Read Online The Shield of Darius by Allen Kent - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Allen Kent
Ads: Link
Asian American from Honolulu.
Falen had guessed wrong about the new guy, expecting the next one to come from the Southwest; Phoenix or Albuquerque. Or possibly Florida. He had overlooked the Greater Washington D.C. area, and Benjamin Sager filled that gap.
Sager was the first disappearance since Falen had picked up on the DWAT pattern. Number twenty-eight. The computer-delivered message from Fisher simply read, “American Benjamin Sager, Baltimore MD, disappeared from Sherborne, Dorset, England, May 19. Passport used from Manchester to Paris same day. User not confirmed. If more desired, please contact.”
Falen called as soon as he opened the message and knew Fisher would answer. He always did. Twenty-four hours a day, any day of the week, Fisher answered.
“I need some information. I got the Sager data and would like everything you can dig up on the man.”
“Your hunch paying off?”
“Looks like it. These people aren’t just running away. And there are some unusual patterns to their disappearances. By the way, your printouts haven’t included insurance information. Could you run all these people through Equifax?”
“Will do. Any sense that whatever this is might compromise national security?”
“Possibly. That’s not apparent yet.”
“Keep me informed,” Fisher replied and hung up.
A dozen sheets of paper were in his box the next morning. Equifax, the national insurance clearinghouse, hadn’t turned up anything noteworthy. All the DWATs were insured – some for huge amounts. But there were no new policies, and no changes of beneficiaries. Some of the women weren’t insured well at all, and even the men weren’t carrying more than Falen would expect for people with this kind of money. Dead end there. Falen slipped the pages into the shredder.
The file on Benjamin Sager had everything; date and place of birth, family history back two generations, school records, every residence since birth, same information on wife and children, business history, memberships. Even minor league baseball stats. The guy had been a pretty good fielding second baseman, but apparently couldn’t hit big league pitching. Sager’s information filled six pages, with two dozen items referenced with asterisks, indicating that additional data was available if needed. A computer-generated letter attached to the file outlined what little was known about Sager’s disappearance, and the activities of his wife Katherine since May 19 th .
Falen’s brow furrowed as he read the report. This Sager woman was a persistent little wench. Every other spouse had cried and complained, but eventually accepted the State Department’s line that the disappearances were unfortunate, but unexplainable… and most likely related to personal issues of some kind. “We can find no reason or motive for the disappearance,” the official State Department letter to Katherine Sager explained. “We will continue to investigate the disappearance but are only left to assume that this may have been a matter of personal choice.” Mrs. Sager still doggedly insisted that her husband had not just walked away, but was the victim of an abduction. She had pursued her claim through the maze of State Department offices until she had been granted a brief audience with the Secretary two days earlier. The Secretary’s sympathetic support and assurance that the government was doing everything possible hadn’t satisfied Mrs. Sager and she had announced upon leaving the office that she was “going public.” Shit! Falen usually tried to give this type a wide berth, but if someone didn’t sit on Katherine Sager in a hurry, she might screw things up royally. Falen had no idea why the DWATs were disappearing, but whatever the reason, it was not something he needed to have some wonder woman getting the press all excited about right now. Hell, the media would probably miss the connections all together, but they were a nosy and tenacious lot and he couldn’t
Falen had guessed wrong about the new guy, expecting the next one to come from the Southwest; Phoenix or Albuquerque. Or possibly Florida. He had overlooked the Greater Washington D.C. area, and Benjamin Sager filled that gap.
Sager was the first disappearance since Falen had picked up on the DWAT pattern. Number twenty-eight. The computer-delivered message from Fisher simply read, “American Benjamin Sager, Baltimore MD, disappeared from Sherborne, Dorset, England, May 19. Passport used from Manchester to Paris same day. User not confirmed. If more desired, please contact.”
Falen called as soon as he opened the message and knew Fisher would answer. He always did. Twenty-four hours a day, any day of the week, Fisher answered.
“I need some information. I got the Sager data and would like everything you can dig up on the man.”
“Your hunch paying off?”
“Looks like it. These people aren’t just running away. And there are some unusual patterns to their disappearances. By the way, your printouts haven’t included insurance information. Could you run all these people through Equifax?”
“Will do. Any sense that whatever this is might compromise national security?”
“Possibly. That’s not apparent yet.”
“Keep me informed,” Fisher replied and hung up.
A dozen sheets of paper were in his box the next morning. Equifax, the national insurance clearinghouse, hadn’t turned up anything noteworthy. All the DWATs were insured – some for huge amounts. But there were no new policies, and no changes of beneficiaries. Some of the women weren’t insured well at all, and even the men weren’t carrying more than Falen would expect for people with this kind of money. Dead end there. Falen slipped the pages into the shredder.
The file on Benjamin Sager had everything; date and place of birth, family history back two generations, school records, every residence since birth, same information on wife and children, business history, memberships. Even minor league baseball stats. The guy had been a pretty good fielding second baseman, but apparently couldn’t hit big league pitching. Sager’s information filled six pages, with two dozen items referenced with asterisks, indicating that additional data was available if needed. A computer-generated letter attached to the file outlined what little was known about Sager’s disappearance, and the activities of his wife Katherine since May 19 th .
Falen’s brow furrowed as he read the report. This Sager woman was a persistent little wench. Every other spouse had cried and complained, but eventually accepted the State Department’s line that the disappearances were unfortunate, but unexplainable… and most likely related to personal issues of some kind. “We can find no reason or motive for the disappearance,” the official State Department letter to Katherine Sager explained. “We will continue to investigate the disappearance but are only left to assume that this may have been a matter of personal choice.” Mrs. Sager still doggedly insisted that her husband had not just walked away, but was the victim of an abduction. She had pursued her claim through the maze of State Department offices until she had been granted a brief audience with the Secretary two days earlier. The Secretary’s sympathetic support and assurance that the government was doing everything possible hadn’t satisfied Mrs. Sager and she had announced upon leaving the office that she was “going public.” Shit! Falen usually tried to give this type a wide berth, but if someone didn’t sit on Katherine Sager in a hurry, she might screw things up royally. Falen had no idea why the DWATs were disappearing, but whatever the reason, it was not something he needed to have some wonder woman getting the press all excited about right now. Hell, the media would probably miss the connections all together, but they were a nosy and tenacious lot and he couldn’t
Similar Books
