The Case

by Lee Cunningham

  Jesse looked from one to the other of them, hoping for a glimpse of acknowledgment that they were beginning to understand his explanation. Seeing nothing, he said, in a speaking-to-children voice, “You know, an advanced code-breaking software.”

  By the change in their expressions, Jesse could see they were finally catching on to where he was headed, so he continued. “During World War II, the Germans had come up with this machine, an ingenious invention, to code and decipher communications. The Allies eventually captured one, and used it to decode German communications…and help win the war. It was one of the game changers for our side.”

  “After the war ended, both the U.S. and the Brits continued to work on code breaking machines, so they would never encounter a similar problem in the future. Eventually, with the advent of computers, software, algorithms, data analysis and the like, the code-breaking software programs were born, and now continue to be upgraded.”

  Kate and Shane were nodding their mutual basic understanding, so Jesse continued. “Think of it like computer viruses. Some programmer invents a computer virus, and then another programmer comes up with an anti-virus. It’s the same with codes and encrypted communications, only on an exponential scale now, with governments hacking each other’s systems for intelligence. Everyone wants to be ahead of the other guy.”

  Jesse’s face lit up, as he began to talk excitedly, about a subject he loved. “Imagine a U.S. intelligence agency sending a file to the Secretary of Defense. They know, when they send it, that our enemies, like the Iranians, the Russians, the Chinese...hell, even our allies, like the Brits, are trying to intercept it and decode it. So, our government uses protected secure servers that are constantly monitored for hacking, viruses, Trojans, worms, virtually every kind of known threat…then, they encrypt the file, so if someone does get past the security protocols, or the information is stolen, the unintended reader can’t read it without the correct key…the cypher.”

  Jesse continued at an excited pace, now on a roll. “So, the software becomes more and more complex, as cypher technology is constantly changing, evolving to a higher level. You can conceal an important message, report or document, among gigabytes of worthless information, so the average reader could never find what he or she is searching for, without the correct cypher. It’s really cool stuff, actually,” Jesse beamed, as he sat back and clicked the mouse, in triumph.

  The first page of quotes was instantly transformed into a guide with instructions for the reader to assemble a series of documents, attachments and reports, using different cyphers to decrypt each document, in order to decipher the actual report.

  Jesse clicked the mouse again, and pointed to a sentence in a report. “Look at that!” he exclaimed. Individual, non-contiguous words were highlighted in the sentence with numbers following each word.

  Jesse shook his head and said, “Man, for their day, these guys were good, really good!”

  He turned to Kate and Shane, expecting admiring smiles, but once again was met with blank stares. He sat forward in his chair and said, confidently, “We can break this code with time. So far, it appears that the real report and attachments will be revealed by deciphering all the documents that we are directed to search. Using words, or letters from words, in the exact order the cypher tells us, should reassemble the information, so we can create the real report and attachments! It’s very complex, but achievable, now that we are beginning to understand the process.”

  Shane said, “How long will this take…just a guess? I don’t mean to press you. I’m just trying to plan my moves with Grant and Roberts,” he explained.

  Jesse nodded in understanding, and said, “Time is controlled by the speed and success of our software, and the number of people and computers we have working on the project. Once the convoy arrives, we’ll have the people we need to speed up the process. Until then, it will just be me, Sam, and two of my team. In the end, maybe no more than two or three weeks, if all goes well...and if we can identify the correct cypher.”

  Shane and Kate finished their lattes simultaneously, and Shane rolled the empty cup in his hand, looking down at the few drops remaining, as he thought ahead.

  Jesse stood up, holding out his hand, and offered, “Another?” Shane smiled and handed him the cup, and he and Kate followed him to the kitchen.

  Jesse worked his magic with the espresso machine, while Kate and Shane stood silently behind him. Jesse was consumed in thought. He turned and handed the latte to Shane, and took Kate’s now empty cup to repeat the process.

  He looked at both of them, studying him carefully, and said, “You know, I really love coffee, espresso machines, and cooking of all types. It could be my life. But there’s one thing I love more. Do you know what that is?” Both Kate and Shane stared at him intently, and shook their heads back and forth.

  Jesse continued, as he turned back to the machine. “It’s unraveling a good mystery. And coded communications are among my favorite parts of a good mystery. I want to run something by you both. But before I do, let’s put this whole thing in perspective, and think about it for a moment. Let’s all take a hard look at the complete picture.”

  Jesse was quiet for a moment, while he steamed the milk and added caramel and chocolate drizzles. He plopped a moderate spoonful of whipped cream on top of the foaming liquid in the cup, and topped that off with the appropriate sprinkles and more drizzles.

  He turned and said, “I know it’s unconventional, but I like to experiment. What did you think?” He motioned to the latte as he handed it to Kate.

  Kate expressed a sigh of relief. She replied, “Oh, thank God, you weren’t asking me what I thought about the decryption. I’m afraid that’s out of my league! The latte is wonderful. I would never have thought about adding the whipped cream and sprinkles with drizzles of chocolate and caramel!” She sipped the latte and smiled, getting a little whipped cream on her nose. Shane smiled as he watched her. He thought how he even loved the way Kate ate and drank.

  Jesse smiled too, as Shane wiped the whipped cream off Kate’s nose. They walked to the war room, so Jesse could begin his recap. They all sat deeply back in a leather couch and matching chairs that surrounded a fire place, with only dying embers remaining for heat. Kate looked at the smoldering fire and realized she was cold. She pulled a blanket over her as she sat next to Shane, and prepared to listen to Jesse. She thought he looked a little too concerned, and found she was almost dreading what he would say next.

  Jesse began. “In summation, what we know, so far, is that some 13 years ago, an ongoing criminal conspiracy, involving drugs, money laundering, government corruption, drug cartels, misappropriation of millions in public funds, and multiple murders, was discovered and investigated by an honest Attorney General, using a task force of specialists, who did their work in secret. Eventually your father, Shane, reviewed the final draft of the case at the AG’s request. His assignment was to identify the people, and specific crimes that could be charged, linking everything together, through a well-documented investigation. Correct, so far?” Shane nodded and sipped his latte.

  Jesse continued. “Kate, your father was competing against a known, sophisticated drug lord and murderer, who owns dozens of businesses and corporations, for a government contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Before your father could modify and submit his final bid, both he and his assistant were murdered, and buried alive under the basement floor of the project they were bidding to win. I’m sorry to bring this up to both of you, but my point will be clear in a moment.” Kate nodded, and Jesse continued.

  “Shane, your father encrypts the entire case file with, what was then, state-of-the-art technology, probably obtained from the military, and secretly saves it on two flash drives that he hides in his old classic car. He tells no one about this, not even Pete, who he trusts with his life. Instead, he has Pete store the car in a different city, locked away in a storage unit. He then writes a letter to you that only you and he understand, knowing you will
look at the tire, find the photo, disassemble the walking stick, and find the flash drives, once Pete delivers the letter and car to you years later.”

  “He also knows that no one else will understand the message in the letter, if they find it. And he knows that Pete will never sell the car, so no one but you will find the flash drives. He does this knowing it’s his long-shot, backup plan to eventually expose the truth, should he be killed. And your dad’s plan worked. You do find the drives, many years after he dies. Good so far?” Both Shane and Kate nodded again, sipping their latte in unison.

  “But, it is also important, Shane, that, before your father could finish his task and provide a recommendation for indictment to the AG, both he and your mother were murdered in a staged traffic accident. As we now know, that accident was staged by the drug lord’s criminal organization, with assistance provided by one of the AG’s own investigators. The investigation into that accident was lost, by persons unknown, working in law enforcement or government.” Jesse looked from Kate to Shane, and they again nodded in agreement with the summation, to this point.

  Jesse continued. “The AG is then murdered, when he is given an experimental drug, after trials on the lethal pill had been stopped, due to serious side effects that included death. The drug induced a massive heart attack. The AG’s task force was disbanded, and all records of the investigation were again, lost by persons unknown, working in government or law enforcement.”

  “The huge government contract your father was killed over, Kate, was awarded to the drug kingpin murderer that arranged for your parents’ deaths, Shane. And, we now know, this piece-of-slime dealer has acquired numerous law enforcement officials and politicians through the years, who are all bought and paid for, to assist him and his organization with all kinds of criminal acts, including murder.”

  “So, Shane, you become a police officer, work a series of assignments, and eventually become a highly sought after, independent contractor, used by security services and law enforcement to investigate cases they aren’t equipped or trained to handle, or when they need an undercover operative from outside their own organization.”

  Jesse paused, and said, “By the way, my guess is, that if your father knew you very well, he would have figured you would go into law enforcement.” Shane nodded in agreement.

  Jesse added more. “The current Sheriff of Carson City, Nevada, who was formerly a Special Agent in Charge with the FBI, had been frustrated in his attempts to investigate the same organization, and a series of murders they probably committed, while he was a Fed. His attempts to investigate this group resulted in him being pulled off the case by his own bosses, and his wife coincidently vanishing off the face of the earth, maybe as a warning to him.”

  Jesse didn’t stop. “He became the Sheriff to have a free hand at investigating the old cases, and to hopefully find out what happened to his wife. He then hired you, and brought you in from the outside, so none of his people would realize you were investigating the drug lord, his crime organization, and his corrupt circle of friends. Unfortunately, the Sheriff trusted his Undersheriff with some of this information, and we now know that the Undersheriff is also on the drug lord’s payroll, having participated in the murders of both Kate’s father and his assistant.”

  Jesse’s eyes stared a thousand yards ahead, as he focused on his recap. “That miscalculation of trust, on the Sheriff’s part, resulted in you being set up to be taken out by a professional hit man. You were nearly murdered!”

  Kate squeezed Shane’s hand under the blanket, as her whole body shuddered, and she shook her head, looking down. Tears had formed in her eyes, and she didn’t want either Jesse or Shane to notice them. Shane was aware of the change in Kate’s breathing, and tightened his grip on her hand, while avoiding her eyes, out of respect. He didn’t want to see her cry, or precipitate the release of any more of her tears.

  Jesse continued. “We now know from our surveillance and phone monitoring investigation that this same Undersheriff that set you up, called someone in the crime family, who called Hector to tell him you were at the location. Someone made a call to the hitman, while he was lying in the field, before the Undersheriff got out of his car to meet you. Someone told the hit man to ‘take out both targets.’ But, before he could shoot you, and the Undersheriff, an unknown sniper took out the hitman…and completely vanished.”

  “And now we know that the Undersheriff is reporting to an informant on the inside who isn’t giving the Magadinnos all the information, meaning that the informant and the Undersheriff are working for both the Magadinnos, and possibly another unknown person or group. In addition, we have a mole in our group, and we have no clue to his ties.”

  Jesse looked up and got the head nods acknowledging the accuracy of the recitation. He continued. “To complicate all of this, if it isn’t complex enough, even with all the bugs and cameras on the inside of the compound, we don’t have a clue who the informant is, or whether he or she is inside the compound, or not. And, we have no idea who, from the compound, is communicating with the friendly sniper, who saved your life.”

  Jesse stopped and took a long drink of his own macchiato, pleased with his rendition of the current state of affairs in the case. “Damn, I know I drink too much of this, but I dearly love it!” he said. Looking from Kate to Shane, he asked, “So, does that about sum it up, or have I missed something?”

  Shane looked at Kate, and said, “Just one thing. A DEA agent, named Kent Murray, told my father he was working a parallel investigation involving drugs, cartels and corrupt politicians, also focusing on some of the same suspects as my dad’s task force, at the same time my dad was working on this case. His superiors pulled him off the case. He told my father the order to cease and desist from the investigation came from DEA’s top command. He was worried about my family’s safety, in addition to his own.”

  Jesse rubbed his face with his hands. “Great, they own people that high up!” Jesse said sarcastically. “Just great!” He stared at his empty cup. “So, we are dealing with massive corruption involving multiple law enforcement agencies, government officials, drug cartels, unknown informants, professional hitmen, a friendly sniper, a mole in our group, and even an outlaw motorcycle gang that is being worked into the picture to move meth. Does everybody else see how dangerous this case has become?”

  Shane said, “It was this dangerous all the time, even way back when our parents were murdered.” He squeezed Kate’s hand and gave her a smile. “We’re just now piecing it together and figuring it out. It’s a massive case. So, what are you thinking, Jesse?”

  Jesse said, “I need to ask permission to pull one more person in to help us get the information out of your dad’s files, as soon as possible. Whoever we’re dealing with knows some of our moves, even before we make them. We need to tighten this up fast and get on a level playing field. I want to bring in my military trainer, who taught me cyphering techniques…a real expert in the science.”

  Shane asked, “Who is he, and where can we find him?”

  But, before Jesse could answer, a voice from the stair landing half way down to the war room, said, “He’s a she, and she’s at home with Jesse’s kids.”

  Jesse, Kate and Shane all turned to look, and found Pete and Tasha standing there, leaning on the stair bannister. They had been standing there the entire time, silently taking in the briefing.

  Tasha stood, pale and wide eyed. Pete looked at her in surprise, and said, “I told you it would be dangerous!” He then turned to Jesse, as he walked down the stairs, and said, “Excellent summation, by the way. And I think you should bring Tracy into help. Everyone says she’s the best around with encrypted data and data mining.”

  Pete then turned to Shane and Kate and said, “We couldn’t sleep. We smelled cinnamon rolls.”

  Everyone laughed, got up and walked to the tray of cinnamon rolls, while Jesse brought Pete and Tasha up to speed on the developments with the flash drives.

  Kate and Shane chatte
d alone about what their plans should be for the day. Shane suggested they take in some sights while they waited for the convoy to arrive. He wanted to de-stress and think, and just enjoy time with Kate…completely uninterrupted. He didn’t want to think about Heath, hit men, moles or encrypted data files.

  13

  “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

  (Dwight D. Eisenhower)

  Heath slept through the day and night, and continued to sleep far in to the late morning the following day. He had the first long good sleep of the last several months. His phone suddenly interrupted a seemingly bottomless deep sleep and if not for the persistence of the ring that finally roused him, he thought he may have slept all day.

  But it was Bobby, and Hector was pressuring him to find out about what the Sacramento area dope dealers knew about Big John’s murder…and now their hitman’s murder. Heath gave Bobby a false excuse that he had made calls late last night and his feelers were already out, but Bobby said Hector wanted all Heath’s sources contacted, and an answer back today, no later. Heath had agreed, reluctantly, to himself. But, he had agreed.

  Heath showered quickly, changed in to a fresh set of clothes, and drove to a chain coffee shop not far from the motel. He walked in and ordered a large Mocha with double shots and double chocolate. Once he became sober he developed an instantiable desire for sweets, and the mocha routine was his morning treat. Today he also ordered a companion chocolate muffin with nuts. Heath didn’t want to return to his motel room and spend the day on the phone making calls, so he drove to Mills Park. The weather promised to stay warmer and drier today, and he craved fresh air, and fresh scenery.

  While he waited for the comely young barista to fill his order, he watched her as she moved and noted that, although she was not a ravishing head-turning, eye-popping beauty, she was in fact very attractive. With long flowing black hair, large blue eyes, flawless olive skin, and a well-defined body that displayed all the right curves in all the right places, this 20-something server could offer the hope of love to any lucky partner.