Read Online The Chameleon Conspiracy by Haggai Carmon - Free Book Online Page B

just as baseless.”
    “Like what?” asked Bob.
    “Like the one that seems most logical at this time, and take it from there.”
    “Fine,” said David. “How about that? Assuming that all of the cases are connected, who could mastermind such an operation?”
    “If it went beyond the one-person-crime-spree pattern we see in the usual identity thefts, I’d see a criminal organization
     with international activities, or some other structured body.”
    “Any basis for that?” Bob asked, more in curiosity than as a challenge.
    “No proof, just my hunch.”
    “Why?” Clearly, like David, he wasn’t the kind of guy who would settle for easy answers.
    “Because it involves young American men, none of whom apparently knew any of the others, who first left the countryat about the same time, each for reasons of his own. Only after they left the country did the common denominator kick in:
     their identities were stolen. The first step of the conspiracy didn’t start here. It started somewhere, anywhere, wherever
     these guys lost their passports. Take Ward. He was traveling in Africa and Asia without known incident until he stopped writing
     his friends here. Since we don’t know where the others went, it could have happened anywhere. But the fact remains—their
     passports were also taken. Therefore, my conclusion is that an organization that operates in more than one location could
     be behind it. Besides, why limit ourselves to thinking it was a criminal enterprise? Maybe there’s a foreign power or a terrorist
     organization behind this.”
    “Any basis for that?” asked David.
    “Not at this time, but need I remind you that we lost our innocence on nine eleven? Things that weren’t plausible earlier
     are a reality now.” I didn’t want to elaborate, but in my mind was my Mossad training concerning planting sleeper agents in
     target countries. Those passports could now be used by foreign agents operating in any country that welcomes U.S. citizens.
     These could be used for far more dangerous purposes than money siphoning. I had no proof, just a hunch that I registered in
     my mind to develop later.
    David brought me back to reality, which he was very good at. In fact, I sometimes felt as if he were my anchor, always keeping
     me tethered only to the facts at hand. Yet one more thing I was going to miss when he was gone. “Maybe the passports were
     taken in just one location by a sophisticated scam artist?”
    “Sure,” I agreed. “That’s also a possibility.” But I suspected that David’s new theory was more farfetched than mine.
    Bob developed the idea further. “Have you thought of the possibility that these young men simply sold their passports to finance
     their trips, claimed they were lost, and applied for new ones?”
    “I did, and so did the FBI. The State Department told the Bureau that none of these men applied for a replacementpassport. Besides, if all they did was sell their passport, why have they disappeared for good?”
    “Did you investigate whether these guys had more than one citizenship? They could be selling their U.S. passports and continuing
     to travel with their foreign passports.” Bob’s tone was per sis tent. He seemed unwilling to consider my speculations unless
     I could prove that I’d considered every possibility. I realized he was only doing his job, and so far it hadn’t reached the
     point where I found it to be irritating.
    “No go. If any of them had a foreign passport, his entry into the U.S. with that passport would have been recorded, and it
     wasn’t. Therefore, the genuine Ward left the U.S. only once and never returned. His passport and identity were given to someone
     already in the U.S., or who had initially entered the U.S. with a different passport under a different name, and then took
     Ward’s identity. It is possible that either all the additional passports were delivered to that someone while he was already
     in the U.S., or they were