OUTCAST Ops: The Poseidon Initiative

THIRTY-SIX

The lowly fax machine, that red-headed stepchild of modern information technology; somehow it found a way to remain in use in this age of wireless Internet, scanners and email. For OUTCAST it offered a couple of distinct advantages, which was why one occupied a space in the nether regions of Danielle’s workstation, presently spitting out a transmission.

For one thing, it was simply another way to communicate. When you had agents in the field the world over, options were desirable, regardless if they were little used. There were still a few places where there might not be computer access, but if not, a fax machine could often be found. For another, the mode of transmission itself was oftentimes more secure than a standard e-mail message or text. What made it not so secure for some people was that the printout could sit around in the machine until someone picked it up, but at the OUTCAST facility, Danielle would always be the first person to see it.

She snagged the paper from the machine and put it under a desk lamp, squinting in concentration as she discerned its meaning. After briefly examining the message header information as well as the content of the transmission, Danielle took the fax into the adjoining conference room where Tanner sat conversing quietly with Liam. Their mood had been somber since returning from their failed mission to Charleston, and Danielle hoped that this fax might contain a positive development for OUTCAST. Something they could use. She held up the printout as she entered and put it face down on the table in front of Tanner.

“This just came in by fax.”

“Fax?” Liam screwed his face into a puzzled expression. “What’s that?” The youngest of the group, he was kidding but liked to poke fun at the technology of the older generations.

Danielle smiled and shook her head. “It’s something created before you were born that actually works in a reasonably secure fashion.”

Tanner ignored their friendly bickering and picked up the sheet. “What am I looking at?”

“It’s a fax sent from a print shop in a small port town in Netherlands. I verified the headers and cross-referenced the business online. It checks out.”

“So it’s from either Shah, Dante or Nay.”

“Correct. As to the content, it contains only the two scanned documents: the Dutch driver’s license and the business card. No other messages of any kind.”

Liam leaned in over Tanner’s shoulder to get a better look at the man pictured in the driver’s license. It showed a thirty-year-old Dutchman with a shaved head.

Tanner looked up at Danielle. “You run this license yet?”

“No, it’s hot off the press, I wanted you to see it right away.”

“Go ahead and run it. And while you’re at it,” he added as she turned to leave, “see what you can dig up on this yacht dealership, too.”

Danielle left the room and Tanner stared at the fax for a few seconds more before letting it slide onto the table. He looked Liam in the eye. “You know what these documents are, right?”

He gave a solemn nod. “From a guy or guys they killed.”

“Bingo. I wish they would have given us more info but they must have felt the fax wasn’t secure enough for any more than this.”

“If they were there to guard Jasmijn in the lab, then something must have went down there for them to have come into contact with tangos.”

Tanner nodded. “And in another town, too. The lab must have been compromised in some way.”

“They had university police and our guys, though.” Liam looked puzzled. “Must have been some heavy action to get through that.”

“Seeing as how they’ve already killed masses of people in two different public crowd settings, I’d say that heavy action is something they’re used to.”

About thirty minutes later Danielle returned to the conference room with a laptop. She set the computer down on the table across from Tanner and Liam and took a seat in front of it.

“Based on the two items contained in the facsimile, I picked up some intel on the Internet that I think may be worth looking into.”

Tanner urged her to continue.

“Using the name on the driver’s license — Berg Minten — I was able to trace some interesting Web activity that indicates Minten is — or was, as the case may be — a Hofstad operator.” She held up a finger to indicate more was forthcoming. “Not only that, but following his name I came across specific details of an operation Hofstad apparently refers to as The Poseidon Initiative.”

“As in the Greek God?” Liam wanted to know.

“God of the Sea, that’s correct,” Danielle returned.

“What’s the objective of this initiative?” Tanner studied the driver license photo again.

Danielle tapped a key on her laptop and focused on the screen for a second before responding. “To…and I quote…’harness the power of the sea’s unique biochemicals to exact vengeance on enemies of a pure State.’“She looked up at Tanner and Liam.

“This was posted publicly under the Hofstad name for all to see?” Liam looked incredulous.

Danielle shook her head. “News site message board postings under an alias I tied to Minten’s real name. Minten is Hofstad, though, for sure, so on the chance that he was mouthing off about Hofstad’s future plans thinking it was safe to do so as long as he didn’t specifically mention Hofstad and used a message board moniker, I searched other known Hofstad members for web activity related to Poseidon. ‘You can spell poison from the word Poseidon’, one of them noted on a known anarchist website forum.”

“An anagram,” Tanner clarified.

Liam gave him a stare. “What are you, an English major? You pack a poetry book in your go-bag?”

Tanner gave him a mock punch to the shoulder, which Liam deflected.

Danielle interjected. “I also found several references — all under assumed names tied to known Hofstad members — to ocean-related inquiries, including red tides and the micro-organisms that cause them.”

Tanner perked up, recalling one of his conversations with Jasmijn. “Anything about STX?”

Danielle raised an eyebrow. “Yes. Saxitoxin and its abbreviation, STX, were both mentioned in tactical and logistical discussions. Not actual Hofstad discussions, mind you, but informal strategizing or brainstorming online sessions with at least one Hofstad member participating anonymously.”

Tanner picked up the fax and dropped it back on the table again. “Okay. So this guy’s definitely in Hofstad and was researching something called the Poseidon Initiative, which sounds like it may be related to the STX terror attacks. We don’t yet know for certain. But what about the business card? Any leads on that?”

Danielle glanced briefly at the fax as she answered. “That yacht dealership — Royal Yachts, Ltd., is a well-established London business. So well-established, in fact, that I don’t think we need to worry about this company being a front for anything. It’s the real deal. But there is something that raised a flag.”

“What’s that?” Tanner eyed the simple business card.

“They sold President Carmichael his current yacht.”