Blood Money (4 page)

“Yet you managed to find out.”

Walter shrugged. “As you know from prior
experience, I have excellent sources within our government.”

Kelton knew all right. He had seen ample
evidence of Walter’s sources during his prior dealings with the old
man. Walter always seemed to have access to whatever information he
needed, no matter how well protected it was.

“Who’s in charge of the operation?” Kelton
said.

“They brought in someone from the Justice
Department to handle the questioning, but security is being taken
care of by some FBI guys from a local office. For the most part,
it’s pretty relaxed. Because this particular safe house has been
out of rotation for so long, it isn’t equipped with much by way of
technology. It’s got a couple of very minor things, but it relies
mostly on anonymity and remote location for protection.”

Kelton thought about this for a moment. The
lack of significant technological deterrents certainly would make
things far less difficult. But the question then became: “Why’d
they take her there instead of someplace more secure?”

“They needed something last minute and it
was free right away.”

“But why a safe house?” Kelton said. “Why
not a federal building, someplace official?”

“Because they’re not sure what to do with
her yet,” Walter said. “They’re trying to keep the situation quiet
for now, until they decide on a course of action. They figured
there are too many eyes at a federal building. Too many
opportunities for leakage.”

Kelton snorted.

Walter laughed. “Yeah, if they only
knew.”

“So, based on what you’ve told me so far,
I’m guessing we’re looking at a fairly tight time frame.”

“I’d say she’s got no more than 48 hours at
her current location. After that, she’ll undoubtedly be taken to a
site with better protection.”

“Forty-eight hours? That’s a pretty tight
window.”

“What can I say? That’s all we have to work
with.”

“I assume you have specs on the house and
the surrounding area?”

“I’ve got it all,” Walter said. “Floor plan,
alarm schematics, door codes, aerial photos—everything you need to
be successful.”

“All right,” Kelton said. “Let me take a
look at it all, see if this thing is even possible.”

“I assure you it is.”

“I’ll make that determination if you don’t
mind.”

“Fine, but there’s not much time to make up
you mind,” Walter said. “I’m looking for someone else to do the job
as we speak, so I need your decision within the next couple of
hours.”

“Fair enough.”

Walter pulled a compact disk from his
pocket, extended his arm towards Kelton. “Everything you need is on
there.”

Kelton grabbed the disk. “Give me a little
while, and I’ll let you know.”

“Sounds good,” Walter said. “You have
something I can write my number on?”

“Just tell me. I’ll remember.”

“Ah yes,” Walter said. “I almost forgot
about that steel trap you call a brain.”

Kelton closed his eyes and visualized the
numbers in a single string as Walter rattled them off. He then
filed the string away in a separate part of his mind, to be called
upon at will. It was a trick he’d taught himself a long time ago,
in a different life.

“You got it?” Walter said.

Kelton nodded.

“You never cease to amaze me, Kelton. How
many numbers do you have stored up there?”

Kelton shrugged. He knew the exact number,
but didn’t feel the need to share the information.

“You are one of a kind, my friend,” Walter
said. He stood up and offered Kelton his hand. “Just make sure you
get back to me quickly, one way or another.”

A little less than an hour after Walter
left, Kelton found himself pacing back and forth in the living
room, his eyes distant and unfocused,
PANOPTICON
by ISIS
playing on his stereo.

He had printed out and read the 97 pages of
information gathered on Walter’s disk, and was now letting his mind
assimilate everything and come up with a plan for springing Jessica
Robbins from her captors.

Walter was right; the safe house holding
Jessica had very little by way of technological deterrents. For the
most part, it looked like nothing more than a weekend getaway set
in an isolated area of the mountains.

There were a couple of minor wrinkles, but
if Walter’s information was correct—and there was no reason to
believe it wasn’t—none of them should prevent him from successfully
extracting Jessica from the safe house.

In addition to the meager technology
protecting Jessica, there were only four individuals on site; three
federal agents and one high-ranking member of the Justice
Department.

Kelton knew that at least the three federal
agents would be armed and possibly the Justice official too.
Together, they would be a mighty tough force to deal with, but
Kelton was counting on them to be sleeping in staggered twelve-hour
shifts, which meant that only two should be awake at any one time.
And considering that he planned on extracting Jessica at 4AM, he
might get lucky and only run across one of them.

Regardless of how many men were awake,
Kelton was confident that getting Jessica out of the safe house
wouldn’t be all that difficult.

Making it out of the area unmolested was an
entirely different story.

The house sat on a three-acre tract of
private land in Long Valley; a vast, high, flat basin littered with
low lying brush and criss-crossing hot springs located in the
Sierra Nevada Mountain range just south of Mammoth Lakes. Because
of the remote location, they would have to negotiate more than 40
miles of open plain set between two nearly impassable mountain
ridges before they arrived back in anything that resembled
civilization. And due to the layout of the land, they would be
forced to travel by foot for at least the first couple of
miles.

If everything went exactly according to
plan, they would have no problem getting out of the area before
Jessica’s captors realized she was missing. But if something went
awry and they weren’t able to leave the house without being
spotted, the open plain would serve as a net, holding them up until
reinforcements could be mobilized.

And the reinforcements would no doubt be
significant. There were two military bases within three hundred
miles of the area, which meant that it wouldn’t take long before
they were being hunted by extremely well-trained soldiers, with the
best equipment and technology money could buy, including air
support.

Although he was fairly certain he could get
out of the house without being spotted, Kelton refused to sign on
for this job unless he could figure out a way to get out of the
area under duress, if needed.

So far, he hadn’t been able to come up with
anything. But there had to be a solution. There was always a
solution; you just needed to look at the problem correctly.

Fifteen minutes later, he did.

After spending another half hour probing his
plan for weaknesses and not finding any, Kelton walked over to his
phone and dialed Walter’s number. The old man picked up before the
first ring had ended.

“I’m in,” Kelton said.

“Great. When are you planning on heading up
there?”

“After I get a couple hours of sleep.”

“You have time to meet up before you leave
so we can go over a couple final details?”

“I was counting on it,” Kelton said. The
clock on the microwave read 3:47 AM. “Is eight o’clock too early
for you?”

“I think I can manage that,” Walter said.
“Where?”

“You remember that sorry excuse for a park
over on Second and Vineyard, near the Gaslamp Quarter?”

“Yeah. It’s where all the bums hang out.
I’ll blend right in.”

“Why do you think I chose it?”

CHAPTER
FOUR

The park was nothing more than a
hundred-square foot patch of grass sitting in between skyscrapers.
A single scrawny tree had been planted in the middle of the area
and a cement walkway meandered throughout. Benches were scattered
at random intervals along the path.

A cup of coffee in his right hand, Kelton
made his way towards an old man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a
flannel shirt sitting alone on a bench in the far corner of the
park. To a wandering eye, the figure would be just another bum
tossing crumbs to the pigeons gathered in a swirling mass at his
feet, but Kelton recognized Walter immediately. He sat down next to
the old man without so much as a glance in his direction. A small
canvas bag sat between them.

“You get enough sleep?” Walter said.

Kelton squinted up at the morning sun
reflecting off the skyscrapers and took a sip of coffee. “I’ll be
fine.”

“Thanks again for doing this,” Walter said.
“I know it’s a bit of a flyer, but it’s an important job, and
worthy of your time.”

“For you, Walter, anything. Well, almost
anything.”

Walter laughed softly.

“I do have a couple more questions, though,”
Kelton said. “If you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

“What exactly do you plan on doing with the
vaccine?”

“I am going to mass-produce it and make it
available to the world for free.”

Kelton chuckled under his breath. “Good old
Walter. Always trying to save the world.”

“Not save it, merely help it,” Walter said.
“Not unlike you, I might add. Only on a different scale. While you
try and help out individuals with nowhere else to turn, I try and
help out the masses under the same circumstances.”

“And I don’t suppose there’s any personal
gain in it for you?”

“The personal gain comes in knowing I made a
difference,” Walter said. “As for any material gains, I’ve made
more than enough of those during my years to allow me to forego
them for the rest of my life.”

“Well, unfortunately, when it comes to
material gains, I’m still a bit lacking,” Kelton said. “So I assume
our regular deal applies?”

“Of course. One hundred thousand dollars is
in the bag between us, and another hundred upon delivery. And who
knows, there may even be a little bonus if you’re able to pull this
one off without complications.”

Kelton smiled; he liked the sound of that.
But he wouldn’t allow himself to be swayed by the money, at least,
not until the other issues were addressed to his satisfaction.

“How much do you know about this Jessica
Robbins?” he asked.

“Not much, besides what was in the files I
gave you. I’ve never talked to her, only traded emails.”

“So it’s fair to assume she knows nothing
about you.”

“Not even my name,” Walter said.

“And I suppose there’s no way for her to
know someone’s coming to get her out?”

Walter shook his head.

“So on top of everything else, I have to
convince her to come along with me,” Kelton said.

“Oh, that shouldn’t be a problem,
considering the situation she’s in.”

“Still,” Kelton said. “You know me. I’m not
exactly Prince Charming.”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“We’ll see,” Kelton said. A businessman in a
ill-fitting suit and a face red with exertion walked by, yelling
into his cell phone as though it was a bullhorn. Kelton waited
until the man was out of earshot before continuing. “What about a
post-extraction plan?”

“Simple,” Walter said. “After you’ve freed
her, just head back down here. We’ll meet in this exact spot at 7PM
tomorrow evening.”

“And if for some reason I can’t make
it?”

“Just call my cell and we’ll work something
out.”

“Sounds simple enough.”

“As all good plans are.” Walter tossed
another handful of breadcrumbs to the ground, attracting more birds
to the already considerable number pecking away at their feet. “In
addition to the money, the bag contains a cell phone so we can
easily communicate.”

Kelton glared at the old man. “You know how
I feel about those things.”

“Yes I do,” Walter said. “But this one is a
pre-paid burner; it doesn’t have to be registered, making it
anonymous, and therefore impossible to track.”

“But someone could still listen in.”

“Theoretically, yes. But even in the highly
unlikely event someone is listening, I’ve equipped this phone with
a double blind encryption scrambler, along with a couple other
deterrents. This phone is as safe as it gets these days.”

“But not 100% safe.”

“Nothing is,” Walter said. “You know
that.”

“Pay phones.”

Walter shook his head. “Not anymore.”

“They’re still safer than cells.”

“Not by much,” Walter said. “Besides, what
if something comes up on my end before tomorrow night? There’s no
way for me to get a hold of you through pay phones.”

Kelton took a sip of his coffee and let his
gaze wander through a gap between the buildings and out to the
ocean beyond.

“I know you don’t like it,” Walter said.
“But I must insist on this one point.”

“Then I guess I’ll bring it along.”

“Thank you. We’ll use our traditional
greeting as an all-clear on the phone, minus the names, of
course.”

“Sounds good,” Kelton said.

“Is there anything else you have questions
about?”

“Not off the top of my head.”

“Well then, good luck,” Walter said. “I’ll
see you back here in 35 hours.” He tossed the rest of the bread to
the birds at his feet, stood up, and started walking down the
sidewalk.

Kelton lingered for a moment and watched
Walter saunter out of sight. A smile crept onto his face like a
worm writhing through damp soil. Despite knowing better, he had
grown to like the old bastard.

DAY TWO

CHAPTER FIVE