Corps Justice Boxed Set: Books 1-3: Back to War, Council of Patriots, Prime Asset (62 page)

“Put him back in his cell and warm him up.
We’ll try again in the morning,” Ponder ordered.

The jailer nodded and carried his package
back into the building.

Ponder stood outside, marveling at the
stars. The view was crystal clear. It would be gone tomorrow when
the clouds rolled in. He hoped it wasn’t a sign of things to come.
There was too much riding on the sale.

+++

Neil regained consciousness just as he was
being laid back down on his cot. He pretended to still be
unconscious as the guard covered him with a blanket and left to
fetch the large electric heater they used to bring Neil’s body
temperature back to normal.

Shivering under the wool
blanket, Neil had one more thought as he drifted off into a fitful
sleep.
I won this round,
asshole.

Chapter 14

Camp Spartan, Arrington, TN

12:40am CST, September 28th

Dr. Higgins and Todd Dunn were looking over
the files of the five suspects. All five were relatively recent
hires. Only one had been at the company for longer than a year.
They were similar in that they all had some kind of computer
science background. Under Neil Patel’s leadership, SSI’s R&D
division had grown quickly over the preceding years. Cyber attacks
were becoming more and more frequent around the globe, and Neil
wanted to be part of the force fighting it.

The year before, the U.S. military’s new
Cyber Command had enlisted SSI’s aid in building a more secure
infrastructure. They now had SSI on retainer for future
consultation with the caveat that Neil Patel be the lead
troubleshooter.

“Do we still have all of these men on the
premises?” asked Higgins.

“Yep. I gave the whole division orders to
stay close a couple days ago. They’re effectively on lockdown
working around the clock.”

“Good. They’re probably nearing exhaustion.
That should help our interrogation.”

“What do you want me to do, Doc?” Dunn knew
a thing or two about questioning suspects, but he also understood
that Dr. Higgins’s skills were on a whole other level. The pudgy
professor was the most effective interrogator Dunn had ever
witnessed. You don’t get to be the CIA leading expert on
interrogation techniques without having a lot of success. Higgins
had paid his dues around the globe countless times.

“I’d like for you to be with me for the
questioning. Do you think you can play bad cop?”

Dunn offered a rare smile. “No problem,
Doc.”

Higgins went back to the files.

“I know I don’t have to tell you this, Doc,
but we need to find the leak fast and have time to assess the full
extent of the damage. Marge says the federal investigators are
coming tomorrow.”

Higgins looked up from his scanning. “Then I
guess we better get to work then.”

Dunn shook his head in amusement. Leave it
to Higgins to state the obvious.

+++

Thirty minutes later they’d devised their
plan. Dunn picked up the office phone and dialed his deputy’s
number.

“I need four guards to meet
me at the Batcave now. Tell them to come loaded.” The Batcave was
what everyone called Patel’s underground research and IT facility.
It not only held multiple office suites full of computers, but it
also housed a large warehouse area that the teams used to test new
technology. As a joke, someone had even plastered a few
Batman
movie posters on
the door leading into the cavernous main room.

He hung up the phone and looked at Higgins.
“You ready to go?”

“After you, Todd.”

+++

Five minutes later, Dunn and Higgins linked
up with the four-man team waiting at the security desk outside the
R&D labs. Each man wore all black combat suits and carried an
H&K G36C automatic carbine. The fire team leader nodded to
Dunn, who motioned for the men to follow.

The six men walked quickly down the long
hallway leading to the entrance of the Batcave. Dunn put his hand
on the entry scanner, and a second later the heavy magnetic lock
clicked open.

Grabbing the door handle, Dunn turned to the
fire-team leader. “Take Dr. Higgins down to the interrogation
rooms. Help him setup whatever he needs. I’ll be down in ten
minutes.”

SSI kept ‘mock’ interrogation rooms in the
depths of its Tennessee campus. Used mostly for training, the rooms
were now being utilized for the first time ever on SSI’s own
employees. It still shocked Dunn that a breach of this magnitude
happened on his watch. He promised himself that it would never
happen again.

As the four operators escorted Higgins to
the lower level, Dunn headed to the common computing room that most
of the geeks occupied after hours. He’d already confirmed with
security that the five men he wanted to question were still
there.

He walked into the large common room and
looked around. Even though he’d never been to the headquarters of
Google or Facebook, this is what he imagined it probably looked
like. The room was huge and wide open. There were dartboards and a
ping-pong table in one corner and a full array of video game
systems in another. The center of the space housed modern tables of
varying shapes and sizes. Twenty some odd programmers and
technicians were scattered around the room engaged in both work and
play. Dunn understood the necessity to blow off steam, especially
if you spent all hours underground. The guys worked hard and
deserved the added amenities.

Scanning the large room, he quickly found
the group he was looking for. They were clicking away on mini
laptops. Everyone was so engaged that they didn’t even turn as Dunn
moved closer. One young man finally looked up. “Can I help you, Mr.
Dunn?” The caution was evident in his tone. Todd Dunn was known
throughout SSI for his no B.S. attitude. If he came calling, you
stood at attention. The rest of the small gaggle took the hint and
stopped what they were doing.

“I need to see some of you.” Dunn read off
the names. “If you can close up whatever you’re working on and meet
me in the next room in five minutes, I’d appreciate it.”

Without another word, Dunn turned around and
left the room.

“I wonder what that’s all about,” commented
one of the programmers.

No one bothered to answer the statement. The
five employees called out by Dunn quickly packed up their gear.

Terrence Zheng tried to hide his discomfort.
He’d been one of the five Dunn had requested. Zheng tried to act
casual as his nerves rattled inside. The last thing he wanted to do
was spend time with Dunn. He’d thought that the FBI investigation
would’ve given him the opportunity to leave the campus unnoticed,
but there hadn’t been a chance to yet. Not only was his division
being worked overtime, it had also been discretely recommended that
they all remain on the headquarters’ grounds.

Terrence had to somehow get word to Ponder
that they were starting to question employees. Maybe his newest
benefactor could get him out of it.

As the five men stepped out in the corridor
Zheng spoke up.

“Hey, can you tell Dunn that I’ll be there
in a minute? I’ve gotta hit the bathroom. Too many Red Bulls,”
Zheng offered embarrassedly.

“You better hurry up,” answered a small
Vietnamese named Tony. “I heard the last time someone kept Dunn
waiting he made him strip down and do push-ups in the cafeteria
cooler.”

Zheng gave Tony an exasperated look as the
others laughed. “I’ll be there in a second.”

He walked quickly to the restroom and headed
for the nearest stall. Sitting down to relieve himself, Zheng
pulled out his cell phone and logged in to the remote email server.
He wrote a quick note and left it in the drafts folder. Flushing
the toilet, he hoped the entire ordeal would be over soon. He
looked forward to a much-needed vacation on a beautiful island.

Chapter 15

Camp Spartan, Arrington, TN

1:25am CST, September 28th

Terrence Zheng left the restroom and joined
the others.

“Sorry about that, Mr. Dunn. Figured I
should take a piss before we got started,” Zheng offered.

Todd Dunn nodded. “We’re headed downstairs.
There’ve been some developments in Neil’s disappearance but we need
your help. It shouldn’t take long.”

They all looked at Dunn in confusion.
Usually they were allowed to work independently. Initial guidance
was given followed by the occasional check-in. Then again, the
current situation was unique. They all knew Neil well as he’d hired
each one of them. The overtime they’d logged wasn’t just mandatory,
every man had volunteered to stay and work.

Zheng played along because everyone else
had. He couldn’t wait to walk out that door and never look
back.

Dunn continued, “We’re trying to nail down
details so we can find out what happened. I know you’ve probably
already answered some of this stuff but me and Doc Higgins wanted
to hear it personally.”

Two of the men groaned. What had already
looked like a long night just got longer.

Dunn ignored the frustrated sighs, then
turned and headed to the stairwell. As he walked, he was already
running the interrogation through his mind. He’d already chosen his
first target: Terrence Zheng.

+++

The mood went south as soon as they reached
their destination. Even though they were used to working in the
subterranean facility, this was something else. The main waiting
area held stadium seating similar to what you might find in a
university or outside an operating room in a teaching hospital.
Everything had the sterile feel of a medical facility too. There
were no decorations or even the slightest attempt to warm the place
up. It was what it was, an interrogation facility.

The seating overlooked ten rooms, each about
twelve by twelve with a metal table and two sets of chairs.
Although the lighting was comfortable in the gallery, the
interrogation rooms looked like they were lit by prison spot
lights.

None of the five had ever been to the
interrogation pod. There were only a handful of SSI employees that
had the security access to come this far underground.

SSI’s head of security didn’t try to lighten
the mood. This was exactly what he wanted. He needed them to be on
edge. They were visibly uncomfortable. Dunn directed the suspects
to leave their belongings on a table in the middle of the room.
They were then searched from head to toe by one of the guards and
escorted to separate rooms.

As the five men entered their respective
space, Dunn stepped into a side room that housed the control room.
One wall was comprised of flat panel screens displaying video of
each of the ten rooms. Dr. Higgins was sitting in one of the
comfortable leather couches, reviewing his files one last time. He
looked up as Dunn walked in.

“Everything go well with the roundup?” he
asked cheerfully.

Dunn nodded. “They didn’t freak out until we
walked into the gallery.”

“That’s to be expected. I can only imagine
what is going through their heads at this very moment.”

“I think I know who we should start with.
This Zheng kid.” Dunn pointed at the screen broadcasting Terrence
Zheng in high definition. “Something doesn’t feel right about
him.”

“Anything tangible?”

“Not that I can put my finger on, but
there’s something in his eyes. It just looks like he’s hiding
something.”

Higgins pulled out Zheng’s file.

“Let’s see. Terrence Zheng,
born April 3
^rd
, 1989 in Burbank, California.
Parents are from Beijing, China. He attended the University of
California at Berkeley for undergrad. Graduated with honors in
three years and double-majored in Computer Science and Electrical
Engineering. Went to MIT for graduate school. Dropped out after his
first year to run a start-up. Won a spot in SSI’s business
mentoring program. His company was sold last year for a tidy sum,
and Zheng was then hired by SSI. He is now part of our
cyber-security team and is tasked with monitoring our network and
preventing intrusion.

“I must say, Todd, if this is our man, we
might have quite a predicament on our hands.”

Dunn sighed. All but one of the five
suspects worked in some critical capacity at SSI. He didn’t even
want to think about the possible calamity should SSI’s network be
laid bare.

“You have any problem with me playing the
bad cop?” Dunn asked.

“I was rather hoping you would.”

+++

Zheng looked up at the mirrored observation
window. It was even brighter in the room than it had seemed from
the observation deck. He was uncomfortable but tried to act calm as
he waited for someone to begin the questioning.

Todd Dunn and Dr. Higgins entered. Higgins
took a seat while Dunn leaned against the opposite wall. The
muscular man’s calm demeanor was gone. It felt like Dunn was
staring a hole right through him. Despite his thought to do
otherwise, Zheng began to sweat.

Dr. Higgins started. “Hello, Terrence, my
name is Dr. Higgins.” He reached across and shook Zheng’s hand
warmly. “I’m sorry we’ve taken you away from your work but we had
some pressing questions to ask you and your colleagues.”

“Anything I can do to help, Doctor,” Zheng
offered as cheerfully as he could.

Higgins smiled. He could feel the
nervousness rolling off of the young man. It wasn’t unusual even
for innocent men to feel uncomfortable in such surroundings.
Through the years Dr. Higgins had developed a highly accurate
barometer for judging people’s innocence. It usually only took a
little friendly banter for Higgins to deduce whether a suspect was,
in fact, hiding something. Getting the person to divulge the
information was something else entirely.