“No big surprise there,” Honi replied. “Tech-savvy and smart — hard combination to crack.”
Jake stood and looked at the display. “The people at the universities. They aren’t real criminals, are they?”
“What do you mean?” Honi asked.
“I mean they’re not criminal masterminds. There’s no real criminal intent. They’re misguided, sure, but assuming we actually get through this mess, they could be very helpful.” Jake called Briggs and arranged for covert FBI surveillance on the campuses to see if they could identify these individuals. The field agents at each location would be notified when a call is made to or from a known burner cell and that GPS location. With a little luck, that could fill in more names in the organizational structure.
Jake stared at the dot on the phone and organizational plot on the display. Secretary Halleran was the highest member on the chart within the United States. Secretary Cooper was under him, but then there was no direct connection to General Teague from either Secretary. Is it possible the three of them were involved in the same organization, but it was so compartmentalized that none of them actually knew the others were operatives? Could it be that Secretary Cooper and General Teague were unaware of each other’s participation in the Phoenix Organization up until the moment Cooper was ordered to spring Teague from custody? That could have come as a complete surprise to both men. From an operational perspective, that would have been the perfect setup. But who ordered Secretary Cooper to free Teague? It didn’t appear to be Secretary Halleran. And if not him, then who? If we can find that person, we will have found someone at the top of the Phoenix Organization.
The universities had phone connections to what Jake knew were shell corporations, but there were also weekly connections between the universities and points in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and the occasional connection to Bolivia. Ultimately, the different branches were connected to the money flow. That was the backbone of any such organization: money. That’s why the banking software had been so critical as an investigative tool. As always, rule number one: follow the money.
Jake studied the top organizational points on the display; they were all either political or military, as far as he could tell. The GPS locations all came back to government or military offices spread out all over the globe. The problem is, Jake thought. There’s nothing above them. These may be the people who would be appointed as the supreme leaders for each country in the world, but there’s no phone connection between any of them, let alone anything above them.
“We’re missing the top layer,” Jake said.
“I was thinking that myself,” Honi said. “The top slot in each country isn’t connected to anything above it on the phone plot.”
“They have to be taking orders from someone, but it’s not by phone. Can we overlay computer connections, FAX and e-mail on this chart?”
“It’s already in there,” Brett said. “Honi had me include those two days ago. Why?”
“One hundred ninety-six people have been selected to rule countries all over the globe. And they don’t answer to anybody? I’m not buying it. They’re communicating all of the time, but how? It’s not by phone, FAX, or computer. How are they communicating?”
“Radio?” Brett asked.
Honi shook her head. “Echelon covers all of that. If it’s electronic, we receive it. It’s already in the database.”
“Receiving a radio broadcast is one thing,” Stafford said. “Understanding what is being sent is a completely different issue.”
Jake looked at his new encrypted phone. “Echelon receives encrypted phone transmissions, doesn’t it?
“Yes,” Honi replied.
“But people still can’t hear what’s being said, right?”
“Right.”
“So how do encrypted phones work?”
“They frequency hop,” Brett replied. “The voice component is broken up into small segments of digital information and a number is added to the end of the segment. That information is transmitted in a short, compressed burst. The number on the end gives the receiving unit the jump to the next frequency, which is randomly selected. The receiving phone turns the voice information back into sound and changes frequency for the next packet of information.”
“Wouldn’t any encrypted phone be able to receive the voice information?” Jake asked.
“Not with the encrypted component. Once the voice information is in digital form it is run through an encryption algorithm, which changes the information. Only phones with the proper encryption algorithm can decode the data into voice, and more importantly, the jump to the next frequency.”
“So shouldn’t we be looking for higher levels of technology with the Phoenix Organization? I mean, they have flying saucers, for crying out loud! What else are we missing?”
Everyone stood in depressed silence.
“Look. I’ve talked with the President and General Davies. They are prepared to bring the full force and might of the US military to bear any place on the planet within a matter of hours. But right now, we can’t even tell them which country is the source. We have to do better, people, there’s too much at stake.”
Jake stalked off into a corner of area 4.
Honi quietly approached him. “I know you’re frustrated. We all are. For what it’s worth, I think you’re right. This is coming from another country, or at least another part of the world. Right now the highest level of the Phoenix Organization is in Argentina. I think we should go there and see what we can find.”
Jake looked around the room. “What about what we’re doing here?”
“I have a hundred NSA analysts poring over every phone conversation connected to the Phoenix Organization. Every day, we’re identifying new code words that these people are using to disguise what they are saying. We’re figuring it all out.”
“We still have no idea how the top layer of the Phoenix Organization is communicating. We have to find that before we can find them.”
“Then I suggest we go to Buenos Aires and see what we can find. That will at least put us closer to the core of the Phoenix Organization, and that should help. Brett is really good. He can run things here without us.”
Jake looked around the room once again.
“Okay. We go to Argentina.”
CHAPTER 17
The capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, population fifteen and a half million, is the most visited city in all of South America. The geographic local was originally named for the “good winds” that brought the early Spanish explorers safely to land at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata River.
Jake, Honi, Stafford and Ken arrived at Ministro Pistarini International Airport late in the evening, and made their way to the hotel by subway. They checked in, ate and got some much-needed sleep.
The next morning they arrived at an FBI safe house. Local Agent-In-Charge Clayton was there alone. Twenty-five new field agents trickled in over the next six hours. Once everyone was present, Jake began his instructions.
“This is exclusively a surveillance operation, which means you mingle, blend in, sit, walk and observe. You will ask no questions regarding any local activity, residents or other visitors. Your role here is “ghost.” You are to remain invisible. You will listen and observe only. We will supply you with GPS locations and contact times. The suspects will be using cell phones, some in enclosed spaces, and some out in the open. We need as many people identified as possible, so take covert photos and we will run them through facial recognition programs. Do not involve any local people or government resources. Some of the people you will be surveilling are going to be government employees, many of those will be upper echelon officials. It is absolutely critical that we do not spook any of the people we are watching. We are going to be here for the next two weeks, so vary your appearance, clothing and routines.”