Read Online Sympathy For the Devil by Terrence McCauley - Free Book Online
Authors: Terrence McCauley
Tags: thriller
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on Abrar’s file, which opened a window showing Abrar’s Somali passport photo, age, height, and resident alien status. He didn’t look like either of the men Hicks had killed in the park. Abrar didn’t look familiar from any of the surveillance photos Colin had taken of cab company regulars, either. Hicks wouldn’t know for sure until the system had identified the other the two dead men and the man from the camera, but it looked like three new players were in Omar’s operation. The question was why them and why now.
He had OMNI scan Abrar’s cell phone records, ATM, and credit card accounts. His cellphone hadn’t been on since noon the day before and had last been located at the cab stand. He sent out a ping to turn it on, but the battery had either been removed or was dead. There’d been no cell signal coming from the vehicle while OMNI was tracking it, so chances were, he didn’t have a cellphone on him either. And there’d been no sign of him anywhere since the car had been parked in Washington Heights.
Hicks flicked his cigar ash in the ashtray and thought about going to bed. It was only going on eleven, but he was tired and knew Jason would be ruthless during the meeting in the morning. He loved finding inconsistencies between written reports and verbal summaries even in the best of times. Now that an Asset had been killed, he’d be relentless.
Hicks decided he’d better write up a summary of what had happened in the park and make sure he went through his last report to Jason for anything he could use to hang him. Sleep suddenly dropped way down the priority list.
Then the search icon on his monitor blinked, showing OMNI had identified all three men he’d searched for. But when he clicked on the icon to retrieve the results, he saw the following message:
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR DEPARTMENT CHAIR FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Son of a bitch. Jason had blocked him from seeing the results.
Hicks felt his temper beginning to spiral again, so he sat back in his chair and took a long drag on his cigar instead. An agent in the morgue, two dead hostiles and a third on the loose and Jason was playing parlor games with information.
Hicks knew he’d better review every one of Colin’s status reports for the last six months before his debrief with Jason. He poured himself another cup of coffee. He knew there was a damned good chance he’d need to make another pot.
T HE NEXT morning was like most New York mornings following a bad storm: brisk with blue skies almost too bright to look at. It was as if the city was trying to make up for the miserable weather. The snow was still mostly white because the pollution and dogs hadn’t gotten to it yet. Large chunks of the sidewalk still hadn’t been shoveled and wouldn’t be for some time, but there’d been enough foot traffic along Bleecker Street by then to have beaten down something of a path.
Hicks navigated through the snow; avoiding the stumbling pedestrians coming from both directions while balancing the two cups in the Styrofoam coffee carrier. One cup was a large black coffee for himself and a soy vanilla chai latte for Jason. Because Jason was a soy vanilla chai latte kind of guy.
Most of the cars on the street had been parked in the same spaces since before the storm began and were buried under several inches of drifted snow. Hicks didn’t know how Jason had managed to park his black Ranger Rover in the same spot where it always was, midblock close to Sullivan Street. Maryland plates.
Hicks hadn’t expected Jason to get out of his warm SUV to help him with the coffee and Jason didn’t let him down. He simply watched Hicks go all the way to the corner and walk back in the street as cars crawled through the thickening slush. But he was kind enough to unlock the doors and take his latte from the carrier as Hicks climbed into the SUV.
“Thanks for the help.” Hicks pulled the door closed. The inside of the SUV was warm and spotless. He took special joy in
He had OMNI scan Abrar’s cell phone records, ATM, and credit card accounts. His cellphone hadn’t been on since noon the day before and had last been located at the cab stand. He sent out a ping to turn it on, but the battery had either been removed or was dead. There’d been no cell signal coming from the vehicle while OMNI was tracking it, so chances were, he didn’t have a cellphone on him either. And there’d been no sign of him anywhere since the car had been parked in Washington Heights.
Hicks flicked his cigar ash in the ashtray and thought about going to bed. It was only going on eleven, but he was tired and knew Jason would be ruthless during the meeting in the morning. He loved finding inconsistencies between written reports and verbal summaries even in the best of times. Now that an Asset had been killed, he’d be relentless.
Hicks decided he’d better write up a summary of what had happened in the park and make sure he went through his last report to Jason for anything he could use to hang him. Sleep suddenly dropped way down the priority list.
Then the search icon on his monitor blinked, showing OMNI had identified all three men he’d searched for. But when he clicked on the icon to retrieve the results, he saw the following message:
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR DEPARTMENT CHAIR FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Son of a bitch. Jason had blocked him from seeing the results.
Hicks felt his temper beginning to spiral again, so he sat back in his chair and took a long drag on his cigar instead. An agent in the morgue, two dead hostiles and a third on the loose and Jason was playing parlor games with information.
Hicks knew he’d better review every one of Colin’s status reports for the last six months before his debrief with Jason. He poured himself another cup of coffee. He knew there was a damned good chance he’d need to make another pot.
T HE NEXT morning was like most New York mornings following a bad storm: brisk with blue skies almost too bright to look at. It was as if the city was trying to make up for the miserable weather. The snow was still mostly white because the pollution and dogs hadn’t gotten to it yet. Large chunks of the sidewalk still hadn’t been shoveled and wouldn’t be for some time, but there’d been enough foot traffic along Bleecker Street by then to have beaten down something of a path.
Hicks navigated through the snow; avoiding the stumbling pedestrians coming from both directions while balancing the two cups in the Styrofoam coffee carrier. One cup was a large black coffee for himself and a soy vanilla chai latte for Jason. Because Jason was a soy vanilla chai latte kind of guy.
Most of the cars on the street had been parked in the same spaces since before the storm began and were buried under several inches of drifted snow. Hicks didn’t know how Jason had managed to park his black Ranger Rover in the same spot where it always was, midblock close to Sullivan Street. Maryland plates.
Hicks hadn’t expected Jason to get out of his warm SUV to help him with the coffee and Jason didn’t let him down. He simply watched Hicks go all the way to the corner and walk back in the street as cars crawled through the thickening slush. But he was kind enough to unlock the doors and take his latte from the carrier as Hicks climbed into the SUV.
“Thanks for the help.” Hicks pulled the door closed. The inside of the SUV was warm and spotless. He took special joy in
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