was partnered with a woman-one that was actually in the middle of the action and not sitting with him in a van or on a yacht doing surveillance.
He watched his computer screen as he saw Nita look at him through her brooch. “It’s all right, princess, it’s not broken.” It was a wonder that it had not broken after the way she was pinned against the wall and then thrown onto the table. Exposed wiring from it would’ve blown Parris’s cover and possibly jeopardized the mission, not to mention her life. Fuck. Thank God she’s all right.
He pressed replay and saw Nita’s face as she examined the brooch to make sure it still worked. He watched her walk backwards until the man in the chocolate suit appeared, at which point he tapped the left key and freeze- framed the image. Integrated in the software was a face-recognition program, and with a few keystrokes, the image of the man became more focused.
It only took three minutes before Dewan’s video image was matched up with a picture from the New York Times which Levickis had printed out and given to Parris the night before. He would now use the facial recognition search from the CIA’s databases. He reclined his seat slightly and undid his belt to give his slight pot belly some room to expand.
He picked up his thermos and poured himself his fourth cup of coffee. “All right, Mr. Brown-suit-man, who are you?”
Chapter 12
Entebbe Air Force Base, 4:23AM, local time
General Downing was the first to burst into the conference room with a file folder, followed by Colonel Bell. Fox and Walsh were already inside as the yelling started.
“How the Sam Hill could they just turn around and put all the blame on us? Whoever’s responsible for this attack had to get in the country somehow. Damn it, we could easily turn around and blame them for lax border patrol.”
“We can blame the Ugandans for lax border patrol and they can blame us for lax security on our own compound,” said the Post Commander. “All that’s going to accomplish, is to create tension between our two countries. That’s something we don’t need right now.” Bell went to the opposite side of the table from Downing. “We need more allies here in Africa, if we’re going to prevent terrorists from gaining ground in these parts.”
“Try explaining that to someone who’ll listen.” General Downing shot a menacing stare at Fox and Walsh- making them feel like two young brothers who were about to be accused of something they knew nothing about. “Any of you men want to trade jobs?” They both looked at each other and then back at Downing. “I didn’t think so.” He rested his cane against the side of the table as he took his seat with Colonel Bell. He sighed. “Some things were found at the CDC compound. But they don’t tell us much.”
“Such as?” asked Fox.
“They recovered the clothes of the deceased,” said Downing. “There were the guards, the scientists, and some clothing from the SEALs. Unless the perpetrators were naked there’s no extra clothes indicating they were among the dead.”
Fox shook his head. “That’s a shame.”
“Yes, it is,” said Downing. “A damn shame that some Russian-speaking individuals managed to sneak into the compound right under our noses, make off with Pandora, and leave everyone else for dead. And so far, there are no leads as to where they are.”
“Nor where they’re heading,” said Colonel Bell.
Fox held back a yawn and rubbed his left eye. “Was there anything else found that was unusual?”
“Just a dagger sitting on the ground inside the dome,” said Bell. “As far as I know, none of our boys were carrying it.” He handed Downing the folder who then passed it on to Fox.
Walsh turned to Bell. “Any prints?”
He shook his head. “Nada.”
“That’s no surprise.” Fox opened the folder and looked at the picture of the dagger. “But this is.”
“What is?” Walsh leaned over to look at the picture.
“It’s a D-W73 Cold War dagger.” Fox handed the picture to Walsh. “This is a 1950’s issue for Russian Air Force officers. There are more modern daggers that could’ve been used if you wanted to attack someone.”
Bell turned to Fox. “Looks like Ares left their calling card.”
“It’s unusual for them to go to that extreme,” Fox replied.
“Was there any blood or other DNA evidence found on the clothing?” asked Walsh.
Downing shook his head. “There wasn’t a speck of DNA evidence at the crime scene. There wasn’t even any fresh blood on the clothing-just tear marks on one of the victim’s clothing, made from the knife attack, we’re assuming.”
Fox shook his head. No doubt. Marx said that Pandora will consume everything in order to reproduce. Fox turned to Bell. “And the video footage before the incident?”
“Wiped clean,” Bell replied. “These guys did their homework.”
Walsh put both arms on the table and looked at Downing. “Then we should find out more about this Sveta Stechina chick. I say that we search her home inside out. She’s got to have something that could link us to Ares.”
Fox rolled his eyes. “That’s the first thing Ares would’ve done. I wouldn’t be surprised to find her house burnt down under mysterious circumstances.” Jesus, Walsh, what else do you expect?
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” said General Downing.
“What’s that?” A faint voice with a strong New Jersey accent came from the other side.
“I said, come on in,” Downing repeated louder.
“Right,” said the voice.
Fox had a strong feeling who it was, as he looked at the doorway.
The door shook a few times as though the person had difficulty opening it. “The door’s locked, sir,” the man said.
Fox rolled his eyes and looked away from the door. Oh yeah, it’s definitely him. “Try pushing the door instead of pulling, Dobbs.”
“Right,” came the answer, and Bill Dobbs entered.
“What brings you here?” Fox wished he could take that question back.
“You won’t believe this. I was in one of the offices set aside for me, trying out this new online computer game, you know the ones with the-”
“I’m sure it was exciting. What’s going on?” the General asked. Fox would’ve cut him off too-Dobbs had a tendency to carry on.
Dobbs paused a moment as though he forgot what he was talking about. “Right. I got some classified info to show you.”
Fox chuckled. “Classified? Say it ain’t so.”
Dobbs ignored him and took out some pictures and documents. He was no stranger to Fox’s comments and was often the butt of his jokes.
“Anyway, nearly half an hour ago, about 4:00 AM, a search was run on this man after he was spotted in Tokyo, by one of our undercover agents. He has several aliases, but the CIA databases have him listed as Valerik. He’s a former KGB agent and hasn’t been seen since the early 1990s.”
Fox raised his left eyebrow. “He disappeared around the time the Cold War ended, only to reappear again.”
Walsh turned to Fox. “You think he could be involved somehow in the Pandora incident?”
“Uh, guys, that’s why I’m here.” Dobbs pushed his glasses back up his nose. “As I mentioned, a search was done on Valerik by one of our agents who’s currently on assignment in Tokyo. He was spotted at the Hexagon Pharmaceutical Company around 11:00 AM, Japanese time, which would correspond with the multimedia search at 4:00 AM, our local time.”
