The Secret Target

by Dean Atwood

  “Do you think she’ll contact you?”

  “I think we have mutual respect. I hope she does call me so that I can advise her.”

  “Would your advice include telling her to contact the FBI agent who is conducting the investigation.”

  “Naturally, it goes without saying.”

  “I’ve talked with CIA Analyst Todd Andrews and NSA Cyber Analyst Karen Williams and both of them deferred to you to answer any questions about the task force. What’s the team’s objective, who are you investigating, and who formed the task force to begin with?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t answer those questions. The team’s mission is confidential. I can’t risk putting the operation in jeopardy by having the FBI digging around.”

  “What do you know about a company called Upshaw Corporation?” Quinton could see that question hit a nerve, but Warren tried to hide it.”

  “I’ve never heard of them? What do they have to do with Jeremy’s death?”

  “I was hoping you could tell me.”

  “Well, I don’t know anything about them.”

  “You do realize that the murder is probably directly related to whatever your team is involved with?”

  “I’m aware it’s a possibility.”

  “And, you’re willing to risk the safety of the remaining team members by keeping the FBI in the dark?”

  “The DIA takes care of its own. Even though the individuals are employed by other agencies, they’re under DIA control for this project.”

  “There’s a rumor going around the office that one of your team members was instructed to spy on Jeremy Glover to find out if he was involved in illegal activities. Can you confirm or deny this?”

  “Rumors abound in an office full of intelligence analysts. I know nothing about any such spying activities.”

  “Can you give me the name of the person you report to on this? You obviously don’t have the authority to make a decision. I need to speak with somebody in the DIA who has the power and integrity to order your task force to cooperate with the FBI?”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that. Perhaps, the JUIAF commander, Colonel Smithers can assist you with it.”

  “I plan to do the investigation I was charged to do. I’ll work with you or around you, whatever it takes. But have no misconceptions, I will find out, one way or another, whether your team has any connection to the murder. If you and whoever you’re colluding with attempts to obstruct my investigation, I’ll take you down along with Jeremy Glover’s killer.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “Not at all. I’m making you aware of the situation. The FBI fosters interagency cooperation.”

  “Good Luck with your investigation, Agent Target.”

  “Luck will have nothing to do with it. In the end, there’s always a right side and a wrong side. I intend to be on the right side. Which side are you on?”

  “Things aren’t always black and white.”

  “They are to me,” Quinton said and left the room.

  Chapter 23

  I n her sleep, Blaire heard a doorbell chime. It was a pleasant, unthreatening sound. She could hear it but didn’t feel compelled to awake or react to it. In fact, it wasn’t clear to her whether it was real or part of a dream. The chiming stopped and was replaced by several loud raps of a metal doorknocker. This caused Blaire to stir in her chair. She was trying to break free from the sleep paralysis that had gripped her, but she couldn’t quite escape. When the key clicked in the lock and was followed by the creak of the front door opening, she jumped out of the chair. Her body was moving, but her mind was still in a fog. It took her a few seconds to remember where she even was. She instinctively picked up a lamp from a table next the chair and raised it above her head as she moved toward the door to confront the intruder. If she’d thought it through, she would have realized that armed with a lamp, she was no match for an assassin with a gun, but she wasn’t thinking clearly.

  The woman entering the house let out a loud scream when she saw Blaire charging toward her. “Sweet mother of Jesus. Please don’t hurt me. I’m a harmless cleaning lady.”

  Blaire lowered the lamp and checked out the woman standing in front of her. She was a short, older woman, who appeared to be Latina. A nametag, Maria Sanchez, was clipped to her gray uniform. Blaire looked through one of the glass panels next to the door and saw an older model car with a magnetic sign on the driver’s door that said, Jose’s Cleaning Service.

  “I’m sorry. You startled me,” Blaire said.

  “You about gave me a heart attack,” Maria said while making the sign of the cross by touching her forehead, the middle of her chest, her left shoulder, and right shoulder. “Praise be to God, I’m still alive.”

  “Where did you get a key to the house?”

  “The owner gave it to me. He’s a gentleman, who’s never attacked me with a lamp. He told me that he traveled a lot for his job, so he wouldn’t be at home very often, but he wanted the house kept spotless.”

  Blaire smiled. “I was napping and didn’t expect anyone to come into the house uninvited.”

  “I come here every Thursday to clean. There’s usually nobody here, so I use my key to let myself inside. Today, I saw your car in the driveway when I arrived. I rang the doorbell and knocked and when nobody answered, I used my key.”

  “This is all a big misunderstanding. Please accept my apology.”

  “Are you Mr. Glover’s wife?”

  “No, I’m not his wife,” Blaire said emphatically. “I’m a friend, visiting.”

  “Oh, I see. Mr. Glover has another friend, who used to stay here occasionally. But, I haven’t seen her in a while.”

  “Was she a brunette?”

  “Yes, she had brown hair. Mr. Glover has had several friends visit, but she was here more than the others. Maybe she was his sister because she looked older than him and less attractive than you and the others.”

  “Do you know her name?”

  “No, I don’t ask any questions, I just clean the house. What people do outside the sanctity of marriage, is up to them.”

  “I appreciate your open-mindedness,” Blaire said.

  “I try to mind my own business ... Wait a minute. I think she did introduce herself when I met her the first time. Her name is Amber or Allison, something like that.”

  “Was it Amanda?”

  “Yes, that’s it,” Maria said with emphasis. “Her name is Amanda.”

  “I can tell you’re very observant. By the way, I’m Blaire.”

  “Nice to meet you Miss Blaire. Anyway, I’m here now and it doesn’t appear like you’re going to kill me. If you put down that lamp, I’ll go ahead and clean.”

  “That won’t be necessary. I can tell you’ve kept the house in immaculate condition. I didn’t realize Jeremy used a cleaning service. I already picked up today. You can come back next week.”

  Maria looked around to confirm that the house was in order. “OK, if you’re sure about it. I don’t want my boss getting any calls saying I didn’t do my job.”

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll be sure to tell Jeremy that you were here on schedule and ready to clean.”

  “OK.” And, if I see your car in the driveway next Thursday, I’ll knock until you answer. I learned my lesson.”

  Blaire watched through the panel window as Maria walked to the car. It was still sunny outside, but Blaire could tell it was late afternoon. She checked the kitchen clock and saw that it was after five thirty. It was later than she expected. Removing the burner phone from the plastic wrapper, she called QT.

  “Hello,” he said in a questioning way that implied that he didn’t recognize the number calling him.

  “Hi QT, it’s me.”

  “Where have you been? I tried calling you at the hotel several times without an answer. I was getting worried.”

  “I’m sorry, I fell asleep ... I’m not at the hotel anymore.”

  “What?”

  “I didn’
t feel safe there. I told you I might go to Jeremy’s house.”

  “Is that where you are now?

  “Yes, I’ll text you the address.”

  “Whose phone are you using?”

  “It’s a new burner phone that I found in Jeremy’s office. It’s secure.”

  “You seem to have made yourself right at home. You found the office and the bedroom already. This is the first time you’ve been there, right?”

  “I told you, I’ve never been here before.”

  “How far away from the JUIAF is the place?”

  “It’s about forty minutes away. When are you joining me?”

  “I’ll probably leave here in an hour or so. I have to meet with the army intelligence agent assigned to assist me. She’s been conducting interviews. Her name is Daphne O’Conner. Do you know her?”

  “An attractive, full-figured woman?”

  “Yes, that’s her.”

  “We’ve met briefly a few times, but I don’t really know her. She has a reputation for being a good agent. How’s your investigation going? Any leads on the assassin, yet?”

  “Nothing definitive. Daphne and I reviewed the video footage of the shooting. You and I can talk about that when I see you.”

  “OK by me. I have nothing to hide. Did Special Agent Warren level with you about the purpose of our task force?”

  “No,” he was guarded and didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. He denied that any task force member was spying on Jeremy.”

  “Did you talk with other team members?”

  “I met separately with Karen Williams and Todd Andrews. Karen shared a little, but Todd was afraid to share anything.

  “I found a couple of things on Jeremy’s home computer that need to be checked out, but I don’t dare to use my NSA account to follow up. Do you think you can use your FBI network without being detected?”

  “You know better than I do that the NSA can hack anything they want to. So, no, I’m not confident I can do any searches without being monitored. But, I know somebody who can. What do you need checked?”

  “I found a lease for Jeremy’s property. It’s under the name, Lighthouse Technology Corporation. See what you can find out about them. Maybe it will lead us back to the person who was bribing him.”

  “Will do. I have to go meet Daphne now. I’ll meet you at your new hideout when we’re done.”

  “Please hurry. I love you, QT.”

  “Me, too, BS,” he said without feeling.

  Chapter 24

  Q uinton shook his head and put his phone in his pocket. Just when he was beginning to think there was at least one trustworthy woman in the world, this day from hell came along and shattered all his illusions. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Blaire anymore. It wasn’t as though he could flip a switch and turn off his feelings for her. He certainly didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. It was true that some of the luster had dulled from their relationship, but damned if he didn’t feel excitement when he thought about her. Whether it was lust or love, he wasn’t sure, but something was still there between them. Perhaps she was right when she said he was acting like a jealous boyfriend. And maybe, she was telling the truth about her involvement with Jeremy. He’d give her the benefit of the doubt for now, but his suspicions weren’t going away anytime soon.

  When he reentered the media room, Daphne was there waiting for him. “There you are. I thought you might’ve left,” she said.

  “I was finishing up with Warren.”

  “How’d that go?”

  “Not very well. He wouldn’t answer any questions about the task force Jeremy and Blaire were assigned to. Since you and Warren are both part of the Department of Defense, do you think you could reason with him? He might be more open with you.”

  Daphne smiled. “Not likely,” she said. “I don’t know who’s more rigid, Colonel Smithers or him. If their superiors gave them an order not to reveal anything about the task force to us, then we could waterboard them and pull out all of their fingernails and they still wouldn’t tell us anything.”

  “Do you know who Warren’s immediate superior is?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’ll try to find out.”

  “His superior may be as recalcitrant as Warren, but if you’ll get me his name, I’ll try to talk sense to him.”

  “Recalcitrant? Did you learn that big word at FBI school?”

  Quinton smiled. “Yeah, the FBI has a special course at Quantico called, Using Big Words to Confuse Interviewees and Bullshit Coworkers. I aced the class.”

  “I should’ve used that technique in my interviews today because I didn’t come up with much using traditional methods.”

  “Who’d you talk with?”

  “First, I went to each office section and addressed them as a group. I asked them to tell me about anyone or anything they saw this morning that was out of the ordinary. A guy on the third floor told me that prior to lunch, he was looking out a window facing the parking lot and to the right of it, he saw two SUVs parked several hundred yards away from the JUIAF fence. There was a gray one down lower and a white one above it.”

  “Did he see anybody in the vehicles?”

  “No, they were too far away.”

  “Is it a usual parking spot for cars?”

  “Nobody on the third floor had noticed anyone parked there before, but they weren’t really looking either. Beyond where the SUVs were parked, there’s a residential subdivision, which is mostly populated with employees who work at the JUIAF. It could’ve been somebody who lived in the development, but I can’t think of any good reason for them to do that. And, the position of those vehicles is exactly where we surmised the shooter was located when we analyzed the crime scene and parking lot video this morning.”

  “Is there anything that directly connects the SUVs to the shooting?”

  “One of the employees mentioned that there was a hit and run accident a little after noon at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and 29, a short distance from here. I checked with the local police and there was a white SUV involved. Nobody got a plate number. The police are still looking for the vehicle.”

  “Karen told us the camera at that intersection was turned off, so unless there are some eyewitnesses that come forward, it’s going to be difficult to find out what happened to the white SUV.”

  “Yeah, that camera wasn’t turned off by accident.”

  “Can you check the database to find out whether there are any JUIAF employees who own a white or gray SUV? If there are, then crosscheck to see whether any of them live in that subdivision. It would be easy for somebody to drive from their home to that position above the parking lot without arousing suspicion.”

  “OK, but there are lot of SUV’s matching that description around Charlottesville.”

  “The white SUV must have been damaged in the accident. That will narrow down the search by the police.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Anything else revealed in the group discussions?”

  “No, but I left a stack of my business cards for anyone to pick up to call me if they thought of anything else.”

  “Did you do any individual interviews?”

  “I spoke to each of the employees who have offices in the same sections as Jeremy and Blaire.”

  “Did Jeremy and Blaire sit next to each other?”

  “No, they were on the same floor, but in different sections.”

  “Anything useful come out of those interviews?”

  “It seems that most of the women in the office considered Blaire a friend and most of the men wanted to bang her. They didn’t use those exact words, but I read between the lines. None of the men or women had anything bad to say about her personally or professionally.”

  “What’d they say about the relationship between Jeremy and Blaire?”

  “The opinions were evenly split on that subject. About half thought their relationship was totally professional while the others were suspicious that some
hanky-panky was going on. Of course, jealousy or envy could have swayed their opinion one way or the other. Nobody offered any proof that anything inappropriate was going on. Everyone seemed to agree that they would’ve made an attractive couple.”

  “Did you pick up vibes from anyone that they resented Jeremy and Blaire’s relationship enough to attack either of them?”

  “There were a few who mentioned that Todd Andrews has a crush on Blaire and Karen Williams has a thing for Todd, but they thought it was laughable to think that either of them would hire a hitman because of jealousy.”

  “What’d the interviews reveal about Jeremy’s relationship with the other intelligence employees?”

  “He was disliked and disrespected about as much as Blaire is liked and respected. Most viewed him as an arrogant outsider. Although, I suspect there were more than a few of the women who would’ve gone out with him, if he’d asked. A couple of them hinted they found him physically attractive and were intrigued by his confident demeanor.”

  “Did he date any of the women in the office?”

  “There was one woman named Renee, who said he tried to get her to go out with him, but she turned him down because she’s in a relationship. A couple of the women said they heard he was dating an NSA Analyst with the first name of Amanda. I did a search of the JUIAF employee database, but I didn’t find an Amanda listed. I’ll follow up further on that tomorrow.”

  “Did anybody mention any suspicious behavior recently by Jeremy or Blaire.”

  “I wouldn’t call it suspicious, but Blaire left the office for about an hour, shortly after she arrived at work this morning. When one of her coworkers asked where she went, Blaire said her task force meeting had been delayed, so she went to the donut shop, alone.”

  “Don’t they have donuts in the cafeteria?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “There was another thing that’s more significant than Blaire eating donuts. At around eleven thirty this morning, Jeremy went into the office of a DIA agent by the name of Sanderson, who’s on vacation this week. He told Renee he was going to use the office to make private calls. His assigned desk is in a cubicle with no privacy. There should be a log of the numbers he called from the office, if he used the desk phone. Also, I’ll find out whether the phone calls initiated from the JUIAF are recorded. Karen Williams should be able to help with that.”