The Bergamese Sect (40 page)

The teller had seemed impressed with Lewis’ DEA credentials. Miami was awash with drug-crime and she didn’t need much convincing to let him into the vault, supervised. The ease of the ruse had shocked Lewis.

It had only taken a minute to read Sebastian’s message, to replace it the way he’d found it. And there, as he exited, sat his quarry, unsuspecting, waiting to be led into the basement.

Lewis felt pleased with himself. He allowed himself a broad grin and couldn’t help directing it at an attractive girl who passed him on the sidewalk. She was young, had a fantastically smooth complexion and deep blue eyes. Wearing nothing but a tiny bikini top and a floral wrap-around skirt, the girl smiled back at Lewis and flirtatiously pruned her golden spikes of hair. Her step slowed slightly as she turned once or twice to look back at Lewis alluringly.

He shook his head, dispelling the urge to run after her. Too busy, he told himself.

The previous night had been a fitful slumber, even though he’d carefully replaced the contact alarm and strapped the buzzer to his forehead with a Band-Aid. The pressure of his mission had made him jerky and restless. But now, standing in the hot sun, watching the girls saunter past, he felt strangely revived. Hopeful.

He still had three things to do. The first would be easy; make sure he was booked on the same flight to Lima as the subversives. The second would be more difficult and require some skilful manipulation; ensure the girl’s protectors, nor her superiors, were informed of their destination. The last imperative was the one that worried him most; get rid of those protectors, passively and quickly.

His ideas had been taking shape for a few days. But he was far from convinced about them. He’d have to use some kind of diversion to coax the protectors away, just at the critical moment. All he needed was the time to shepherd the target out of their reach.

But what kind of diversion? He didn’t know enough of their motives to arrange a seductive enticement or throw them bait bound to become their priority. He couldn’t alter their path with phoney directions from their superiors. That left the decoy. The human decoy.

Suddenly, Lewis’ eyes widened. That was it. The girl who’d passed him moments ago! Didn’t she look just like…?

Lewis turned back down the street; saw a shock of sharp blonde spikes loitering by an
Armani
window. He bounded after the adorable female.

Chapter 23

Slowly, Walsh’s eyes focussed on a wall of countless LEDs, twinkling in enticing rhythmic patterns, undulating like waves. It was like Times Square.

Along both inner walls of the vehicle, racks of equipment were stacked up to the ceiling. Small screens showed complex spirals and meshes, each beating its own rhythm, wobbling and distorting. Rows of tiny push buttons and knobs covered the faces of the equipment and cables linked the electronic boxes to several small laptop computers. The back of the van looked like a high-tech development lab, the like of which Walsh had never seen before.

Linsky’s dark figure was hunched over a computer screen. He looked tired. He’d been up most of the previous night. They’d come direct from the airport into the city, Walsh disappearing to a hotel on Lexington Avenue as Linsky contacted Chris Kaplan. A half-hour later, a Chevy Express had picked him up from a wet sidewalk.

At three in the morning, Linsky had crept stealthily to a window of the
Tagaste
Society Building and monitored the interior for a few minutes with a sensitive sound detector stuck to the cold glass. Then he’d removed the pane swiftly and noiselessly, lifting it neatly out of the frame. He’d tripped the alarm system with an electromagnetic pulse. It took him half an hour to get a connector onto the cables coming into the building, setting up a duplicator that would send all data direct to a server in the surveillance van. He found the telephone exchange and placed an EMF-shielded digital tap on the lines. The device produced no incriminating radio signals since it used the incoming line to relay calls back out of the building. Built into it was a decoder that enabled scrambling to be decrypted. He’d even placed microphones in key areas of the building, their low-frequency transmissions imperceptible for any conventional bug detector. By five thirty, Linsky was back in the surveillance van heading onto Lexington.

Walsh glanced at his watch. It was 22:30.

‘
Listen,’ Linsky said quietly, not turning away from his screen. He turned a knob and a voice grew out of the silence.

‘
Yes, I understand you’ve been away,’ said the voice.

Walsh recognised it immediately. ‘That’s Sewell,’ he said.

Linsky nodded. ‘Yeah, he’s talking to a guy called Jordan.’

Walsh’s brow shot up.

Jordan’s voice came over the speakers. ‘Yeah, I got back yesterday.’

‘
Shall we switch to secure?’ asked Sewell.

‘
Yes. Hold on. Use code five eight three one.’

‘
Okay.’

There was a brief shuffling of papers on the line. Then the low background hiss changed to a faint warbling noise. Walsh frowned as he watched Linsky click a few times on the screen. Suddenly, a terrible noise reverberated through the van, like the sound of a bath emptying, but deeper, louder.

‘
What the hell’s that?’ Walsh asked.

‘
They’ve switched on a scrambler,’ Linsky said, continuing to punch away at the computer. ‘It’ll take a few seconds for the device to decode the encryption scheme. Just wait.’ He held up his hand, listening.

Almost immediately the warbling noise resolved into voices again. ‘… few days. I didn’t want to be away that long. What do you have?’ It was Jordan.

‘
We’re still tracking the target,’ Sewell answered. ‘Clara is still with him. They’re in Miami.’

‘
Status?’

‘
Not sure. She called late last night, said she’d know more today. I think they’re getting close though. I told her to finish the job.’

‘
And the government?’

‘
No sign of Walsh since I shut down Virginia Avenue. I’ve taken steps to make him ineffectual. If he surfaces again he’ll be picked off like a clay pigeon. I doubt we’ll be hearing from Mr Walsh again.’

‘
And your secret committee?’

‘
They suspect nothing. As far as they’re concerned, Walsh turned out to be a traitor. It wasn’t difficult to convince them.’ There was evil smugness in Sewell’s voice.

Linsky turned to his superior and raised his eyebrows. Walsh didn’t respond, transfixed by the two voices.

‘
What about his agents? I told you to eliminate them,’ Jordan said dispassionately.

‘
I’ve not located them yet. But they’re also completely incapacitated. Their communications are blocked and their resources disabled.’

‘
I thought you had them under satellite surveillance,’ said Jordan.

‘
Yes, well…’

‘
Don’t try to dupe me, Sewell.’ Jordan’s voice had grown angry. It reverberated with authority. ‘I have many informants working in the shadows. These men managed to remove their tracking implants. Didn’t they?’

‘
I’m not sure.’

‘
Don’t lie to me!’ Jordan shouted. ‘They escaped your clutches in Calgary and now you don’t know where they are! Correct?’

‘
Yes.’

‘
I will not put up with sloppy work, Sewell. Nor will I be pleased if you try to deceive me.’

‘
Sorry, Jordan.’ Sewell sounded apologetic, but there was a hint of resentment in his voice.

‘
Don’t bring your CIA arrogance here, Sewell,’ continued Jordan. ‘I will not stand for it. Try to mislead me again and you’ll be serving out your time in a graveyard with a sheet over your head. Do you understand me?’

‘
Yes, Jordan.’

‘
You’re not indispensable, and neither are your connections. In fact, I’m looking for someone for a permanent assignment in Alabama. Do you fancy a posting with the hicks?’

‘
I’d prefer not.’

‘
Then show some respect and don’t try to conceal your errors. It’s your fault those idiots in the NSA grew suspicious in the first place. Your over-zealousness in apprehending the renegade has revealed your involvement. And could reveal ours too. I have better things to do than run around cleaning up after your mistakes.’

There was a few moments’ silence.

‘
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to conceal anything. My commitment to our cause is as strong as ever. If I make mistakes it’s only because of my eagerness to protect our mission.’ Although timid, Sewell’s voice didn’t sound convincing. But still, it seemed to calm his superior.

‘
These are dangerous times, Sewell. We all need to be doubly vigilant.’

‘
Yes, Jordan.’

‘
If the NSA men or Walsh surface again, or if there’s the slightest hint that the target is being tracked, kill him immediately. We can’t afford for him to fall into the government’s hands.’

‘
Very well.’

The two men went silent again.

Walsh shifted in his chair, confused.

‘
We have another problem.’ It was Jordan’s voice filling the interior of the surveillance van.

‘
Yes?’

‘
I’m becoming concerned about a couple of guys who’ve been sniffing around,’ Jordan said, his tone clearly disturbed. ‘They’re very interested in us. They seem to know Schlessinger was part of our organisation.’

‘
How could they know that? I thought the problem with the Schlessinger documents was resolved. I saw to it personally.’

‘
Apparently not.’

‘
But I made sure the soldier’s estate contained nothing that could implicate him. It wasn’t easy getting the FBI and Interpol off that bishop’s back in Frankfurt.’

‘
I know, but something was obviously forgotten. Let’s not worry about how they found out. They know, and that could cause us real trouble. We know one of them. He’s a journalist who’s been looking into Schlessinger’s past. He’s German, name’s Armin Koestler. He’s calling himself Kellerman. Somehow he seems to have associated Schlessinger with the Society and seems to have suspicions about our purpose.’

‘
What kind of suspicions?’

‘
I’m not sure, but I got Radich to investigate. He’s found that this German recently got hold of some government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act; documents we didn’t know existed, but which, if pieced together, could implicate us. Radich has taken steps to delete the documents from the government system, though it may be too late. The damage is already done.’

‘
We should put a slug in this guy’s back.’ Sewell’s voice was full of aggression.

‘
I know,’ Jordan replied. ‘In fact, we’ve warned him off before; when he got too close to Schlessinger a few years back. In fact, it was because of him that we took the Schlessinger documents out of Münich. It’s his fault we had all that trouble with Arthur Tonry and Interpol. The mess you cleaned up for us. Anyway, this German hasn’t stopped. We thought the warning we gave him had been enough. But now he’s returned with this other man. I don’t know what they think they know, but we need to deal with them.’

‘
The other man. Another German?’

‘
No, he’s American.’

‘
Do you know anything about him?’

‘
Not much. We first became aware of him when he started snooping around Schlessinger’s hometown in Bavaria. That’s probably where he teamed up with the German. We’ve done a bit of digging around. He was a lawyer out west, Arizona, until he disappeared about a year ago. He’s originally from Providence, studied at Yale Law School. For some reason he’s been trying to find the de Morillo portrait. He was put onto Schlessinger’s trail by an Italian art curator. We’ve dealt with the Italian, but this lawyer gave Radich the slip in Germany.’

‘
I wonder what they’ve found.’

‘
Probably not much. I think. We’ve done our best to erase Schlessinger’s trail in Europe but there’s been an oversight somewhere. I’ve no idea why this American’s interested in the portrait. They’re using false names and pretending to be manuscript dealers. They called the other day, set up a meeting with the librarian.’

There was silence on the phone line for a few seconds. Walsh was intent on the discussion, leaning forward, staring at the floor. He briefly glanced up at Linsky, whose face reflected his own confusion.

‘
Is this really a problem?’ Sewell asked after a pause. ‘It’s the renegade we need to find. That’s much more threatening than a couple of guys with a conspiracy hunch.’

‘
Any threat to our existence should be taken seriously, Sewell. These two men may be dangerously close to the truth. I want them eliminated at the first opportunity. We can’t risk letting them snoop any further. Radich is waiting for them. I’ve given him orders to contact you immediately when they show up. Find out what they know, how they know it. Then dump them in a deep hole somewhere. Somewhere they won’t be found. Leave no evidence.’

‘
Very well, I’ll wait for Radich’s call.’

The superior made an approving grunt.

‘
What if I need to leave New York?’ Sewell asked.

‘
I’ll tell Radich to do the job himself if you’re not available. But I’m holding you responsible. Make sure the job is done correctly. Completely.’

‘
I will.’

‘
You’d better. If we get any more surprises knocking on our door, I’ll make sure you serve our calling as far from here as possible. Understood?’