Calculated deception, p.15
Calculated Deception, page 15
“Nicky Steadman.”
“What are you working on, Nicky?”
“Fixing the machine that the last grad student broke, since apparently, I’m the only adult in the lab. Look, it’s nice to meet you, Dr. Ryland, but I work with Dr. Nobelkov, and I can’t take on any more work right now.”
“I completely understand. You seem to have a full plate.” Ree thought it best to agree, since she was now experiencing the full Nicky up close, and the full Nicky was wielding a wrench and a hammer.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just that you’re busy, and I’m not here to add to your workload.”
Nicky laughed. “Okay – if you say so.”
Ree bit her tongue. “I just wanted to stop and introduce myself. I've been in your shoes and wanted to let you know that if you ever want to chat, I'm happy to do what I can to help.”
“Been in my shoes? Okay.” Her tone was hard, but Ree wondered if she didn’t see Nicky soften a fraction. Ree turned her back and heard a quiet voice say, “Thanks, I guess.”
Ree was almost to her office when she realized she was still alone with one of their suspects. She’d assumed one of the other professors or one of her bodyguards would be there by now. She kept her purse on her desk, just in case. She sent a quick text to Parker to let him know she was ok but still alone. Nothing in her manner should have spooked Nicky. In fact, her offer to help was actually legitimate, provided Nicky wasn’t going to try and kill her.
“Dr. Ryland?” Ree turned around to see Nicky startlingly close.
Ree swallowed hard and took one step closer to her purse. “Yes, Nicky? Did you need something?”
“You know what, never mind.”
“No. It’s okay. Is something bothering you?”
“I didn’t want to say anything to Dr. Nobelkov or Dr. Brown. I’m not sure they’d believe me. But since you’re new and don’t have any alliances or favorites, I overheard something and didn’t know who would be willing to do anything about it.”
Ree doubted Ivan and Matt would ignore a student’s concerns just because they were difficult, but they were human after all. She had met people like Nicky before. They always had an excuse, assuming their problems were worse than everyone else’s or that someone else was at fault. But, perhaps they were. She gestured for Nicky to sit. Instead, Nicky crossed her arms and began to pace in front of Ree’s desk, focusing everywhere but on the professor in front of her.
“I overheard Simon talking to Josh, and it sounded like he wanted him to skirt the rules about getting rocket fuel without a background check. They didn’t know I was in the office, and I’m sure I didn’t hear everything. I talked to Josh alone about it after and made him promise he never would. I’d feel better if someone knew what Simon was trying to do. I mean, if he gets caught, it could shut us down, and I thought someone should know. I’ve worked too hard and this is all I have. I won’t have another student keep me from graduating by thinking they’re a special snowflake who doesn’t have to follow the rules.”
Ree forced her mouth to stay closed but her eyes widened before she caught herself. She blew out a breath. “Thanks, Nicky, I appreciate you telling me. I’m working with Simon, but don’t know him that well yet. I won’t approach him directly, and he won’t know you are involved, but if anyone is trying to break the rules, it’s my business and I will fix it. That’s a promise.”
Nicky’s defenses were back up nearly immediately. Her eyes darted towards the hallway door before she retreated to the lab. Ree forced herself to sit down after Nicky resumed banging on the machine. She pulled out her phone to write another message to Parker, her heart pounding. Nicky’s story was the break they were looking for – either she was lying and covering her tracks or Simon was their guy. Parker needed to know.
Simon walked through the office door and her pulse skyrocketed. She placed her phone back on her desk and stared blankly at her laptop. When Simon reached the lab, she picked it up again, but Ivan walked in. She eased the phone back on to her desk. It was too risky. Ree considered getting up from her desk and sprinting to the surveillance van, but even as an untrained civilian, she didn’t have to be told it was a bad idea to make sudden moves after getting key information from a suspect. She needed to wait until Alexis arrived for the day, then pull her aside for a private conversation. Ree tapped her index finger on her desk and eyed her purse. She placed it in her desk drawer and for the first time in years, she didn’t lock it.
* * *
Confined to the surveillance van, Parker passed out coffee and muffins to his crew. An update from Ree kept everyone in relatively good spirits, but their energy was starting to flag. He’d set up a small table in the van with all of the evidence they had, pictures of the components they were looking for, and some blank paper for writing down notes and questions. They had a call with their analyst team later that morning, which gave Parker and the team two hours to sort out the questions they needed to ask. They needed to make some tangible progress in the investigation, and soon.
Alexis and Mike accepted the food and coffee silently, focused on the evidence in front of them. Alexis flipped rapidly through all of the visuals Parker had provided. Mike spent more time on each page than Alexis, and he was grouping them together according to his own system. Parker popped a piece of muffin into his mouth and gave them a few more moments to study the information before calling the meeting to order.
“Okay, folks, you ready? I’d like to do a rundown of what we have. Jump in if I miss anything important.” Alexis and Mike looked up from their work, and Parker continued, “We have five suspects. Ivan Nobelkov – Russian native, well-liked, smart, forgetful, married to a physician. Doesn’t fit the profile, and everything I found at his house was a dead end.
“Matt Brown – I know Sandy told us to back off but I’m not crossing him off the list until I know he’s clean. What we’ve figured out is he’s originally from Jersey, former military, and a methodical achiever. He’s been successful enough to present at conferences at least once a year, holds a few patents and is ambitious enough to talk to his management about working up to an assistant dean position. He opened up to Ree right away. We can’t prove that Dr. Nobelkov and Dr. Brown aren’t involved, but they don’t seem like our guys. We are confident that neither of them is in the driver’s seat since our other agents and tech teams have been keeping an eye on them and have come up with nothing.
“Now for the interesting ones. Nicky Steadman – rude but ambitious, defensive but talented. Ree didn’t report anything suspicious but we can’t cross her off until we talk to Ree to be sure. She sends up some red flags.
“Beckett Parish – Alexis spent some time with him, and he seems to basically be a harmless tool. He’s smart, but he’s too lazy to be our guy. I think we can cross him off the list for now.
“Simon Kakra – he’s quiet and generally keeps to himself. He gives the appearance of keeping his head down and working hard. He’s been cordial but has resented any sort of intervention in his work. I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but after observing him doing busy work first hand, I think it’s fair to consider him our most likely suspect.”
Based on the nodding from his team, they were all in agreement that the odds tilted towards Simon. However, narrowing down your suspect list was only half the battle, and they already thought they’d found her once.
Alexis placed her stack of paperwork back on the small table. “It sounds like we might be able to skip the 10 o’clock with the analyst team if they don’t have any new information, but we do need a heavy-duty background check on Simon Kakra. Our initial check,” Alexis’s eyes darted down to her notes, “indicates he’s from Ghana. Doesn’t that seem a bit off to you guys? When has Ghana ever had a problem with us or us with them? We’re friendly.”
“You’re assuming a country is behind this – your other alternatives are Russia, England, or New Jersey,” Mike said dryly.
“England, obviously a no,” Parker said. “This seems too small scale for Russia. They wouldn’t need to come over to the States to get this stuff. Honestly, Ghana doesn’t make any sense. They aren’t exactly having biweekly flag burning parties over there.”
“So, assuming our perp is Simon, what does that mean? I think we can assume it’s not a nationally-sanctioned mission,” Alexis said.
“But do we know that someone high up isn’t behind it?” Parker asked.
“What, like someone trying to overthrow the U.S. government? No way. The only thing that would make sense is if they wanted to overthrow their own,” Alexis responded, throwing her hands in the air.
Mike stared at the profile his wife had created. He said quietly, “It fits. But it’s wildly speculative. We can’t go to the Chief with that without evidence to back it up.”
Parker said, “Okay. We keep that theory to ourselves for now. Let’s have the team dig into Simon, and unless Ree discovered a bigger problem with Nicky, we’ll plan on moving in on him tomorrow to see if we can get enough information to make an arrest.”
Alexis called Jordan to explain the situation, minus the only theory they’d come up with. They didn’t have all the facts, and their team had a good reputation – one that could be spoiled by drawing sweeping conclusions based on insufficient evidence. Jordan promised to get back to them before the day was out.
* * *
A few moments after 10 a.m., Simon received the message that his parts would come in early. He would have everything he needed the day after tomorrow with a few days to spare. Apparently, his allies had pulled some strings. The General would help him orchestrate the shipment of his equipment the following week. It would all be over soon.
The only remaining piece of his plan was to convince Dr. Nobelkov to let him accompany his equipment to Ghana. He would use this self-created opportunity to make something of himself in the new government. Sure, there would be a necessary casualty, or several, but it had to be this way. Their plan would never work if President Minkah was still in the way. Simon’s conscience had long been silent and was therefore not a hindrance. The only thing that mattered is Minkah stood between Simon and the power that he deserved.
* * *
An ocean away, The General sat in front of President Joseph Minkah’s desk and steepled his fingers, pretending to listen to his ideas for his next piece of legislation. President Minkah was not a stupid man, unfortunately, and former General Korku Acare couldn’t risk him picking someone else to share his seat of power at the next election. He had long considered himself a man of action and had planned for such an occasion. Soon, all of this distasteful subservience would be a distant memory.
As Joseph Minkah droned on about policy matters, General Acare reviewed his plan one last time. He had been trained by the best and learned caution the hard way. In addition to his agent in America, two additional agents were working for him a little closer to home. These agents had been trained to take orders from him alone. The young ones were easily manipulated, and he had a gift for telling each one the right story to keep them motivated.
Akua, an especially skilled sniper, was told her work was for a top-secret government mission and that only he had clearance to discuss it with her. She had no reason to go over his head to verify his story. The other agent wasn’t needed yet, but he would think of a convincing lie that would suit his purpose. His security officer was enforcing orders and keeping an eye on Simon when The General could not, but he knew nothing of The General’s plans. Given his position in the government, obedience to his orders was not in question.
Simon was more difficult, but he had always been a little unstable, that one. Still, The General had no doubts about his loyalty. Simon’s parents died when he was a teenager, and he joined the military soon after. The General knew that, with no surviving family, the boy could be very useful to him and had taken him under his tutelage. He mentored the boy and waited. It wasn’t until several years into their camaraderie that he began to suggest Simon’s orphaning had been at the hands of President Minkah. The fact that sometimes cars went off of roads in the dark of night to avoid animals was less compelling than his lie to a son searching for answers. After that, Simon had been very easy to mold into an intelligence agent that listened only to him. Yes, Simon would be very useful. Perhaps, he would die or get arrested, but in war, casualties were expected.
* * *
Joseph Minkah watched every small motion of the man in front of him. While Korku Acare preferred to be called “The General” to “Vice President,” a nod to his time in the military, privately, Joseph called him a snake. His party had insisted on him partnering with someone with more rigid views that fit the party line, and it wasn’t until he was in office that he realized the danger his next in line represented. In darker times, President Minkah would have feared for his life. In the current day, he tried his best to humor his colleague and wait for time to pass. He would implement the least dangerous of his ideas to keep The General from causing trouble and counted the days until the next election. Soon, he would announce a new running mate. If General Acare knew about it, it would only be from guessing, as the only person Joseph had told about his plans was his head of security and long-time friend, whose loyalties lay only with him. One could never be too careful in his position.
21
Ree looked up from her computer as Simon entered her shared office from the lab, hefting a bag over his shoulder. Alexis had mercifully arrived in the morning and stayed for several hours. However, when Ree pulled her aside and whispered Simon’s name, Alexis shook her head to stop Ree from saying more. Somehow, Alexis knew something was off with Simon. That wasn’t safe to talk about in public. And now he was coming into her office. Ree forced her trembling hands steady by placing them on her keyboard. It was impossible to be unaware of his entrance, but Ree was at least able to keep her eyes focused on her computer as Simon approached Ivan’s desk.
“Excuse me, Dr. Nobelkov?” Ivan held up a finger and finished typing. She trained her eyes on her screen but still saw some movement in the periphery. Simon absently rubbed his right pocket as he waited.
“I’m sorry, young man, I’m answering an email from an eager donor. These are emails I am always happy to receive, but I find them so hard to finish unless I type it in one try. May I help you?”
* * *
Simon did his best to look nervous and apprehensive, even though his adrenaline was soaring. He felt victorious, filled with the satisfaction that only besting his opponents could provide. He forced his eyes to the floor and made his confession sound as genuine as possible. “It’s my equipment, sir. It’s just that I have not yet finished, and I know I can complete it. But, I just received word that my grandmother is very ill and needs me to go back home to Ghana to take care of her.”
Simon looked up from the floor into Ivan’s understanding eyes. “I am so sorry. I lost my grandmother just last year. You must go to be with her. Your equipment and this lab will all wait until you get back.”
The conversation was not going in the direction that Simon expected, and he quickly amended, “I don’t know how long she will need me, and I don’t have employment back in my country. Since we are sending equipment as a part of the donation to the University of Accra, I was wondering if we could transfer both my machine and me to the university. I can finish it there and help my grandmother at the same time.”
Ivan’s eyes darted back to his computer screen. Simon was happy to see that Ivan was putting together the email their accomplice had sent with Simon’s request to move back to his home country. While not a trained agent, the donor was friendly with The General and easily led. He’d been considering making a donation to an American university to both improve his image and for tax purposes. It wasn’t difficult to persuade him to donate when and how they had wanted him to, believing their fabricated story about why the funds were needed. While not a large amount for the university, it was a large amount for the lab, and answering the donor’s emails would be at the top of Ivan’s priorities.
“Your timing is better than you realize, Mr. Kakra. We just had a request come in for someone to stay at the university for a year to help with the transfer. They are having an open house soon. I know things are moving fast, but if you are willing to pack up that quickly, it would really help me. I thought to ask you but didn’t want to pressure you to leave here just because it is your home country, especially if you wanted to stay in the United States a little longer.”
“Yes, I am willing. That would be just right. Thank you for the opportunity, Professor Nobelkov. I am more grateful than you know.”
* * *
Ree fought to keep her jaw from going slack. It was impossible that this was a coincidence – but what did his machine have to do with anything? Or was he just getting out of here before the whole place was going to blow? Simon was still lingering in front of Ivan’s desk, less than ten feet away, and she didn’t dare contact the team. Alexis was in the lab next door and out of earshot. Even after he was gone, the tension stayed at the back of her neck. When Alexis passed by her desk to leave, she dropped off a notebook from her tasks for the day and Ree opened it to see what she had done during her time in the lab. A small sticky note was in the front of the notebook. We’ll talk tonight at your house. We’re watching the hallways but all suspects have left the building.
The minutes passed slowly as she waited for the end of the day and safety in numbers. Matt stopped by to regale her with more stories as she nodded and muttered responses with feigned interest. Once she realized that accomplishing anything else productive would be impossible, Ree pretended to work while listening for any more information from the conversations happening between the remaining students in the lab. Particularly now that what she had previously believed was a case of overactive imagination had morphed into a very tangible enemy.
