“You see him?” he asked Tony.
Tony shook his head then sipped his beer.
“Okay, so he’s not security. Let’s go through the rest of the staff, department by department. All the males.”
“Your wish is my command,” Karras said.
They spent the next few minutes going through each of the employee photos, working their way from the lowliest maintenance worker to the consul general himself.
Still no sign of Sunglasses.
“I guess we got it wrong,” Jack said to Tony.
“Or they’re MI6, which means they wouldn’t be in this system.” He turned to Karras. “Any chance you can hack into the British security services?”
Karras balked. “What did I say when we started-”
“That you like money and challenges. Another grand?”
Karras still didn’t bite. “You got a couple weeks and a safe house in Brazil? Those people have firewalls on top of firewalls and enough booby traps to discourage even the most aggressive attack. Getting past them would take a lot more than social engineering and, like I told you, I don’t do intelligence networks.”
Jack sighed. “So we’re at an impasse.”
“Not necessarily. This guy you’re looking for-what made you think he works for the consulate in the first place?”
“Long story.”
Karras took a sip of beer and nodded. “Sure, sure-need to know. But just because his file isn’t here today, doesn’t mean it wasn’t here yesterday or a week ago. Could be he quit or got fired.”
Jack immediately understood. “Archives.”
“Most organizations keep their employee files for years. I could go back a couple months, look for recent terminations.”
“Do it,” Jack told him.
Karras called up another command screen and went to work. A few moments later, he said, “Looks like there’s only been three terminations processed in the last year and a half. All female. But there is something a little strange here.”
“What?”
“Some data remnants that look like they were purged from the personnel database a little over a week ago. Could be an employee record and it might be your guy.”
“Can you access it?”
“Data only completely disappears when you nuke the drive. So, yeah, I’m pretty sure I can pull something up. But give me a few minutes.”
He went at it, working the keyboard furiously, all of his concentration focused on that center screen. Jack and Tony were about halfway through their second beers when he finally came up for air.
“Success,” he said. “It’s only a partial, but at least I’ve got a name and a photo for you.”
He stabbed a key and the file opened up on-screen.
The employee was male, but it wasn’t Sunglasses. Not even close. However, the photo stirred something inside Jack and he felt his heart kick up a notch.
“You say this was purged about a week ago?”
“Give or take.”
Jack stared at the screen. Could it really be who he thought it was?
“What’s wrong?” Tony asked. “You know this guy?”
“No, but I know someone who might.” He looked at Karras. “Can you download this photo and send it to a cell phone?”
He was already maximizing a snip program to copy the photo without leaving a fingerprint.
“Just give me the number.”
Jack did, then dug out his phone and dialed the number himself. After three rings the line picked up and he said, “This is Jack Hatfield. I’m gonna send you a photo. I want you to take a careful look and call me back, okay?”
He got the answer he was hoping for then clicked off.
“Jack, what’s going on?”
“I’ll explain in a minute,” he said, staring intently at the computer screen as he waited for his phone to ring. A moment later it did, and he answered quickly. “Is that the guy? The one you and your brother saw at the Arco station?”
“It’s him,” Leon replied.
“You’re absolutely sure?”
“I’m sure,” Leon said.
Jack thanked him then clicked off, turning to Tony. He gestured to the face on the screen. Dark, Middle Eastern descent. The name next to it read ABDAL AL-FIDA and listed him as a computer maintenance technician.
“He’s the one,” Jack said. “The reason for the cover-up.”
“The Iranian guy?”
Jack nodded. “That’s why they wiped him from the database.” He paused, not quite believing what he was about to say. “The bomber was working for the Brits.”
17
“This has to be a mistake,” Tony said, staring at the screen.
As much as Jack wanted to believe that, the proof was right in front of them. Abdal al-Fida was an employee of the British government. And his previously deleted personnel file had been flagged to indicate that he’d been living here on a G-2 diplomatic visa. He lived at an address in Newham, London, and had arrived in the U.S. less than a month before the carjacking.
“I wish it was a mistake,” Jack said. “But what we have here is a major embarrassment to the Brits, and they’re doing whatever it takes to make it go away. Could you imagine the shit storm they’d see if it came out they had a terrorist on the books?”
“They couldn’t have known what he was up to.”
“Which makes it even more embarrassing. The guy was obviously a mole and that means they’ve had a serious security breach. Not something they’d want made public.”
Tony looked doubtful. “So they send in MI6 to clean up? There’s gotta be more to it than that. They killed a teenager, for God’s sake. And what about Bob Copeland?”
Jack was a strong believer in Occam’s razor, that the most obvious explanation was usually the best one. But Tony had a point. Had Copeland been killed simply because he’d discovered a security breach? Or was there another reason altogether?
Like Operation Roadshow, he thought.
The Home Office was overly sensitive to criticism, but would they go this far to protect themselves?
“Um, what exactly are you guys getting me into here?” Karras said, suddenly looking very nervous. “Maxie never mentioned anything about bombers and dead teenagers. Maybe you two should leave.”
Jack ignored him and got to his feet, started pacing. He needed to think about this.
Tony gestured to the screen. “Whatever the case, this guy’s probably buried in somebody’s backyard by now. And without him, what do we have?”
“More speculation,” Jack said.
“Exactly.”
“Guys-” Karras said.
Jack didn’t seem to hear him.
What if this al-Fida guy isn’t dead? What if he immediately fled for home after botching the bombing? It didn’t seem likely, but Jack would be stupid not to check into it.
Karras got to his feet now. “I mean it,” he insisted. “I don’t want anything to do with whatever you’re into. You need to get out of here.”
Jack stopped pacing and turned to him. “Fine, but one last thing. Would you be able to hack into an airline and pull up their flight manifests for the last week or so?”
“Sure, but that doesn’t mean I want to.”
“I’ll triple your fee.”
“Hey, money isn’t every-”
“What about some intel about Maxine?”
Karras hesitated. “What kind of intel?”
“Coming to you was her idea,” Jack lied. “She has all kinds of regrets and if she finds out you went that extra mile for us she’d probably be real appreciative.”
“Really?”
“Haircut and a shave and-who knows?”
He could see that the prospect excited Karras. The guy hesitated a moment longer then sat back down. “Quadruple the fee.”
“Done.”
“What airline do you want to start with?”
“What else?” Jack told him. “British Airways.”
It took Karras a while to find what Jack was looking for, but his instincts had proven right and they didn’t have to leave the British Airways network to prove it.
There was a flight out of LAX to London the day after the carjacking, and Abdal al-Fida was one of the first class passengers. The ticket had been charged to the British embassy’s travel account. This didn’t mean al-Fida was still alive, but the possibility existed and that was enough for Jack to hang his hopes on.