Raphael's Dragon

Chapter 9: Reconnecting

Federal Building. April 27, 2005. Wednesday morning.

"McKenzie protests he's innocent," Peter told Neal. "He refuses to cooperate and claims he was set up."

Neal didn't attempt to suppress his contempt. The other team members were equally scornful. Peter had called the meeting midmorning to give an update on the interrogation. Bryan wasn't the type to fall on the sword, but did he actually think anyone would believe him?

"Given the size of his bank account, he'll have a difficult time convincing a jury of that," Travis said.

Peter shook his head. "I'd hold off on making any bets. We questioned him about the account and he asserted it contained small amounts of money he used for investments. When we confronted him with the statements provided by the bank, he insisted the money had been planted to make him look guilty. Not only that. He fingered Sara as the culprit."

"That's ridiculous," Neal sputtered.

Peter shot him a warning look. "Tricia and I agree, but he made a compelling case. He claims she had access to his bank account and his password. He insists she directed Ydrus to make the transfers. Fortunately the evidence from Longthorpe is so compelling that I believe we'll prevail in the end, but McKenzie will hire an excellent lawyer. His acting skills are formidable. Look at how he fooled Sara for all these months. I predict he'll play the part of the innocent victim to perfection."

"He'll claim Sara used him rather than the other way around," Diana added. "She'll have to take the stand. The defense will try to portray her in the worst possible light."

As Neal listened to them discuss how Bryan could manipulate the system, he thought of Mozzie's paranoia. It suddenly seemed much more justified. "Could Sara be charged?" he asked.

"I don't think so," Peter said. "She knew nothing about the owner of the Raphael drawing and there's nothing about her in the evidence provided by Longthorpe."

"But McKenzie could sow enough doubt in the minds of jurors that he'll escape with a reduced sentence or even acquittal," Jones cautioned.

"Tricia suspects that McKenzie had made his plans in advance," Peter added. "His answers are too polished."

Neal felt for Sara. She'd been in love with the guy. There'd probably been a few cinders still smoldering even though she said she was over him. Neal recalled how he felt when he discovered Kate was acting on Adler's orders and had never been in love with him. At least, Kate hadn't attempted to frame him.

"Sara's coming in this morning to record a statement on when McKenzie learned about Rinaldi. John Hobhouse is coordinating the search of his London office, flat, and personal computer." Peter turned to Travis. "Did anything show up on his work computer?"

"Not yet, but Jones and I've made progress on Longthorpe's. We've now acquired a substantial amount of data from monitoring Karl Huber's communications. By correlating it with Longthorpe's, we're able to piece together a better picture of Ydrus."

"Huber's been in Greece with his family on a vacation," Jones said. "We contacted Interpol about him yesterday. I heard back this morning that the Greek authorities are prepared to serve arrest papers on him."

Peter nodded with satisfaction. "We should have sufficient evidence from Longthorpe's files to successfully prosecute Huber on arms smuggling."

Jones pulled up a diagram on his laptop and projected it onto the screen. "This is the Ydrus hierarchy that we've been able to fill in so far. At the top is the leader, code-named Python. Hagen told us his code name was Savu."