The Tenth Cycle: A Thriller (A Rossler Foundation Mystery Book 1) (20 page)

Chapter 24 – By the Fires of Hell

Septentrio gazed at the wall-sized screen at the man who was making his report. Dressed all in black, Impes even affected the wraparound aviator shades that the stereotype dictated for a CIA operative, although this man was assuredly not CIA. Septentrio’s lip curled. His man needed some discipline, and the next time he or his team screwed up in this manner, he, Septentrio, would provide it in person.

“May I ask why you initiated an operation without authorization?” he said coldly.

“Sir, I was laying a trap for a traitor in the organization…”

“Did it require you to kill the researcher? His death has seriously compromised the
authorized
operation.” Septentrio brushed aside the man’s excuse, which was unlikely. No one would dare harbor traitorous intent. Septentrio’s reputation for punishment of error was too terrifying to consider it.

“No, sir, but…”

“No buts! So he resisted, you tortured him and killed him and you only got a piece of paper with a half-done translation? No data on his computer or on a flash drive or anything? What a fucking mess you have created! Why was it necessary to kill him before you had all the information, you idiot? This is what happens if dimwits like you take matters into your own hands!”

Septentrio didn’t have any qualms about killing. What angered him was the fact that he did not give the order for this and on top of that, the premature loss of someone who was key to finding the final answers he sought. Although the man, Rossler, and his woman instigated the research, it had gone nowhere until they enlisted the help of the dead man. Now it appeared it would be delayed while they found another linguist to translate, if this whole untimely operation did not scare them off the whole thing completely.

His fists clenched under his desk. Septentrio would like to wring the necks of the stupid thugs Impes had sent to get the information. It was a clear violation of protocol; Impes should not have interfered without authorization. Now they had lost a key researcher, and they’d soon have to do something about Impes. But, it was possible he could still be of use. For now, he would live.

“I want you to stand by. Sidus will report to me when the original researchers have brought on someone else to help with the translation. This time, I want the man alive, with the data. Do not act until Sidus directs you to, and by the fires of hell, you’d better not botch it.”

‘Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” Impes sounded sincere, but who could tell from that impassive face what his thoughts were? Could he be mocking the most powerful man in the world? Surely he wouldn’t dare. Deciding it was his imagination that a tiny bit of irony crept into Impes’ eyes, Septentrio waved him away.

“Dismissed.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, Impes breathed a cautious sigh of relief, still schooling his expression and moderating the depth of his sigh, in case the connection were somehow still active. When he was recruited by a member of Septentrio’s vast network of operatives, he’d had no idea of the scope of the work. But, as a minor member of a minor branch of a Cosa Nostra family, he’d overstepped his boundaries once before, and had an urgent need to first disappear from his home city and then have his appearance modified forever. The offer from the recruiter had come at a very opportune time.

Impes wasn’t a stupid man, just lazy. As his shadowy employer sent more and more assignments his way, he gathered hints from here and there, information dropped from other associates and victims, until he had amassed enough information to know who he was dealing with. That, he kept to himself, for they were a dangerous group. So dangerous that even major families were afraid of them. But, he parlayed his knowledge into a plan.

For each assignment involving making someone disappear, whether dead or alive, he would do it so cleverly, yet with such flair, that he would eventually come to the notice of the top levels of his organization. He had confidence that he would be made a capo, or whatever the Orion Society’s equivalent was, then. Eventually, he dreamed of becoming one of the four prime members of the Society himself. It was unfortunate for him that his homework fell short of informing him that those were hereditary positions. Now his only objective was to escape with his life and perhaps enough money to enjoy it.

Impes was feeling rather savage about the dressing-down he’d received, and, like all bullies, decided to take it out on someone else. He called the two operatives who’d been responsible for Mark Simms’ death to report to him at a warehouse on the outskirts of the Bronx. Before he killed them, he would question them about any trace evidence they might have left at the Simms house.

Two days later, two bodies washed up on a deserted stretch of shoreline on Long Island Sound. They wouldn’t be found for days, and by that time, they wouldn’t be recognizable. Even if they had been, though, with their teeth all removed and their eyes gouged out, a firm identification would be impossible without their fingers, all of which were elsewhere in a landfill.

After dealing with the idiots who’d botched the Simms operation, Impes called Barry. “He’s upset, and I don’t need to tell you what that means. We need to come up with something solid as soon as they make a move. Be sure she’s still reporting everything.”

“Shouldn’t we bug her house, too, Impes? If she knows why Mark was killed, she’s going to be careful what she tells me, and on her phone to talk to Rossler. I think we need more direct information.”

“Since when were you in operations, Barry? You let me handle that part, and just make sure she keeps you informed.”

Sarah had gone home on Tuesday morning as planned, with the information that David had given them ringing in her ears and the promise of an undercover agent watching her at all times for her safety. Daniel had objected at first; he wanted to be the one to protect her, and was ready to quit his job to do it. But, David had convinced him that he and his team would do a better job, since they were professionals. And that Daniel should remain on the job where the resources of the Times could help with the ongoing research. His arguments were compelling.

As he’d told Luke, David also told Sarah and Daniel that he had faith there was something to their theory. He’d seen secret after secret ferreted out and either given to top-rated companies to develop for the good of the US economy, or suppressed because they were simply too dangerous for anyone to have them. The conversation was so intense that at times, Daniel wanted to ask about Area 51, just so he could tell Raj, one way or the other. On the other hand, he’d promised Raj not to reveal his interest in anything to the CIA. Accordingly, he didn’t mention Raj at all.

Daniel had caught some of Raj’s paranoia about government agencies, so he was leery of David and the CIA, even while accepting the help and protection of the agency. Somewhere he remembered hearing the phrase “Keep your friends very close to you; keep your enemies even closer.” If the CIA were the enemy, he and Sarah would be crawling right into their enemy’s lap. However, he’d keep his own counsel about his misgivings, and give the appearance of total cooperation.

David made it very clear that they were to communicate only with him; not the protection detail if they spotted them, and definitely not the reception desk at Langley. He gave them each a card with his private cell phone number so they could reach him at all times. Then he warned them that for their own safety as well as his, he would be very deep undercover and that they should only contact him in case of dire emergency.

“I don’t want to try to tell you how to conduct your research,” he’d finished up, “but it is of grave importance that you be the ones to translate the message first. From what you’ve told me, there are likely to be others working on it with the same data you used to get as far as you did. Do you have another linguist to help you?”

“Not yet. We have a name, but we haven’t spoken to him yet,” Daniel said.

“We think it’s only fair that we tell him how dangerous it could be,” Sarah added. “So he may not agree to help.”

“Let me know if you need me to help find one. We have resources as well. Leave a message at the email on that card,” David said.

Then he departed, leaving Sarah and Daniel to enjoy a more leisurely dessert before going back to Daniel’s apartment.

With a glass of red wine in her hand, Sarah sank into Daniel’s sofa with a sigh.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Daniel asked.

“Do you mean, aside from Mark being murdered and us finding out that everything we’ve put on our computers since the beginning of this has been under someone’s scrutiny? And aside from the fact that we may have put Raj, my dad and uncle, your grandparents and soon any linguist we employ in as much danger as we put Mark in? Besides all that?” Daniel had never heard her so negative and depressed. He put his arm around her.

“Yes, honey, besides all that. We’re dealing with all that, other than Mark, and we can’t change that. I would have thought that getting protection from the CIA would help.”

“It does, Daniel, but I just feel all out of sorts. I can’t put my finger on it.” She sunk into him, relishing the warm arm around her, and put her head on his chest.

“Sweetheart, maybe I know what’s wrong,” Daniel said, running his hand down her arm and back up. Her hand on his leg was tantalizing, and it had occurred to him that he didn’t remember the last time they’d made love.

“What?” she asked.

“This,” he said, tilting her face to him and kissing her ardently. His heart was racing as he deepened the kiss and wrapped his free hand around to run his fingers through her hair. What a sweet armful she was! She must have missed this, too, because she curled into him and pressed into his chest like a kitten seeking shelter. Then her hand crept upward on his leg. Drawing back from the kiss to look into her eyes, Daniel sent a wordless question. Wordlessly, she answered by untangling herself and rising from the sofa. She pulled him along with her, and started down the hallway to his bedroom. It wouldn’t be long before everything was all right again.

On the way to Providence the next morning, Sarah felt more like herself than she had since that terrible morning the police had woken them with the news that they were suspects in Mark’s death. It made her wonder how Martha was doing, and she felt guilty that they’d been so busy they hadn’t seen Martha since right after the funeral. She made plans to drop by after her class this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Daniel had gone to work as usual, and as usual was having lunch with one of his friends. Today it was Owen, Raj having declined citing a big project. However, it was understood that Daniel would meet Raj for a drink and an update later this evening. Conscious of his CIA minder, he didn’t want to visit Raj at home. Owen had forgotten his pique over Daniel’s ill-temper of the week before, and was prattling on about something interesting he’d discovered, but he often did that. Daniel had learned to feign interest and let the chatter flow around him. Today, though, it had something to do with the Great Pyramid, so Daniel returned from his own thoughts to pay attention.

“The really cool thing,” Owen was saying, “is you can’t see it with the naked eye or from the ground. It wasn’t discovered until someone thought to take pictures from the air. Even then, the light has to be just right, but when it is, voila! Eight sides.”

Daniel had collected so many facts about the pyramid that he sometimes forgot some of them until reminded. This was one of them. Instead of the typical four flat sides, the Great Pyramid had eight, but it had been forgotten in the mists of time until an aerial photo had been taken at just the right time. It was now known that at dawn and sunset on the spring and fall equinoxes, a shadow appears in such a way as to divide the pyramid in half, and the concavity that divides each side on the center line is revealed.

Something about this fact nagged at him, but he couldn’t bring it to mind. Later tonight, he’d have to use his new technique of thinking about a problem intensely while he was trying to go to sleep, and see if his subconscious supplied an answer. But first, he needed to bring Raj up to speed. Daniel had a feeling Raj wasn’t going to like the CIA’s involvement.

~~~

Raj’s instructions about where to meet him were in the hidden email drafts folder when Daniel checked just before he left for work. Raj wanted him to take evasive action in case he was being followed, and Daniel didn’t have a secure way of signaling that he was indeed being followed, but by a CIA protection detail that he wanted there. Torn between exposing Raj by leading the protection detail to the little dive where they were to meet and losing his safety shield, Daniel’s military-trained buddy code kicked in. He’d evade surveillance this time, and warn Raj what was going on. After that, Raj could call the shots about meeting him.

Daniel had seen plenty of spy movies, and Raj’s instructions could have been drawn from their plots. There wasn’t a much better place to lose a tail than near the Times. He walked to the 42nd Street Port Authority bus terminal, went in one door and hurried to the men’s room, leaving by a different door than the one he came in. Then he ducked out of the bus terminal and flagged down a taxi, which he had drop him at Saks on 5th Avenue. After several more evasive moves, Daniel thought that if he hadn’t lost his tail by now, it wasn’t going to happen. He flagged down another taxi to take him to the bar where he expected to find Raj disguised in his girlfriend’s clothes again.

To his surprise, Raj was in his own clothes, and waiting for him behind an enormous plate of Buffalo wings. “Have some,” he invited Daniel.

Daniel ordered a draught IPA and dug into the wings. Raj said, “What is so urgent to tell me?”

“You’re not going to like it, Raj, but Sarah’s uncle went to some trouble to find out what’s going on and get us some help. I didn’t know when we left your place to go to Colorado that Uncle Luke is ex-CIA.”

Raj reacted physically, almost jumping back from the table, though he stayed in his chair. “No CIA, Daniel!”

“No, listen, dude. This guy is on the level. He told us what and why all those hacks to our computers were about. Did you know they keep track of research like ours in the interest of national security?”

Raj answered bitterly, “I know they surveil people they have no business to do, and that people disappear when they get too close to the truth. I have told you this, Daniel. Why would you allow them to get close to you?”

“To tell the truth, Raj, we didn’t have much choice. You yourself showed us that we’ve been watched from the beginning, and we suspected it was by more than one group. Now we know. This guy, David, has put protective details on us…wait, sit down!”

Raj had jumped up, knocking his chair to the floor and drawing the ire of the bartender. “I didn’t lead them here. Please, Raj, sit down and let me finish.”

Reluctantly, Raj picked up his chair and sat down, with a stubborn expression on his face. “I warned you,” he repeated.

“I know, Raj, and that’s why I took care to lose my tail before I met you. I wanted to let you know that I had one, so that you’d be even more cautious. We haven’t told anyone but Mark of your involvement, and I suspect he took that to his grave. I can’t protect Sarah by myself, I needed help. If you want out, I’ll understand, but I hope you’ll stick with us. We’ll do everything in our power to keep your name under our hats,” Daniel had known the extent of Raj’s paranoia about government agencies, and he’d been prepared for anger, but this was more than he’d bargained for. He didn’t know what they’d do if Raj bowed out now.

“My friend, you have put me in a very bad position. I see no alternative than to continue, and then to disseminate what we find as widely as possible so that the CIA will have no power over us. But if my contacts get wind of it, it will undo years of trust-building.”

“I’m sorry, Raj, I really am. What can I do to make it up to you?” Daniel’s contrition was sincere; he did want to make his friend feel better about the circumstances.

“Locate the truth about Area 51, and help me expose it,” Raj said, with only a trace of humor. He knew that Daniel didn’t believe there was anything to expose.

“If it’s out there, buddy, I’ll do it,” Daniel declared solemnly.

“What’s next, then?” Raj asked.

“I need to talk to the linguist Grandpa’s introducing me to, see if he’ll help. If not, we need to find someone who can, without tipping the bad guys that we’re looking.”

“So, you are convinced that it is not just the CIA interested in your research?” Raj asked.

“Pretty much, yes. From what Luke and now this David has told us, we stirred up interest among what could be international criminal cartels. And, like you, we feel that the only protection is in exposure. We’re going to move forward with all possible speed.”

Daniel was so busy smoothing Raj’s ruffled feathers that he forgot to mention the hunch he couldn’t quite bring into focus about the pyramid’s eight sides. He only remembered that when he was ready for bed, but this time his trick didn’t work. He actually woke up the next day not remembering he’d even been puzzled about anything.

Sarah wanted to be in on the interview of Sinclair O’Reilly, the linguist suggested by Nicholas, so Daniel curbed his impatience to wait for the weekend. He only checked out the man’s address so he’d know how to get there on Saturday morning when Sarah could go with him. She’d spent so much time in New York lately, that Daniel began to wonder if he could persuade her to move here permanently after they were married.

That reminded him to check on the progress the jeweler was making with the ring he’d ordered. It was pretty special, if he did say so himself. He only hoped she’d love it as much as he did. Owen had him half-convinced that if she didn’t like the ring, she’d say no to the proposal. That would be a disaster. Nothing would be right in his world until she’d said yes.