Mad Powers (Tapped In) (19 page)

“Chapleau, do you work for my interests in this, as well?” I asked.

“Yes, I do.”

“And all this is legal? Binding?”

“Absolutely. Here, take my card.”

I pocketed the card. “Good. Have Mr. Cervenka’s personal items cleared out of here within the next few days.”

“Will do.”

Drako leaned back on his lounge chair. He seemed to be having some trouble breathing.

I sat down on the chair opposite him, leaned in, and spoke in a low tone. “I want you to know Ladislav Skykora sends you his special regards. Your actions have caught up with you, Drako. Human trafficking and murder, to name a few. You’ll be dead within ten minutes.”

Drako tried to move his hands, tried to move his lips. Attempts that failed.

“No need to speak, Drako. Yes, I can most definitely read your mind.”

Go to hell, Rob.

You first, Drako
, I answered right back, directly into his mind.

I stood and turned to face the far off, rocky horizon and gave a quick wave to Cassie. I headed for the exit.

Chapter 30

Pippa was en route to Dulles on Calloway’s Gulfstream G550. Although the luxury jet sat sixteen comfortably, there were only a handful of people on board. Pippa sat directly across from Calloway and found him an interesting, and highly intelligent man. Fastidiously dressed in sharply creased suit pants and polished wingtips, he looked just as fresh as he had five hours earlier, in the Beale Hotel. What surprised her most was how much he already knew about her—her life as a child, growing up in Westchester County, New York; her years in college; as well as her time at the CIA—and, most recently, at DHS. Her mind flashed back to the cellar of Hotel Beale and Calloway, standing above them, firing a bullet into Harland’s head. He’d done it with an air of indifference, as if he were buying frozen peas from a supermarket. Pippa needed to remember just how ruthless, how dangerous, and possibly, untrustworthy, this man truly was.

“Do you own this plane?” Pippa asked.

“God, no. Charter service. We have a special arrangement,” Calloway answered.

Pippa, feeling his eyes on her, felt somewhat uncomfortable by his always
on
intensity. Baltimore moved forward from the back of the cabin and took the seat next to his boss. He leaned in and said something into Calloway’s ear. The older man nodded several times and then raised his eyebrows, as if surprised or impressed by the last thing Baltimore said. Baltimore sat back in his seat and looked out the window.

“Seems Mr. Chandler has accomplished his directive in Kingman. Remind me to never underestimate that man.” With that, Calloway glanced over to Baltimore and the two exchanged a quick smile.

Pippa was uncertain what they were referring to but guessed it had something to do with those crazy-mad powers of Chandler’s. If she hadn’t experienced them herself, she wouldn’t have believed such things were possible. Sitting here, on this fifty million dollar jet at thirty thousand feet, conversing with one of the most powerful men on the planet, she was reminded how important it was for Rob’s secret to remain just that—a secret, and one that could never be revealed to men like Calloway.

“Can you tell me more about the mission we’re being brought in for?” she asked.

“Sure,” Calloway replied. “You and Chandler will be posing as Pam and David Craft, a recently-married American couple, visiting your relatives in Germany—primarily, your great aunt, Ingrid Krueger.”

Baltimore passed Pippa a thick file folder.

“Where in Germany?” she asked. She’d spent several years working out of the U. S. embassy in Berlin and knew a number of locals there. She would be easily recognized.

Calloway smiled, as if reading her mind. “Not Berlin. You will primarily be working out of Baden-Baden. Are you familiar with that area?”

Pippa’s eyes widened and she expelled a breath of air. “Europe’s richest of the rich live there. I take it Great Aunt Ingrid is well-heeled?”

“Yes, quite wealthy.”

“What’s our directive?”

“As a visiting couple, you’ll need to quickly merge into local high-society. Specifically, you will become friends with Mr. and Mrs. Goertz. Leon Goertz is one of the wealthiest men in Germany. Only recently have we uncovered his ties to a fanatical neo-Nazi group called the WZZ. They have one purpose: to bring Germany back to its former glory at the height of World War Two—and to become today’s dominant superpower. The group is dedicated to the destruction of both the United States and Russia.”

“What do they honestly think their group can accomplish?” Pippa asked.

“Militarily? Not much. But in the financial realm, Leon is a modern-day Caesar. He yields an immense amount of power within Europe’s financial and securities markets. With his early prowess as a savvy investor, and later, as the founding partner of the venture capital group Wolfgang-Klein-Atkins, he now yields powerful influence into Europe’s political and financial infrastructure. Whereas the 1930-40s Nazi regime’s power lay in its military, and in strategically positioning its troops and artillery throughout Western Europe, the WZZ’s modern-day-war machine is invested in targeting financial markets. They’ve already toppled several small Eastern-bloc corporations. We view these takeovers as running real-world experiments—testing their capabilities, first on a small scale,” Calloway explained.

“They went after other countries’ companies?” Pippa asked.

“Yes. In essence, that’s what financial markets are comprised of … powered by—successful, dominant, corporations. They’ll use any number of methodologies, either to take control of, or outright dismantle, any non-German foreign business. If they succeed, one corporation at a time, the WZZ will become the premier financial player on Earth.”

“To be honest, this sounds like a much bigger assignment than two lone agents will be able to handle. What specifically are we tasked to accomplish?”

“
We
’
ve discovered that Leon Goertz
’
s success over the years is more than having a great financial mind. Something he
’
s kept secret is that his success is actually attributable to a propriety software program
—
a complex and highly versatile code, with algorithms designed to analyze financial systems like nothing else before. The software program, called Spatz, was originally designed by a German post-grad student named Horris Spatz. Apparently, the code was the basis of his doctoral project. Not only did Leon acquire the code before Horris was able to publish his thesis, Horris went missing over ten years ago. We need to find the single source of this Spatz program within the WZZ
…
and we need to destroy it.
”

“
If we
’
re American, why would he befriend us? Wouldn
’
t we be the enemy?
”

“
Definitely. But Rob
’
s cover as an entrepreneur, in the early stages of taking his highly successful company public, will be enticing to Goertz. Rest assured, he will instigate the contact and friendship. He
’
ll discover Rob
’
s company is already a major supplier of a new, lightning-fast server system to companies such as Google, Microsoft and Apple, to name a few. He
’
ll see that as a way to make inroads into the largest of the U.S. corporations. He
’
ll want Rob
’
s company for himself.
”

“
What
’
s my part in all of this?
”
Pippa asked.

“
In some ways, bigger than Rob
’
s. Heidi Goertz, Leon
’
s wife, is a formidable, upper-class socialite. She has money of her own
…
family money. We
’
ve already determined that Leon keeps the code for the Spatz program away from his office. We
’
re guessing it
’
s kept under tight security at their Baden-Baden estate. More like a palace. You
’
ll need to get yourselves invited to their upcoming celebration
—
a birthday party for Heidi.
”

“
I guess we should brush up on our German?
”

“
You
’
re Americans. Don
’
t want to come across as too prepared. Look, you and Rob will have some local support. We have a Baden-Baden contact within the Verfassungsschutz, Germany
’
s homeland security department,
”
Calloway explained.

Calloway, hesitating, looked over to Baltimore, then continued: “Agent Rosette, the Goertz’s, in addition to their connection to the WZZ, are fanatical in wanting to bring Germany back to its former state of glory; regaining, anew, the power and presence it held in the early nineteen forties. Here things get murky; details are limited, at best. They are ruthless, and undoubtedly, murderers in their own right. And with their cult-like following, you’ll be walking into an extremely dangerous situation.

Terrific,
Pippa thought. She was wishing she’d never met Calloway. She had their mission file open on her lap. She had been skimming through the material as Calloway spoke. She read that her appearance profile was fairly specific: short black hair, blue eyes, curvy, and a small tattoo of a ladybug on her upper right buttock. She looked up at Calloway.
“
Tattoo?
”

Curt Baltimore interjected:
“
Both covers, yours and Rob
’
s, have been derived from actual people. Years in the making, and an extremely expensive proposition, we prefer you match their physical attributes as closely as possible. Temporary henna tattoos can fade
…
never really look real.
”

“
Who
’
s going to be looking at my ass?
”

“
You
’
ll be on a mission. Whatever impromptu situation might arise you
’
ll be expected to deliver,
”
Baltimore replied. Calloway didn
’
t add anything to this and stayed expressionless.

Pippa thought about it.
Seriously? I
’
m to get a tattoo on my ass?

Baltimore leaned forward, rifled through the file on her lap, and came up with an 8x10 color photograph.
“
Look for yourself. This is a picture of the actual Pam Craft.
”

Pippa looked at the photo and saw some resemblance to herself. The woman had similar features, similar bone structure. But where her own hair was long and platinum blonde, Pam
’
s hair was black, cut above her shoulders, and she had a sassy, fun style Pippa actually liked. But the real Pam
’
s body was quite different. Not as tall as she was, Pam also had the addition of several cup-sizes on her chest.

Pippa looked over to Baltimore with a furrowed brow.
“
That ain
’
t happening.
”

Baltimore smiled and said,
“
We
’
d prefer you to be surgically augmented, but I understand there are a series of injections that will suffice instead
…
temporary, but they will be suitable for the duration of the mission.
”

Pippa just shook her head, not really knowing what else to say.

“
You and Rob will also have your facial bone structure somewhat altered via a series of strategically placed silicone injections.
”

“
What will happen to the real Pam and David during this time?
”
Pippa asked.

“
They
’
ve agreed to go to ground for no more than seven days,
”
Calloway said.

Baltimore began rifling through the file on her lap again, eventually coming up with another photo. Smiling, he looked at it, then flipped it around to face Pippa. David Craft was approximately Rob
’
s height and build. He also had red hair. Fire-engine red. Pippa giggled. Soon all three of them were laughing out loud.

Chapter 31

I spent the night again at Motel 6, and after tapping in early the next morning I made my way to the Kingman Regional Airport where I was greeted by Curt Baltimore. I followed him out to the runway where our ride sat, her engines winding up. I pointed to the G550.
“
That one for us?
”

“
Yep, she
’
s been pretty much flown non-stop since yesterday afternoon,
”
Baltimore answered.

“
You too, I
’
m betting?
”

“
It
’
s not a problem.
”
He shrugged it off.

With the exception of a crew of three, plus Baltimore and myself, the plane was empty. I plopped down mid-cabin in one of the wide, stark-white leather seats. Baltimore sat directly across from me. Twenty-five minutes after takeoff, dual breakfasts of eggs Benedict and fruit plates were delivered by an attractive, thirty-something, flight attendant. With a quick look into her thoughts, I saw she was also an SIFTR
agent.

Baltimore brought up a bulky briefcase and placed it on his lap.
“
We have a lot to go over in the next few hours.
”
He handed me a fat file folder.
“
Why don
’
t you go through this on your own first, then we can go over the particulars and any questions you may have afterward.
”

I dug into the file and later had a lot of questions for Baltimore. We were still at it when the plane set down at Dulles airport, three and a half hours later. I wondered how Pippa was coping with the changes in her life over the last few days … new job, being taken prisoner by a psychotic maniac, dealing with me and my unique circumstances—not to mention the unresolved aspects of our past relationship. Maybe our relationship was just that: meant to stay in the past. I had kept my promise—had stayed out of her head. So I wasn’t sure where things stood between us.