“Sometimes that’s all it takes to crack a case wide open.”
“Let’s hope this is one of those times.”
Now the CTU machinery would go to work on Reb Weld, vacuuming up every speck of data relating to his life and habits, criminal career, known associates, friends, and enemies, anything that might be of use in tracking him down. The manhunt would begin in earnest, putting the Big Heat on Weld. Jack described Rowdy and Griff, and Lila Gibbs added the data to the search.
Somewhere in that mass of facts was the answer to the big question: what was the link between outlaw biker thug and killer Reb Weld, a stolen case of BZ gas grenades, a crank-kook cult of Zealots, and a multimillionaires’ conclave at Sky Mount?
A discreet rapping on a cubicle partition wall caused Jack and Gibbs to look up from the monitor screen. The knocking had been done by a soft- faced man in his mid-twenties, a staffer at the Pike’s Ford CP.
Gibbs said, “Yes, Charlie?”
Charlie said, “Excuse me, Lila. Jack Bauer?”
Jack said, “Yes?”
“There’s a phone call for you.”
“For me?”
“Yes, sir.”
Jack rose from his chair. “Thanks, Lila. Thanks a lot.”
She said, “My pleasure. I’ll start our mill wheels grinding on the Rebel and friends.”
“Grind them fine.”
Charlie said, “This way please, sir.” Jack followed the youth along the central corridor to a cubicle at the far end of the trailer. Charlie indicated a satellite phone on the counter. “It’s a secured phone, sir.”
“Thank you.” Jack picked up the receiver and Charlie made himself absent.
“Bauer speaking.” A voice at the other end of the connection squawked, “What the hell are you trying to pull, Jack?”
There was no mistaking the strident tones of Regional Division Director Ryan Chappelle in high bad humor.
Jack sighed. “Hello, Ryan.”
“Are you insubordinate or just plain neglectful?” Chappelle’s voice tended to get screechy when he was angry, and it was screechy now. “You were told to report to me regularly on the Sky Mount situation. That was an order, not a request. I haven’t received a single report from you since you got there, not one. I’ve been calling you every hour and all I keep getting is your voice mail. My messages to you to contact me have been piling up with no reply. I’ve had to get all my information on the scene from Garcia’s people and I can only imagine what they’re leaving out. Even with the minimal amount I’m getting it looks like things have gone to hell in a handbasket. What’s going on out there?”
Jack knew from long experience that when Chappelle was in one of these moods there was nothing to do but wait until he paused for lack of breath. “Ryan, in the last fourteen hours I’ve been shot at, pistol-whipped, dynamited, ambushed, gas-bombed, and attacked by a bear. I’ve been too busy trying to stay alive to report back to you and for that I apologize.”
There was another pause while Chappelle digested the import of Jack’s words. His voice was lower and more modulated when he spoke again. “Then there is an ongoing conspiracy against the Round Table.”
“That’s correct, Ryan.”
“Thank God for that!”
Jack couldn’t help but grin wryly to himself at the heartfelt relief in Chappelle’s statement. Everything was okay. Ryan Chappelle was on the record as having been proven right in his conjectures about an anti — Sky Mount plot. That would look good with the top brass at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Jack gave Chappelle a brisk summary of the salient facts: the mass murder of the Zealot cadre, the BZ gas grenade connection, and Reb Weld’s kill squad. Chappelle, once again the resolute in-charge authority that he saw himself as, said, “You can figure all that out later. Right now I’ve got something important for you to do. Top priority, immediate action.”
“What’s that, Ryan?”
“Apprehend Brad Oliver.”
“Brad Oliver?”
“Confidential secretary to the great Cabot Huntington Wright himself.”
“I know who he is, I’ve met him.”
“Arrest him. My fiscal analysis team finally broke through the web of shell companies and dummy corporations to finger the mystery man who’s been short selling stocks to bet on catastrophe. It’s Oliver.”
Jack knew better than to ask Chappelle if he was sure of the information. Chappelle would never have put it out there if he were unsure.
Chappelle’s tone was confidential, intense. “This is hot stuff, Jack. I only found out about it minutes ago myself. I wanted you to have it first so we can steal a march on Garcia.”
“I’m working with the man, Ryan. He’s going to have to know about it.”
“Of course. My people are contacting him now with the intelligence. But this way you’ll be right in on the kill so he can’t freeze you out and grab all the credit for himself.”
“You think of everything, Ryan.”
“I try. One more thing, Jack, and this is strictly for your ears only: Oliver’s just the tip of the iceberg. Behind him is something a hundred times bigger. The find was serendipitous — my analysts came across it while cracking Oliver’s manipulations. His short selling is the opening wedge of a far greater financial conspiracy being conducted in the world markets. It’s the same pattern of betting on disaster only a quantum level higher. There could be as much as a hundred million dollars’ worth of shorted stocks gambling on an imminent economic meltdown.”
Jack’s eyebrows lifted. A hundred million dollars! He said, “That kind of money requires a major player. A hostile nation, maybe.”
Chappelle said, “We’re working on it. It’s top secret until we’ve got it nailed down for sure. For now, though, grab Oliver. Sweat him. Make him talk. I’m counting on you, Jack. You know how these things are done.”
“Yes, I do.”
16. THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 6 P.M. AND 7 P.M. MOUNTAIN DAYLIGHT TIME
Long shadows fell on Masterman Way as Jack Bauer and Ernie Sandoval drove up to the gates of Sky Mount estate. The midsummer sun was still high in the sky but the mountains were tall, bathing the grounds in blue shadow. Lights winked on in the mansion and its surroundings.
The two agents were in the Mercedes. Sandoval was behind the wheel and Jack sat on the front passenger side. Jack had felt a sharp pang of regret and sorrow earlier when he first realized that they were going to be traveling in the Merc; the last time he’d been in it, Anne Armstrong had been his partner.
The car was trailed by a dark green SUV carrying a well-armed backup unit of four CTU action men.
No unpleasantness was expected on this visit but it was good to expect the unexpected.
Anything involving the Round Table conclave had to be handled with kid gloves. Its host and attendees comprised a significant slice of America’s moneyed and powerful elite; their feathers were not to be ruffled without good cause.
This explained the security arrangements at Sky Mount. Its rich and powerful guests had reasons of their own for maximizing their personal and professional privacy. They didn’t want the place swarming with FBI agents and intelligence operatives who might conceivably ferret out secrets about their businesses and private lives. Knowledge is power; no one knows that better than those at the top.
That was why security at the estate itself was being handled by the Brand Agency, a private firm known for secrecy and discretion where the ultra-rich are involved. The fact that a controlling interest in the firm was held by
