Tom Brand Escapes

16 - Escapes the City of Magnificent Intentions

Petras removed his headphones.

"So?" Brand asked him.

"He's waiting to hear from you. "

"You don't say."

"He sounds stressed out – another new assistant."

"He does go through them quickly."

"This one seems bright. She sounded very interested in you, worried about bugs."

Brand smiled, "I hope she's not too bright."

Russom's office was in fact under his surveillance but the daily sweeps never found anything. There was no modulation to detect, no devices added. They used the antennae, microphones and electronics already within the peripherals there. Petras could commandeer them at will.

Ironically, the only piece of equipment they couldn't tap undetected was the landline phone. Russom had the receiver scrambled. While they could hear his side of the conversation, all they could hear of the other side was static. They were working on it, or actually, waiting on it. Once the D.C. region lines were replaced by the phone company with fiber optics, they'd have access to the phone, too.

'What's her name?"

"Jenn Slater."

"Any red flags?"

Petras shook his head, "None that I've found. Twenty-seven. Bachelor degree – dual major in Industrial Organizational Psychology and Physical Education."

"That's an interesting mix."

"She's a nationally ranked rock climber. Started working for the DOD at the Pentagon two years ago as an entry-level intelligence analyst. Her file says she's smart but needed a challenge. Hence the job with Russom."

"How did she test on her qualifiers?"

"Off the charts. Especially on creative-analytical and risk-taking."

"I'm surprised they didn't tap her for fieldwork."

"They did. She opted out."

"Any particular reason for that?"

"Nothing in her records but it could be redacted. It looks like the riskiest thing she's ever done is move in with her boyfriend. Want me to dig deeper?"

"I don't think it's necessary. Anything on the boyfriend?"

Petras scrolled down his computer screen and tapped the keyboard.

"He is Peter Dunne: age 29, mental health professional, working on his PhD."

"Good: smart, stable relationship, not a risk-taker except for rock-climbing and living with the boyfriend."

"An agency chair warmer for life. She's not likely to rock the boat."

"Russom may have found himself a keeper."

Petras had caught up with him early in the morning and it seemed all was forgiven. He had not mentioned being abandoned in Maryland or anything about Leah except to ask how she and her brother had got off. They were sitting in a hotel room on the sixth floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Brand stood, stretched and walked over to the window. Russom's office was in Pentagon City directly across the Potomac.

"Any intelligence on the new mission?" Brand asked.

"A little," Petras placed a flat black case on the desk and flipped it open. He pressed a button on the side and mountains sprang up out of it, their snow-capped peaks a glowing holographic image ringed in neon blue.

"This is a bit crude but it's based on the initial coordinates Russom gave Slater."

Brand crossed his arms and stroked his chin.

"Where is it?"

The long mountain range had a narrow ridge winding around it. The image showed a line of trucks disappearing around a bend as the slim road wound north.

"It's north of Washington State in the Canadian Cascade Range. It's a military goods and tech route between the U.S. and Canada."

Brand raised his eyebrows, "What's up?"

"As you know, the arms agreement between the US and our neighbor to the north has always been murky. Russom probably doesn't even know the specifics. For national security reasons what comes in is classified, however, estimates are that the DOD orders in excess of two billion dollars for domestic use, and another billion for foreign use."

"Sounds like a perfect scenario for supply chain diversion."

"That's it exactly," Petras pointed to the east face of the ridge. "Although it's hard to say precisely what's going into the chain, there's definitely less than expected coming out on our side."

"What's security like?" Brand asked

"It's mainly geographic," Petras ran his finger along the ridge then pulled at the top of the image, expanding it. "It's a sheer rock face and a straight drop. This is where the supplies are disappearing."

Brand nodded, "Okay. I'll get some more details from Russom. Thanks."

Petras twirled the case and the mountain range swirled into to a blur of glowing silver and blue that shrank and then extinguished. He snapped the case shut and picked up the television remote. As Brand put on a jacket and shoved a phone in his pocket, Petras turned the television on and clicked through the channels to the local news station before tossing the remote onto the couch.

It was a typical news day for the region: humid weather, a chance of rain, teachers still working without a contract and threatening a strike, a drive-by shooting overnight, traffic snarled downtown. Brand smiled at the short segment about a gas line explosion during construction at the Coast Guard station in Cape May, New Jersey. Then the story about the drive-by looped again.

Brand almost missed it as he swung his jacket around his shoulders, but the photo was unmistakable: Leah. The next photo as well: it was Liam, followed by the photo from Facebook of the two siblings together, smiling. Brand's arm froze in mid-air and his jacket slipped to the floor. He moved closer to the TV screen hoping his eyes were deceiving him.

"Victims of the overnight shooting have been identified as tourists from Ireland. According to police and eyewitness accounts, it appears the shooting was random. The pair was shot as they stood on the road alongside their tour bus which was en route to Boston, but broke down just outside of Maryland. Their names have not been released pending notification of their families."

Petras appeared beside him.

"You said they were headed for New York," he said.

"That's what Liam said. New York."

Petras clucked his tongue, "This is what happens when there is a deviation in plans."

Brand whirled around to face him, "Did you know about this?"

Petras looked at him with heavy eyes, dark from lack of sleep, "No."

Brand put his hand on his shoulder, "Petras."

Petras clamped his hand down on top of Brand's. For a short, older man he had weighty, powerful hands, "My friend, this was inevitable. Her fate was sealed the moment she walked away from your protection. A pity the brother's was then, too."

"Petras, tell me you didn't do this."

Petras looked back at him over his shoulder, "I did not. I was stranded. It took me hours to find and boost my transportation. No, Tom. You did this. You thought you knew better."

Petras removed his hand and shrugged Brand's away. He sat back down at his laptop, "I don't like to say I told you so, but...."

Brand picked up the remote from the couch, shut off the television, and opened the hotel room door.

"I will follow shortly," Petras said as Brand slammed the door shut behind him.