‘Actually that’s a requirement.’
He leaned close to her with mock intimacy. ‘Tell me something, Deputy Assistant Director Bannon, is that all I am to you – advancement?’
‘Like you said, bricklayer, we all need something to chase.’
The Director had given his secretary instructions to show Kate and Vail into his office as soon as they arrived. When they entered, Lasker was seated at his desk signing a stack of paperwork. Directly behind him stood Don Kaulcrick, taking each of the documents after it was signed and barely looking at them.
Lasker rose and offered Vail his hand. ‘Steve, thanks for coming, and on such short notice. This is one of our assistant directors, Don Kaulcrick.’ Vail shook Lasker’s hand. The director waved Vail into a chair. ‘Your way of ending a hostage standoff is impressive.’
‘You’d think someone who did this job for a while would know better than to go inside a bank on Friday afternoon.’
Lasker laughed. ‘Let me ask you something that’s been driving all of us around here nuts. After it was over, why did you just walk away?’
‘I never really thought about it. But if it drove everyone nuts, especially around here, that’s reward enough.’
Lasker picked up a file that had Vail’s name printed on the cover. ‘Is that a warning? In case you decide to help us.’
‘I would think after reading my personnel file that question would be unnecessary.’
Lasker smiled. ‘I’m starting to understand why you were fired.’
Vail laughed. ‘I can’t see how it could have turned out any other way. It was a train wreck just waiting for the Bureau and me to be thrown in each other’s way. No one especially wanted it, but at the same time no one cared enough to prevent it, most of all me. A bureaucracy has to have the ability to self-repair if it’s going to be able to function. I’ve never done well knowing anyone has that kind of authority over me.’
‘So when you turned down a pass from OPR if you’d give up the ASAC, you weren’t just being loyal?’
Vail turned to Kate. ‘I suppose Kent Wilson is an SAC somewhere by now.’
‘San Diego.’
‘Ah. At least they sent him to someplace with bad weather.’ He turned back to the director. ‘Let’s just say I had other priorities.’
‘Like not letting a cop killer go free?’
Vail looked surprised, and Kate felt a small twinge of pleasure at uncovering something about Vail that he apparently hadn’t wanted revealed. ‘I assumed that this command performance would be for some sort of more immediate problem.’
‘Sorry. Around here, constantly checking motives is necessary for survival. In that vein – while I know it’s not necessary to say this to you – I have to ask that what you’re about to hear not leave the room.’ Vail nodded. ‘You’ve heard about the “Enemies of the FBI” murders.’
‘As much as I try to avoid the news, it’d be hard not to.’
‘Then I’m sure you know that a group calling itself the Rubaco Pentad is claiming credit for the killings. While they appear to be some sort of domestic terrorism group on a crusade, they have actually made large monetary demands to stop the murders.’
‘Who were they demanding it from?’
‘The FBI.’
‘Not lacking confidence, are they? And you’re not letting the public know about it because…’
‘One of their demands is that if we do, they’ll kill another prominent person. It’s an ingenious tactic. Since we can’t reveal their motives, it looks like we’re the ones with the hidden agenda, as if it’s just a matter of time before some vast governmental conspiracy is exposed. We’re really handcuffed.’
‘I could see how you would be,’ Vail said. ‘Since I’m here, I assume things didn’t go well at the drop.’
‘They turned it into a deadly obstacle course. It seemed like they didn’t really want us to deliver the money. The agent making the delivery was shot to death.’
‘I assume the entire million wasn’t in the money package?’
‘Just a thousand dollars, and they left that at the scene.’
‘A warning that they’d be back,’ Vail said.
‘Yes, it certainly was.’
‘Any decent leads come out of it?’
The director said, ‘Don, you’ve been handling that.’
Kaulcrick said, ‘There was some scuba equipment used we’re trying to trace, but it’s almost impossible. And the prison was on a secure naval base, so we’re in the process of finding out who’s had access to it the last couple of months. It’s literally thousands of people, so it could take forever.’
‘Sounds like somebody knows how to get you to burn manpower.’
‘Are you suggesting it’s a waste of time?’ Kaulcrick asked.
‘Not at all. You never know what lead is going to be productive. But it sounds like they picked the base because the bigger and more complicated the location, the more time it takes to investigate. It seems that their major weapon is distraction. Leads like that need a lot of manpower but tend to never go anywhere.’
‘There’s no question they know how to manipulate the investigation,’ Lasker said.
‘So what happened at the second drop?’ Vail said.
‘Who said anything about a second drop?’ Kaulcrick asked abruptly, glancing at Kate.
‘The second and third murders did,’ Vail said. ‘Don, I’m here because I’m on your side.’
‘I have to apologize for everyone, Steve,’ Lasker said. ‘I’ve been so insistent that this not leak out, everyone has become paranoid about it. You’ve given your word and that’s certainly good enough. What I’m about to tell you is even more sensitive.’ He then described the second demand letter along with its instruction for Bertok’s role in the delivery of money. He detailed the route and the Bureau’s inability to follow at an effective distance, and finally the disappearance of the agent and the two million dollars.
‘So you want me to find Bertok.’
‘Yes. And should you recover the money, we wouldn’t object.’
‘It couldn’t have been an easy decision letting the full two million drive away.’
‘When you got the press holding you hostage twenty-four hours a day with the possibility of not stopping the next murder, it was a surprisingly easy call.’
Vail became lost in thought. Kate waited a few seconds and then said, ‘I’m sure you’ve got a million questions.’
‘Nothing I need to waste everyone’s time with right now. You haven’t got the next demand letter yet, have you?’
‘Not yet,’ Lasker said.
‘Chances are the price will be going up. Do you think the delivery will be as difficult?’
‘We hope not,’ the director said. ‘But I wouldn’t bet on it.’
Kaulcrick said, ‘We were hoping to identify them first.’
‘Any promising leads?’
Neither Kate nor Kaulcrick answered. Finally Lasker said, ‘Not really.’
‘That’s too bad, but I guess it won’t affect me finding Bertok, which, by the way, is not going to be easy.’
Everyone