Stone leaned forward. “Well—,” he began, but Megan interrupted immediately.
“Sorry, rhetorical question. First, you would advertise by word of mouth and communicate in some untraceable way. I suspect they’re using ‘burner’ phones, USB sticks, and Bluetooth file swaps.”
Stone whistled and passed a flat hand over his head. “Way out of my league — I have no idea what any of that means.”
“Ok… I’ll explain. Think of how Charles sent you his message. A micro data card stuck to a birthday card — pretty much untraceable. It would be much the same if you slipped a USB stick into someone’s pocket. Actually, if you think about it, Charles used the Wrecking Crew’s own covert methods to beat their surveillance. It was really very clever.
“A ‘burner’ is just a phone like any other, but it isn’t registered to any address. The cell phone that Ed gave you last week is a burner. If you need to, you can dump it at any time.
“The Bluetooth file swap is a favourite of the terrorists. Imagine that I needed to give you some detailed instructions. First, I put them into a data file, perhaps, a Word document or a PDF file on my smart phone. Next, I get you to change your phone’s Bluetooth settings to make it visible to my device. Then all I have to do is to get within thirty yards or so, and I can dump the file directly onto your phone. It’s that simple.”
“Simple for you maybe,” Stone joked, “but all that IT stuff is scary for me.”
“Luddite!” Megan snorted in mock derision. “Anyway, on the up side, their communication methods could make it easier for you to spot a hand-off. Envelopes stuffed with cash and instructions written on bits of paper are far simpler to spot than electronic bank transfers through some shell Corporations in the Cayman Islands.”
“I’ll talk you and Linda through field-craft 101 later,” Carter added. He turned back towards Megan. “Carry on please.”
“Ok… and now for some good news,” she said with a bright smile. “Anton Stephens. It seems that we got lucky — lucky — lucky. As instructed, young Jenny left his Mercedes at the freeway service area on the A1. From there it was apparently stolen, by a person, or persons unknown. Yesterday it was discovered near Cardiff — would you believe — it was completely burned out. There were two crispy corpses in the trunk, but no useable evidence. As far as the police were concerned, drug deal gone wrong — case close-ed!
“Second… I spent a lot of time scrutinizing their cell phone records. Stephens didn’t have a home phone and neither did Markov, there was very little of interest — unless you want to sell some drugs. Markov’s calls were all to his boss, takeout food joints, or various call girls — presumably for takeout sex. Stephens’s phone was exclusively used for calls to suppliers, clients, and employees. The GPS data tracking his movements gave the same results — buyers and suppliers. He was obviously a very careful guy. At least up until he made a fatal mistake.”
She gave Stone a sly look and a wink.
“The guns were a bust,” Carter added. “The numbers had been professionally removed, so I presume they weren’t registered. For now, they will stay in the lock box in the trunk or my car — along with your weapons. We may need them soon.”
He nodded politely for Megan to continue.
“There was just one little thing in his bank accounts,” she said, “Although it may turn out to be nothing.”
“Go on,” Stone said encouragingly.
“Well, a good rule of thumb in trying to find someone who’s hiding — is to follow the money. Somebody somewhere is being paid, and someone else is doing the paying. So I always try and track the money.”
“Makes sense,” Linda said.
“We know that this Wrecking Crew is basically muscle for hire. It’s very intelligent muscle, but muscle all the same. So I started to go through the bank accounts of Stephens and all of his associates, looking for payments that could be out of place. And I think I found one.” She beamed a bright smile and continued. “You may recall that Stephens did some legitimate work to cover his drug dealing?”
“Wasn’t he a marketing consultant or something?” Stone asked.
“Correct. And through that work Stephens had a contract with a respectable charity. It’s called ‘Second Chances’ and it specializes in providing rehabilitation for offenders.”
“Doing respectable work for a respectable charity, I presume that they were paying him?” Stone asked.
“Indeed they were. But the odd thing is that one of Stephens’s drug buyers — a bar’s landlord — has twice made quite substantial contributions to the same charity. And get this, the two payments were just three weeks apart, and for exactly the same amount of money. Coincidentally, it was at around the time of his last license renewal—”
“A half-payment as a deposit, and the balance paid on completion of the contract?” Linda suggested.
“Not just a pretty face,” Megan nodded in agreement. “Call me an old skeptic if you like, but I don’t believe for a minute that these drug dealer types are big on charitable contributions. It must be a front.”
“Good job, Megan,” Carter said. “What else did you find out about ‘Second Chances’?”
“Sadly not a lot,” she said flicking through her notes to the relevant entry. “They have a small office in a converted store in Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire. Their financials all seem to be above board. There are six full-time employees and a board of three Trustees. They seem to raise a decent amount in charitable contributions, which they use to aid the training and rehabilitation of anyone with a criminal record and a genuine desire to start afresh. It’s all very commendable stuff on the surface, and I have no evidence to the contrary. But I am unconvinced.”
“With so many criminals in one place, it would make a perfect front for an operation like the Wrecking Crew,” Linda added.
“My thoughts exactly! However, the facts that we have so far, do not support such a theory. All we have just now is a coincidence — two people with a criminal connection, making and receiving payments to a rehabilitation charity. We simply need more information.”
“What do you suggest?” Stone asked.
Carter stood up and took center stage.
“I think you should talk to this guy who made the payments. Perhaps you can pose as tax inspectors or something — suggest that you’re checking up on this ‘Second Chances’ charity, and ask about the reason for his contribution.”
“Yeah, I guess that could work,” Stone nodded, “but what if he asks for ID or something?”
“That’s not a problem,” Megan jumped in, “I can knock you up some fake Inland Revenue identifications. I’ll make two — you should take Linda. Those tax types always work in pairs… ” she suddenly looked down, slightly embarrassed, “or so I’ve heard.”
Stone was unhappy at the unexpected suggestion.
“What about you Ed, you’re the investigator. Wouldn’t two guys together be safer?”
“Hey!” Linda complained, “I can look after myself.”
Carter shook his head at Stone. “Actually, I agree with Megan. I think that you two will present a more believable front. Less threatening and more likely to get an answer in the circumstances.”
Stone gave Carter a pleading look.
“Are you sure?”
“Sorry Eric,” he gave an apologetic shrug, “anyway, at the moment I’m too busy to take time off. I still have a business to run you know. Just now I need to keep on top of things, so I can be available when you really need my help.”
Stone understood the subtext to Carter’s excuse, and immediately gave up the fight. In any event, until they had stopped the Wrecking Crew, he preferred to keep Linda safe at his side — although he would soon learn that being at his side was the last place where she would be safe.