The Secret Target

by Dean Atwood

  “Are you a germaphobe?”

  “No, I’m a cautious man, who’s used to the finer things in life. Breakfast delivered to my suite would have been preferable, but you insisted on eating with the masses. So, here we are.”

  “If you’d rather go back to your room and eat by yourself that’s OK with me. I don’t want to force you to eat with the peasants.”

  Danziger laughed. “I’m sorry. I must sound horribly snobbish and cranky. I’ve had a difficult morning and I’m taking it out on you. I’d much prefer to have breakfast in a crowded restaurant with a beautiful woman like you than a gourmet meal in my suite by myself. But, no buffet, please. Allow me to order for both of us.”

  “I’ve never had a man order my meal for me. If it fuels your masculinity to do so, by all means order for the both of us.”

  “Thank you for being submissive.”

  “You’re welcome. But, don’t get the idea that I’ve given you carte blanche submission on all matters.”

  “I hear you but be advised I’m used to getting what I want when I want it.”

  “And, if it’s not given freely, do you take it anyway?”

  “Sometimes you have to take what you’re entitled to. If you’re an entrepreneur, you must realize that. Are you willing to do whatever is necessary to get what you believe you’re entitled to?”

  “I’ll do anything within reason that doesn’t compromise my values or disrespect others’ rights.”

  “Oh, you’re a moralist.”

  “And you’re not?”

  “There are certain rules of business I live by; however, I try not to get bogged down by making emotional decisions. I have employees depending on me to keep the corporation profitable, so they can keep their jobs and prosper.”

  “How noble.”

  “I think so.”

  “And, does Anne Upshaw agree with your business philosophy?”

  “She doesn’t have a clue what it takes to run a business. At forums like this, she reads flowery speeches, written by others, telling how great our technological advances are and what a bright future is ahead. She’d be lost without somebody with the balls to make the tough decisions to get things done.”

  “Somebody like you?”

  “Exactly.”

  A waitress came to their table and said, “Are you ready to order?”

  “I was ready to order five minutes ago,” he said.

  “I’m sorry. We’re very busy this morning with all the tech conference guests.”

  “Your inability to plan properly to keep up with demand is no excuse for poor service.”

  The waitress looked a little teary-eyed. “I’m really sorry. I’m new at this job.”

  “What’s done is done. The question is, what are you going to do to make amends? Can I expect prompt fulfillment of my order once I place it?”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll give your order top priority.”

  “Talk is cheap. I’ll withhold judgment until I see if you follow through.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “We’ll have the same breakfast selections. Bring us the Elegant Eggs (croustades), Fruit Dishes, and Grand Mimosas. Make sure your best champagne is mixed with the orange juice in the cocktails. I’ll know right away if someone tries to substitute an inexpensive variety. And, of course we’ll want Espressos.”

  “Right away, sir,” the waitress said and hurried to submit the order.

  “You were a bit tough on her, don’t you think?”

  “Nonsense, I did her a favor.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “She needs to learn there are some people who will hold her to high standards of excellence and not accept anything less. You don’t agree?”

  “I agree that people need to be held accountable for their actions. But, you need to make sure you’re holding the right person accountable. In this case, should you punish the waitress who is working hard and doing her best or the manager who gets paid a lot more money and was the one responsible for understaffing?”

  “Sometimes you have to make an example of the ones carrying out the orders. That sends a message to the person in power that he’d better fix the problem, or he’ll be the next one to suffer the consequences.”

  “I think it’s unfair to make an example out of an innocent person. The end doesn’t justify the means.”

  “I disagree, but I like your spunk in expressing your opinions.”

  The waitress returned as Danziger was finishing speaking. She paused until he stopped, then placed their meals in front of them. “Is there anything else I can get for you?” she said nervously.

  Danziger sipped his mimosa. Sandy watched his reaction and when he didn’t complain, she said to the waitress, “We don’t need anything else right now. Your service was very prompt and met our needs completely. Don’t you agree, Ted?”

  Danziger cleared his throat like the words were sticking there and begrudgingly said, “Yes, yes ... service was acceptable and everything’s dandy.” The waitress smiled and had an extra bounce in her step as she left the table.

  “Now that didn’t hurt too much to acknowledge a job well done, did it?”

  “Nice try, but my style is way too ingrained at this point in my life to be altered by you or anyone else.” She observed that even though the corners of his mouth were turned up in a smile as he spoke, the expression in his eyes was icy cold. She decided it would be best to change the subject.

  After taking a few bites of the eggs on croustades, she said “These really are elegant tasting. You made an excellent choice.”

  “You can’t go wrong, if you let Ted Danziger take the lead,” he said.

  You can’t trust a person who speaks about himself in the third person, she thought before taking a sip of her mimosa. “This is early in the day for me to drink alcohol,” she said.

  “The caffeine in the espresso will cancel the effects of it.”

  She took another sip and said, “It tastes good, but I don’t want to be tipsy when you introduce me to Anne Upshaw.”

  “It isn’t that strong. I’ll select a real drink for you when we have a nightcap or two this evening. You’ll notice the difference then.”

  “And, we’ll talk about angel investors, right?”

  “That, too.”

  The waitress confirmed that Ted and Sandy had no additional breakfast needs and returned promptly with the check.

  “I bet you’re curious about what size tip I’m going to leave.”

  “You’re paying. It’s up to you to decide whether you want to be remembered as a big spender or cheapskate. I waited tables in college. Believe me, the word gets around about whether a customer is a big tipper or not. Especially when the customer is well-known by the public — like you.”

  He smirked and signed his name but didn’t indicate the size of the tip he’d approved.

  “Will you be attending the opening speeches at the conference today?”

  “I wouldn’t waste my time. I have meetings with key suppliers scheduled in my suite most of the day. The only speech I plan on attending is Anne’s. Not because I expect to learn anything from her. It’s only for appearances sake. We wouldn’t want it to appear as though there were any discord within the company. That would be bad for the stock price.”

  “Hers is the last speech of the day.”

  “Yes, I know. You and I will go to dinner after it’s done.”

  “I don’t mean to be pushy, but you promised to introduce me to Anne after breakfast.”

  He adjusted the sleeve of his shirt to check the time on his Rolex. “I’m a man of my word. She’ll be here any minute.”

  Chapter 50

  Q T held the iPhone in the palm of his left hand while using the index finger of his right hand to navigate. Occasionally, he stopped navigating long enough to lift a coffee cup to his lips. He was sitting at a table that was close enough to the lieutenant to observe her interaction with Danziger but far enough away that he couldn’t hear wha
t they were saying. He selected a phone number from his favorites and dialed.

  A familiar female voice answered and said, “Good morning, QT.”

  “Good Morning, BS.”

  “You haven’t called me BS in a while.”

  “It’s been a stressful few days.”

  “I know things have been strained between us and it’s my fault.”

  “Are you still at the JUIAF?”

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Good, that’s the safest place for you right now.”

  “I’ve given it a lot of thought and I think it’s time we forget about confidentiality barriers between agencies. I’m ready to be totally honest with you about everything.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that. We have to work together to get to the bottom of this plot before one of the assassins trying to kill you succeeds.”

  “I found out a couple of things this morning that I need to tell you about.”

  “You have my full attention,” he said, although he was a little distracted watching Danziger and the lieutenant talking.

  “Over the past few weeks, Jeremy and I bugged the homes of Anne Upshaw’s staff. As a result, the NSA has access to their communications; however, most of their emails and text messages are encrypted. Recently, Karen Williams deciphered some of Ted Danziger’s. Do you know who he is?”

  “Yes, I’m watching him right now. He’s having breakfast with the lieutenant.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll fill you in after you’re finished updating me.”

  “Karen discovered that Danziger was in close communications with Special Agent Warren. It appears that he was the whistleblower who caused our task force to be formed.”

  “From what I know about Danziger, he wouldn’t make a very reliable informant. He has reasons to discredit Anne Upshaw. He thinks she’s incompetent and sees himself as the man who’s really running the company.”

  “Well, he told Warren that Anne Upshaw was dealing illegally with the Chinese and was having an affair with an FBI Agent named Jeremy Glover, who was covering up her activities.”

  “Did he provide any proof?”

  “Not that Karen has found, so far.”

  “Like I said, I’m not sure we can believe anything Danziger said.”

  “I don’t know about the Chinese connection, but when I was in Anne Upshaw’s office last night, I saw a framed picture of Jeremy with his arm around her. In my mind that confirms what he said about the two of them being involved. I don’t know whether they’d broken it off before Jeremy joined the task force.”

  “You were inside Anne’s office last night?”

  “Yes. I installed monitoring equipment. Thomason and I were on the way back when the hitman attacked us.”

  “Did the equipment you installed include a frequency mind control device?”

  There was silence on the phone.

  “Blaire, are you still there?”

  “Yes, I did. Special Agent Warren ordered me to do it. He said I was to keep it a secret from the rest of the team. I assume he obtained legal approval for me to do it.”

  “I doubt any court would approve the installation of a psychotronic device to be used on a US citizen, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been done before. There’s supposed to be congressional oversight to ensure that citizens’ rights aren’t being violated by techniques used by intelligence agencies to gather information for national security purposes, but since committee meetings aren’t always open to the public, who knows how effective that check and balance is.”

  “I didn’t like doing it. It felt wrong. But, Special Agent Warren is in charge. I was following orders.”

  “I’m not judging you. In the spirit of our new open communication policy, I want to share something with you. The lieutenant told me the NSA was going to plant a psychotronic device in Anne’s office. I wasn’t sure I believed her. Apparently, she was right. She’s meeting with Danziger right now get him to introduce her to Anne Upshaw. The lieutenant is planning to warn her about the equipment the NSA installed.”

  “The lieutenant, huh. The two of you are getting rather cozy. Is she helping you with your investigation?”

  “Not officially, but she does seem to have available resources that are useful. Don’t forget she’s saved your life twice.”

  “I haven’t forgotten. Still, I’m not too keen on her warning Upshaw about the devices I just risked my life to install. When the equipment stops working, Warren will go ballistic.”

  “I’m not planning to tell him what happened to it, are you?”

  “... No.”

  “Do you think Warren is monitoring your calls?”

  “He could be trying. I added a scrambler to prevent eaves dropping. But, given enough time, a talented hacker can hack any phone. I think Karen would’ve told me if he’d asked her to do it.”

  “When are you meeting with Warren again.”

  “This morning.”

  “It’ll be a good time for you to ask him about his connection to Danziger and what he knew about Jeremy’s relationship with Anne. You can tell him that I was asking about it.”

  “I suppose I could do that.”

  “Can you record the conversation with him without him knowing it?”

  “Yes.”

  QT saw a woman approaching Danziger’s table. “I have to hang up now. We’ll talk later.”

  “Next time we talk, I’d like to hear more about your budding friendship with the lieutenant.”

  “Let’s save that discussion for a face-to-face. I have to go. Talk to you later.”

  “I love you, QT,” she said, but he’d already hung up.

  Chapter 51

  T he lieutenant watched as an attractive brunette in her late thirties walked toward them. She was wearing skinny jeans that hugged her petite body, a colorful blouse buttoned all the way to the top, and a casual gray blazer without any buttons. She was shorter than the lieutenant expected, but she compensated by wearing three-inch high heels. It wasn’t how one would expect a CEO of a multibillion dollar company to be dressed, but it fit Anne Upshaw’s image. It would’ve been disappointing to see her show up wearing a dowdy, Hillary Clinton style pantsuit.

  Anne shook her head a little and flashed a judgmental smile at Danziger. He lifted his left hand in an unenthusiastic half-wave.

  “Ted Danziger always keeps his promises,” he whispered to Sandy, “and he expects a quid pro quo.”

  The lieutenant stood up when Anne arrived at the table. Danziger remained seated and said, “Sandy Foot, this is Anne Upshaw.”

  “It’s an honor to make your acquaintance.”

  “It’s my pleasure. Ted told me he’d like me to meet a young, female entrepreneur. He failed to tell me how strikingly attractive you are. I shouldn’t be surprised. You rarely see Ted associate with plain-looking women.”

  “You make me sound shallow,” Danziger said.

  “If the shoe fits —.”

  “I’ve seen you get ruffled more than once when the press presents you as a woman with good looks and no substance. Intelligence and attractiveness aren’t mutually exclusive female attributes, are they?”

  “Not at all. I was only observing that you’ve never introduced me to an intelligent woman with below average physical appearance.”

  “Purely chance. I’m sure I’ll encounter a woman like that someday and I’ll be glad to introduce her to you.”

  “Please excuse our repartee, Sandy. Ted and I have a love-hate relationship. We can’t resist digging each other when the opportunity presents itself.”

  Sandy had picked up on the hate side of the relationship from Danziger but she’d yet to see any love emanating from him. She wondered if Anne was oblivious to his deep-rooted resentment of her.

  “I’ve only known Ted for a short while and I’ve already picked up on his penchant for lively debate,” Sandy said.

  “I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the two of you are like-minded
on many things,” Ted said. He stood up and pointed at the chair he’d vacated. “Please sit down, Anne. I have to leave to meet with a key supplier.”

  “Yes, you run along and attend to company details. The two of us will have a nice chat.”

  “Don’t forget we have plans tonight, Sandy,” Ted said as he was departing.

  “I haven’t forgotten.”

  As Danziger walked away, Anne said, “I thought he’d never leave.”

  “Don’t you like him?”

  “He’s an arrogant ass without any scruples. What’s to like?” They both laughed.

  “Why do you keep him around?”

  “Because he’s a major stockholder of Upshaw Corporation and he’s good at his job.”

  “I don’t think he likes you very much, either.”

  “I know. You seem like a perceptive woman. What are you doing getting involved with him? Don’t you realize he only wants to get you into bed?”

  “You mean I shouldn’t believe him when he tells me he’s interested in becoming an investor in my start-up company?”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think he’s full of shit.”

  “Then why don’t you tell him to take a hike?”

  “Because I needed him to introduce me to you.”

  “What makes you think I’d want to invest in your company?”

  “I don’t want your money.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  The lieutenant sat motionless with a blank stare. The words echoed in her head: kill her she’s a traitor, kill her she’s a traitor, ...

  “Sandy, are you alright? Sandy?”

  “I’m not Sandy,” the lieutenant said, snapping out of her trance.

  “If you’re not Sandy, who are you?”

  “My name doesn’t really matter.”

  “Damn it. I should’ve known. You’re a reporter, aren’t you? Trying to get some dirt to print in your scandal sheet.”

  “No, I’m not a reporter. I’m here to help you.”

  “Help me with what?”

  “Your life’s in danger.”

  Anne looked at a brawny man standing by the salad bar. Another one built like him was at a table which was a short distance behind her.