Moffat's Secret

by J. C. Williams

  “Thanks for coming to help. Your idea, Chad, is a good one. We already have some people working on it. You’re just in time for an update.”

  They joined two young men and a young woman, early twenties. They were dressed as casual and as individually different as the dress code at Lyon would allow.

  Adrien made the introductions to the three young people from Interpol’s cyber crime unit. They glanced up from their laptops for just a second to say hello.

  Adrien spoke to the three cyber sleuths in French. “Okay, guys, take a break. We appreciate your working with us on this.”

  “No problem, inspector,” the young woman said. “It gets us out of the basement for a couple days.”

  The other two added their agreement, all in French. Chad was left in the dark. Sandy seemed to follow the comments. She relayed what they had said.

  Chad realized how tired he was because he couldn’t recall their names. He decided to go with Larry, Curly, and Moe. Curly fit the woman and her long, flowing, and, of course, curly hair.

  They changed to English. Moe spoke first, “We each took two of the top high-performance car manufacturers in Europe. We’ve been on them all day trying to hack their records. We broke through two.”

  “That’s just the first day,” Larry said. “This doesn’t work like TV where you see someone type a few lines of code and a minute later they’ve broken it.”

  Curly added the details of the two they breached and the issues with the four that they hadn’t. One manufacturer’s system was as Chad suspected, two sets of records. One for manufacturing and one for sales. The other had a database for sales and inventory that they were able to enter. The techs concluded that the manufacturing records were on a system that was strictly internal. They would need to be more circumspect to get access. They were trying email blasts with embedded code to reach back to them.

  “How are we doing this legally?” a voice on a phone asked.

  “Is that you, Mac?” Chad asked.

  “Oh. I forgot Mac was on the phone,” Adrien apologized.

  “Out of sight, out of mind,” Mac sighed.

  “How are things going in Boston, Mac?” Sandy queried.

  “You were right, Sandy. About the IT background. Slick was the one. Aka Henry Jones. Bright student at MIT. Good job with a top firm. Got hooked on drugs. Went downhill. I haven’t established how Patti and Slick knew each other, but he may have been capable of hacking. As far what Patti did, I think you hit it on the head, Chad. She made the calls for parts and kept the records for the autos brought in for repair. She would have some level of access to the automakers’ databases for reference reasons. That’s as far as I dug. I think we might alert Biskell if we keep digging.” Mac concluded.

  “Good point,” Adrien said.

  Adrien finally answered the question about legality. “We contacted each company and told them we have them on a potential list for cyber attacks and would like to try to access their systems. All but one agreed. We received some convincing assistance from the national police in that country.”

  “What’s next?” Chad asked the techs.

  Curly answered. “We’ll keep trying to get in. When we do we’ll download the manufacturing and the sales records and then write a program to compare VINs from the two lists.”

  “That’s good work,” Chad told the group. Larry, Curly, and Moe were pleased. “Is it possible to see who else hacked their systems. It would be great to link it to Biskell.”

  Larry was smiling.

  “What?” Chad asked.

  “That’s what Simone said a few hours ago. She’s started looking for footprints on the one we cracked.” Okay. Curly was Simone. Noted.

  “We’ll leave you to it then,” Adrien said. “Let’s meet up again tomorrow afternoon.”

  Chapter 66

  Archer ran his ten miles the next morning. Sandy joined him for half of that. They had four hours to kill.

  “Sightseeing?” she asked, as they enjoyed a breakfast outdoors.

  Chad was deep in thought working the laptop he borrowed from her. He didn’t hear her. More like he ignored her.

  “Okay, well sex then?” she followed up.

  “Sure,” he said attention still on the computer. Then it registered. “What?”

  “Just seeing if you were listening.”

  “Well, you have my undivided attention now. Where? When?”

  “Not very romantic, Archer.”

  “Will a morning mimosa help move things along?”

  “You’re terrible. Where’s your head at?” she asked nodding toward the back of the laptop sitting between them.

  “In your room, at the moment.”

  “You’re checking out that Brother thing that the rabbi said, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. Adrien told me there is a monastery in Lyon. I think we should visit them.”

  “What if the rabbi was telling you the name of the killer? You could be making this easy for him,” she said with a note of worry in her voice.

  “That’s why I have a bobbette with me,” Chad joked.

  “If you continue to ignore me, I might just leave you on your own.”

  -----

  A thirty-minute drive and a long walk up a flowered path led to a large stone building with closed gates. A large ring hung on the door. There was also a doorbell. Chad tried the doorbell. He waited a minute and tried again. Nothing.

  “No one’s home,” he commented to Sandy.

  A sudden clang of an iron window slamming open made Chad jump.

  The face and hood of a monk appeared in the grilled opening.

  “This is a monastery of austere and silent living,” he explained. “We study and pray and give men what they need most - silence and peace. Go away.”

  Chad tried to ask if there was a Brother Radcliff. The grill closed.

  Chad spoke to the silent door. “Was that a yes, but I don’t want to tell you? Or was it a no?” he asked the closed grill.

  Sandy answered instead, “Do you think this is a place for an assassin to reside?”

  “Protected from outside eyes. Could be a good place.”

  “I doubt he could just come and go as he pleases,” Sandy countered.

  “I don’t know then,” Chad sighed. “Could it be that the rabbi was referring to his brother?”

  “He has a brother?” she asked.

  “I have no idea. If he does, are they close? If so, and if the people trying to shut this down know about him… well he could be in trouble.”

  “How do we find him? Google? Radcliff Feigel?”

  “Give it a try,” he said.

  “Nothing,” she said Googling her phone. “Maybe you could ask Adrien to help?”

  “That will raise too many questions.”

  “Well that leaves us to dig through one of those search sites that look at court records, licenses, property transactions.”

  Chad suggested, “Or we could canvass the synagogues in Lyon. How many are here?”

  “Five.”

  “Okay. I’m driving, you’re navigating.”

  Three hours later they had visited all five. They found a rabbi at two of them, a board member at a third, and a lay member at the other two. No one knew or admitted knowing the name. Chad left his phone number with all of them. He said he had known Radcliff’s brother and wanted to meet with Radcliff. Chad hoped that mentioning he was an archeologist might create some interest, if Radcliff knew of his brother’s artifact enterprise.

  They worked through the afternoon with the Interpol techs and Mac. They tried to track the whereabouts for the cars with made-up VINs. The techs had found twelve so far. They tracked two to U.S. records. They were checking other countries as well. Next, they would try to find the transportation records and a link to Biskell.

  Tellier was summoned from their room and returned quickly. He gathered his papers, and took Chad and Sandy aside.

  “I have to leave you on your own. We have word from an in
formant in Italy about a dormant assassin that may have been awakened. We always thought he was Italian, but have no pictures or descriptions. It’s probably not a coincidence that two recent murders bear his MO. There is some other connection between the victims as well. It happened Monday. We were just alerted today.”

  “Where are you off to then?” Sandy asked.

  “Israel.”

  Chad knew he didn’t hide his surprise, but he was saved by the buzz of his burner phone, the number that he left at the synagogues.

  “Archer, here.”

  “Dr. Archer. I learned you were looking for me. You know my brother?”

  Chad assumed he heard of his brother’s death. But, maybe not.

  “Can we meet?” Chad asked.

  There was some hesitation.

  “Your brother told me to find you.”

  “Meet me at the Grande Synagogue at seven.”

  “Thanks.”

  That would work. Chad was to meet Boyer at the airport, in the private aircraft area at ten.

  Chapter 67

  “Dr. Archer?”

  Chad turned to see a short round-faced, very overweight, bearded, man. He wore a kippa and a smile. His voice almost sounded like he was wheezing now. A second look and Chad saw the brotherly resemblance to the rabbi.

  “You found me,” Chad said.

  “They said a tall, red haired American and his very pretty red-haired sister. Not many here to choose from.”

  “Oh. This is Saundra Moffat. We’re not brother and sister.”

  They shook hands all around.

  “Mr. Feigel, thanks for tracking us down. Can we talk somewhere quiet?”

  “Please, call me Rad. We can use one of the meeting rooms.”

  Chad agonized over how to break this news.

  “Rad, I don’t know if you have been informed. Your brother is dead.”

  “I know, Doctor. My sisters have called me.”

  “Your sisters? Are they in Israel?”

  “No. New York. Two of them.”

  “You have our sympathies,” Sandy said.

  “Thank you. You should know that my brother and I have been, let’s say apart for twenty years. My sisters were apart from me as well for ten years, but at least we communicate now. I have only heard from my brother once in those twenty years. It was just a month ago. It is strange that he writes, he dies, and you show up. It is why I was hesitant to contact you. You are an archeologist?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you, Miss Moffat?”

  “She is working with me on this,” Chad answered before she could speak.

  Rad looked doubtful, but let it pass.

  “What do you do, Rad?”

  “I am a teacher. A history teacher. At the L’Université de Internationale.”

  “I teach as well. At Braxton College.”

  Radcliff was smiling again. “So we have some commonality. We both have some experience asking questions of students and prying information from them. We both weigh how much information to share with them to enable them to answer. So, Dr. Archer, are you to be the teacher and I the student?”

  “No. I will not be like that with you.” Chad decided to share all that he could without endangering the man.

  Radcliff said nothing. Chad continued his explanation. “Your brother shared with me a recent archeological find. It is being kept quiet by the Israeli military. It is a significant find. More importantly, it can lead to an even more important find. Before I continue, you should know that your brother was murdered. I was with him when he died. Whoever killed him also murdered his source of information. It could be dangerous just talking about it.”

  There, Chad thought. I have told him all I can to warn him.

  “How did he die?”

  “He was shot.”

  “Did he die quickly?”

  “Yes,” Chad lied. “He had just enough breath to tell me to find you.”

  “Do you know who did it?”

  “I’m not sure.” Chad noticed Radcliff was not surprised that his estranged brother instructed Chad to find him.

  “Did Avi tell you who did it?”

  “He said a man did it. I was knocked aside by a man leaving his apartment.”

  “Interesting. My sisters were told he was in an accident. A car accident. When Avi said ‘a man,’ was it two words or one word, like Aman?”

  “It could be Aman. Is that a name that you know?” Chad asked.

  “Yes. Aman is the short version in Hebrew for the Directorate of Military Intelligence.”

  Chad felt this confirmed his theory that a small group from within the Directorate could be responsible for Lipman and Feigel. Maybe the Guardians were off the hook.

  “Is this about the ark and the tablets?” Radcliff asked.

  “You know about that? You know what he knew?” Chad asked surprised.

  “No. Not entirely. He wrote me, as I said, for the first time in twenty years. A month ago. He told me he was sitting on a secret. A secret that if revealed would shake the religious world. He also alluded as you did that if the secret was followed to a successful completion it could be world changing. He said that if something should happen to him, information would be mailed to me.”

  “You have it?” Chad asked. He held his excitement. Perhaps there was additional information that neither the rabbi nor Lipman had shared.

  “No. Not yet. He died Monday? At least that was what we were told. I expect that the document would be part of his estate and mailed to me by his lawyer when that is settled.”

  “It sounds vague, what he told you. Is he led to exaggeration?”

  “He was not. Not when I knew him. However, what intrigued me was that he said that what he learned has made him question some of his beliefs and in fact may back up some of mine.”

  “I don’t understand,” Chad said, perplexed.

  “My brother, though willing to bend some rules for monetary gain, is a very fundamental believer in the tenants of Jewish religion. I was raised that way also. As were my sisters. My parents were small children in France during the war. They were both hidden during the war by some brave and kind French patriots. They met each other later, in the 60s, in France. I was born here in France. They immigrated to Israel in the 60s. My siblings were born in Israel. When I was in my twenties, I began to see some events in the Torah, the Old Testament, in a different light. My family could not tolerate my doubt and my arguments. So I returned to the land of my birth. I was still a citizen of France. My family didn’t want anything to do with me.”

  “Your English is wonderful. Thank you for using it. You speak French and Hebrew as well?” Sandy asked.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “He didn’t tell you more?” Chad asked.

  “He did not have to. A sore subject between us has always been the Ark of the Covenant.”

  “Can you tell me more?”

  “I am not sure how to start up a discussion that may take a long time. Or, depending on your point of view, once you heard my premise, you may just choose to leave.”

  Chad answered, “I’d like to have that discussion.”

  Chad and Sandy allowed Feigel to think about it. Finally the man asked, “Are you very religious, Dr. Archer?”

  “I would feel better if you called me Chad. My parents were raised Catholic, but we never went to church. I cannot say I am a Christian, if that is what you are asking.”

  “Are you an atheist or agnostic or a deist?” Radcliff asked.

  Chad answered, “An atheist believes there is no god. A deist believes in a god, perhaps a god of creation, but a god that does not interact with mankind. I am uncommitted. I don’t know if there is or is not a god. I see facts and information that could point either way. I believe it is not a consequence to me personally that I don’t know. And it is not an issue for me not to know.”

  “Agnostic, then. And you, Sandy,” Radcliff asked.

  “I was raised Christian. Church of Scotland.”


  “Ah good. Well let me ask Chad some questions. You hold off answering. You may know more.”

  “Okay,” she agreed.

  “Chad can you name the Ten Commandments?

  “I’ll try.” Chad thought through it.

  “Don’t worship other gods. Honor thy father and mother. Which I remember as the only positive commandment. Then there are several common sense instructions. Don’t steal. Don’t kill. Don’t commit adultery. Don’t lie. Don’t covet the neighbor’s stuff or wife. That’s two separate ones. I got what eight of them?”

  “Very good. Sandy?”

  “I know that the Protestant and Catholic versions differ. I would add - do not worship other images or things that are of heaven or earth, not just gods. Keep the Sabbath, that is, rest or go to church. Those two coveting commandments that Chad mentioned were taught to me as just one commandment. Also, there was one that said do not take the lord’s name in vain.”

  “Very good. There is a Hebrew version too. Actually several versions.”

  “I did not know that? Are they different than what we said?” Sandy asked.

  “There is much about the commandments that is unknown to most people. There are three sets enumerated in the Old Testament, two in Exodus and one in Deuteronomy. Two of them somewhat agree. The other has many specifics about how to live, what to with first born including animals. Interesting, that in the Christian New Testament, three gospels have Jesus refer to the commandments. However, the writers only list five or six commandments. The ones that they specify are the more social commandments, how to get along with each other. That is a good delineation of the ten rules. Five are about the duties to God, five are duties to other people. You made the comment, Chad, that they are common sense. I agree.”

  “Except for the duties to a god. I wouldn’t call that common sense.” Chad said.

  “It might be if you are establishing a monotheistic religion and want to create a respect and reference for a deity that is there to rule over your spiritual and temporal lives.”

  “Are you saying,” Sandy asked, “That these were made up to be a foundation for control?”