The Ninth District - A Thriller

by Douglas Dorow

  “Six hours and thirty-three minutes. Is something wrong, my friend? You sound funny, not yourself.”

  The Governor took a deep breath and cleared his throat. “No, everything is fine. I’m standing outside in this beautiful Minnesota summer weather and I’m a little nervous or anxious, I guess. I just wanted to make sure everything was still on track.”

  “There’s nothing to be nervous about. This rain won’t bother anything. Everything is in place. Soon you and I will be very rich men.”

  The Governor closed his eyes. Soon he would be a rich man. It was something he had dreamed of all of his life. No more dealing with architects, coordinating builders’ schedules, or dealing with the worries of homebuyers spending beyond what they could afford. Soon he would be a rich man. “You’re right, Vadim. But still, I’ll be nervous until it is done.”

  “My friend, you do your part and my men and I will do ours. Do not call me again, until tomorrow.”

  The Governor closed his cell phone and put it in his pocket. He knew what he had to do next. Time was counting down and he and Vadim had scripted the job down to the end. He put on his caving gear and entered the tunnels.

  Jack and Ross burst out of the condo tower doors onto the street. Ross had the roll of plans tucked under his good arm. Lightning flashed across the sky, followed immediately by thunder which reverberated through the air. Strong winds swept the rain through the air. “Better stick those under your jacket, Junior. Don’t want them getting all wet.”

  Ross struggled getting the plans inside his windbreaker with his good arm. He grimaced as the end of the roll bumped his hand sticking out of the sling, which forced his arm back in a direction that hurt.

  “Let me help you.” Jack grabbed the roll, pulled back the jacket, and pushed them against Ross’ right side. “Clamp down on that.” Jack snapped up the jacket, sealing the plans inside.

  “Where’s your car?” Ross asked.

  “I ran over here from Nicollet Island. I’m parked back by the hotel still. Where’s yours?”

  “This way.” Ross ran across the street like an escapee in a straight jacket. His right arm held the plans against his chest under his windbreaker while his left arm, still in a sling, moved with his body. The loose sleeve of his windbreaker flew forward and back against the rhythm of his run.

  Jack followed, splashing through the puddles in the street as they were too wide to avoid. His shoes and socks were still wet and were getting wetter. He followed Ross to a beat up Chevy pick-up where Ross stopped and waited for him.

  “I forgot La Reina is out of commission,” Jack said.

  “The keys are in my pocket. You drive.” Ross turned to offer the right pocket of his jacket to Jack.

  “You sure?”

  “Come on, let’s go. I need to keep the plans dry.”

  Jack got the keys, unlocked the door, and got in. He reached across the seat, pulled up the lock, and opened the passenger door for Ross.

  “Where’s your family?”

  “They’re safe at the office across the river. I told them to get a vet ASAP to check out the dog, who’s quarantined for now in the SAC’s office. The kids aren’t too happy about being separated from the dog.” Jack shifted the truck into drive. “Hold on.”

  The Federal Reserve was straight ahead of them, across the river. Jack pulled out from behind the SWAT team’s van and headed for the Hennepin Avenue Bridge. “Where are the wipers?” They could barely see where they were going.

  “Turn the second knob on the right.”

  The wipers cleared some of the water off the windshield, but left streaks of water across much of their field of view. “Remind me to get you some new wiper blades.”

  “You think this is it?” Ross asked. “You think he’s got a plan to rob the Federal Reserve?”

  “Why else would he have plans for the building?”

  At the Federal Reserve, Jack pulled the truck up over the curb onto the sidewalk and parked near the covered walkway leading up to the door. “Go,” was all he said to Ross.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Go talk to these guys and get them ready to save themselves from being robbed.”

  “What about you?” Ross asked.

  “I gotta’ go see a guy about a condo.”

  Ross just looked at him with a question on his face.

  Jack reached across Ross’ chest and opened the truck’s passenger door for him. “Go.”

  The valet parking sign was on the sidewalk in front of the building between giant searchlights parked at the curb that swept the sky. Raindrops sparkled in the bright lights and sizzled when they hit the giant lenses pointed above the city. Jack pulled the rusted truck into position, got out, and handed the keys to a young man holding a large umbrella, wearing khaki shorts and a blue polo shirt with the development company’s logo over his heart. “I won’t be long. Be careful with her, she’s not mine.”

  He walked past the elevator doors and the sign that announced the Independence Day party on the fourth floor and opened the door into the stairwell. It was empty. He went up taking two stairs at a time, leaving wet footprints on the stair treads.

  The image of the Governor and his dog walking across the Stone Arch Bridge a few days ago as a dead man floated in the river played through his mind. Patty said he was a prick. More worried about the police and their tape around the crime scene than anything else. He had a party going on tonight. What was he worried about, the party being disrupted, or the police being so close to the Fed just up the river while he was making plans to rob it?

  Jack reached the fourth floor and exited the stairwell. He stopped to catch his breath and get a look at what he’d be facing. He double-checked that his gun was still tucked in place against his lower back.

  He was definitely underdressed. Couples strolled around the room. The men were in tuxes, the women in cocktail dresses. It was summer and everyone was showing off their tans. Waiters and waitresses in black outfits were working the room, handing out food and drinks. A hostess at the door spied him and watched him without trying to be obvious. She was twenty-something, beautiful, tan, and dressed in a low cut outfit that was slightly elegant without overshadowing the people attending the party. Jack smiled and approached her directly and spoke quickly.

  “Hello, miss. I’m looking for Mr. Tyler. I hope I’m not too late. We really had our hearts set on one of the units here. My wife said, I don’t care what you look like. You get up there and get that unit for us.” Jack leaned forward on the podium the hostess was posted behind and looked into the room. “Is he here? If I don’t close the deal my wife will kill me.”

  “I think he’s here. But, he might have run home. He said something about getting a call from his security company that his alarm was going off.”

  Jack looked around the room some more. “The lightning probably set it off.”

  “That’s what he said. I can call him for you. He’d be happy to talk to you about the units here. There are some great ones.”

  Jack scooted around her. “Thanks. I’ll look around and track him down. If I can’t find him I’ll be back.”

  After a quick walk through the suite to confirm that the Governor wasn’t there, Jack found a position where he could keep an eye on the door into the suite and most of the living room. He called the FBI dispatch on his mobile phone.

  “Hi, Jack. Heard you guys are getting close to the Governor tonight.”

  “We’re on his trail, but haven’t found him yet. Sorry you have to work the holiday.”

  “Over forty, not married, nothing better to do tonight. All’s quiet, maybe I’ll do some knitting.”

  “Put the knitting needles down. I’ve got some work for you to do.” Jack listed out the things he needed. First, she was to check with the security company and find out what number they had called. Then she would call the cell phone company and find out if the Governor was currently on the network. If he was, they had to pinpoint where he was. If not, they
needed to monitor and let them know when he came on. She needed to get an agent to stake out the condos, and last, she needed to call Sure Thing and his crew in. They could help if the Governor was using his phone. “Give me a call when you hear back from the cell phone carrier.”

  “Thanks, Jack. Just so you know, I might not get your sweater knitted by Christmas now.”

  Jack laughed. “Talk to you soon.” He put the phone back in his pocket and looked around the room. The Governor wasn’t here and he probably wasn’t coming back after the warning he got from the security company. Jack left his phone number with the hostess and headed back to the Federal Reserve to join Ross.

  Chapter 47

  Jack closed his eyes and breathed through his nose as he walked through the revolving door into the Federal Reserve. Ross and two guards were waiting for him in the lobby when he exited the revolving closet. An older man with grey hair and a bit of a paunch stood to Ross’ left. His hands were on his hips. He had a hint of a smile on his lips. A younger man with a shaved head stood to Ross’ right. His feet were set slightly wider than his shoulders, hands clasped behind his back. His spine was straight and his chest thrust out. Ex-marine, Jack thought.

  Ross looked over Jack’s shoulder, through the glass doors at his truck that Jack had parked on the sidewalk.

  “Did you lock it?” Ross asked.

  “I think so. Does it matter?”

  “Did you at least take the keys?”

  Jack held them up in the air to show him and then stuffed them in the pocket of his shorts.

  “Don’t lose them.”

  “Don’t worry, Junior.”

  “Gentlemen, this is Special Agent Jack Miller. One of our best,” Ross said.

  Jack smiled in surprise. The younger guard barely nodded. The older man stepped forward and shook Jack’s hand. He had a catcher’s mitt of a hand. Jack’s fingers barely wrapped around the palm.

  “Welcome to the Federal Reserve. I’m Mark Granowski. My loud partner here is Jerome Stone.” Mark hung on to Jack’s hand and lowered his voice. “Don’t like our doors, huh?”

  “Not a fan.”

  “They don’t bother most people, but there are a few that would rather just skip ‘em if you let them.”

  “Well, I’m in. Let’s get to it.”

  Granowski set two cups of coffee on the table. “Black?”

  Ross nodded. He and Jack sat on one side of the rectangular table.

  “As long as it’s hot,” Jack said. “Catch me up?”

  Mark slid a chair out across from Jack and lowered himself to a point and then let himself plop into it. He clasped his hands and rested them on his belly. “So, somebody wants to rob us.”

  “You don’t seem too worried.”

  “We’re the Fed. Any dreamer thinks about robbing us, but it’s not like we’re a bank. You can’t walk in, show a teller a note, and expect to get some money.” Mark pushed his chair back further and crossed his ankle over his knee. Most of our focus is inside the walls to make sure employees don’t take anything. I’d send you on your way, but you’re with the FBI so you must have something worth listening to or you wouldn’t be here.”

  Jack blew on the coffee and took a sip. “Not bad.”

  “The coffee’s OK, but the food sucks.”

  “This is about the Governor. You’ve seen the news?”

  “I thought he was robbing banks.”

  Jack looked at Ross, raised his eyebrows, and nodded for him to answer.

  “Go ahead, Jack. You’re on a roll.”

  “All right,” Jack said. He looked at Granowski. “He was robbing banks, but we don’t think it was the money he was after.” Jack unrolled the plans on the table. The stack of plans was about an inch thick. The off-white sheets were three feet by four feet and covered a majority of the table. “We found these in his condo and can’t think of a reason why he would have them.”

  “Unless he was planning to rob the Fed,” Granowski answered.

  “Right.”

  Granowski got up and pulled his chair around to sit on the same side of the table as Jack and Ross.

  “Here’s what I was showing Agent Fruen before you got here,” Granowski said. He paged through the first few pages which included the cover sheet and the index pages and ruffled through the plans, examining page numbers.

  “Looks like he has an entire set of building blue prints. HVAC and electrical schematics, plan and elevation drawings and plans for the vault.”

  “Would these do him any good?” Ross asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so. It’s not like he’s coming in the door, going to the vaults, and hauling money out. And he’s not digging his way in. The vault’s forty feet underground with walls a couple of feet thick made of reinforced concrete. We have sensors underground around the perimeter of the vault also.”

  “All the money’s in one vault?”

  Mark looked at Ross. “One vault, inaccessible.”

  “So how would you rob it?” Jack asked.

  “We’re running scenarios and simulations all of the time.” Mark looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. “The money’s most exposed when we’re moving it in and out of the building. But, we’ve got that covered; random schedules, unmarked trucks, multiple trucks with some being empty, some not, decoys. We were at the most risk when we were moving the money from the old Fed building to this one when this one was built in ninety-four. Fifteen million dollars moved five blocks. Nothing happened.”

  Jack got up and refilled his coffee cup. “There has to be something to this. He’s got the plans. Why was he robbing the banks?”

  “We move a lot of money electronically between our partners, clear checks, stuff like that. But, we have our own arsenal of people and tools to keep that secure. Passwords, tokens, dedicated networks, monitoring of networks. Stuff I don’t know much about. We find people snooping around, but nobody’s ever been successful.”

  “That’s what my daughter told me,” Jack said.

  Mark looked at Jack questioningly.

  “We were on the trolley tour today over on Nicollet Island. Part of the Fourth of July celebration. My daughter heard the driver say that the Federal Reserve has never been robbed.”

  Mark sat forward and nodded. “Well, she’s right. Never has been and never will be. I can’t imagine the havoc that would be caused world-wide in the markets if it ever was.”

  The Governor had scraped and squeezed his way through the tunnels to find his crew. They had been so close before and hadn’t been discovered yet. The time was approaching for the grand finale of his plan.

  “Look who’s here, guys!” Steve yelled over the sound of the jets of water which were cutting their way through the limestone like beavers on a tree. He shut down the sprayer so the team could talk. “We’re right on schedule, boss. No surprises.”

  The Governor’s headlamp speared through the mist that clouded the cave. A layer of water covered everything.

  “You guys are doing great.” He clapped them each on the shoulder, his enthusiasm showing. A toothy grin on his face. “Dreams gentlemen. They will soon come true.” He stepped forward to see the current work.

  “This is just like cutting through butter with a hot knife. The rock just disappears. It’s amazing. You want to try it?”

  The Governor stepped back. “No, I’ll leave it to the professionals. You guys have done an amazing job.” He used his thumb to wipe the grime and water off the face of his watch. “By midnight you need to be in position by the vault door. I’ll let you get back to work.”

  Chapter 48

  “This is it, gentlemen, command central. From here we watch the grounds, the vault, and the people running the machines counting the money.” Granowski put a hand on each of their shoulders and guided Jack and Ross across the room. “And over here we have the crew watching the FedWire.” A dozen people sat in front of computer screens. On the wall in front of them were larger screens and an electronic depic
tion of the United States with lines and numbers between cities.

  “And FedWire is?” Ross asked.

  “It’s the electronic network used to wire funds between Federal Reserves and the member banks. There’s real money out there, but now it’s all just numbers, record keeping.” Mark looked up at the screen. “The instantaneous movement of money.”

  Ross looked up at the screens. “And nobody can hack this?”

  “Nope. Not that they haven’t tried. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve seen lots of different schemes.” Mark started walking across the room. “Greed is a strong motivator. People on the outside want to get in here at the money. But, we have lots of people already inside. I spend most of my time watching those already inside the doors.” He stopped in front of a bank of monitors. “We have a lot of safeguards, lots of smart people, lots of redundancy. We’re just the network and center point or clearing house. If you want money, rob a bank.”

  “Which brings us back to why we’re here.” Jack stood with his hands in the pockets of his shorts, looking at the screens, talking to the air. “Junior, who does this room remind you of?”

  “Who does it remind me of?”

  “Look around. Who would feel at home here?”

  Ross looked around the room and smiled at Jack. “Sure Thing would love this room.”

  “Exactly.” Jack pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Mark, could I invite another person from our office to join us here? He’s a little more technical than we are.”

  “A little?” Ross asked.

  “OK, a lot. But, he’d be a good addition while we’re here. He’s seen what the Governor and his friends can do with technology.”

  Granowski pointed at the phone in Jack’s hand. “You can call him, but not with that. You probably couldn’t get a signal in this room, and just to make sure, we’ve got jammers in place. No calls out of this room unless they’re on a land line.”

  “OK, get me to a phone. We’ll get him over here and we’ll see if we can figure out what’s going on.”