“I’ve been trying to get in touch with him,” Kurt said. “His phone must be off.”
“Is there something I can help you with?”
“Well, I wanted to talk with him in person. But I know that you and Toni Contardo…were friends.”
“Were?” She sat up in her chair, the hair on the back of her neck rising.
Kurt let out a deep breath. “Her body was found on one of the baseball fields at Langley Fork Park.”
Her heart seemed to stop. “Toni is dead?”
“Afraid so.”
“How?”
Kurt explained how Toni had been tortured and dumped so someone would easily find her.
“Who did this?” Pam asked.
“We’re not sure,” Kurt said. “But someone is trying to send us a message. If you remember, that park is just outside out main gate. Our softball teams play there.”
She remembered. She had been there many times and could visualize her old friend and mentor lying on the field. Her shock was quickly turning into anger. “Does her death have something to do with what Jake is working on?”
“This isn’t Jake’s fault,” Kurt assured her.
“I didn’t mean that, Sir. I just want to understand.”
Kurt briefed her on the technology transfer that Jake had handed off to Toni before departing for Korea. “She never got a chance to turn that in to us.”
“You think Jake still has a copy?” she asked.
“We hope so. Even better, Toni told me before her meeting with Jake that Adams had stashed the scientist somewhere.”
“So it’s all up to Jake now,” she surmised.
“Yes. But my intention right now was to simply notify Jake about Toni’s death.”
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“It’s the only idea,” Kurt said. “Sure, he could go all rogue on us like he did after the death of Anna, chasing down anyone who had anything to do with his girlfriend’s death. But if we don’t tell him, and he finds out we knew and didn’t tell him, he’s likely to…well, I don’t want to think about that. But let’s just say he’ll be pissed at me forever.”
“I understand. So, what do you want me to do?”
“If I can’t call him directly, I would like you to do so.”
“I could call Kim and have him run down Jake. Maybe have Jake call you.”
Kurt Jenkins thought about that for a minute. “No. I want you to go there to be with him. Both of you knew Toni. It will come better directly from you.”
“But Sir, I didn’t know Toni like you and Jake knew her.”
“I know, Pam. I’m going to personally head up the investigation into her death. We will catch the bastards.”
Pam considered what had happened to Toni and said, “Sir, they were obviously torturing her for information. Do you think she gave it up?”
He laughed ever so slightly. “No, Pam. She didn’t give them shit. The data Jake gave to Toni was encrypted to five-twelve, and Jake wouldn’t have told Toni where he was stashing the professor. Which is why I want you to keep an eye on Jake. Those who killed Toni know they can get the encryption code from Jake. Or force him to tell them where he put the professor. He’s in danger.”
“I agree, Sir. I’ll get to Gyeongju ASAP.”
“Thank you. And if you don’t want to give him the news, have him call me on your cell.”
She agreed and her line went blank. Then, for the first time in years, she sat back in her chair and cried like a baby.
24
Jake and Lori had some food delivered to her room, the two of them ate an early dinner, and now they sipped on hot tea. It was just after five p.m.
“Are you ready for the evening meetings?” Jake asked her.
“Not really. Those this morning were not only boring, but they were less than meaningful.” She scanned a single piece of paper with the agenda for the evening. “Looks like we have some policy wonk from the state department speaking about the upcoming six-party talks at the DMZ. That’s followed by a speech by some security consultant on the importance of the Pacific Rim region. Great, that will probably be some CIA wannabe looking to make a name for himself.” She flipped the page over and then back to the front. “Strange. They don’t mention the name of the speaker.”
Jake turned off his phone again after texting someone. He ignored several texts and voice mails. They would have to wait. Then he stood up and headed toward the door. “I’m sure the guy…or gal will be a genius, Lori.”
Looking out the peep hole, Jake opened the door and let in CIA officer Kim Chin-Hwa. He closed the door and introduced Kim to Congresswoman Lori Freeman.
“He’s staying in the room to the left,” Jake said. “I’m just to your right. When I’m occupied, Kim will be at your side. Understand?”
Lori looked confused. “Where will you be going?”
“Well, I have to make a name for myself tonight,” Jake said with a smile.
“You’re the speaker tonight,” she nearly laughed out.
“Don’t be so surprised. I’ve been speaking at conferences like this for years, although mostly in Europe. You should hear me do it in German. I can sound like a dictator.”
“Oh, I believe you.” She shook her head. “I just want to know why all the secrecy.”
Jake shrugged. “It adds to my mystique.”
“You know that congressman from California you encountered during our hearing? He’ll be in attendance tonight.”
“Vaguely.”
Kim chimed in. “You mean the one he bitch-slapped and has over a million hits on U-Tube?”
“Only a million?” Jake asked.
“Until we scrubbed it from the internet,” Kim said.
“You can never scrub it entirely,” Jake assured him. “These things tend to take on a life of their own.”
“Usually,” Kim said, “but we attached a nasty virus to a bunch of them, and the word seems to have gotten out to not open the file.”
“What about the media?” Lori asked.
Kim said, “Other than FOX, none of the other outlets picked up on it. Seems they don’t like to see one of their own taken down with such…”
“Alacrity?” Jake provided.
“Dexterity,” Kim corrected.
Looking at his watch, Jake said, “I’m up in ten minutes.” He put on his coat and pulled out both of his guns. He put one of the Glocks in his right jacket pocket, and the other one he clipped inside the waistband of his pants down his butt crack, covering that with his leather coat. He wasn’t used to using such light firepower. But it wasn’t like he could have brought his full-size .40 cal handguns with him to Korea.
Pointing to Kim, Jake said, “You stick with the congresswoman.”
“Yes, Sir,” Kim said.
Jake swished his head for the Agency man to head out. “Give us a minute.”
Kim did as he was told, heading out the door to wait in the corridor.
“Do you trust him?” Lori asked.
“Yeah. He’s a little green, but I think he will be all right.”
Lori gave him a confused look. “Who are you working for, Jake?”
He thought about what she needed to know verses what he wanted to tell her. The two were not always the same. “I’m a free agent.” When she put her hands on her hips, Jake knew she wanted more. “That’s partially true. An Agency friend asked me to come to Korea to help.”
“But they’re not paying you,” she stated.
“No.”
“And that’s the way you like it.”
“You could say so,” he said. “Money has a tendency to lead to dependency. I’m not beholding to anyone anymore.”
“Again. You like it that way.”
“It comes in handy sometimes, but can be a pain in the ass when you find yourself locked in a Tunisian prison for murder.”