Danielle considered that.
Mystic:>IF THEY HAVE PEOPLE STATIONED IN SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, I HAVE TO START WONDERING WHERE THEY DON’T HAVE PEOPLE.
Danielle couldn’t believe the information. How big was Alexander Cody’s organization?
Muckraker:>GUY WHO BROKE INTO YOUR CUTOUT WAS CIA?
Mystic:>DON’T KNOW. HAVEN’T IDENTIFIED HIM YET. GOT A PICTURE, THOUGH.
Muckraker:>HOW’D YOU GET THE PIC?
Mystic:>GOT THE CUTOUT SET UP WITH A PC CAMERA. GUY BROKE IN AND I GOT HIM IN ACTION.
Muckraker:>NO ONE TRACKED YOU BACK FROM THAT COMPUTER?
Mystic:> NO. IF THEY HAD, I HONESTLY DON’T THINK I’D BE HERE NOW. THAT GUY IN SYDNEY CAME IN READY TO KILL SOMEBODY.
Muckraker:>ARE YOU GOING TO WORK ON IDENTIFYING THE GUY WHO BROKE INTO THE AUSTRALIA APARTMENT?
Mystic:> WE’LL SEE. LIKE I SAID, THESE GUYS ARE GOOD AND THEIR ORGANIZATION IS HUGE IF THEY’VE GOT PEOPLE ON THE PAYROLL IN AUSTRALIA. I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH OF THIS I WANT TO TAKE ON. WAIT. I TAKE THAT BACK. I ONLY WANT TO TAKE ON AS MUCH AS WHAT WON’T GET ME KILLED. I’M REALLY CURIOUS NOW. STILL GOTTA FIGURE OUT WHERE THE LINE IS ON THAT.
Muckraker:>WHO’S THE GUY IN THE PIC I SENT YOU?
Mystic:>HIS NAME IS ALEXANDER CODY. HE IS CIA. SECTION CHIEF. IN THAT CAPACITY HE HAS SOME FREEDOM TO MAKE CALLS OF HIS OWN AND NOBODY WATCHES TOO CLOSELY. THIS GUY IS SOME PIECE OF WORK, I HAVE TO TELL YOU. BAD, BAD MAN. YOU WANT TO STAY AWAY FROM HIM.
Danielle didn’t know if that was possible.
Mystic:>ALSO FOUND OUT CODY WORKS FOR YOUR EMPLOYER.
Muckraker:>???
Mystic:>FOUND PAYOFFS LISTED IN YOUR EMPLOYER’S FILES. THAT’S PROBABLY WHAT GOT YOUR FRIEND KILLED. SOMEONE IN YOUR EMPLOYER’S OFFICE WAS COVERING UP A TRAIL. GOT COPIES OF THE PAYOFFS, BUT EVEN AS I WAS DOWNLOADING THEM, SOMEONE WAS COMING RIGHT BEHIND ME TURNING THEM INTO WHIFFLE DUST.
Muckraker:>WHIFFLE DUST?
Mystic:>GEEK-SPEAK. WHIFFLE DUST = ELIMINATION. I’M SURE THE RECORDS DON’T EXIST ANYMORE. TWO OF THE BANKS USED TO HANDLE THE MONEY TRANSACTIONS ARE CONTROLLED BY YOUR EMPLOYER THROUGH INVESTMENTS AND SHARE HOLDINGS. RUSSIAN BANKS. LOTTA UNDER-THETABLE BUSINESS DEALINGS AND MONEY LAUNDERING FLOW THROUGH RUSSIAN BANKS BECAUSE YOU CAN’T SUBPOENA THE RECORDS FROM THE RUSSIANS. TURNED UP THE NAMES OF TWO MAJOR PLAYERS IN SHADY DEALINGS THAT ARE CONNECTED WITH YOUR EMPLOYER: JOSHUA TODD-COTHRAN AND JONATHAN STONAGAL.
Danielle knew both men from news stories. Todd-Cothran was a British financier. Stonagal was from old money America. Both Stonagal and Todd-Cothran had histories of questionable business practices that included allegations of strong-arm techniques and corporate spying.
Mystic:>THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE, BUT TODD-COTHRAN AND STONAGAL ARE THE BIG BOYS IN THE BUNCH.
Muckraker:>YOU HAVE COPIES OF THOSE REPORTS?
Mystic:>CAN’T PROVE THOSE REPORTS EVER EXISTED EVEN WITH WHAT I MIGHT HAVE HAD. THAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH DOWNLOADED FILES: YOU CAN’T PROVE THAT YOU DIDN’T CREATE THEM YOURSELF. GOTTA CATCH THE FILES AT THE SITE OR ON A HARD DRIVE OR ON A REDUNDANCY SYSTEM SOMEWHERE. AND THE FILES I WAS LOOKING AT WERE COPIED ONTO THE HARD DRIVE IN SYDNEY. I DIDN’T GET THE CHANCE TO MOVE THEM TO MY SYSTEM HERE WHEN I NUKED THAT SYSTEM.
Muckraker:>WHAT IS CODY DOING IN SANLIURFA NOW?
Mystic:>NOTHING IN THE FILES TO INDICATE THAT. THE CIA FILES—I BROKE INTO THEM TOO—SHOW CODY IS ON THE SCENE THERE TRYING TO TRACK DOWN A ROGUE AGENT.
Muckraker:>ROGUE AGENT?
Mystic:>SOME GUY CODE-NAMED ICARUS. DID UNDERCOVER STUFF. INFILTRATED THE PKK. A KURDISH TERRORIST GROUP. DIDN’T KNOW THAT TILL I SEARCHED THE NET.
Leaning back in the Land Rover’s bucket seat, Danielle thought about that. She remembered how she’d seen Goose guarding the room in the temporary hospital. Cody had confronted him; then Captain Remington had stepped in and taken charge from both of them. Cody hadn’t been happy about that.
Did Remington have the rogue CIA agent?
Then she also remembered how Sergeant Gander had spirited away one of the men from the building the terrorists had used as bait to attack the American soldiers. Who was that man?
Okay, Danielle told herself, take a deep breath. You’re obviously onto a huge story here. Then, in the same moment, she realized the downside. One of the people she would be investigating was Nicolae Carpathia. If the story was legit and Carpathia was involved in illegal activities—and if she was able to break the story—her career at OneWorld NewsNet was finished.
It only took memory of Lizuca Carutasu’s cold-blooded killing to remind Danielle that she was out for more than just a story.
Muckraker:>WHAT KIND OF WORK HAS CODY DONE FOR CARPATHIA?
Mystic:>FILES ARE KIND OF SPOTTY AT BEST. BUT I WAS READING BETWEEN THE LINES. IF I’M RIGHT, CODY HAS BEEN HELPING CARPATHIA FOR YEARS. DOING ODD JOBS. GETTING INFORMATION ON PEOPLE, BLACKMAILING PEOPLE. THERE’S EVEN THE POSSIBILITY THAT CARPATHIA, OR SOMEONE CLOSE TO HIM, HIRED CODY TO MURDER A BUSINESS RIVAL SEVEN YEARS AGO. I ALSO READ ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT CARPATHIA’S APPOINTMENT TO THE PRESIDENCY OF ROMANIA WASN’T AS EASY AS THE PRESS RELAYS THE STORY. A LOT OF THINGS WENT ON BEHIND THE SCENES THEN. REAL GUERRILLA TACTICS. PEOPLE VANISHED AND TURNED UP DEAD.
Muckraker:>CAN YOU GET THIS INFORMATION TO ME?
Mystic:>WE’RE TALKING ABOUT A BIG FILE HERE. YOU’RE ON DIAL-UP. I CAN TELL BY THE PING. IT WOULD TAKE HOURS, MAYBE DAYS, TO GET ALL OF THIS TO YOU.
Danielle thought about that. Sid wouldn’t let her have his computer and phone for hours. And she wouldn’t leave the computer alone while it was downloading if she took it. She also couldn’t be away from OneWorld NewsNet for that amount of time.
Other media agencies had satellite burst transmission capabilities. OneWorld NewsNet did, but she definitely couldn’t use their computers to receive the data Mystic had. Not if it implicated Nicolae Carpathia. And she wasn’t really happy about trusting other news agencies. If any
