The Last Hedge (28 page)

Sincerely,

Luke Patterson

“There it is,” Vanessa said. “Luke knew about Fazziz.”

“”Who is Fazziz?” Dylan asked.

“He’s on the FBI watch list. And the person who the letter is addressed to, Dan Highland, is our boss.”

Dylan turned towards her quickly. “He’s your boss?”

“Yes. He’s the one who had us investigating you.”

“Me?” Dylan asked. “You never told me this? And why would Ray steer Luke to Highland?”

“If Highland is the bag man, maybe Corbin knew Highland would take care of it.”

“And he did. He took care of Ray too.”

“Perhaps. But even if he did, that still doesn’t explain where Binky is. Or who those guys were last night.”

“No, but it’s a start. Now we need to find out who Highland is working for.”

“Who is going to help us with that?”

“I think we should call Tim.”

Dylan sighed loudly. “You think he’ll help?”

“He’d better,” Vanessa said. “I can’t think of anyone else to call.”

“Thomas, we need this laptop.”

“Did you find something about Luke?”

“Maybe,” Dylan said. “It’s hard to tell.”

“And me also,” Vanessa said.

Dylan said nothing. They packed up the laptop and headed downstairs.

Luke’s mother was still seated on the sofa in the living room, seemingly entranced by the television. Dylan and Vanessa sat down on the chair next to her, and sat with them before saying goodbye. Thomas walked them to the door and waved as they left. Even when they were halfway back to New York, Dylan still couldn’t get the image of him waving out of his mind.

The Boathouse in Central Park was empty at 4 p.m. on that Wednesday afternoon. The summer heat was stifling, and few brave souls were rowing on the lake. The restaurant was also empty. With a baseball cap over her head, and a large black, oval sunglasses on her face, Vanessa sat at a quiet table on the patio near the water, sipping a cappuccino. Conroy barely recognized her when he met her at the table.

“Vanessa, where have you been?”

Vanessa looked around to make sure that no one had heard him. She then gestured across the table from her.

“Have a seat, Tim.”

“Okay,” Tim said, as he slumped down into the chair across from her. “So,” he said, “Are you going to answer my question? I was worried about you.”

“You’re so sweet. Did you see the bullet holes in the sliding glass door?”

“No, but I heard. What the hell happened?”

“I’m just now trying to piece it together. Do you have any idea? Did Highland tell you anything?”

“No, not really. He didn’t give me many details.”

“Oh, gee whiz,” Vanessa said sarcastically. “I wonder why?”

Conroy said nothing. The waitress came and Conroy ordered an espresso. Vanessa ordered another cappuccino.

“Well, to answer your question, I’ve been hiding out a bit.”

“I know that,” Conroy said, as he slumped awkwardly into the plastic chair across from her.

“How are things at the office?” Vanessa asked in a mocking voice, framed by sarcastic lips. “Do I owe you for the sports pool?”

“Everyone wants to know where you are, and what the hell is going on.”

“Are they looking for me?”

“In a matter of speaking.”

Vanessa sat down on the rock. “We took a trip upstate to see Luke’s folks.”

“Pumpkin hunting? Who is we, and who is Luke?”

“Luke was the previous head trader at Corbin Brothers. He died on a road upstate in a very questionable accident.”

“So what does that have to do with this?”

“He wrote Highland a letter, mentioning Fazziz.”

“Where is this letter?”

“It’s on his laptop. We have it.”

“So what does that mean?”

“Tim, whatever happened to Corbin and Binky … we can prove that Highland is involved. Luke wrote a letter to Highland explaining that Corbin was involved in something. Next thing you know, he’s dead.”

“So what does that have to do with Dan?”

“My friend had a photo of Fazziz. He’s someone connected to the Middle East.”

“You have no proof.”

“I do, Tim. It’s on an iPod. It’s in the drawer at my desk.”

“What’s on it?”

“Encryption codes to some type of database.”

“How do you know?”

“Yardley Trussell examined it. He said it was some type of hash table for encrypted data.”

“Do you know what the data is?”

“Something very valuable to a group of dangerous men.”

“Where is it?”

“It’s in my desk drawer.”

“Does anyone else know?”

“No. And I explained to Yardley not to tell anyone.”

Conroy took another sip from his espresso. He looked out at the lake for a moment. He then turned back towards Vanessa.

“I’ll get Binky’s iPhone, and I’ll call you. Is there a number where you can be reached?”

Vanessa took out a pen and scribbled her number on a napkin. “If you get the phone, call me at this number. Do it from a secured phone.”

“I will.” Conroy got up to leave. Vanessa stopped him when she placed her hand on his arm.

“Thanks, Tim.”

“You’re welcome,” Tim said. “Take care of yourself.”

“I will.”

Tim returned to his office that night to retrieve the iPhone. It was roughly ten o’clock in the evening. Most of the offices were closed, with the occasional light on.

Vanessa’s office was down the hall from his own. He walked down the linoleum corridor. He stepped in her office.

Tim stepped quickly behind her desk and opened the top drawer. The iPod was in a plastic zip-lock bag, just as Vanessa had explained. He looked at it. It was a typical iPod; probably the latest version. He quickly folded the bag in half and placed it in the pocket on the inside of his jacket. He exited her office and quickly shut the door behind him. When he turned, Dan Highland was standing right behind him.

“Timmy, what’s up?” Conroy jumped as if he had seen a ghost. A nervous laugh rose from his belly.

“Dan, you scared the bejesus out of me.” Conroy turned and looked at Highland. Not a hint of amusement was in his face.

“Didn’t mean too, Timmy. Have you heard from her?”

“No, I haven’t,”

“Any reason why you were in her office?”

“I was looking for a file.”

“Where is it?”

“That’s the thing, I couldn’t find it.”

“Anything noteworthy?”

“No, it was the old insider trading case that we worked on together. I wanted to look it over; just for deep background on something new I’m looking at.”

“Deep background, huh?”

“Yeah,” Conroy said. He noticed that Highland had adopted an aggressive pose, arms folded and feet spread wide apart.

“I trust if you had heard anything from Vanessa, you would let me know.”

“Of course I would.”

“Good,” Highland said. “I know you mean that.” Highland stared at him for seconds before he spoke again. He then flashed Conroy his trademark smile. “Goodnight, Timmy.” Highland turned and walked away. Conroy tried to say goodbye but Highland was already gone.

“Yeah. You too.”

Conroy rang the buzzer and no one appeared for what seemed like a minute. Finally someone came, and Conroy could hear the door begin to creak open. He could then see light inside the apartment, though the door was held steady by a chain. A male voice was soon speaking from behind the door. It sounded familiar, but he could not quite place it.

“Who is it?” the voice asked.

“Tim Conroy.”

The door closed, and Conroy could hear the chain being removed. The door was opened. Conroy stepped inside and immediately the door closed behind him.

Dylan was standing there in jeans and a pullover sweater. He said nothing to Conroy as he turned and walked away.

Conroy took in the loft. It was even bigger than he had expected; at least four thousand square feet. The loft was mostly empty, increasing the vastness of the space. He barely even noticed the baby grand piano nestled in the corner.

“Nice place, Dylan. Do you live here?”

“No.”

“Whose is it?”

“The guys who owns our gallery space.”

“Okay. I guess it’s nice to have rich friends.”

“I would have invited you over to tea, if you would have returned my phone calls.”

“Touché.”

Dylan walked Conroy across the loft until they reached a small room just off the kitchen. They went inside and found Vanessa sitting at the computer. She was working at the keyboard, typing furiously. She stood up when Conroy entered the room.

“So you came?”

“So I did.”

“I’m glad,” Vanessa said. She pensively looked down at the floor then back up at Conroy. “So, did you bring something for me?”

“Yes,” Conroy said. He reached into his jacket pocket and removed the iPod, still inside the plastic bag. He handed it to her. Vanessa held up the bag and looked at it carefully. She then put on a pair of rubber gloves that were sitting next to the computer keyboard.

She took the iPod out of the bag, and placed it next to the computer. She took the cable from the PC.

“You two a team now?” Conroy asked. “Bonnie and Clyde?”

“Who does that make you?” Dylan asked. “’Columbo’ or ‘Ironside’?”

“Hah ha,” Conroy said. “Show me what you have.”

“Let me drive,” Dylan said. Vanessa got up from the computer and Dylan replaced her in the seat.

Dylan called up a program. The screen displayed a picture of what looked like the inside of an auto mechanics garage. The screen flashed the display, “iPod Mechanic.” Conroy bent over slightly to see the screen closer.

“What is this?”

“It’s a piece of software all the iPod hackers use. It’s scanning the contents of the hard drive. I want to find the hash table first.”

A meter bar showed the progress of the operation. Ten seconds later, it found the file.

“Got it.”

“Now what?” Conroy asked.

“Well, we try to find the matching file.”

“How do we do that?” Vanessa asked.

“I have no idea.”

Dylan began to scan through all the files on the computer. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. In addition to the usual music and videos, Binky’s file contained a host of applications. Dylan began to examine them one by one. Except for the hash table and some of his hacked files, nothing was particularly compelling. Vanessa tapped Dylan on his shoulder whenever he reached the videos.

“I don’t know where to start,” Dylan said.

“What was the image you saw in Josh’s office?”

“The Easter egg thing?”

“Yeah.”

“Maybe it meant something.”

“Didn’t you say something about a clown?”

“What about it?”

“Well, it’s a stupid hunch, but check if there’s anything on the iPod under that name or with that symbol?”

Dylan looked at Vanessa.

“Are you serious?”

“It’s worth a try.”

Dylan used the software to search for all references to clowns. At least ten songs came back with that name in the reference.

“Your young man has some eclectic taste,” Conroy said.

“You got that right.”

“Wait,” Vanessa said. There’s one more listed under video. “You ever heard of Insane Clown Posse’?”

“Yeah, sure. It’s one of his favorite bands.”

“Check this out.”

Vanessa selected the video. Dylan recognized the image that appeared as the same one that he had seen on Josh’s computer. Dylan clicked on it. Soon, the image changed, and began prompting them for a file name. The three of them all looked at each other.

“It wants a file name?”

“Yeah,” Dylan said, “but which one?”

Vanessa looked at the screen intensely. She then turned towards Dylan with a curious look on her face.

“Give it the file name of the hash table.”

“Okay,” Dylan said. He typed in the name of the file. Another meter bar appeared, this one taking over one minute to clear. The screen reappeared with a twenty-eight character string: WgTdnPJ12FvVb123NuQ173sQKbT4. A hyperlink then appeared beneath the string of characters. Dylan took a pen and copied down the string of characters. He clicked the link and the website of the bank Credit Durex appeared.

“Who are they?” Conroy asked.

“It’s an offshore bank in Antigua.” Dylan typed in the code into a blank prompt that appeared on the screen. An hourglass then appeared, followed soon after by an account balance screen. Dylan clicked and went into a screen that detailed the account information.

The account was registered in the name of Charles Bannister, III. It had been transferred from the account of Yosef Fazziz. The account balance registered a cool one hundred and fifty million dollars.

“It’s an offshore account, created the same day Binky went missing.”

“Why would he have done this?”

“I don’t know,” Dylan said. “Your guess is as good as mine. And there’s a good chance someone is going to want this money.”

“My friend confirmed that Highland is CIA. Highland is the link, Tim. He knows what happened to Binky, and he knows about Fazziz.”

“I don’t believe it. Besides, he’s my boss. I can’t just investigate him.”

“I wouldn’t be telling you this if I didn’t believe it. Highland is the only way we can find out what happened.”

Dan bent over and stared at the screen. He took several deep breaths before he stood up erect. “So what do you want me to do?”

“I have an idea,” Vanessa said.

Vanessa clicked a button and printed what was on the screen. She then went and took the document off of the printer. She handed the paper to Conroy.

“Say Highland is CIA, and Fazziz is somehow involved. What would make Highland start to shake in his boots?”

“I don’t know.”

“Think about it, Tim. Who is the most dangerous person for Highland in the agency?” Conroy thought for a moment, then the click of his brain suddenly snapped in.

“Thompson, head of Homeland Security.”

“Exactly,” Vanessa said. “What would happen if you faxed this to him?”

“If Highland is not involved, then nothing happens. But if he is …”

“The shit hits the fan.”

“Exactly,” Conroy said. “No damage to you, him or us.”