Muffled Echoes

by G. K. Parks

  Returning to my call, I filled in Agent Lawson on my latest discoveries. He promised to coordinate with Davenport to crack that hidden site and to get a name to go with the IP address ASAP. Hanging up, I was almost out of ideas.

  “Hey, does anyone have a background on Jakov Horvat?” I asked. The police officers ignored me. “Sure, don’t trouble yourselves, I’ll find it myself.”

  Heading for the interrogation rooms, I hoped Tinsley or Jablonsky could be of some help. I entered the observation room, noticing the current interrogation was well underway. Jablonsky was doing that see-into-your-soul stare. He’d broken quite a few hardened criminals with nothing more than that look and a few calmly worded threats. The busboy seated in front of him didn’t appear to be a stone-cold killer; he looked like a scared young man. Of course, tears and snot could make anyone appear weak.

  “The kid’s not talking,” Tinsley muttered from the corner. “I’ve gone at him. SSA Jablonsky’s been working him hard, but the kid won’t talk. He says he doesn’t know anything about the weapons beneath the freezer.”

  “Did he say anything else?” I asked.

  “Yeah, he said he wants a lawyer. He might have also said that we’re mean.” She shrugged. “I’ve been in counterterrorism for ten years, and this is the first time that a suspect’s cried. They normally get aggressive or defensive or refuse to talk at all. This is new.”

  “I’m beginning to think they aren’t terrorists. Well, some of them aren’t,” I clarified.

  “That kid, probably not. Unless he’s a new recruit. Maybe he hasn’t sat through the interrogation classes yet.” She glanced at me from the corner of her eye. “Did you need something?”

  “Yeah,” I tore my eyes away from the window, “I was looking for Jakov Horvat’s profile.”

  “Can I leave your boss alone with the suspect, or is that gonna be a problem?”

  “Jablonsky’s by the book,” I assured her.

  “Okay, let’s see where I put that.” She led the way to the file room. “What’d you get from reading through Donaldson’s notes and shit?”

  “I’m not sure. It reads like drugs.”

  “That’s what I thought.” She pulled out a folder and held it out. “The assault team’s prints came back. They’re private military contractors from Yugoslavia, Chechnya, and Belarus. We’d probably have more luck getting solid leads from them than some chump busboy.” She assessed me for a moment. “I take it no one bothered to tell you that.”

  “No, they didn’t.” I blew out a breath and took the folder from her. “The last I heard, they weren’t talking either.”

  “Is there a reason that the lead agent on this case is being left out of the loop?” She glanced at my belt. “And isn’t carrying?”

  “Don’t tell me I left that darned gun somewhere again. Crap.” The sarcasm was biting.

  “Despite what Behr ordered, your superiors won’t clear you from medical leave, will they? Damn. That’s fucked up.” She sighed. “Why the hell are you bothering with any of this shit?”

  “I’ve been asked that question a few times. I’ll let you know when I come up with an answer. In the meantime, I’m waiting for an internet address to come through. From the rhetoric I just found, it appears that this is a personal vendetta. The target will probably be small and isolated. If we can figure out what Shade wants to hit and why, we should be able to stop it and arrest those involved.”

  “That makes more sense than this being the work of a terror group. The only downside is they have a name, leadership, and a couple dozen members. If they’re successful, it could become a terror group in the future, and I don’t want to contend with that. Get back to work, Parker.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I turned on my heel to leave.

  “One last question,” she said, stopping me in my tracks. “How come the agencies that provided the initial threat assessment didn’t bother to investigate the rhetoric and the speaker behind it?”

  “I don’t know. I just took the intel and went from there. It didn’t occur to me to backtrack.”

  “In the future, always check your sources and do the work yourself. It makes a difference.” She offered a grim smile. “Then again, that might have been how you ended up unconscious outside a parking garage.” I gave her a confused look. “I read your file and the relevant incident reports. I like to know who I’m working with. You aren’t one to cut corners. You found the connection to Pepper. It sounds like you were trying to build a case from the foundation up. Maybe when this is over, you’d like to transfer over to counterterrorism. We could use a federal liaison.”

  “I’m not interested.” Continuing on my way out of the room, I made it past the interrogation rooms before my phone rang. “What do you have?” I asked, recognizing Lawson’s extension.

  “You’re right. This tracks back to Horvat. His computer posted those messages. It also designed the hidden website. However, we haven’t been able to crack the password yet. Numerous protections are in place to deter hackers, so it might take a bit of time. How urgent is this?”

  “I don’t know. Tell me what’s on the site, and I’ll let you know its level of importance.”

  “Understood. I’ll get back to you when it’s done.”

  I had just put the phone back into my pocket when it rang again. This time, it was Agent Cooper. The delivery trucks had made deliveries to several other restaurants in the vicinity. The drivers were being questioned, but as of yet, no one had been formally charged with any crime. He was hoping to gain more intel before showing our hand. In addition, search warrants had been signed for the other restaurants. Since illegal firearms had been delivered to Pepper, it stood to reason that there could be other crates inside the other eateries.

  “Is ATF on it?” I asked, wondering how many other agencies we’d have to deal with before everything was said and done.

  “No, DHS is overseeing that personally. Behr has an in with a judge, which is probably how the search warrants even got signed. When I contacted Director Kendall about it, he wanted us to wait until we had a solid lead from one of the drivers. Obviously, we at the FBI must be doing something wrong.”

  “Yeah, we’re letting Homeland jerk us around,” I retorted, and Cooper laughed. “Keep me apprised. I’ll pass word to Jablonsky and Tinsley.”

  Ducking back inside Tinsley’s office, I closed the door and sat behind her desk. I needed a minute to regroup. How the hell could my fellow agents fail to inform me that they uncovered the identities of the men that nearly killed me and three police officers? That seemed like pertinent information, especially since the assault team was a group of private military contractors. Someone must have paid them to execute a hit, but who would have known my whereabouts? My mind drifted to Detectives Delaney and Collins who had been placed on administrative leave since the mishap inside the holding cell, but I doubted that the detectives would jeopardize their own people. Lucca had been acting strangely, but that seemed farfetched too. Regardless, it would be beneficial to focus on who paid the assault team to stop us.

  In between phone calls and catching up on information that I had just received, it soon became apparent that the private contractors had been paid through a wire transfer that linked back to one of Shade’s accounts. Shade hired the team to clean up the mess left behind by their own people. That meant the assholes we had taken into custody must know the identities of their employers and would be able to blow this case open for us. So why the hell weren’t we questioning them instead of the dumb schmucks from Pepper?

  “Lucca, what have you gotten from the assault team?” I asked as soon as he answered.

  “Nothing. I told you I was working on cracking Jakov.”

  I clenched my fist around the phone, barely resisting the urge to slam my casted arm against the desk in frustration. “Lt. Tinsley was kind enough to tell me that they were hired mercenaries. I’ve read the financial reports. They were paid through one of Shade’s accounts. Why aren’t you questi
oning them?”

  “Behr has them. He had them transferred days ago. There’s nothing I can do.”

  “That’s insane. They could identify members of Shade. We need to speak to them. What the hell is Behr doing with them?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. He’s in charge of the task force, and he thought it’d be best if they were moved to a secure site for questioning.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  “That’s bureaucracy, Parker. Look, I gotta go. It’s a madhouse here.” Without waiting for my response, he hung up.

  “Bastard.” I slammed my phone onto the desk. Homeland was making things more difficult, and I was tired of doing things the hard way. I wanted easy answers and for this to be over. I couldn’t take it anymore. I couldn’t do this anymore. “Chill,” I whispered, struggling to fight off the overwhelming feeling. Now wasn’t the time.

  For the next few minutes, I did nothing but read Jakov Horvat’s file. I read it cover to cover. He had been orphaned and adopted by an American family. He’d lived in the United States since his eighth birthday. His juvie record had been unsealed due to the nature of the threat, but aside from an arrest for tagging, he hadn’t been a troubled kid. Once he reached the age of majority, he had a citation for smoking pot in public. Obviously, the officer had taken it easy on him instead of bringing up charges for possession or public intoxication probably due to the ever-changing laws. Other than that, there was nothing.

  I placed a call to his adopted parents, but they didn’t answer. It was probably for the best. It’s not like Jakov had been given his due process, and we didn’t need concerned parents contacting some civil rights attorney and turning this into a circus.

  I grimaced at what we’d been forced to do. Our actions were rather atrocious, but I took comfort in knowing that Jakov was involved. He had been at Pepper that night. Perhaps he hadn’t participated in murdering Donaldson and Ivan, but he didn’t try to stop it either. He didn’t call for help. He didn’t report it, and he refused to cooperate. All he had done was make veiled threats. However, that didn’t make our actions right either. I hated it. I hated this job, and the things it made us do. What I hated more was the things it made me want to do. One day, I feared that I wouldn’t be able to look myself in the mirror, and that day was getting closer and closer.

  Someone opened the door. “Parker?” he asked.

  “Guilty,” I replied, lifting my eyes off the page. “What do you need?”

  “These were just faxed over from the FBI.” He held up the cover sheet with the words Urgent. Give to Agent Parker Immediately scrawled in Lawson’s handwriting. “I thought it’d be best to do what it says.”

  “Thanks.” I took the sheets.

  “Ma’am, if you have a lead, Lieutenant Tinsley should be made aware of it.”

  “I don’t know what I have,” I flipped through the printed pages, “but feel free to let her know the OIO just sent over some new information.”

  He gave me an annoyed look, like he wasn’t around to be my servant, and left without another word.

  The pages were printed copies of the hidden website. The information wasn’t necessarily that helpful. Most of it was more of the brainwashing rhetoric from the message boards. However, there were a few sheets that contained a list of seemingly random words and numbers. The tech geeks were working on cracking that code. The last page contained a list of contact information found on a hidden page within the hidden site. It contained a few local numbers. Lawson had written notes in the margins to let me know that reverse lookups and traces were being established. It was progress. The OIO was handling the situation. We’d figure this out. It was just a matter of time, but no one knew when the clock would run out.

  Deciding that my time would be best spent focused on a single angle instead of barely brushing the surface on all of them, I considered my options. The private military team hired by Shade was a dead end unless Homeland decided to share their toys. I could only get so far by reading through Jakov’s profile, so I nixed that idea. My best bet was to continue working on determining Shade’s targets. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how to determine that. When in doubt, start from square one.

  Clicking through the police case files on Tinsley’s computer, I found the photos of the evidence cataloged inside Pepper. Flipping through the pictures, the scenes of the kitchen and drain did nothing but bring back bad memories, but the photos of the dining room and freezer might be key. The crates and weapons had no discernible identifiers, and the dining room looked the way it had when Lucca and I visited. Pepper wasn’t the target, but it probably was a stash house or safe house for Shade operatives. That’s why the five suspicious individuals whom Ivan had informed on were currently being questioned. Too bad they hadn’t cracked under the pressure since I was beginning to think I might.

  Curiosity got the best of me, and I opened the next file. Inside were photos of the double homicide involving Detective Donaldson and Ivan Novak. Their bodies had been wrapped in plastic and left inside the trunk of the SUV. The interior photos from the back seat were of my nine millimeter, and the forensic experts had marked a bullet hole in the roof. A flash of the struggle over my gun and the sound of my wrist snapping reverberated in my mind, and I cringed. My gun had been discovered partially hidden beneath the seat. Fingerprint powder covered the vehicle, but nothing usable was found.

  The next file I opened contained photographs from the off-ramp shootout involving the hired PMCs. An extensive list of items found inside the Hummer and on the assault team was cataloged. The list was extremely similar to the items discovered beneath the freezer at Pepper. At that moment, there was no doubt left that Shade hired and armed these men. The remaining question was whether these military contractors were hired to perform a service or if they were actual indoctrinated Shade operatives?

  Keying in a new set of search parameters, I figured I’d work backward from the contractors to Shade in order to find the connection. Keying in Niko Horvat’s IP address, I searched for any postings he might have made that I hadn’t yet discovered. After narrowing the search and sifting through results, I found something. It was a private listing on a classified ads site that Niko had used to contact the mercenaries. It contained more cryptic language and code words, but it answered my question. The PMCs had been hired to do a job, and I had a feeling I knew who their target was.

  Thirty-one

  “Lucca, so help me if you hang up again,” I said when he answered.

  “What is it now?”

  “I just e-mailed you a link. Niko Horvat hired the assault team. I’m guessing Shade airdropped the weapons for the team’s use, and the delivery trucks stashed them inside Pepper. Given the quantity, there could be more hired mercenaries out there, so get on the horn with Behr and find out everything you can about the hitmen for hire.”

  “All right. Hang on.” He clicked through a few things. “I’m passing this board posting to our cybercrimes division to verify its legitimacy and track down the party that responded to the ad.” He went silent for a few minutes, reading through the translated version of the site. “It looks like they have an axe to grind with the police department. Any idea how some Eastern Europeans chose our city’s finest to be the recipients of their hatred?”

  “Not yet. Maybe someone should ask Jakov about it,” I snapped.

  “He won’t talk. You’ve been inside the interrogation room with him. What do you want me to do? Do you think roughing him up is going to get us anywhere?” Lucca sounded just as frustrated as I felt. “We’ve been keeping him on ice, and it’s not working. He wants a lawyer, but even if we get him one, I don’t know that it’ll help.”

  “No, you’re right. We should get him one.” The thoughts swam through my mind. “Contact the prosecutor’s office and tell them what’s going on. They’ve dealt with this type of issue before.”

  “Did Jablonsky okay it?” Lucca asked.

  “He will. Don’t worry about it. Just do it.”


  “Parker,” Lucca hedged.

  “Fine, Jablonsky okayed it. I said so. It’s my ass. Now make the call, boy scout.”

  After we hung up, I pushed away from Tinsley’s desk. We finally had something, and Mark needed to be brought up to speed. Hell, it might even give him a leg up while conducting the interrogations. My mind was reeling. Why did Shade plan to attack this city? My city. It made no sense. We were a world away. What had we done to warrant the wrath of Niko Horvat? I shook my head. There was no point trying to decipher crazy, but it bothered me. Obviously, this maniac had a deep-seated hatred for law enforcement and military, probably due to growing up in a war-torn country. But how did that translate into attacking us? It wasn’t that he hated the United States or wanted to see the country fall, just the city. According to the classified ad, he wanted the police force to crumble and quake.

  “Hey,” I said, stopping briefly to speak to Sergeant Evers, “have you received any threats lately?”

  “Me personally?”

  “No, the police force in general.”

  “I can’t count them all. You’re talking tens of thousands of police personnel which are typically disliked by the general populace. We get threats often.” He glanced at the paperwork in my hand. “Is there something I should know?”

  “Check with the brass and see if the commissioner’s office has been made aware of any credible threats lately. I have to speak to Jablonsky first, but I’m sure Lt. Tinsley will be by to brief everyone shortly.”

  “Agent, failure to communicate is what led to these problems in the first place,” Evers chided.

  “Fine, from what I’ve read, it sounds like Shade is planning an attack on the police. I don’t know anything other than that.” Without waiting for his other questions, I continued down the corridor.

  Jablonsky and Tinsley were inside a different interrogation room, speaking to the assistant manager. I knocked on the door and poked my head inside. Mark glanced at me, and I gestured that he join me in the hallway. Then I closed the door and waited.