“That’s an interesting approach. You basically want us to figure out the
artist who painted the fake picture of Arrington.”
“I do,” emphasized Ryan. “But even that takes a back
burner to working up an accurate profile on Richard Elliot. The second order
from Donaldson I’m going to ignore is not finding him before he has a chance to
take another victim. We’ll let the deputy director believe we’re following the
designed plan of allowing Elliot to abduct her and then assaulting his hideout
afterwards. I’m no longer a fan of waiting to take them down while they’re
preoccupied with killing.”
“That makes much more sense,” said Michelle. “I don’t
ever want to see that again. I can’t shake the feeling we used that poor girl
as bait.”
“I can’t either,” affirmed Ryan. “While you’re digging
for information, Dallas and I will be focusing on identifying the unknown
players. I’m hoping it’s just another FBI team Donaldson sent as our backup,
but my gut tells me we’re going to find something more sinister. I believe the
other players are military, or ex-military. And if I’m right, those may be the
real animals we’re hunting. Not only did they break the law by conducting a
mission within our borders, but they assassinated a U.S. citizen. It doesn’t
matter what Arrington did; the Constitution guarantees him the right to face
his accusers and stand trial. It’s impossible for me to ignore that.”
“This got complicated pretty fast, didn’t it, Boss?”
observed Dallas.
“Yes, it did,” confirmed Ryan. “And we’re going to try
and sort it out just as fast.”
The team ordered another round of drinks. Dallas
retrieved the bag containing their cell phones from the bartender. He scanned
each, and then took them apart to look for listening devices. He found nothing.
“These are clean,” said Dallas. “It doesn’t mean they
haven’t been listening to our conversations. They could’ve easily cloned them,
which would also give them our constant location using the embedded GPS chips.”
Ryan handed each member on his team a cell phone and USB
flash drive. “Not with these.”
“That would explain your little trip today,” said Tom.
“You don’t chase fugitives all over the country and not
learn a few things from the bad guys about how to evade the good guys,”
explained Ryan. “The cell phones are untraceable, and the GPS tracking chips
have been removed.
“The flash drives are for our laptops. They’ll give us
internet access anywhere without identifying our IP address or our location.
There are also several links to criminal databases, including NCIC. Phony
access codes and login information will automatically be populated when you
open the links. Again, all of it’s untraceable.”
“You have phony access codes and user data for
classified information the FBI maintains?” asked Michelle, somewhat perplexed.
“I have a guy,” responded Ryan with a smile.
The team finished their drinks and returned to the safe
house. Dallas scanned each room and found the standard number of cameras and
listening devices. All of them were hardwired to one room upstairs full of
video screens and tape recorders. Dallas didn’t find one active device either
transmitting or receiving data. Ryan recognized it as standard operating
procedure for an FBI safe house. There were no indications that another group
was listening in on the team. Ryan requested Dallas do a second sweep, and
again, the results were negative. The agents could speak freely in one room
upstairs. It was the only space without windows.
The lack of bugs in the safe house didn’t make Ryan less
suspicious. All it did was add weight to the suspicion that the Deputy Director
of the FBI was feeding information to the unknown group. There was no need for
them to risk being exposed by physically following Ryan’s team or attempting to
plant bugs in their path. All they had to do was wait for the deputy
artist who painted the fake picture of Arrington.”
“I do,” emphasized Ryan. “But even that takes a back
burner to working up an accurate profile on Richard Elliot. The second order
from Donaldson I’m going to ignore is not finding him before he has a chance to
take another victim. We’ll let the deputy director believe we’re following the
designed plan of allowing Elliot to abduct her and then assaulting his hideout
afterwards. I’m no longer a fan of waiting to take them down while they’re
preoccupied with killing.”
“That makes much more sense,” said Michelle. “I don’t
ever want to see that again. I can’t shake the feeling we used that poor girl
as bait.”
“I can’t either,” affirmed Ryan. “While you’re digging
for information, Dallas and I will be focusing on identifying the unknown
players. I’m hoping it’s just another FBI team Donaldson sent as our backup,
but my gut tells me we’re going to find something more sinister. I believe the
other players are military, or ex-military. And if I’m right, those may be the
real animals we’re hunting. Not only did they break the law by conducting a
mission within our borders, but they assassinated a U.S. citizen. It doesn’t
matter what Arrington did; the Constitution guarantees him the right to face
his accusers and stand trial. It’s impossible for me to ignore that.”
“This got complicated pretty fast, didn’t it, Boss?”
observed Dallas.
“Yes, it did,” confirmed Ryan. “And we’re going to try
and sort it out just as fast.”
The team ordered another round of drinks. Dallas
retrieved the bag containing their cell phones from the bartender. He scanned
each, and then took them apart to look for listening devices. He found nothing.
“These are clean,” said Dallas. “It doesn’t mean they
haven’t been listening to our conversations. They could’ve easily cloned them,
which would also give them our constant location using the embedded GPS chips.”
Ryan handed each member on his team a cell phone and USB
flash drive. “Not with these.”
“That would explain your little trip today,” said Tom.
“You don’t chase fugitives all over the country and not
learn a few things from the bad guys about how to evade the good guys,”
explained Ryan. “The cell phones are untraceable, and the GPS tracking chips
have been removed.
“The flash drives are for our laptops. They’ll give us
internet access anywhere without identifying our IP address or our location.
There are also several links to criminal databases, including NCIC. Phony
access codes and login information will automatically be populated when you
open the links. Again, all of it’s untraceable.”
“You have phony access codes and user data for
classified information the FBI maintains?” asked Michelle, somewhat perplexed.
“I have a guy,” responded Ryan with a smile.
The team finished their drinks and returned to the safe
house. Dallas scanned each room and found the standard number of cameras and
listening devices. All of them were hardwired to one room upstairs full of
video screens and tape recorders. Dallas didn’t find one active device either
transmitting or receiving data. Ryan recognized it as standard operating
procedure for an FBI safe house. There were no indications that another group
was listening in on the team. Ryan requested Dallas do a second sweep, and
again, the results were negative. The agents could speak freely in one room
upstairs. It was the only space without windows.
The lack of bugs in the safe house didn’t make Ryan less
suspicious. All it did was add weight to the suspicion that the Deputy Director
of the FBI was feeding information to the unknown group. There was no need for
them to risk being exposed by physically following Ryan’s team or attempting to
plant bugs in their path. All they had to do was wait for the deputy
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