Corrector (36 page)

“Agent Carlson?” Jake asked, mostly to see what she would say.  He already knew it was her.

“Who is this?” she asked, still refraining from identifying herself.

Jake decided it was time to see how this would go.  “Agent Carlson, my name is Stan Mathews.  It has come to my attention that you are looking for me.”

He heard a small catch on the other end, something that would have easily been missed had he not been expecting it.  The line was silent for just a fraction longer than normal before she replied.  “I’m sorry, the name isn’t familiar to me. Mathews, you say?  And why would I be looking for you?  Also, how did you come by this number?  This is a private number, not listed to my name and not even answered by my domestic help.”

Jake smiled.  He had her curious at least.  “Let’s not play games.  I know you have a watch on my plane in Reno.  The local police have been charged with detaining me for questioning should I appear and try to use it.  I thought it might be best if we could talk under more comfortable conditions.”

“That is a very interesting story.  Even if true, how would you be aware of such a watch?  You also haven’t explained how you came into possession of this number.  I would very much like to know that.  My privacy is something I don’t take lightly.”

“I can and will explain everything you ask,” Jake said, “but I need to establish some credentials first.  Without a little background you will find my explanations suspect, to say the least.  I want you to be prepared to listen with an open mind and hopefully restrict the number of participants when I come into your office in the morning.”

“You are planning on turning yourself in?”

“I’m planning on coming in.  I’m hoping the difference in wording will have meaning by the time we are finished talking.  It is imperative I talk with you, and not one of your FBI interrogators.”

“So, how do you propose we proceed?”

“Did you get my letter today?”

“If you are referring to the unsigned sheet with a series of numbers on it, yes.  I have been wondering what that is all about.  It’s clearly a code of some sort, but I have no idea what it might be about.  I was thinking of turning it over to the cryptographic department tomorrow.”

“It is unlikely they could break it,” Jake said.  “You also would be unhappy if they did.  The message is personal and not something you would want generally known.  The code is the simplest of codes.  The two columns of numbers refer to a page and a word number from a book.”

“Then I would need to know the book to be able to decode it,” she said.

“You have the book in your office.  It’s probably sitting by your reading chair.  You bought it that last time you were delayed in an airport.”

Susan Carlson had told him of the book when they had planned how he was to get her attention this time around.  It was part of a series, and the kind of thing people wouldn’t have expected her to read.  It was a little surprising that she, as an FBI agent, would find the adventures of an aging sniper intriguing.  Jake had purchased a copy of the book and had spent part of the plane trip from the West Coast making up the message.

“One more thing.  You need to increase the numbers of the first column by seven, and decrement the numbers of the second column by the same number.  That number will be important later.”

“You want me to decode the message now?”

“It’s necessary if we are to proceed.  If you would decode it, then we can continue our talk.  I’ll call back.  By the way, I’d decode it before calling and arranging to have this call traced.  The trace won’t tell you much, and it won’t help.  Believe me, I have ways of eluding capture that you can’t even imagine. We need to do this my way, at least until I’ve turned myself over to you.  I’ll be calling back in fifteen minutes.”

Jake hung up, and smiled.  He wondered whether she would decode the message first or arrange for the trace.  Probably the former, but they wouldn’t be prepared for him to be located almost outside her door.  If she tried the latter, he could be gone before they could get anyone in place, and even if caught, he had options.  He could redo this as often as needed.  He started the rental and drove a couple of blocks from where Carlson lived.  Then he parked and waited an additional few minutes until the full fifteen had passed.

“Mathews?” she asked upon picking up the phone when he called back.  As he expected, she had been waiting by the phone.  “Where did you get anything as ridiculous as this?”

“The same place I got your phone number,” Jake replied calmly.  “You gave it to me.”  The message had been the personal information that Carlson had reluctantly given him back at the Los Angeles jail.

“That’s ridiculous.  I’ve never spoken to you in my life.  Even not knowing who you were.  I would recognize the voice and I know approximately what you look like.  Besides, if this nonsense were true, I’d not be sharing it with anyone.”

“Remember I said keep an open mind.  I have an ability that you have never encountered, and which you will scoff at when I tell you.  But I can demonstrate it to your satisfaction.  In fact, I’m going to need to convince you I’m genuine if we are to do something very important together.  You asked about how I knew you were watching my plane. I discovered that the first time I was arrested and turned over to the FBI, and agent named Thomas from Sacramento.”

“There’s no record of your being arrested and turned over to us,” she objected.  “I would have been informed immediately.”

“And so you were,” Jake said, “but I had other things to do, so I corrected that situation and now it never happened, but I learned a lot about what you know.  Your list of incidents is partially correct,” he said.  “Those were me.  Your list is incomplete.  There are almost as many missing as you have listed.”

He could tell she didn’t know where to start.  “You admit to these crimes?” she asked surprised.  “And you claim there are more?  You claim you intend to turn yourself in tomorrow and will talk about them then?”

“I don’t consider them crimes, although technically I suppose they are.  Yes, I’ll talk about all of them.  It will be part of you understanding what this is all about.”

“I still don’t understand your claim of having been arrested.”

“There was a second time.  That time was in Los Angeles, and it led to our meeting.  I was detained and held in the federal facility there.  You actually helped me escape, and as part of that escape you told me the information in that message as well as giving me this phone number.”

“You’re insane.  That never happened, and I wouldn’t have helped anyone escape.”

“You will have reason to reconsider that when you know what is at stake here.  It’s all part of the special skill I have.  I promise to demonstrate conclusively to you that I’m being truthful.”

“This will be tomorrow, when you turn yourself in?”

“That’s correct.”

“So why this call?  What do you hope to gain by making these outlandish claims and calling me at home?”

“When I come in, I want to speak with you, and Agent Laney.  I would like to keep it to just the two of you.  I expect if I just came in, it would be some time before I could speak with you alone.  Time is important here.  I hope that I’ve given you enough to think about that you will be willing to set up a controlled environment where the discussion can take place as I’ve described.  If not, well, then I’ll have to think of another way to approach this.”

“What time?” she asked.

“I’ll be there at nine sharp.  We’ll probably need the entire day.”

“How do I know you’ll show up?”

“You don’t, obviously.  But what would be the point of all of this tonight if I didn’t intend to do so?  Sleep well Agent Carlson.  I look forward to working with you.”

Jake hung up.  He tossed the phone out of the car.  He had been wearing gloves, and there would be no way to connect it to him.  They would probably put a trace on it, and he didn’t want it to lead them to his hotel and it would be instructive for them to realize he had been a couple of blocks from Carlson’s house when he had called.

He drove back to the hotel and showered before going to bed.  It was remotely possible they could work their computers and discover another Reno resident was staying in a hotel in the city.  There were probably many, but they could get his picture from his driver’s license and see the resemblance.  If they were that much on the ball, he could expect them before morning.  If that happened, he would see how it went.  He might have to back-track, but even if they arrested him, if it got him and Carlson together, it might be fine.

He called Karin and they talked for fifteen minutes.  He reminded her that after tomorrow he couldn’t predict his availability, but not to worry unless she had specific bad news.  It was hard to know what exactly to say, and they both hung up dissatisfied with the call.

Jake took a taxi to FBI Headquarters in the morning.  He couldn’t detect anyone specifically waiting for him as he stepped through the glassed doors into the lobby, but he was somehow certain they would be waiting and watching.  They probably had him spotted already.  If he tried to leave now, he was certain they would suddenly appear to detain him, but so long as he continued to do as he had promised, they probably were watching and allowing him a chance to do this his way.  They probably had a gun on him.  Given the events he was linked to, they could expect him to be armed, although the metal detectors at the door should have told them otherwise.  He was unarmed, and carried two sets of ID; both the Mathews name and his own real name.  They were going to fingerprint him, and would know in a matter of a few minutes anyway.  Moving this along was what was important.

“Can I help you?” a uniformed guard asked him as he approached a large desk when his turn came.

“Yes.  My name is Stan Mathews.  I’m here to see Agent Carlson.”

It was obvious the name had meaning.  The guard nodded, and signaled someone off to the side.  A pair of agents came over pretending to being called, but Jake had noted them watching him since he came in.

“Mr. Mathews?” the taller of the two asked.

“That’s correct,” Jake replied.

“Please follow me,” the man said, and headed off toward the back of the lobby.  The second agent fell in behind Jake and they continued that way, with Jake sandwiched between the two men.  They passed through a sturdy unlabeled door in the back of the lobby, and then to a large elevator.  Jake wasn’t surprised as the elevator headed downward instead of upward.  While neither man had openly displayed a weapon, Jake could see the outlines of the FBI standard issue Glock 23 on each of their hips.  The 23 used the slightly larger .40 S&W cartridge than the Glock he had at home.

Jake raised his eyes in question as the elevator moved smoothly downward.

“You’ll get to see Agent Carlson,” the man said.  “First, however, we need to ensure you are not armed in some way and take your prints and check you in.  That isn’t something we can easily do upstairs.”

Jake nodded his understanding.  Perhaps it would still go as he hoped.  If not, he could still sense himself standing outside yesterday.

It took almost an hour, and when Jake was taken upstairs he was no longer wearing his own clothes.  Now he wore another of their mono-color prisoner suits.  It was clear that whatever happened, they felt he would not be going his own way at the end of the day.  Well, Jake had already resigned himself to spending at least one day in the lockup.  It would take an overnight for them to become convinced.

They rode a different elevator upwards.  This one was less ornately outfitted.  It wasn’t for visitors or employees.  It had plain steel walls that were marked and scratched from years of use.  There was no hiding the fact it was used to move prisoners around.

The rode to the ninth floor where they exited and were escorted down the hall and into the kind of room Jake had become too familiar with recently.  This one was nicer than the others, but its purpose was obvious.  He was seated and secured, and then the two men stood across the room and waited.  Five minutes later Agents Carlson and Laney entered the room.  Susan Carlson indicated the two men who had brought him here should leave, and moments later it was just the three of them.

Jake was glad to see them.  Laney looked much as he had just before Jake had killed him.  It was reassuring to see him alive and well today.  Susan Carlson also looked exactly as she had the last time they had talked face to face.  She still had the same no nonsense hairdo, her brown hair firmly in place.  Her dark brown eyes were as penetrating as he remembered.  The suit could even be the same one, although Jake suspected she had several that were identical.  She probably had three or four styles she liked and bought several of each.

“On top of everything else, you seem to know where I live,” Carlson said as she sat down.  “I expect you know we recovered your cellular phone a couple of blocks from my house.  Should I consider that a threat of some kind?”

“I wanted to make the point I have access to a great deal of information you would not expect,” Jake replied.

“So it would seem,” Carlson said, obviously thinking about the message and her private phone number.  “We have a lot of questions to ask you.  Is there something you would like to say before we get started?”

Jake shook his head.  “I’ve tried to think of a way to streamline this, but you are going to want to go at it your way.  Let’s just walk through it and by the time the day is over, I think I will have made an impression on you.”