Jigsaw (Black Raven Book 2) (21 page)

“That being said,” Samantha continued, her eyes on Gabe, then Zeus. “I may need your help with facts. To underscore the necessity for access to Stollen, I may have to reveal something about the need to go to Praptan.”

“No,” Zeus said. “Not an option. Word will get out. I don’t want to facilitate an ambush.”

“What if you fake it?” Gabe asked. “Make up a story about where the bounty hunt is going. Make it plausible based on something in the Stollen files?”

The eyes of everyone in the room focused on her. Abe, as second chair attorney, knew her concerns as a lawyer and specifically as Amicus counsel. Through Abe’s tortoise-shell glasses, his blue eyes were lit with a caution warning. She gave Abe a reassuring nod, a signal that she wasn’t forgetting her professional and ethical obligations as an attorney.

“The duty of candor that I owe the tribunal requires truthfulness,” Samantha said. “However, I’m sure your intel would enable me to come up with a scenario of options.” She glanced in the monitor at Gabe, whose open expression and wide smile told her he was persuaded her plan was a good one. Zeus’s brooding look told her he wasn’t so sure. She focused on Gabe, as she continued. “Options that would support an argument that interviewing Stollen is of paramount importance without revealing where Gabe’s team is going.”

Gabe gave a low whistle. “Welcome to the team, Sam.”

“Samantha,” she said, correcting him. Only one living person got away with calling her Sam, and he wasn’t the green-eyed Hernandez brother. “Not Sam.”

“Sorry,” Gabe said. “Zeus calls you Sam. I’ve connected a few dots on my own, but I didn’t realize he had an exclusive on your nickname.”

He was obviously going to tease his brother—and anyone connected to him—every step of the way. Just like an adoring, pesky, in-your-face younger brother would.

“Ragno,” Zeus said, once again ignoring Gabe, “can you pull up everything we can find on Stollen?”

“We’ve already got a wealth of information, and we’re crawling through databases, looking for more,” Ragno responded. “Some of what Stollen said is already factored into our decision to go to Praptan. By the way, I’ve found the 2010 study—
Praptan: Birthplace of a Terrorist
—that Samantha referred to earlier.”

“Great,” Zeus said. “That was fast.”

“It helps to know what I’m looking for,” Ragno answered.

“Ragno sent the report to me while you were stealing Samantha’s butter,” Gabe said. “Or maybe it was when you were giving her your salad. Check your inbox.”

Zeus ate a forkful of salad. Eyes on his brother, he said, “Ragno, look for something that could present a plausible argument requiring Sam to talk to Stollen now.”

“Such as the bounty hunt is headed to caves in Afghanistan, or the Mexican desert?” Ragno asked.

Zeus shrugged. “Wherever might make sense. Any area Stollen frequented. Anything that gives us a link to Stollen and a destination. When Sam talks to him, she’ll ask him the real questions. Word might get out, but it will be nearer in time to our mission. Less time for ambush prep.”

“Understood,” Ragno said.

“Gabe,” Zeus said, “we’re signing off for now.”

“Oh, come on,” Gabe said. “I’m enjoying the family time.”

Zeus glanced at Agent Small, lifted his right hand, and gave a signal with his index finger. Gabe disappeared from the monitor. “Sam. There’s more,” Zeus said, “and this information might produce something that can underscore the need for you to talk to Stollen. Based upon your request that we share the information we’re uncovering in the bounty hunt, we’ve created a file-sharing database for the three of you. We call it OLIVER.”

“Why OLIVER?” To Sam it sounded like a name for a beagle. Maybe a war hero. Not a database.

“It’s an acronym that has to do with drives, access codes, encryption, and filters. None of it makes sense to anyone other than the designer and his team. You’ll be receiving a memo from R. Barrows in a few seconds. He designed it. It contains information regarding what we’ve put into OLIVER and directions on how to manipulate the database.”

Samantha glanced at Charles and Abe. Charles was finishing his last bite of pork roast. Abe’s plate was empty. Earlier in the evening, she’d explained that she’d asked Zeus to share the Black Raven data from the bounty hunt with her. Now, they looked like eager students, ready for any and all knowledge Zeus could provide.

“R. Barrows,” Abe said. “As in Richard Barrows?”

Zeus gave a casual nod, as though there was nothing exceptional about the fact that one of the world’s leading cyber geniuses now worked with Black Raven and was providing assistance on the bounty hunt. “Most of the information in OLIVER is highly sensitive. OLIVER is a subset of a larger body of Black Raven data. Our sourcing tactics are…” he paused, his words tapering, “cutting edge.”

“Meaning you don’t have authority to have most of the information that is in OLIVER?” Samantha asked.

He gave no indication he planned to answer her direct question. “Information from OLIVER cannot be shared, distributed, or used in any manner without prior permission.”

“From whom?” Charles asked.

Zeus’s sweeping glance encompassed the Amicus team. “Me. Also, your actions in OLIVER will be monitored. Any attempt at information sharing or duplication, without my approval, will result in termination of access. Understood?”

Charles cleared his throat. Abe looked at Samantha. As she glanced at her team, their discomfort at Zeus’s dose of reality was palpable. In a low voice, Abe said, “So on top of data sourcing problems, by having Black Raven monitor what we do in the database, we’re potentially compromising the attorney client privilege.”

Which meant that their thought processes, which were typically protected by the attorney-client privilege, were not protected. Abe and Charles cast an uneasy look in her direction. Charles stood and walked to the buffet.

“Sam?” Zeus’s right eyebrow arched. “I’m spelling it out so we have a clear understanding. Anything from OLIVER can only be used with my approval.”

In the Congressional hearings following the Barrows incident, detractors of Black Raven had alleged that the company used its cyber skills to hack through databases with reckless abandon. Some called it cyber theft. Black Raven called it getting the job done. The hearings had ended in favor of Black Raven. There’d been no reprisals, nor had there been any type of legislation designed to curb the methods employed by Black Raven, or other companies who were attempting to follow suit.

Considering the implications of what Zeus was saying in terms of her career path, she hesitated. She wished she had time to confer with Justin on this one. Whether the end would justify the means in the ITT proceeding was an open issue. What wasn’t an open issue, though, was the certainty that by looking at information that had been obtained through questionable means, she was as complicit as the person who hacked into the data. Her integrity could later be questioned.

If things soured, using Black Raven data was potentially a career-limiting move, because anything was fair game for the review committee that would ultimately consider her for a judgeship.

Was the Black Raven data worth the potential negative fallout for her career? She didn’t know.

Won’t know, until I see what they have
.

“Are you in,” Zeus asked, “or out?”

Being given access to the database was no different than using the information they’d gathered on the bounty hunt, she reasoned. It was just that having personal access made it seem different, made her feel more complicit in Black Raven’s illicit data collection efforts. In the legal world in which she lived, the words accomplice and co-conspirator applied to those who acted in concern in criminal acts, and co-conspirators were prosecuted to the same extent as the ringleader.

Yet she remembered the cracking sound of the bomb, the acrid smells of smoke, blood, and fear, the feel of Zeus’s strong body protecting her as they fell. The moans and cries of the wounded, people who didn’t have security protecting them. People who were there merely to express an opinion on the proceedings. She’d been safe, but only because of Zeus and Black Raven. Survivor’s guilt told her that the world needed to be safe for those who didn’t have ace security teams.

Period.

Charles returned to the table with a thick slab of pound cake, piled high with berries. Eyeing the red, blue, and black berries spilling over the yellow cake, Samantha nodded. “I’m in. Let us see what you’ve found. I’m not sure we’ll use any of it. I want to be perfectly clear here—we’re not agreeing to your tactics. However, the events of today, from the bombing to the resulting pandemonium, are enough for me to know I’m making the right choice.” She glanced at Abe and Charles. “Are you two okay with this?”

They nodded.

To Zeus, she said, “Move forward.”

Zeus gave her a nod. “Ragno? Alert Barrows we’re ready.”

After a second, the monitor with the news show went dark, and a middle-aged man, with gray hair and clear blue eyes appeared on the screen. “Samantha, Abe, and Charles,” Barrows said, as their computers dinged with an alert indicating they were receiving a message from R. Barrows. “The email contains download, access, and search instructions to OLIVER. We’ve made it as user friendly as possible. Because we’re integrating information from sources known to the ITT and sources not produced in the ITT proceeding, I’m providing mapping for sourcing details. I’ve equipped each of you with a search bar that should be easy with plain language techniques. Just type a question, and you’ll receive hits in response.

“Responses will be prioritized in terms of frequency and color-coded as to information sensitivity. If your search result is green, you can use it in the ITT proceedings. Green means most everything in the search result is in the ITT record. If the search result is red, you can’t use the information at all. If the highlight is yellow, maybe you can use it. You’ll need permission from Zeus.”

All roads from OLIVER lead to Zeus.
Understood.

Barrows continued, “We have a team of analysts running through scenarios that have taken the searches that the three of you did in the ITT proceeding and research databases—”

“Excuse me?” Abe said.

Barrows’s gaze fell to Abe. “We’re not underestimating your brainpower, nor are we ignoring the other lawyers in the ITT proceeding. We’d be foolish at this point not to employ the collective brainpower amassed to assist the ITT proceedings. Searches that others employ, you and anyone else, are rerun every few hours as the Black Raven databases–including OLIVER—grow with new information.”

“As though our brains are all tied together,” Abe said, drawing a deep breath. “That’s right, Abe,” Zeus interjected. “With OLIVER, Barrows has created a freaking orgy of brainpower for you guys, coupled with the most sophisticated data assimilation methodology on the planet. If I were you, I’d enjoy the hell out of it.”

“But don’t get too excited,” Barrows said. “So far, from OLIVER, nothing particularly interesting is green. Most search results are red. A few are yellow.”

“Wait a second,” Samantha said. “You indicated that the searches we run in OLIVER will be rerun in another Black Raven database. You’re working in a database that’s separate from OLIVER?”

Zeus glanced at her. “Some of our sources only share information with strict confidentiality agreements in place. Just because you have access to OLIVER doesn’t mean you have access to Black Raven databases. No one is integrated with Black Raven. Ever. OLIVER is separate from the total body of information Black Raven is pulling together on the bounty hunt.”

“That is correct,” Barrows said. “Any search you’re performing in OLIVER will be automatically rerun in the private Black Raven database.”

“I thought you’d want to know that,” Zeus said.

Damn right.

“Zeus will determine whether to share with you the results that are produced in the Black Raven database,” Barrows said.

“Understood.” Not that she liked it, but she did understand. “You’ve also said most data results in OLIVER are red. So you’ve come up with information that might be relevant to the ITT proceedings, you’ve shared that information with me and my team through OLIVER,” Samantha said, “but it’s not from information in the ITT record, and it’s from information we can’t use?”

Zeus gave her a curt nod, standing with his empty plate, and heading to the buffet table.

“That’s exactly what we’re saying.” Barrows leaned forward and typed commands. The image of him disappeared, replaced with a mostly empty screen that had the Black Raven logo, the word OLIVER, and a blank search bar with a blinking cursor. “This is how you could run a potential search, keeping in mind that your searches will be monitored and facilitated on our end.”

The words
assimilation grid
of Duvall phone contacts throughout all databases
appeared in the search bar.

Samantha’s heart skipped a beat. Her fork, full of potatoes, was almost in her mouth. She returned it to her plate, more interested in the search result to Barrows’ query than eating.

“Simple, right?” Barrows asked. “We’ll all receive alerts if information relevant to the bounty hunt appears. Next order of priority is information relevant to official ITT proceedings appears. For example, Samantha, you’ll be continuing your cross examination of Duvall tomorrow. Correct?”