Kill Chain (24 page)

“Noo,
he
might
not, but”—he waved his hand at their surroundings—“clearly some people want to.
The Secret Service check out everything that might be a threat, so they can
eliminate that threat from their radar. They checked out Jeff then dismissed
him, which is the only reason the relationship was allowed to continue. If they
had any concerns, he would have been somehow transferred to another school and
your messages blocked.”

Nancy looked up at Niner.
“So Dad knows?”

“Yup.”

“And he’s okay with it?”

“As okay as any father
can be, I guess.”

She blushed. “He
is
a nice guy.”

“I’m sure he is.”

Nancy leaned forward and stared
at Kim before sitting back and whispering in his ear. “And
she
seems
nice as well. You should ask her out.”

Niner opened his mouth to
respond when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He stared up
and saw a stream of drones entering an open window high above them, another
group leaving. “Interesting.”

Nancy shrugged. “I think
that’s the second or third time they’ve done that since we’ve been here.”

“They must be using the
charging pads I saw and rotating them in and out as needed.” He turned to Kim, switching to Korean.
“If that’s the case, then this might be their command and control center.”

Kim agreed. “At least for
the drones. I still haven’t seen any evidence that anyone is actually here.”

“Me neither, though
somebody built and stocked this. I think this is the C2 for the drones only.
They recharge here while fresh ones are sent out.”

“C2?”

“Command and Control.”

Kim’s head bobbed as they
watched the last of the drones leave. “It makes sense—they have to recharge
somewhere, but who reloads the guns? There’s no way they can automate that
without some sort of robot, and I didn’t see anything out there.”

Niner’s eyes narrowed as
he thought about what Kim had just said, a smile slowly spreading on his face.
“So what you’re saying is that once they’re out of bullets, they’re
permanently
out of bullets.” His smile was now a grin.

Kim eyed him. “You’re not
thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?”

His grin spread. “You
hardly know me, but apparently I’m very transparent.”

“You really think having
them use up their bullets is a wise idea?”

He grunted. “No one ever
accused me of being wise, but no, it’s too dangerous. It’s something to keep in
mind, though. If they’re all using the same weapon, then it’s a fifteen round
mag. If not, then give or take one or two.”

“One or two can mean
everything when a gun is shooting at you.”

Niner grinned. “Yup. So
just make sure it’s not shooting at
you.
”

Operations
Center 1
CIA
Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

“There’re
no cameras at all?”

Child shook his head.
“No, sir. There’s no ATMs, no store cameras, nothing in the area, just the city
traffic cameras, and those were all disabled the entire time.”

Leroux cursed. “No way
that’s a coincidence. Whoever is behind this left breadcrumbs along the way to
keep us thinking we were making progress, just so they could sweep the trail
clean when we finally reached the end.”

“So what do we do now? We
can’t even be sure what the truck looks like. The guy who moved the grate was
useless!”

“We forget the physical
trail and concentrate on the digital.” He turned to Tong. “Any luck figuring
out the source of that video?”

She shook her head. “Not
yet. And look.” She pointed at the display as she hit a few keys, satellite
imagery of a North Korean launch facility appearing. “Looks like they’re
fueling their missiles.”

“Are those at Punggye-ri?”

“Yes.”

Leroux frowned. “So they
might be nukes.”

“Christ, we need to get
the President out of there!”

Leroux shook his head at
Child’s outburst. “He’ll never leave without his daughter.”

“Then we need to find
her. Now!”

“Sir, got something!”

Leroux glanced back at
one of his staff as he rushed toward Tong’s station. “Bring up what I just sent
you.”

She did and Leroux rose,
staring at the display as Tong brought it up. “What am I looking at?”

“I’ve found the bank
account used to wire funds into PayPal for the manhole cover gig.”

“And?”

A transaction history
appeared. “We have a wire transfer for two-hundred-and-twenty-thousand into the
account. Ten thousand was then deposited into PayPal, twenty then wired out,
and the rest wired a few days after, all about two months ago.”

Leroux stabbed a finger
at the screen. “We need to find out where those wire transfers went. Amounts
that big aren’t for moving manhole covers.”

Embassy
of the United States Seoul
32
Sejongno Street, Seoul, Republic of Korea

President
Starling checked his watch as Red contacted Langley for a clarification on the
conversation that had taken place almost an hour ago.

Their deadline was fast
approaching with nothing deposited.

“Control, can you confirm
if he said to
begin
transferring the money within sixty minutes?”

There was a pause then
Red gave a thumbs up and a head bob.

Starling breathed a sigh
of relief. There was no way to transfer three billion within sixty minutes, not
even as a President, though his staff back in Washington were prepared to
transfer several hundred million of his discretionary funding, and Treasury was
cooperating, though it took time, it not exactly sitting in bank accounts. The
Vice President was working with Congress, the hope being that the transfers
could be authorized and completed, then the charities contacted to try and
retrieve the bulk of the money afterward should it become necessary.

Everyone was working
together, it a refreshing change.

But governments moved
slowly.

Surely they know this!

Red held the phone
against his chest. “Sir, Langley has an idea.”

“What?”

“CIA has slush funds that
they can access. They can do electronic transfers instantaneously.”

“Enough to cover what
they want?”

“Perhaps, but that will
take authorization. Control says he can immediately transfer several hundred
million, though. He just needs the go ahead.”

Starling’s pulse raced
with sudden hope. “Do it! Proportionally into each account, if possible.”

Red nodded, repeating the
instruction. “Hold for the President.” He held out the phone. “They need to
hear it from you, Mr. President.” Starling took the phone. “You’re on with
Supervisor Analyst Chris Leroux.”

“This is the President.”

“Umm, it-it’s an honor,
sir.” He heard a gulp. “I’m sorry, sir, but we need to hear the instructions
from you.”

“Understood, Mr. Leroux. Transfer
whatever funds you can before the deadline, proportionally to each account.”

“Yes, sir.” Starling
heard muffled instructions given, apparently to Leroux’s staff. “Sir, we’re
initiating the transfers. Hopefully we can get in under the deadline, but there’s
only a few minutes left.”

“Chris, is it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you have kids?”

“No, sir.”

“Anyone close to you?”

“Yes, sir. My girlfriend.”

“You love her?”

“Ahh, very much, sir.”

“And you’d do anything to
save her if the roles were reversed?”

“Yes, sir, I would.”

“Then don’t
hopefully
get it done. Get it
done.
”

“Y-yes, sir.”

Qingdau,
China

“How far
to the factory?”

Chan Chao shrugged.
“About two hours?”

Kane stared at him.
“Christ, we don’t have two hours!”

Chan again shrugged.
“That’s why we’re not going there.”

Kane’s eyes narrowed as
his Chinese contact guided them through traffic, Kane having just arrived on a
charter flight from Seoul. “Huh?”

“The owner lives half an
hour from here and he’s home.”

Kane nodded, his eyes on
the cars ahead of him rather than his sometimes-exasperating friend. “How do
you know?”

“You have your sources, I
have mine.”

Kane smiled. “I won’t
ask.” His stomach gurgled, his intestines cramping.

He moaned.

“You okay?”

Kane gripped his abdomen.
“Stomach problems. Bad laap mei.”

Chan stared at him for a
moment. “You good for an op?”

“I’ll survive.” Kane
grimaced, deciding to change the subject. “How’s the wife?”

“She asked me to send you
over when we’re done, and for me to take a hike.”

“Tell her I’m spoken
for.”

Chan’s head bobbed. “I
heard that. Be careful my friend, my government hasn’t forgotten what Lee Fang
did and would like nothing more than to get their hands on her.”

Kane frowned, the very
idea of anything happening to the first woman he had ever loved, terrifying.
And rage inducing. “You tell them that if anyone lays a finger on her, I’ll
make it my life’s mission to kill every single one of them.” He turned to Chan,
stabbing the air with a finger to make his point clearer. “And
you
know
I’m more than capable.”

Chan laughed. “I think
they already know that, which is the only reason she’s still alive.”

“Good.”

“Perhaps. Let’s just hope
they don’t decide to eliminate you first.”

Kane sighed. “Why can’t
life be simple?”

“Buddy, if we wanted
simple, you wouldn’t have joined the CIA, and I wouldn’t have become a traitor
to my own country.”

Kane regarded the old
man, concerned. He was long past his prime, though showed no signs of slowing
down. “You should retire, old friend. I can get you and your wife out, set you
up back home. You’d be safe.”

Chan quickly shook his
head. “No way.
This
is my home. China has its problems, but I love my
country. What I do is not to hurt it, but to save it from itself. One day, with
a little luck, we’ll become a democracy and my people will be free.”

Kane’s head bobbed slowly
as he gazed at the teeming masses surrounding them on the streets. “From your
lips…”