The Wolves of Freydis

by J C Ryan

  “That’s exactly how it feels,” James grimaced.

  Irene continued, “But that doesn’t have to cripple us to the point of inaction. A mole situation can sometimes be used to advantage if you handle it correctly.”

  Carter frowned. “How?”

  Irene and James smiled. “By creating havoc amongst the enemy by feeding them false information or luring them out of hiding,” James said. “Sometimes a mole is your only lead to the enemy, and this could be one of those cases.”

  Carter leaned back, “Ah so!” he smiled, “and how do you want to go about it in this case?”

  “Well, first we’ll have to get the two projects going again,” James explained. “We won’t replace Mackenzie; you’ll have to take on that work, Carter.”

  Carter nodded.

  James continued, “We’ll have to make absolutely sure your work is kept secure at all times. I’ll leave it to you and Irene to work out those details. Irene’s had a lot of experience with that from her CIA days. There can be no slip-ups at all. The three of us will be the only ones who will have access to that information, and we will decide what is released, when, and to whom. When information is released, we will put tabs on who we release it to and track where the information goes.”

  Irene joined in. “That means nothing can be stored on our servers, and nothing can be sent or discussed over our so called ‘secure links;’ they are not secure.”

  “Okay,” Carter replied.

  “To start off with,” Irene continued, “we will work on the assumption that the people who were behind the theft of the Sirralnnudam are the same people who are holding Mackenzie and Liam.”

  “Yes, I had reached the same conclusion,” Carter agreed.

  “James and I are of the opinion that they might be forcing Mackenzie to work for them, holding Liam as leverage.”

  “What I find odd is there have been no ransom demands,” Carter said. “I would have expected they would try and swap the nuclear research information for Mackenzie and Liam.”

  “No,” James shook his head. “I think they have more brains than that. A ransom demand could lead us to them; they would know that. What’s more, you also have to assume that they already have every bit of information you’ve collected on the nuke project so far, so there is no need for it. They already know as much as you do, thanks to the work of the scumbag of a traitor – whoever he or she is.”

  Carter’s voice was quivering with fury when he spoke again. “Jim, you know me by now. I’m normally a patient and peaceful man, but let me assure you and Irene of one thing today; if we ever find that mole, I’m going to make sure he will regret the day he was born. That’s not an idle threat; it’s a sincere promise that I intend to keep.”

  James grinned. “You can have him right after I’m done with him, Carter. I’ve known about the mole longer than the two of you, so I’m first in the line.”

  Irene laughed, “I get the impression there’s only going to be tatters left for me when the two of you are through doing whatever it is you have in mind.”

  Carter responded with a grin, “You can add the ‘insult’ to the injuries we inflict, Irene.”

  “I’ll take it!” she said as she and Carter left James and went outside to get themselves take-out coffee and sandwiches before they made their way to her office to start the planning.

  Shutting the door firmly and indicating that Carter should remain silent; Irene closed the shutters, scanned the room for surveillance bugs, unplugged her phone, and shut down her computer. Carter watched in silent amazement, and growing anger as Irene completed the whole routine. She was thorough, no question about that, but it was infuriating to witness what had to be done to sidestep someone who was supposed to be trustworthy - someone who had betrayed America and didn’t care about the killing, wounding, and abduction of people.

  “Carter,” Irene started as she sat down and took a sip of her coffee. “The first thing we have to discuss is your safety. I guess I don’t have to explain to you that the people who are holding your family were most likely planning to abduct you as well, but were frustrated in their attempt?”

  “Yes, I figured that out over the last few days. What do you have in mind?”

  “James and I have discussed it and have a few ideas. While in the CIA and also here at A-Echelon James and I have, from time to time, used the services of a private security company to undertake some ‘off-the-record’ assignments for us. We think this situation calls for another engagement with them.” Irene paused for a moment.

  “Can you tell me more about them?”

  “The name of the organization is Executive Advantage. The CEO is Sean Walker, a former SEAL Team Six commander. When he left the military, he set up this private security company and recruited a core group of highly skilled ex-Special Forces, electronics, and computer experts from around the world. He and his group have built quite a reputation for themselves in the security and intelligence community. They are one of the few ‘go to’ trusted private contractors we use whenever we have a mission that requires work that has to be executed totally off the radar, in other words, unofficial.”

  “Sounds like a good outfit to have on our side,” Carter smiled. “So how do you see their role in our projects?”

  “They are definitely a good team to have on our side when the going gets rough,” Irene nodded. “I speak from personal experience. So our plan is that we contract them to take responsibility for your safety and the security of the research. We don’t want anyone in A-Echelon to know anything other than what we decide they should know.”

  “Good, when do I get to meet with Walker?”

  “James has arranged a meeting for tomorrow afternoon at a secret location, and he’s already given Sean a high-level briefing.”

  “I’m looking forward to meeting him,” Carter responded. “One more thing,” Irene indicated for him to continue. “I haven’t told Mackenzie’s parents about our discovery yet, mainly because I thought the fewer people that know about it, the better. Much as I would like to tell them, and they deserve to know, I also realize that it could put Mackenzie and Liam at risk.”

  “Yes, absolutely; no one else must know. And it’s not that I don’t care about their feelings, God knows I do, but it is more important that we keep the risks to an absolute minimum by limiting those in the know.”

  After that, the rest of the day was spent planning the relaunch of the ancient nuke project.

  Irene agreed with Carter’s suggestion to send a small team of well-equipped and duly vetted experts out to Professor Chandra Pillay’s dig in North India to conduct proper underground surveys with powerful GPR equipment.

  Carter told Irene that he still believed the City of Lights in Egypt might hold the key to many of their questions. It was the oldest known antediluvian human civilization on the planet. By his last assessment, less than fifty percent of that site had been uncovered. There were still many unanswered questions and mysteries hidden below the sand in the city where giants once lived. And the most intriguing question in Carter’s mind remained; where are their written records?

  Any civilization as advanced as that must have had a written language and records of their history. I have to find them.

  Chapter 24 -

  Fifty million on the table

  Nate Gordon was the top performer of the five members on the board of directors of CRS. This was partly due to his relentless search for new opportunities and new contracts, but mostly because of his networking skills, ‘Social Capital,’ as he liked to call it. He didn’t have a Facebook or Twitter following, in fact, he didn’t even have any social media accounts. Rubbing shoulders with the political and social elite on Capitol Hill, right up into the halls of White House created his network of contacts.

  His network was not a large group; nothing like celebrities would have, but they were the most powerful and influential people in the country. Nate Gordon believed in quality over quantity. He was on first name basis
with the chairperson of every oversight committee in Congress, and he had the names of some carefully selected, very powerful lobbyists on the speed dial of his smartphone.

  Over the years, and with the help of CRS’s covert surveillance teams, Nate had collected some very useful information about some of his contacts. He’d never had to publish any of it, not that he would have any scruples about doing so if it was necessary, but it came in very handy now and then to help secure a new and lucrative contract, turn a vote or get access to privileged information.

  On his return from the trip to India, with the quick stopover in Dubai, there had been a lot of urgent work to attend to. It was necessary to meet with Dwayne Miller, the CEO of CRS to plan and prioritize the execution of the two Saudi contracts. The 50 million dollars on the table would make it the largest and most lucrative contract in the history of CRS if they were successful.

  When Miller saw the draft of the agreement come through from Gordon after his meeting with El Fadl in Dubai was over, he went to work immediately. He knew Gordon would want to see him as soon as he set foot on American soil again. Therefore, he got in touch with the lead analyst on the CRS IT team and instructed him to conduct a very discreet preliminary inquiry about Professor Carter Devereux and supply him with the information within the next twelve hours.

  For the analyst, it was like a walk in the park on a lovely sunny spring day. Professor Devereux was a famous man; he was not trying to hide his existence. Thanks to one of Gordon’s contacts, CRS had access to the NSA database, and running CRS’ customized data analysis algorithm on the NSA database produced a 20-page report on Devereux in less than an hour.

  Miller smiled when he looked it over before Gordon arrived for their meeting. It was mind boggling just how much information about people was available in electronic format, and how easy it was to get the most private of information if you had the benefit of access to the NSA database.

  “Fruitful trip you had, Nate,” Miller complimented Gordon when they shook hands.

  “Yes, I would say so,” Gordon laughed.

  The secretary brought them drinks, and they got down to business.

  “Nate, I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty to collect a bit of information about Devereux in anticipation of our meeting.” Miller handed him a copy of the report.

  Gordon smiled. “I would’ve been disappointed if you hadn’t, Dwayne. I’ll read it later, just give me the highlights.”

  “Well, Carter Devereux is almost 40. He lost his entire family in a nasty car accident when he was eight and was brought up by his grandfather on his father’s side, William Devereux, who passed away a few years ago. When he was about 23, during a summer break from his Master’s Degree studies at a Boston University, he and a friend discovered an ancient Viking longship off the coast of Florida which netted Carter about 20 million.”

  Gordon whistled.

  “As you know, he married Dr. Mackenzie Anderson, and they had a son William, whom they called Liam. When his grandfather passed away he inherited everything – we are still looking into the details, but we already know it’s more than a billion.”

  “Holy crap!” Gordon exclaimed. “I could get used to that sort of money!”

  Miller continued. “He owns a house in Boston, and an enormous ranch of 50,000 acres in the mountains of Canada, north of Quebec City. There's also a four-seater Piper Seminole that he uses for transport between the ranch, DC, and also Boston where his in-laws, Mary and Steven Anderson, live.

  “He is currently on sabbatical from the University and works for A-Echelon, as you obviously already know.

  “Since he left the hospital, he has based himself on the ranch, which they call Freydis. He lives there on his own. The closest neighbors, Ahote and Bly Loloma, who are long-time friends of the family, are about a mile away from the Freydis Homestead.”

  “I thought you said a bit of information,” Gordon laughed. “This sounds more like the whole ensemble to me.”

  “No, not really, Nate; that was just the overview. I won’t bore you any further; you’ll find all the rest of it in that report. His telephone numbers, Internet connection, social media accounts, passwords, bank accounts, blood type, fingerprints, DNA, and a whole lot more. Thanks to the access to A-Echelon’s servers, which you so kindly provided, we also have a copy of the security checks on him and his wife.”

  “Shit!” Gordon exclaimed. “I’m glad I’m working on this side of the fence. I would hate to think what those NSA people are holding on me.”

  “Yeah, it’s terrifying isn’t it? There’s no such thing as privacy and secrecy anymore.”

  “That’s good for our business I reckon, Dwayne.”

  “Yes, of course,” Miller nodded, “as long as one of us don’t become the subject of such an inquiry.”

  “Okay, Dwayne, thanks for that. I’ll have a good look at this report and get back to you so we can work out a plan of action to get the information the Saudi’s need to plan and launch their operation.”

  “Just let me know when you’re ready, Nate.”

  “Now, let’s talk about that weirdly named book,” Gordon said. “I don’t suppose you have another 20-page report available for me on that?”

  “No, unfortunately, the NSA database is of no use when it comes to ancient documents,” Miller laughed. “But I've looked at Mackenzie Devereux's report about the book and what I’ve learned is that it was discovered at a dig in Çatalhöyük, Turkey about 50 years ago. A German archeologist, Karsten Rischmüller, was working a dig sponsored by the Armenian government at the time he found the book and that’s how it landed in the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan, Armenia,” Miller paused.

  “That’s it?” Gordon looked surprised, “nothing else?”

  “Unfortunately, yes, that’s it,” Miller nodded. “I have one of the IT people on it already, but so far nothing else has turned up. There are no references to the Sirralnnudam whatsoever on the Internet.”

  “Bummer,” Gordon muttered. “I thought it was going to be an easy one. Well, let’s keep on digging for another day or two. If we can’t get anything, we’ll have to look at the alternative suggested by El Fadl.”

  “What alternative was that?”

  “He suggested we launch an international search for a copy of the book, contacting rare book collectors, libraries, universities, archeologists, private collectors, artifact dealers, et cetera. If that doesn’t produce results, he suggested putting an enormous price on the book and advertise in the right places that we are looking for a copy. We don’t need the original; we only need to be able to make a decent and readable copy.”

  Miller was quiet for a while. “For obvious reasons, I’m not very excited about those options as they involve too much exposure for us.”

  “Agreed. We will have to think through the consequences very carefully before we do anything like that,” Gordon replied.

  Chapter 25 -

  Executive Advantage

  Carter and Irene met with James to report on the outcome of their planning sessions over the past two days. James agreed with their approach and authorized them to go ahead. Later that afternoon James drove the three of them to one of Executive Advantage’s safe houses in Herndon, Virginia, about an hour and a half from Capitol Hill.

  On the way, James and Irene gave Carter some more background information about Executive Advantage. They had a core group of about ten people who were highly skilled specialists in the various disciplines of modern day warfare and intelligence operations. They also had access to a large number of subcontractors with a variety of skills and expertise, whom they called on from time to time as circumstances dictated.

  Executive Advantage was an organization of last resort whose services were called for whenever security and intelligence agencies found themselves with an intractable problem that had to be dealt with when commercial, diplomatic, and political solutions were not an option.

  They offered speci
alist services in covert surveillance, information gathering in hostile and friendly environments, counter terrorism, prime target elimination, hostage rescue, demolitions, weapons training, tactics, and VIP protection.

  Sean Walker, a former SEAL Team Six commander, was one of the military’s most highly decorated soldiers when he received his honorable discharge from the Navy. There were a few rumors that he was headhunted by the CIA at the time, and that was the reason he left the military and set up Executive Advantage, an independent group of international Special Forces operators. It was one of those scenarios where those who talked about it didn’t really know anything at all, and those who did know weren’t talking.

  The truth was that Executive Advantage was established when leaders of a few likeminded security agencies from around the world got together and agreed to form an independent global Special Forces unit with a deep pool of expertise. It was a unit that consisted of specialists who could assure swift and successful clandestine missions anywhere in the world. The result was that Executive Advantage had access to the skills of former Special Forces members from around the globe. These members included former: Navy SEALS, Delta Force, British and Australian SAS, Canadian Joint Task Force 2 - JTF2, French Foreign Legion, Israel’s Kidon (part of Mossad), Oman’s Desert Phantoms, and others. Political leaders of the member countries made sure they didn’t have any knowledge about the members or activities of this group – plausible deniability.

  With all the background information about Executive Advantage and its CEO, Carter was almost disappointed when he shook hands with Sean Walker. To the casual observer, there would not have been much to the man. He was in his late 40’s, Carter estimated. He had dark hair with a few strands of gray showing here and there, was a little taller than average - maybe five ten or so, and a little slimmer than average for someone his size - about 150 pounds. There was nothing special about his looks. With his olive skin, dark eyes and hair, he could easily disappear into the crowds of any Middle Eastern country. Nevertheless, a close look at the man’s eyes revealed there was something different. Something in his dark, almost black, eyes was enough to give anyone reason to pause and think about things.