Raveneau took a sip. He was watching the transcript and listening to Garner as he asked, ‘Does the Bureau have a file on Alan Krueger?’
‘I knew if I invited you here you’d start asking questions. To get hired on to the Homicide Detail do you have to prove you can ask two hundred questions in an hour? We do have a file. Yes, you can read it. No, it hasn’t been updated since he was killed.’
‘Was it started before or after he left the Secret Service?’
‘After.’
‘Good guy or bad guy?’
‘Good guy doing business with bad guys as near as I can tell.’
‘Who set him up with the bad guys?’
‘That’s a big open question.’
‘Was he an embarrassment to the Secret Service?’
‘No, but they were worried about it at the time and something happened there they’re fuzzy about.’
‘They shut out our inspectors.’
‘They had their own investigation going and they were working hard to figure out who Krueger was dealing with. They had supernotes starting to spread around the world.’
‘Did they begin to question Krueger?’
‘Maybe, probably, and it’s possible more than one party was making supernotes.’
‘Could that party have set-up the North Koreans?’
‘They may have, yes.’
‘What was the Bureau’s theory of who killed Krueger?’
‘We never concluded anything. You’ll read it.’
Raveneau quit talking as the conversation between Garner and Jenner changed abruptly, Jenner getting a little whiny when Garner asked, ‘Can I deposit this today?’
‘You can, but when is anyone going to talk to me? A hundred thousand dollars is still worth something. I just want some sign things are progressing.’
‘We’re doing fine and I’m talking to you, and you knew when you got in that your contributions would be directed to making the changes we know need to happen.’
‘Give me something concrete. You know damn well it’s not going any farther than me.’
‘I don’t know the things you want to know. My job is to gather and pass the money on to those overseeing the work.’
Raveneau heard exasperation creep into Garner’s voice. Exasperation as if he’d had this same conversation before.
‘Jamie, you’re treating me like an outsider.’
A chair shifted, probably Garner.
‘We can return your money.’
‘Don’t be so hardnosed. I’m not asking for much. Three contributions downstream I’m owed something, so just give me a time frame. Am I going to turn on the TV in three months, six months, and see things have started and there’s news?’
‘You’re making me think I misread you initially, and I don’t like making that kind of mistake. I rarely make a mistake about character but you’re starting to disappoint me. You’re asking something you have no business asking and I’m advising you to stop now. I strongly suggest you don’t make me question you any more than you already have today. I don’t want to think I’ve made a mistake that needs to be rectified.’
‘Are you threatening me?’
‘I’m being honest with you.’
Something got whispered that Raveneau couldn’t make out and no text appeared on the screen.
‘The agent didn’t hear it either,’ Coe said. ‘Whatever Garner said, he said under his breath.’
‘I’m as certain we need change as anybody,’ Jenner said. ‘I’m as solid as anybody and you shouldn’t talk to me the way you are. Three hundred thousand dollars is what I’m in so far.’
‘Three hundred thousand dollars is nothing compared to what others are contributing. All you need to know is it’s in motion now.’
‘Just tell me it begins with him.’
‘I’m tearing this check in half. The rest of your contributions will be returned to you. Good day, sir.’
Garner hung up.
‘How long did it take your agent to get that close?’
‘Over a year and a half and it wasn’t easy. We were asked by the Secret Service to push harder, so we did and as you heard it was a mistake. There are other pieces. There are two former Army snipers we’re also watching. We believe there are military links but that’s not confirmed. This next clip is an individual talking about a military supply depot in Kentucky. In this passage the individual working with us is X4. He’s not an FBI agent. He came to us and the man he’s talking to he’s never met or seen. X4 is trying to sell him black market current grade US military hardware.’
X4: ‘I’m calling about the parts order. I can get what you need in time.’
Unsub: ‘Then we’re probably doing business.’
X4: ‘There is a glitch though. My supplier won’t disassemble and ship.’
Unsub: ‘Disassembly and separate shipping is the only way we’ll do this.’
X4: ‘I know. He’s not set-up to disassemble.’
Unsub: ‘That’s a problem.’
X-4: ‘It’s my problem.’
Unsub: ‘You’re right about that and you’ve got a week before I go somewhere else.’
X4: ‘Understood.’
Coe changed the screen now. ‘Here’s another Garner and sorry to do this with scraps, but I’ll sketch it together for you. This is an older Garner tape from last July. We don’t know who he was talking to. The party on the other end had a throwaway phone.’
Raveneau listened and read the text as it passed by. It was all Garner, a monologue, a diatribe on social values that morphed into protecting the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic as if somehow there was a natural connection. He segued into corruption in Washington and said they were using someone in Washington to gain access, but that those getting paid for that would not ‘make the long trip with us.’ ‘Their purpose will have been fulfilled,’ he said. He spoke about sacrifice and necessary shock to the country, corruption trials, and public executions ‘after the mobilization.’
‘What do you think the mobilization is?’ Raveneau asked. ‘And what are you calling this guy?’
‘We call him Jericho.’ He paused. ‘You’ll think we’ve gone nuts in here.’
‘I already think that.’
‘Let me say first we have no real theory yet, but there is a link to weapon purchases and this counterfeit series you’re caught up in. We’ve recorded references to a first event. The Secret Service believes that’s an assassination plan and we gather that’s just the initial step. These are planners. The mobilization, and this is where you’re going to shake your head and laugh, is later and involves some aspect of our military and a temporary occupation of Washington. It’s possible the planning began a decade or more ago.’
‘Oh, come on-’
‘Ben, I’m with you, it’s another wacko conspiracy hunt, but something is going on. Garner is well-connected and the group he’s with is well-funded. A year ago you could never have convinced me that anything like they’re talking was even remotely possible. But now I’m not as sure. Maybe I’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid. Maybe I’ve listened and read too much into these conversations.’
‘They’re living a fantasy.’
‘I know and I agree with you, but I think they’re going to try.’
TEN
Snow was alongside the road in the foothills but the road was dry as Raveneau drove over Donner Pass. The high mountain rock caught early sunlight though the snow-covered slopes lower were still shaded, the snow smooth and hard looking. He lowered his window and let the cold air reach him as he exited in Truckee and found a gas station, then called Barbara Haney from there, his breath clouding in front as he told her he was close.
‘Do you need directions?’
‘It’s been awhile but I can still find my way around.’
The big Cottonwood sign was still up there on the hill and it was easy to remember sitting out on the deck. He drove toward the Tahoe Basin and turned off into the shadowed snowy Martis Valley. He found her house among the big new houses built in the last decade.
When she opened the door he saw a tall woman nearing fifty, big-boned but not heavy. She had a fluid walk, an athletic ease to her. Her cheekbones were sharp, eyes dark, iron-colored streaks running in her black hair. She led him to a large, high-ceilinged, open room that could have been the lobby of a boutique mountain hotel. Heavy fir beams held up the roof. The stone fireplace was big enough to set up a card table inside. Tall windows looked up toward the backside of the Northstar ski resort up above in the near distance. Skiers were on the slopes, not too many but some, dark and small as they skied the runs. He watched a fast skier and asked her, ‘Do you get out there?’