Leuchten interrupted, his face darkening.
“More dogshit, Halvorsson. I’m getting extraordinarily sick of the smell. Call Sternfeld! Ask him how he managed to get incontact with the Oracle. It’s not brain surgery, man.”
Franklin interrupted.
“Say, Tony, here’s an idea. Give us a few minutes to tell you what’s going on before you jump in with your little suggestions.Don’t assume we’re idiots.”
Leuchten’s expression cleared. He turned to face Franklin, a small smile crossing his lips.
“I’ll assume you’re idiots until you prove otherwise, Director. And as for my suggestions, you may not enjoy hearing them,but I can assure you that the president does. For instance, I might suggest to him that the FBI could use a change in leadership.Shake things up a bit. In with the new blood, out with the old. From my lips to the man’s ear. Just something to think about.”
Leuchten peered at Franklin over the top of his glasses, his blue eyes cold.
“But please, continue. Tell me what’s going on.”
Franklin looked to Halvorsson for support, but the man had chosen to stare at a nearby tree.
Franklin took a deep, frustrated breath of wintry air and held it in his lungs. On the exhale, he looked back at Leuchten.
“Fine,” he said. “Here’s how it is. My people have heard about the Oracle meetings Director Halvorsson describes, but we can’tget any details. Either the Oracle’s clients are too frightened to talk, or he gave them something so valuable that our threatsdon’t outweigh it. I’m sure Linus has encountered the same difficulties.”
He glanced at Halvorsson. The man nodded, slowly, once, but didn’t say a word. Now Franklin wanted to hit him, too. This meeting needed to wrap up quickly, or he’d end up in court on assault charges.
He had hoped that Halvorsson’s NSA drones had figured out something spectacular, but it didn’t seem like that was the case.With every moment, it was becoming increasingly clear that Franklin would have to do something he really, truly did not wantto do.
“We think the Oracle is selling predictions,” Franklin continued.
“Ahh,” Leuchten said. “I was worried this would happen. It’s what I would do if I had access to the future. What’s he selling?Specifically, I mean.”
Franklin gritted his teeth.
“Once again, we aren’t sure. As Director Halvorsson mentioned, the meetings take place over entirely secure networks, andour sources aren’t the people in on the discussions with the Oracle. We get everything secondhand—men’s room gossip; executiveassistants overhearing bits of conversation, that sort of thing. We can’t get near anyone who has actually received the information.They paid a lot of money for it, and they don’t feel like sharing.”
Anouk bounded up to the men, spraying powdery snow with each step, and frolicked around the chief of staff’s legs. Leuchtenreached down and yanked on a choke chain attached to the dog’s neck. She yelped and fell sideways, looking up with a woundedexpression.
“Dammit, get this animal inside,” Leuchten said. He turned and motioned to one of the Secret Service men standing a few pacesaway. The man spoke quietly into his lapel mike, then came to lead Anouk away. Leuchten planted his hands on his hips.
“I refuse to accept this,” he said. “This person is creating a power base, allying himself with some of the most powerfulmen and corporations in the world. Why? Do you have a single useful piece of information for me? Anything?”
“There is one thing,” Halvorsson said.
Franklin looked at him, surprised.
“We have been able to cross-reference certain large payments made by the individuals and organizations we know have been incontact with the Oracle. The payments have all been to the same bank in the Cayman Islands, although each to a different numberedaccount.”
Leuchten pursed his lips.
“How much?”
“The payments vary, but never less than ten million dollars,” Halvorsson continued. “The largest are on the order of hundredsof millions. They total just over two billion.”
“Fine. What is he spending it on?” Leuchten snapped. “You can buy one hell of a lot of AK-47s with a couple billion dollars.You could set up terrorist training camps all over the Middle East. It’d get you pretty far down the road to building a nuclearbomb. What is he spending it on?”
Franklin and Halvorsson stared at him. Silence stretched over several seconds. Leuchten crossed his arms and turned away.
“All right, that’s it, then,” he said. “I’ve got other work to do. Find the Oracle. Get it done, gentlemen, or leave me yoursuggestions for who should replace you.”
Halvorsson inclined his head and turned to walk back across the South Lawn. Franklin hesitated.
“Tony, if I could have just another few minutes,” he said.
Leuchten looked up, surprised. Halvorsson was already a few steps away; his gait hitched—he clearly didn’t want to leave anymoreif the conversation wasn’t quite finished—but it was too late to smoothly turn around in any way that would maintain his dignity.
“You can have two, Jim,” the chief of staff replied.
“Let’s walk,” Franklin said, gesturing toward the end of the South Lawn, even farther away from the retreating Halvorsson.They walked back out, through the trail Anouk had broken, taking a circular path through the snow.
“What’s this about?” Leuchten asked.
Franklin took a deep breath, fervently wishing that he were speaking to the president instead of this access-hoarding toad.
Leuchten was staring at him with undisguised, greedy curiosity.
“There might be another way to find the Oracle,” Franklin said slowly.
Leuchten raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? And yet we can’t discuss it in front of Director Halvorsson?”
Franklin nodded.
“It’s an unusual approach, Tony, and it’s my opinion that you’ll want as few people as possible to know we had this discussion.”
“I see. Are you certain we should have it, then?”
“Yes,” Franklin said flatly. “The truth is, I don’t think we’ll find this guy for you any time soon. He’s smart about theway he’s using technology. The Oracle’s whole system has been designed to not really give us anything to hack. We aren’t theNSA, but my
