lunch, then continuing onward.  They had passed Philadelphia when Jake asked about their communications.

"How do these things work?"

"I have no idea," Tony admitted.  "Somehow they piggyback on the provider's cellular gear, linking back into the government systems.  There is no positional information to reveal where the phones are located, and no recording of their use.  Once on the SIPRnet, any of the devices that are set up and properly linked, can sense messages.  Our phones, and those that Susan, Jim, and Norm are carrying, have been configured as a unique group, so they alone will be aware of our messages.  Even if someone was aware of the messages we might pass, without something like NSA's computers, they aren't going to be able to decode what is being sent."

"These aren't on the JWICS system you said the other gear was configured for?"

"These haven't been rated for that, but there isn't any reason to need it either.  These will be secure enough, and anyone trying to monitor Susan or Jim's cellular traffic, will be totally unaware they are communicating with us."

As they approached New York, Jake noted the impressive railroad yard with endless lines of tracks they passed by, and later the number of waterways they had to cross.

"Are you familiar with New York?" Tony asked.

"I climbed the statue of Liberty once," Jake replied, "and rode a bike through Central Park one afternoon."

Tony shot him a glance.

"That's all you know about the place?"

"Okay, I've been here a couple of times, but always with someone who knew the area.  It isn't a place where I know my way around.  The West Coast is more familiar to me."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tony said as he emerged from the Lincoln Tunnel and turned toward Columbia University.  Paul, the suspect who had been groomed for a bright future within the Organization, had an upscale apartment on Lexington, a few blocks from Central Park, and only a few miles from where they would set up their base.   Jeff Rineri wasn't so well placed, and lived across the East River in Queens, a place called Astoria.  A long time ago the area had been where many Italians had congregated upon settling in New York, and there were a large number of them still living there, although the demographic was considerably more varied these days. 

A couple of days spent in the Big Apple had provided little insight into who the two men had been involved with when the attacks against Susan were planned.  They had found Jeff Rineri easily enough, but they had had no luck spotting Paul Martin, aka Paolo Martini.  He had not made an appearance in his very plush apartment the entire time Jake and Tony had been in the city.  Tony had wanted to bug the apartment, but given that Paul wasn't around, Susan felt the risks outweighed any potential advantage.  It appeared that Paul was away, possibly in Washington, although he hadn't been spotted there either.  They'd have to wait and see if he might return.  As for Jeff, if he was making any incriminating phone calls, he was being very circumspect and doing it on phones they didn't know about.  He also wasn't meeting with anyone who was the type that could have been part of either the kidnappings or the sniper attack.

The Director of the FBI had cancelled the APB on Jeff as soon as they had learned his name some days ago, indicating to the New York Office that the true killer being sought was someone else, and the search for Jeff Rineri had been in error.  They hadn't wanted any overly zealous agents or policemen to go after Rineri and reveal that he had been spotted.  With the amount of crime in the city, those who had momentarily had an interest in him, soon forgot about him, leaving Tony and Jake free to watch him, and monitor his cellular calls free from interference.  Tony had some gear that allowed them to mimic Rineri's phone, since they knew his number, but the calls on the personal cell had been mundane, mostly to various women that Jeff apparently had ongoing relationships with.  He moved around a great deal, clearly performing certain duties for the Mob, although some of the individuals he met with in the evenings looked to be freelance toughs who he might be recruiting for some task or another.  Both Jake and Tony were convinced that Paul was the one they needed to monitor, but he still remained missing.

Tuesday morning, the beginning of their third day in the city, Susan called and informed them of an attack against the two retired agents she'd brought onboard earlier.

Tuesday, May 17

"What happened?" Jake asked, after Susan informed them of the attack.

"I'd asked Lester and Solly to come into Headquarters," Susan explained.  "I had a couple of tasks I felt they could help with.  It didn't seem that their coming into the office, a place they'd spent many years working at, would be out of the ordinary.  But someone knew they were coming, and made a move against them on the way in."

"Separately?" Tony asked.

"They were riding together.  They only live a mile or so apart, and chose to ride together.  They used to do that when they were working, unless their work load dictated otherwise."

"How bad are they?" Jake asked.  "Do I need to Back-Track and alert you to the attack so we can circumvent it?"

"I think that's exactly what this is about," Susan said.  "I believe it's a ploy to try to flush out whoever is doing our Back-Tracking."

"I can go back and warn you from here," Jake reminded her.  "There's no way they will learn anything."

"They'd gain further proof we have someone with your ability," Susan pointed out.

The attack was pretty amateurish," Jim said.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked.

"Two men drove up and forced them off a road in a relatively quiet spot on the highway from Solly's home," Susan explained.  "The car went into the ditch, and the attackers started firing at them from their car, which they had stopped along the edge of the highway. "

"One of the men had a handgun, and the other a Mini-14.  Lester was shot three times in the upper leg, but Solly escaped with only some bumps and bruises from when their car rolled.  He was shooting back when a local Police Cruiser came upon the scene, which caused the shooters to flee."

"How is Lester?" Jake asked.

"He's in the hospital.  Solly was checked and released, but we asked Lester to play along and see what happens."

"I don't understand," Tony said.  "Play along?"

"Lester got shot in his artificial leg.  Other than severe damage to his prosthetic, he is fine.  I thought it might be informative to see if there is any reaction to his being in serious condition.  He is well protected by the local police, who don't know his true condition.  I had a talk with the doctor responsible for his 'case'.  He's an old friend."

"We thought it might be interesting to see what happens when we don't react as these people expect when one of us is shot," Laney said.  "It should confuse them a bit, and make them wonder if they are correct in their belief we have a Back-Tracker."

"We didn't think they would be at risk," Susan added.  "I can't see another believing one of them would be the person who could Back-Track, and they've only been peripherally involved up to now.  But it makes it clear that these people might go after anyone.  I've told Shaun he has to disappear for a while.  He left a short time ago with a couple of agents the Director assigned to watch him.  He'll be relocated someplace secure.  Most of what he needs to do is finished for now anyway, but he took along enough equipment he can set up remotely if needed."

"How did you contact them?" Jake asked, referring to Solly and Lester.

"I called them on my cell phone from Norm's place last night.  The three of us were discussing the status of things when I decided they could help."

"Your phone has been compromised," Tony said immediately.

"So it would seem," Susan agreed.  "While this is my private phone, the number is not something that is widely circulated.  There are some here at Headquarters who knew, mostly the members of this group.  There are a few others, and I guess I'll have to call them and see if they might have been asked about my number.  I'm not sure how whoever is behind the attack would have learned the number.  Norm is off at the provider right now checking into who might have managed to get access to my calling history."

"It's likely he won't learn anything," Tony said.  "My guess is whoever  this is has access to equipment that allows them to mimic your phone.  If they are near the same tower you are using, they can listen in on your conversations.  From this point onward, you need to use a cheap throwaway phone for your calls."

"Already doing that.  I gave Shaun one of the phones, and I have another one for such calls.  For our core group, I assume we are secure using Tony's phones."

"Even if they know what we have, they can't break into them," Tony reassured her.

"It would be interesting to know who the attackers were," Jake said.  "It wasn't our friend Jeff Rineri.  It looks like he is still in his apartment, so he couldn't have made it down there and back."

"How about those he's been talking with the past couple of days?" Jim asked.

"Possible," Tony agreed.  "There are too many to check on, unless we have some descriptions to go on."

"Solly got a pretty good look," Susan said.  "Jim will send you the sketches the police had made up."

"I can't help wondering if this Paul Martin character might not be behind this," Jake mused.  "We haven't seen him since coming to New York.  It is possible he's gone to DC, and used his underworld contacts to arrange for some cheap labor to make the attempt on your friends."

"Unfortunately, we don't want to give the police his picture," Susan said.  "That would alert him to the fact we have an idea who they are."

"For now I agree," Jake said.  "The more we can limit the Back-Tracking and corrective actions they take, the better our chances are.  Eventually, we might need their help.  The eyes of several hundred beat cops might increase our chances of finding out where he is hiding."

"I guess for now, we continue to wait and watch," Susan said.  "Shaun left us a file on what he learned on Rineri's sister.  Her name is Natalie, but I haven't gone through the file yet.  This shooting incident has taken priority.  I'll go through it, and send anything useful your way."

"Meanwhile, we'll see what our friend Jeff is up to today," Tony said.  "If he had any hand in the attacks last night, something should show in his actions."

"What do you think?" Jake asked when they had completed their call with Washington.

"He could have set something up," Tony replied.  "Some of the people he has been visiting could easily have driven down to DC last night, made the attempt, and could be on their way back now.  We'd never be able to chase them all down."

"I'm thinking we need to have a talk with our friend Rineri," Jake said.

"I thought that was what we were trying to avoid?" Tony asked.

"I can talk with him, then Back-Track to just before we approached him, and he'll never know it happened," Jake said.  "I'm beginning to think we are being too careful with our efforts."

Tony raised an eyebrow, then shrugged.

"I'm not used to having such flexibility," he admitted.  "Let's go and look him up.  You're not going to alert Susan?"

"Not unless we learn something," Jake said.

"She's a knockout," Jim said as he showed Susan the image of Natalie Rineri that Shaun had captured from some publicity photos her company had released.  "Also a genius.  She apparently stumbled upon a serum that they believe will result in a cure for diabetes.  Her company is in the final stages of testing now, hoping for a formal approval to begin limited human testing, with a targeted release sometime next year.  Oh, and the company she now works for is here in Washington, DC."

"Here?" Susan asked, immediately interested.  "I thought she was supposed to be working at a firm outside Boston?" Susan asked.

"She was for a while, but moved a couple of years ago."

"It's too coincidental that she is here in the same area where all of this is taking place.  What is the name of this company?"

Jim looked through the summary Shaun had provided.  Finally he found the reference.

"It's a place called East Coast Pharmaceuticals," he said.

Susan was suddenly silent.  Jim noticed the change that had come over her.

"Does that mean something to you?" he asked. 

Susan was annoyed with herself.  She didn't usually forget things.  But the events of the past couple of weeks had been so unusual that the phone call from her old college friend had slipped her mind entirely.  Anne Barker worked at East Coast, and she had called Susan with some kind of problem she felt was important enough that she wanted to run it by her before raising it more formally.  She had promised to get back to Anne, and never had.  Now, by sheer coincidence, Jeff Rineri's sister turns out to work at the very same company.  Susan wasn't much of a believer in coincidences.  She tried to remember what Anne had said when she had called.  Something about their new program and the person responsible for it.  Anne had had reservations about that person, who must be Natalie based on the information Shaun had left for them, but hadn't said just what over the phone.  She hadn't even named Natalie.

It took Susan a few minutes to find Anne's phone number in her written log.  She didn't make a habit of storing numbers electronically in case her phone were compromised.  She knew of an agent who had been blackmailed by a felon threatening to harm those who he had discovered listed in the agents phone.

There was no answer at either her cellular or home number.  Susan left a message on both, but couldn't help but be uneasy about the lack of response.

"Come on," Susan said.  "Call Norm and tell him to meet us there."

"Where?" Jim asked.

"East Coast Pharmaceuticals," Susan said as she noted the address from the computer screen.  "I'll explain on the way."

"You're not going to tell Jake?" Jim asked.

"Not until I've talked with someone," she replied.