Back-Tracker

by Bob Blink

  “The situation developed suddenly,” Jake said. “We have to make use of this opportunity.”

  Tony examined the man Carlson had introduced simply as Bob. He was certain that wasn’t the man’s name, but he was reassured by what he saw. Something told him this one was no stranger to what needed to be done.

  “Do we know where this Graper is at the moment?” Tony asked.

  “Only that he is in Chicago. We will attempt to identify where exactly he is, but we have to assume that we might not be able to locate him prior to the meeting.”

  “What do you know about where he will meet this Rizzo character?”

  Jake described Rizzo’s home and the surrounding area based on the information he’d read on the plane during his flight to Washington. They’d have to print out the detailed pictures and drawings since he’d been unable to bring them with him when he’d back-tracked.

  “Who will be directly involved in this?” Tony asked, his eyes watching all three of them.

  “Just you and Bob,” Carlson said. “You will find him surprisingly capable. Trust his inputs.”

  “You shocked him,” Jake said after Tony had left to make preparations. He promised to call later in the day when he and Jake would depart together for Chicago.

  “I know,” Carlson said soberly. “I shocked myself. I’m certain he never suspected he would hear me drop a death request on someone. I’m not entirely certain I believe it myself. I always thought I understood the moral dilemma you faced in those early days when you decided to take down those killers. You don’t really understand until you are forced to step over the line yourself. ”

  “I’m a little uncomfortable with that as well,” Laney said.

  “This is all moving pretty fast,” Jake said. “I dropped out of the future with my demands. We can rethink this if you’d like. I can go back and we can approach it differently.”

  “No,” Carlson said firmly. “This has to be done. Graper put himself in this position and that makes him no different than any of the others you had to deal with. I suggested bringing Tony in. The window going forward is too short for you to have any hope for success alone. If the word gets spread within Rizzo’s organization, there will never be any hope of containing it.”

  “Can’t Jake go back?” Laney asked. “He can back-track again. He could deal with Graper before he had any chance of spreading what he knows.”

  “Going back earlier than today puts Jake in the middle of the terrorist problem. That was close enough. I don’t think we want to risk countless lives that way.”

  “What about the night Graper followed Jake. Things were quiet then,” Laney objected. “If he dealt with him then, he’d still be available to help with the terrorist problem.”

  Jake noted that Laney was still trying to dance around admitting they needed to kill Graper.

  “There are two problems I see with that,” Jake said. “First, it is farther back than I want to go. It would require a double jump from when I started. Secondly, if I remove Graper at that time, it’s a significant change. Someone else would be assigned to fill his place on the team he supported, plus there would be concern about the loss of an agent. Either one could cause problems we can’t foresee. The risks are unknown. I think it’s safer to see if we can’t resolve this going forward.”

  “It’s your choice,” Carlson said to Laney. “Jake can loop back and we can cut you out of all of this. But decide now. You can’t be in the know and yet stay in the shadows. This is unusual even for us, but you can see what happens if we don’t act.”

  Laney squirmed, but finally said, “I’m in.” He didn’t look at all at ease with his decision.

  “Can you trust Tony on this?” Jake asked. “You’re asking him to commit murder, outside of his official channels.”

  “Tony and I have an understanding, and he owes me. More importantly, he trusts me and my judgement. That said, I probably would have been more reluctant to approach this so bluntly had it not been for the fact you could have gotten us out of the situation if he’d declined.”

  “Maybe if he knew about Jake and what he can do,” Laney offered.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jake said. “We are trying to contain who knows about me, not open it up.”

  “I think Tony would question my judgement if I tried to tell him what Jake can do. It’s better we leave things as they are.”

  They’d decided to split their efforts. There was still all the clean-up from the take down of the terrorist effort of the previous day. It was a little hard for Jake to realize that had been just the day before. In his mind they were finished with that, but he was back again where the effort remained unfinished. He and Carlson would focus on that activity, while Laney would start digging into where Graper might have gone.

  “I think I’ve got him,” Laney said just after lunch, as he stepped into Carlson’s office where she and Jake were waiting. “Look at this. Graper was wounded yesterday in the early hours of the morning. He wasn’t discharged from the hospital until after lunch. He couldn’t have started planning anything until after that, and he was somewhat restricted because of his wound. He is using crutches to keep the weight off his wounded leg.”

  “We know he was in Chicago this morning,” Jake reminded him.

  “Based on the word of Rizzo’s lieutenant,” Laney argued, but he agreed that was likely. “I don’t think he took an evening flight to Chicago. He probably wouldn’t have been able to link up with Rizzo that quickly. I checked flights anyway.”

  “You found him?” Jake asked.

  “Nothing on a Don Graper flying from any local airport to Chicago,” Laney said. “Nothing last night or this morning. However, I did a check on all passengers between the D.C. area and Chicago, and those who rented cars or made hotel reservations on the far end. I found fifteen matches. All but two of those have addresses associated with their credit cards that look normal. The remaining two have only a post office box. But, here’s the clincher. One of those two checked into his hotel in Chicago and requested a handicapped room. I guessed it had to be Graper. With his injury, he’d want the special facilities.”

  “And?” Carlson asked.

  “He was too clever for his own good. He wanted an ID that would stand up. He used the Bureau to insert it into the system, complete with his real picture.”

  Laney slid a computer print out with Graper’s picture on the fake license.

  “Benjamin Jones,” Jake said as he read the name. “His car is still at his home,” Jake reminded Laney. “Is there any indication of a cab pickup?”

  Laney shook his head. “Nothing. I don’t know how he got to his flight. He probably got someone to drive him given his leg.”

  Carlson laid a hand on Jake’s arm. “It’s likely we know where he was early this morning. You could back-track and be waiting for him then. It could be handled here in Washington. There would be no need to go running to Chicago after him. No need to involve Tony and make this more complicated.”

  Jake had briefly had the same thought.

  “It’s a viable back-up,” he agreed. “But if we go that way now, I’ll never be a hundred percent certain that Rizzo hasn’t learned something from Graper that might cause me future grief. I think I’d like to see what we learn in Chicago. It would be frustrating to have gone through all this only to fail to root out everything. I believe Rizzo has to be part of the solution. Depending on what we learn, it might make sense to loop back and deal with Graper here in Washington. That’s a decision I can make later.”

  Jake didn’t vocalize the other thought in the back of his mind. If they could take out Rizzo, Jake would feel they had completely cut the link that had created his future problems. He also felt that Rizzo was the man who’d ordered the kidnapping of Karin and Janna, and he owed him for that, even though it hadn’t happened yet, and now nominally wouldn’t. He didn’t like leaving people like that around where they could do more damage. Then there was the matter of Pa
ti Ray. Jake knew he would never be able to set that right. But, if Rizzo was the man who’d coordinated the attempt on LoBue, then in a way Pati’s death was on his plate. If he could be made to pay, Jake felt he might in some way atone for what happened to her.

  Jake’s thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of Carlson’s phone. Carlson checked the caller ID.

  “It’s Tony,” she said as she reached for the headset.

  Chapter 44

  “Tell your friend to meet me at the charter service,” Tony said when Carlson answered the phone. “We want to be airborne in an hour.”

  Carlson had to explain to Jake where to go. He’d never used the special service that provided aircraft and pilots to both the FBI and the various clandestine services inside the United States. It wasn’t difficult to find, and even with the traffic Jake arrived in advance of the artificial deadline Tony had given him. Jake knew he wouldn’t be left behind. The whole purpose of the operation was to support him.

  With the help of the pilot and copilot, Tony had already stowed all of the gear he was bringing by the time Jake arrived. He pointed to a spot where Jake could leave his vehicle, and the two climbed the ladder into the passenger compartment of the sleek corporate jet. While Jake found a seat, Tony stuck his head into the cockpit and told the pilots they were ready to depart.

  “Nice aircraft,” Jake noted when Tony came and sat down across from him. As a pilot himself, Jake could appreciate just how nice the small Learjet was. He wished he could learn to fly something like this, but it was far outside of his reach.

  “It’ll get us to Chicago about as fast as the commercial planes, and there won’t be any questions regarding our luggage,” Tony replied.

  Outside the plane they could hear the engines as they spooled up in preparation for their departure.

  “It can’t be cheap to charter something like this. Who’s footing the bill?”

  “Uncle Sam. We have an open contract with the charter service. Somewhere along the line the costs will be placed on the FBI budget. Carlson will have to sign off on it, but given what you and her team have just done for the country, I doubt there will be any issue with it.”

  Jake knew that Tony was aware of the terrorist threat, even though it was being kept out of the news. He’d been sent after Varennikov, so he had to have been given a briefing of some kind.

  “How much do you know about that?” Jake asked.

  “Enough to know that you were instrumental in bringing a satisfactory close to the matter. Carlson never explained just who you are and what your official position is, but she made it clear that without you it would have not worked out so well.” The question remained open between them, offering Jake the chance to reveal more about himself. Under other circumstances he would have felt obligated to do so.

  The jet was now taxiing toward the runway, the familiar motions and occasional thump as the tires crossed cracks in the concrete taxiway.

  “I’m just a consultant,” Jake replied to the unspoken question. “A civilian.”

  “If you prefer,” Tony replied. “This is an odd mission. It’s not often that people know more about me than I know about them. While I’ve had a number of orders similar to what Carlson gave me, they’ve never originated from the Hoover Building before.”

  “That’s something we shouldn’t advertise,” Jake said. “Carlson is at risk here, and is trusting us to keep this under wraps. She’s doing it for me, by the way.”

  “I guessed as much,” Tony agreed. “That’s makes you even more unique. I wouldn’t have guessed she’d ever make a request such as this, and I know her pretty well. Who you really are and what your function is might be something you prefer kept secret, but we need to know a little about one another and agree on what this mission goals are. I’ve watched you. You aren’t a virgin. You’ve had your finger on the trigger before, haven’t you?”

  “A couple of times,” Jake agreed after a momentary hesitation. He liked Tony, but he knew he couldn’t reveal who he was and why Carlson had gone out on a limb for him. In truth, he was a little surprised how this was working out himself.

  “I thought as much. That will make it easier,” Tony said. “Our aim is to target Graper, and perhaps others. That’s your call as I understand it. Carlson said you are the director of this mission, civilian or not. I assume you have discovered where he is? Given the time scale of this effort, if you haven’t our chances of success are pretty slim.”

  “We’re booked into the same hotel where he is staying,” Jake confirmed.

  “I’ve heard of it,” Tony said when Jake gave him the name. “It’s conveniently located. A nice tourist hotel. Not one of the top class places, which is good for us. I doubt the target is moving very much, given what we know of his wound. That would make it relatively easy to move on him tonight.”

  “We need to give him a chance to meet with Rizzo. I’m anxious to see what that meeting might reveal. It would be best to make the attempt on both of them if it is possible.”

  “We can do that, but it’s a risky plan,” Tony pointed out. “What you told me was the danger rests in what Graper might reveal to Rizzo at this meeting. From what we know of the layout, we probably won’t be able to hear what they are saying, and may have a small chance at targeting them. You are taking a chance of allowing the very thing you claim to be worried about taking place. The information may be handed to Rizzo, who then spreads it before he can be contained. Are you certain it wouldn’t be better to deal with Graper, and then see what we can do about Rizzo?”

  Jake knew that Tony’s approach was the wise one, but he couldn’t tell the agent that he could still follow that approach if the meeting turned out to be impenetrable. He would see what could be learned, and if the situation wasn’t sound, he could always back-track and approach the problem in the way Tony was suggesting. Jake feared that Rizzo might know something, and if Graper were killed, Rizzo would become difficult to approach due to tightened security. If Graper had told Rizzo anything in advance, his death would add credence to it. Without revealing his backup plan or the side reasons he’d like to take out Rizzo, Jake explained his concern to Tony.

  “We have a shot at getting both of them,” Tony said, “but it has a higher risk of failure than the more direct route. I had a feeling which approach you would want, and prepared accordingly.” He explained to Jake what he had brought along in addition to more conventional weaponry.

  Jake smiled at the irony of the situation. “I like it,” he said, “assuming we can make it work.”

  “When Susan explained the situation earlier, I remembered that attempt on the Senator last year. There was little doubt what weapon they had used. It is something developed for our use in targeting difficult to access individuals. Somehow they got their hands on a couple of the devices.”

  “How will this work?” Jake asked.

  “The drones each carry a single warhead,” Tony explained. “They can be remotely guided via the video camera and link they support, or they can be set to home in on a special encoded carrier. There are advantages to both modes of operation. The automatic mode targets the tracking device very accurately, but is less aware of potential obstructions. For example, the drone might fly into a window or pillar while trying to close on the tracker. That is something that can be avoided under operator control.”

  “Can the video be recorded?” Jake asked.

  “The control unit does that automatically, allowing for post mission evaluation.”

  “What do we need to set up for operations?”

  “Technically, we don’t need to be any closer than a couple of miles, and don’t need to be in sight of the target area. I’ve never been comfortable operating that way. I prefer a location where we can see the target, and have a limited and rather direct path for the drones to fly. That allows me to see the drone and see what it is seeing through the video link. I’m not much of a pilot, and flying strictly by the video link is disorienting.”

 
“What about the tracking devices?”

  “That’s our weak link in all this,” Tony said, as the small jet rushed down the runway for their takeoff. “If we had time, we’d try and get one of the devices in place inside the meeting area. Either that, or plant one on the target, in this case Graper. We have no hope of getting something inside Rizzo’s compound on such short notice, and it might be equally impossible to plant something on Graper. It would be very nice if we could, because the devices also act as a very serviceable bug so we could hear what was being said by anyone nearby.”

  “Without the trackers we would be flying blind into the room where we believe Graper and Rizzo will be meeting,” Jake said. He didn’t like the uncertainty of that. Too soon or too late, and they could miss the two men completely. He had to consider the possibility that Rizzo might check Graper for audio devices. That would disrupt their plans as well, but given the long association between the agent and the gangster, and the fact Graper was bringing information and Rizzo wasn’t expected to discuss anything that would be incriminating, Jake hoped such a search wouldn’t happen.

  “We’ll have to find a way to plant the trackers,” Jake concluded vocally. “If we can’t, then we have to go to the backup plan and take out Graper and then see what can be done with Rizzo.”

  Briefly Jake toyed with the idea of taking out Graper in the early morning hours as he left his residence in Washington as Carlson had suggested earlier. The fact he was too far away from his earlier self at the moment to back-track, and the realization that his chances of getting Rizzo in a separate attack were far greater with Tony helping him, kept him on track. They would see how this went. He could always go back later if things turned out badly.

  As the plane headed west, they considered how they might proceed once they arrived at the hotel.

  “The camera is in place,” Tony said when he returned to Jake’s room at the far end of the hallway. They were both on the same floor as Graper, albeit at opposite ends of the hotel, something Carlson had arranged when she’d made the reservations. Tony had just placed a very tiny video camera that provided them a view of Graper’s door, so they could monitor any comings and goings. They fired up the receiving unit and were rewarded with a remarkably sharp image of the doorway.