Second Strike

CHAPTER 75

^{WASHINGTON, D.C.,}

^{AUGUST 18, 12:37 P.M. EDT}

The nearly four-hundred-person staff of the National Security Council dealt with a blizzard of information, much, if not most, of it of little consequence to national security. Indeed, the majority of the information was little more than background noise. It could sometimes yield useful information when tethered to a puzzling statement from a foreign leader or a peculiar incident seemingly unrelated to the safety of the populace.

James Brandt, the Oracle, had long developed a reputation for being able to divine the consequences of disparate bits of ostensibly unrelated information. He had surrounded himself with staff members who possessed similar, if far less profound, capabilities. Brandt, however, had seen in Olivia Perry capabilities at least as impressive as his own. Olivia might be the one person who could match Brandt in seeing answers where others saw only puzzles.

So it was when one of Olivia’s NSC colleagues, Barry Brame, called her on her cell shortly after Garin had left Dwyer’s house for the Russian embassy. Not that Brame had seen anything especially noteworthy about the information he was about to convey to Olivia, but as with most of the male staff of the NSC, he sought any excuse for contact with Olivia.

“Hi, Olivia. It’s Barry. I know you’ve consulted with Professor Hammacher—Ryan Hammacher—about cyberattack issues.”

“Hello, Barry. What’s going on?”

“I just thought that since you know him and this is one of your issues, you should know that Hammacher was found dead in a men’s room at Logan Airport.”

“What? When?”

“About four days ago.”

“What happened?”

“His girlfriend found him on the men’s room floor just before they were to take a flight to Reagan. Airport security called Boston PD and paramedics. They pronounced him dead at the scene. Preliminary cause of death was listed as a heart attack and—”

Before Brame could finish, Olivia said, “Bull.” Flat and unequivocal.

Startled, Brame asked, “Huh?”

“Nothing, Barry.” Hammacher, someone Olivia knew to be relatively young and by all appearances healthy and fit, just happened to be found dead at the same time Bor had reemerged and satellite imagery showed peculiar Russian movements? Garin and Dwyer repeatedly said there were no coincidences in their business. “Did the police find any documents on him?”

“No. His girlfriend took them before they arrived on the scene.”

“And she didn’t turn them over? She’s tampering with a potential crime scene.”

“Tell that to her. She’s a big-time lawyer. She must’ve figured they were important enough to take with her.”

“Where are they now?”

“We have them.”

“How?”

“The girlfriend—a Meagan Cahill—e-mailed them to Jess, to your attention.”

“E-mailed? How…”

“iPhone.”

“Jesus. I assume it wasn’t secure?”

“You assume correctly. Anyone could have intercepted them.”

“Okay. Well, we’ll have to worry about that later.” Olivia thought about asking Brame to have Jess forward the file to one of Dwyer’s secure communications rooms, but if the information in the file pertained to national defense, such transmission would be illegal. She would follow protocol.

“Barry, I need to view that file as soon as possible. In a SCIF. Let Jess know I’m on my way to the OEOB.”