The Gypsy Queen: A Matt Preston Novel (Matt Preston Series Book 3)

by Paul Shadinger

  “Once Gail told me her story, I started looking for Melissa on the sly. Every time I asked a question from any source I thought I had, I was shut down. I contacted her boss and when I asked if Melissa was missing he said she was just gone for a couple of days. I asked where and I was told it was a secret.” John leaned forward and whispered, “Matt, like I said, I can’t exactly share with you what my position is, but you can trust me when I tell you I have just about every security clearance there is. There’s very little that goes on I’m not aware of. But on the subject of the Melissa woman, I’m totally shut down anywhere I ask.

  “Now I don’t dare go through official channels. I knew a three-star general and when the scandal of his liaison got out, it made the newspapers. He thought he was being smart with the way he kept his mistress. But the press killed him when they found out. He lost his job along with one star. Also, his marriage fell apart and his ex-wife took him to the cleaners. He thought since it was just a tryst from time to time and there were only two people who knew anything about it, the mistress and himself, he was safe. Turned out that several agencies knew about it. What a clusterfuck that was! I hate to admit it, but by coming to you, I might be doing something really stupid. But I’m desperate and that’s why I’m talking to you. I fear for Melissa’s life. I don’t even know if she’s still alive and the worst thing is I am not even supposed to know a thing about this!”

  “You say that only her co-workers know she is missing. How many people is that?”

  “Six total, her boss and five others. Oh, and a couple of people in my office.”

  “And why do you think I’m going to have more luck than you, what with all of the resources you seem to have at your fingertips? I assume you must have a lot of means you can tap, probably a lot more than I can even imagine. Why on earth do you want little ‘ol me?”

  “Matt, you’re not listening! You don’t understand. I can’t use any of the resources I normally would tap. Nothing! Anything I would do would create some sort of a trail and there’s the danger somebody would accidently stumble across it. This has to be totally off the record, way off any record. I’ll admit to you that my butt is on the line on this deal. I suspect the woman’s boss of…” John paused and looked out the window of the plane. When he looked back at me he shook his head. “I can’t go there right now, but there are others in the background who have to remain anonymous. If this ever got out, the fallout would go as high as you can imagine, if you get my drift. I trust you to keep it off the record. That’s why we’re having this chat.

  “And besides,” he smiled warmly at me, “for one thing, you have, well, for lack of a better word, let me use the word you used—luck. You seem to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. I’m gambling you’ll have the same luck for me as you’ve had for your… other projects.”

  I laughed. His comment was well put. “About your mystery lady, can you tell me the last address you have for her?”

  “Yeah, but it turned out the place she said she lived is just a vacant lot down in Florida.” The hair on my arms stood up.

  I asked, “A vacant lot on something called Slater Road in North Fort Myers?”

  Total silence. John’s mouth dropped open. When he finally spoke his voice was a whisper, “How did you know that, Matt?”

  “Well, let’s say you’re not the only one with secrets.”

  John leaned forward in his seat, his face now frowning. “Matt, I’m serious, how did you know where she said she lived?” His voice was taking on an edge.

  “And like I said, you’re not the only one with secrets. But I can tell you this, as I understand it, the address is basically a vacant field?”

  “Yeah, and the business she has listed on her resume—”

  I interrupted, “Doesn’t exist and never did.”

  I watched him jump and his voice rose, “Goddamn it Matt. What’s going on? How do you know all this?”

  I decided I could at least tell the admiral part of it. I explained how a buddy was looking for her since the two of them had been intimate and she had shared some ideas with him about some new software program. “What’s his name?” John demanded.

  I didn’t care for the tone of voice he’d used. “I am not at liberty to tell. Just the same as I am not at liberty to discuss you with anybody.”

  “Matt, if there was room in this plane I’d drop kick you down the road.”

  “Well, first off, I can see what shape you’re in and I know the shape I’m in. Your mouth could be writing checks your body can’t cash. Also, if you expect me to keep your confidence, you have to respect my wishes to keep my friend’s identity a secret. I will make you this one promise…”

  “And that is?”

  “If I see there is any sort of a security problem or something pops up that I feel you need to know, I’ll tell you. Other than that, you’ll just have to trust me.”

  “Well, I see I don’t need to furnish you any information on Melissa.”

  “Don’t count on that. How did this ah, what do I call it? This clusterfuck come about? Please tell me what you know.”

  He chuckled at my CF remark. “Okay,” said. “If this comes to bite me in the ass, Matt, I’ll kill you myself.” He looked back at me and we exchanged a smile. He knew that I wasn’t going to break his trust.

  Leaning back in his seat with his fingers tented in front of his chest, he started to speak. “You know the movie Dr. Strangelove? The one with Peter Sellers?” I agreed. “Well, I’m here to tell you the doomsday machine in the movie is possible and it’s very close to existing. There’s actually a software program if installed in the right location it couldn’t be undone and there would be an actual doomsday machine in place.” We just sat and stared at one another.

  “As you can imagine, there are all sorts of crazy ideas that are being considered by various governmental agencies. Because of 9/11, one agency, which is actually a holdover from a super-secret one dating all the way back to Nam,” John inclined his head at me and without even realizing it, I reached up with my right hand and placed it over the tattoo on my left shoulder. I knew he was talking about the group I was in. “and the head of this agency is a four star general. The general’s name is C. V. MacDonald.”

  I interrupted, “I think I know who he is. I believe I met him one night a few months ago.”

  Orchard said, “I know a little about that. Anyway, somebody came up with a program concept called Silent Sentinel and MacDonald got behind it. Actually we’re not the only ones who came up with this concept. I think our Bolshevik friends call their program Black Hand and I know the Chinese are also working on a similar idea. To explain in a very simple way, the idea is to create a benign virus that when examined looks to be harmless, but when it’s sent out it works its way into any computer it can and the program is constructed to watch for certain things. Mainly any sort of first strike capability any county might have and might consider using.

  Silent Sentinel is supposed to send out a warning and then start destroying any program that would try to initiate a first strike. It sounded great in theory, but we’ve learned that some of the others working on the project went one step further. If a Silent Sentinel type program is detected anywhere in any machine it happens to interface with, then missiles are immediately fired and basically WW III starts. The idea is nobody wants to allow that kind of program to be released since once it’s live, there’s really no way to control it. The Gypsy Queen was supposed to make sure nobody could hack into the program and disable it.”

  “Are you shitting me?”

  He shook his head. He gave a deep sigh before he continued, “A few years back a program was started as kind of as an academic study. The scenario that was being developed was called Black Hand.” Orchard gave a bark of laughter as he continued, “The funny thing the Russians were working on the same kind of program and they named it
the same as us.” He smiled at me. “There were five people in the initial development group. They were involved in constructing the program’s parameters and then writing the code for the program.

  “The head of the team’s name is John Roberts, but they call him Roc Doc. By the way, as you may have guessed, Melissa was also one of the team. Roc Doc was the only person who knew what Black Hand really was supposed to be. The other four thought they worked for a video game manufacturer and they were developing a game for computers. They had no idea what was going on except for Jack.” John gave out another big sigh. “That is, until Melissa figured out what was going on.” He resumed looking out the small window.

  I sat in my seat totally stunned. What have we done? We’re setting up computers to destroy us. “And exactly what is Melissa’s part in all of this?” I asked.

  “She was the lead programmer in the beginning and it’s her code that’s the base of our whole program. Because her job was to see that the program couldn’t be hacked, she knew more about the whole thing other than Roc Doc. It’s our belief that when she was with your friend, something was said between the two of them and she must have figured out what the program was and could actually do. She realized how hideous it was and we know when she came back, she tried to sabotage the program. She basically hacked into it and installed some code. Some of the things she did to alter the program they’ve been able to detect, and some of the code they have no idea how to find and or fix.”

  “Who came up with this harebrained idea anyway?” I asked.

  “As I said, because of the fallout from 9/11, there are a lot of new agencies and some really frightening things are happening. People are running scared.”

  “And General C. V. MacDonald is one of the worst? I asked.

  The admiral blinked as he stared at me. “How do you know these things?”

  “It wasn’t hard. I see his fingerprints all over it. You already know McNaulty and I had some … ah, dealings,” I smiled as I said that. “McNaulty and this general seemed to have some history between them and after what you just said, I assumed it was MacDonald. He just seemed like the kind of dude who would really like to be involved in something like you are talking about.”

  “Well, you are correct. Somewhere CV, which is what he’s called, found a man named Jack Roberts. Jack “Roc Doc” Roberts. Roberts has a doctorate in geology and minerals or some such. Because of his training, Roberts knew the right pieces of land to purchase and then they found lots and lots of oil. The man is richer than Bill Gates as I understand. Anyway, in addition to amassing all of that wealth, he’s also a self-taught genius at writing and developing computer programs. Somehow CV was able to convince Roc Doc into writing the program I described. But it was Roc Doc’s idea to put in the extra catch which looks like it sets off WW III. He was working on getting the fixes in place that Melissa had screwed with and I understand he’s very close. Roberts wants to find Melissa to make sure he found everything she did. That’s one of the reasons we need to find her first.”

  All of a sudden what I thought was just a favor for Ralph was turning into trying to prevent a world war. I was not prepared for any of this. The truth be known, I did not want any of this. I asked, “Why not just remove CV from his position and arrest Roc Doc or have him terminated?”

  “CV is surrounded constantly by all sorts of security people. The same goes for Roc Doc. Nobody can get within a mile of them. And even if there was a way to get at them, I don’t have anybody I can trust to do what needs to be done to either one of them.”

  I sat and stared at John. Finally his eyes opened wide as he realized what I was trying to tell him. He asked, “You? Matt, you would consider taking them out?”

  “John, I’ve known you for a long time. If you told me that either, or both of them needed to be removed, I would do it without a second thought.”

  “Matt, I said it more in jest. This is not Viet Nam. Your days in some off the wall secret group are over. It’s been a long time since you shot anyone in anger.”

  “Apple, have you forgotten Hollis? I did it once and I after thinking it all over, I’ve discovered I could do it again. I don’t want to, but for you, I would.” I thought about what I had just said. At this moment I thought I could do it, but when it came time, could I? There was just one way to find out. But, since it sounded like getting at CV was a moot point, maybe it was best to forget it.

  John gave me a sheepish grin. “Don’t call me Apple! There’s something else I need to tell you.”

  “And?”

  “In a way, CV is my boss. If you look at the organizational table, the way things are laid out, the chain of command or whatever you want to call it, I’m supposed to report to him, kind of. But I don’t. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t aware of everything I do. I even have to hide you from him. I don’t believe he even knows we’re friends and I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “I understand. But how am I going to go about looking for a woman who gives out a bogus address, the name of a false company and is such a mystery to you?”

  John gave me a funny look. “Will you please tell me how you know so much about Melissa. Who told you so much about her?”

  “It was her Orlando lover. His name is Ralph Jones.”

  John shook his head. “I should tell you you’re under arrest. But I know you too well. You’d just disappear on me.”

  “It was Ralph Jones who asked me to find her for him.”

  The silence in the plane was deafening. Finally, he murmured, “No shit?”

  “No shit!”

  “And how do you know Ralph Jones?” he asked.

  “We play poker together a couple of times a month and at the end of our last game he asked me to see if I could locate Melissa. He told me she helped him with ideas on a ‘shoot-em-up’ game program he’s coming out with. Oh, and he also told me he’d slept with her.”

  John said, “I’ve learned about her and the Jones fellow. I knew they had a tryst in Orlando, but not much more. What he may or may not, realize is part of the ideas and code in your buddy’s new game program are parts of the Black Hand program. Somehow part of the code has now been leaked, and because we were discovered, we’re claiming we’re not doing the program anymore. If anybody were to see the game program you buddy is working on, they might start to recognize things and—oh, God Matt, you have no idea how complicated it could get. You have to find the Gypsy Queen and you have to do it NOW!”

  I interrupted his thoughts. “Because now everybody wants to chat with her?”

  He looked back at me and I could see the pain in his eyes. “Yes! And Matt, some of those groups will stop at nothing. I want for you to find her first, and not tell anybody, and of course, keep this all hush hush? Will you do this for me Matt?”

  “Give me a little time to think it over. I’m not saying I will and I am not saying I won’t. I just need to think it over.” I remembered the card Ralph had given me. “About the Mellissa woman? Did you try and call the phone number on her business card?”

  “Business card? What business card are you talking about?” There was a look of confusion on his face.

  “Her business card. That’s how I found out about the address that didn’t exist and the business that never was.” I thought it strange Johnny would have not seen her business card.

  “I’ve never seen her business card. May I ask you how you ended up with a business card of hers?”

  “My poker pal. When Ralph asked me to look for her, he gave me Melissa’s business card. Ralph told me they had sex at the airport and then she stuffed her panties and a business card in his pocket and then disappeared. That’s how I knew she had said she lived in Florida.

  “Anyway, the card had a phone number and her address. I called the number and a man answered. There was no greeting, he just asked for a code to be entered. When I told him I didn’t have t
he code, he told me not to call the number again. I smarted off to him and told him it was a free country. He informed me I’d been warned and then hung up. When Ralph gave me the card, he told me when he tried to call the phone number it was disconnected.”

  “Give me the number,” Orchard demanded.

  I could see I was losing some control here. “Will you call me and let me know what you find out?”

  There was a pause and even though Johnny said he would call me back, I knew he was putting me off. I wondered how I was going to find out what was really going on with that number. I gave him the number anyway and he repeated it back to me as he wrote it down.

  When I was finished he smiled, “Okay, fair enough. When do I get an answer?”

  “When you give me information about the phone number.” He scowled and I continued, “Or when I have an answer! Now stop pushing.” I grinned at him.

  I had no idea what to do next.

  CHAPTER TEN

  John’s plane returned me to Boeing Field and taxied up to the exact spot where it had picked me up. As I stooped to duck through the door, he followed me. Bean was still sleeping contentedly on Johnny’s coat. We stood on the steps and he smiled at me. “Matt, regardless of what you decide, thanks for coming to meet me today. You’re a good friend and I apologize for not working harder to stay in touch with you.”