The Fix

Chapter 43

“So we go back to Dabney and Associates?” asked Jamison.

They climbed into the car. When Decker looked back at the house he saw Natalie at a window staring out at them.

If looks could kill, thought Decker.

He nodded and said, “Yes.”

They reached Dabney’s office about thirty minutes later.

The reception was not one they expected.

The doors to Dabney and Associates were closed and chained shut. The interior of the offices was dark. And two guards in Army uniforms stood out front.

Decker and Jamison walked up to them. Decker held out his FBI creds. The two guards were not impressed.

“Where are the people who work here?” asked Jamison.

Neither guard answered.

“We’re investigating this case,” said Decker. “And we need to get inside this space.”

“That won’t be happening, sir,” said one of the guards. His hand moved across the butt of his holstered M11 pistol.

“This is a federal investigation,” pointed out Jamison.

The guard leveled his gaze on her. “And I’ve got my orders. Until those orders change, no one goes in. Period.”

Jamison was about to say something else when Decker grabbed her arm. “Let’s go. We’re wasting time here.”

They rode the elevator back down to the lobby and ran smack into Faye Thompson. She looked like she’d been crying.

When she saw Decker, her features turned to a scowl. “You bastard!”

“Excuse me?” said Jamison defensively.

Thompson got right in Decker’s face. “We were fully cooperating with you. And then you pull this shit?”

“I didn’t pull anything,” Decker replied calmly. “We just got kicked out too.”

“Don’t lie to me. This has FBI written all over it.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, the FBI doesn’t wear Army uniforms.”

“You people are all in this together.”

“That’s not how—”

“Do you realize what you’ve done?” snapped Thompson, drawing attention from other people passing by in the lobby. “You’ve ruined us. We’re done. Shutting us down like this? We’re guilty as charged without ever having due process.” She pushed a finger into Decker’s chest. “You screwed us over, you prick.”

“Actually, he had nothing to do with it,” said a voice.

They all turned to stare at Harper Brown. She was dressed in cammies with a sidearm. She walked over to stand directly in front of Thompson. “It wasn’t the FBI. It was the DIA. If you have a problem with anything, you can take it up with me.”

“You had no right to—”

“We had every right. This is a national security issue. If you want to continue to discuss it, we can do so at DIA HQ.”

“Just because one of our partners—”

Brown broke in: “I won’t tell you again, Ms. Thompson. If you want to discuss this, it won’t be here, in public. You know better than that.”

Thompson gazed around at the passersby staring at her. “You’re going to hear from our lawyer!” she barked.

“Looking forward to it,” said Brown. “Hope you have a good one. You’re going to need it.”

Thompson seemed about to hurl another comment, but then she turned and stalked off.

Brown turned to Decker and Jamison. “Well, that was pleasant.”

Decker eyed her clothing. “Why the military duds?”

“I’m officially wearing my Army hat today.”

“So you shut them down?” said Jamison.

“We took all the computers, servers, and records. Our people are currently going through them.” She paused and added, “Not to worry. We’ll share whatever we find with the Bureau.”

“So you decided on a full frontal attack on Dabney’s business?” said Decker.

“Let’s go up, shall we?”

She led them onto an elevator car and they rode back up to Dabney’s floor. When they got off she led them to the entrance, showed her creds to the guards, and they unchained the door and allowed them to pass.

Once inside, Jamison said, “Nice to have the golden key to get in here. Those guys out there wouldn’t budge.”

Brown said, “Of course they wouldn’t budge. They’re Army. They have orders. They follow them. There is no room for discussion.” She turned to Decker, who was looking around the dark offices.

“So what do you think?” she asked.

“About what?”

“About what we’re doing here.”

“If I had to guess, I’d say you were trying to flush out a spy by attacking.”

She nodded approvingly. “Very good, Decker.”

“I didn’t say I agreed with the tactic,” he added.

“Well, maybe I don’t either, but it’s been done.”

“So it didn’t originate with you, then?”

“I follow orders just like those men out there.”

“Dabney and Associates has a lot of employees.”

“And we’re watching all of them. As well as scrubbing their personal financials.”

“You really think Dabney was working with someone here to get the money to pay off the gambling debts?”

“I can’t discount the possibility.”

“Jamison thought it was unlikely that Dabney, if he was always on the legal side, was able to find a buyer for the secrets so fast.”

Brown looked at Jamison. “I’m impressed.”

“Thanks,” said Jamison curtly, though she looked pleased by the other woman’s comment.

Brown perched on the receptionist’s desk. “You’re exactly right. It’s not that easy to find a buyer from scratch. It’s not like you can locate them online or walk down a dark alley and bump into someone engaged in espionage who can find ten million dollars to hand over. More likely than not you’ll run right into an undercover operation designed to catch people trying to do just that.”

“So that either means Dabney was not as clean as everyone thought, or someone he worked with was dirty.”

“The issue is even more complicated than that, Decker. The thing is, it could have been a coworker who helped Dabney with the sale, sure. Or it could have been someone else.”

“Such as?” said Jamison.

Decker answered. “Such as someone on the other side of the equation.” He pointed at Brown. “Someone from your side that Dabney was working with.”

Brown crossed her arms and nodded, her features turning grave. “The more I think about it, we might have a spy in the ranks of the DIA. I’m not just talking about decades ago. I mean currently.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” said Decker. “As you pointed out to me previously.”

Jamison said, “We thought it might be Dabney who was the spy all these years. From his career at NSA onward.”

“But he had to get the secrets from inside the government once he went to the private sector,” pointed out Brown. “And there was the old security badge we found in Berkshire’s locker. That was from the DIA. And it’s very troubling that she had it in her possession.”

Jamison said, “But regardless of whether Dabney was in the private sector, he could have gotten those secrets legitimately through his work. The persons he dealt with in the government might not know what he was doing with the information.”

“That’s true,” said Brown. “And I hope that turns out to be the case. But we can’t take it as gospel that that is indeed the case.”

“So you’re investigating your own agency too,” said Decker.

“We have to.”

“You mentioned the security badge. Did you find out something about it?”

“It was used at DIA back in the late eighties and early nineties.”

“No idea who it was issued to?” asked Decker.

“None. Back then it was just laminated plastic with no electronic guts.”

“Visitor or permanent?” asked Decker.

“I wish I could tell you.”

“Does that mean you don’t know or you can’t tell us?” retorted Jamison.

“I wish I could tell you,” repeated Brown.

Jamison looked like she was going to hit her. “Well, you know what they say, be careful what you wish for.” Then she turned and walked out of the office.

“She seems to have an attitude problem,” noted Brown.

“No, she just doesn’t like bullshit. We’re on the same page with that.”

“Decker, I’m telling you as much as I can. Do you know what it cost me to even have you come to DIA and look at those files?”

“Do you think Anne Berkshire was working with a mole in DIA way back too?”

“It’s possible. In fact, with that badge, it’s probable that she was.”

“But that mole was not Dabney?”

“He was at NSA for part of that time, but then on his own. He did work as a contractor for DIA beginning later in the nineties, so it wasn’t his security badge. We can’t show that they ever met except for the encounter outside the Hoover Building. And if they had been working together for decades we would have been able to find something, Decker.”

“So someone else, then?”

“And we’re at square one on that.”

“But you’re obviously hoping to pop something by doing a deep dive on the folks here?”

“It’s a long shot, but when you don’t have better options, you have to go with something.” She paused. “So do you have any leads?”

“Yeah.”

“What are they?”

“I wish I could tell you.”

Decker turned and left the room.