The Identity Mine

XI

‘You’re kidding me?’

‘I’m not,’ Hannah Ford insisted as she drove the pool car down the highway and tried to keep from getting too animated. ‘That’s what he wants us to do. Direct order from the top, from the horse’s mouth in fact.’

Special Agent Mickey Vaughn was a junior agent not long out of Quantico and assigned to Hannah. Hannah was a ten year veteran of the Bureau and had already been disciplined twice for aggression in the field and an unlawful discharge of her weapon that had brought some disrepute to her field office and the wrath of Valery Jenkins, but now she held all the cards and was enjoying herself immensely.

‘Director LeMay’s got you on a covert operation and Jenkins has no control over what you do?’

‘That’s what he said,’ Hannah replied. ‘I report directly to LeMay until further notice.’

Vaughn let out a soft whistle. ‘Jenkins is going to go ape when she finds out about this.’

‘That’s what I’m hoping for,’ Hannah replied as she pulled into the field office lot and parked.

They walked together toward the office as Vaughn continued interrogating her.

‘So what is it that we’re after here? Did LeMay ask you anything about the research you’ve been doing?’

‘He’s interested in seeing Warner and Lopez brought to justice, was pretty much the run of it,’ Hannah replied.

‘Sounds like a revenge mission,’ Vaughn pointed out. ‘Is that even something you want to get involved with? What’s LeMay’s stake in this? Why does he want Warner’s ass hung out to dry?’

‘That much I don’t know,’ Hannah admitted, ‘and I’m pretty sure the Director’s not telling me everything, but then again I wouldn’t expect him to.’

‘It doesn’t feel right,’ Vaughn said. ‘What about this Mitchell guy, the one whose blood you pulled from the homicide in Virginia?’

‘Drew a blank,’ Hannah said as they walked into the office. ‘Sure, there’s something there but LeMay’s priority is Warner.’

Vaughn frowned but said nothing as they made their way through the office. They were barely half way to their desks when a voice hissed from an adjoining office.

‘Ford!’

Hannah turned to see Valery Jenkins glaring at her from one side of the office. She turned and strolled casually across, fully aware of the half dozen or so agents who had looked up from their computer screens with interest to watch the exchange.

‘Where the hell have you been?’ Jenkins demanded, her tightly — bunned gray hair quivering with restrained fury as she stormed into her office.

Hannah followed her at a leisurely pace and leaned on the door jam.

‘Had an appointment that I couldn’t miss, case you forgot.’

Jenkins stood behind her desk. ‘Tell me, now.’

‘Can’t do that.’

‘What?!’

‘National security, ma’am,’ Hannah replied as she examined her fingertips. ‘If there’s anything else?’

Jenkins glared at Hannah over her thin — rimmed spectacles and for a brief moment Hannah thought that Jenkins might spontaneously combust.

‘You’re pushing me to the limit, Ford,’ she growled. ‘As your superior I am required to know what you’re doing and where at all times. Your whereabouts are also a matter of national security.’

‘Director FBI begs to differ,’ Hannah smiled back calmly, her voice just loud enough for everybody else in the office to hear. ‘Do take any issues you have to him as from this moment. I have work to do.’

Hannah spun on one heel and marched away from Jenkins without a glance back. She stifled a broad smile as she heard a faint curse and the slamming of a door somewhere behind her as she sat down at her desk.

‘You’re playing with fire,’ Vaughn said as he observed the rest of the agents in the office quietly return to their work.

‘Playing with fire is what gave mankind an edge over the animals,’ Hannah pointed out as she switched on her computer.

‘So, where do we start?’

The screen on Hannah’s monitor glowed lethargically into life, and not for the first time she wondered about the agency’s policy regarding technology. Her friends always figured that law enforcement agencies and especially intelligence outfits possessed the very latest in computer technology, but in truth they preferred technology that was a year or two old. The simple reason for that was reliability — new tech’ was always plagued by bugs that took time to iron out as flaws were exposed by users. Only when computer programs were stable did the FBI and other agencies begin to adopt them.

‘LeMay’s essentially given me, and by extension you, carte blanche to dig into Warner and Lopez and find out what the hell they’re doing. Our first job is to find out where they are.’

Hannah accessed a secure search engine and located the Warner & Lopez website.

‘It’s changed to Lopez & Warner,’ Vaughn observed. ‘Looks like I’m not the only guy being bossed about by a woman.’

Hannah picked up her phone and dialed a number.

‘You’re just going to call them?’ Vaughn asked in amazement. ‘Won’t that alert them to the fact that we’re watching them?’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what it will do,’ Hannah said. ‘I want Warner to know that I’m breathing down his neck. I want to become an irritation to him, get on his back and stay there until he gives some ground and starts talking.’

Vaughn cast a glance at Jenkin’s office and smiled faintly.

‘I have the sense you might succeed in annoying him.’

Hannah slapped the back of her hand across Vaughn’s shoulder as she listened to the number she had dialed briefly ring and then switch across to another line as it was diverted.

‘They’re not in the office,’ she said. ‘I’m guessing it’s switched to a cell.’

The cell rang briefly and then went to answerphone.

‘It’s Lopez,’ Hannah said to Vaughn.

Hannah hung up the phone without leaving a message and then accessed another program on her computer. Connecting to the FBI’s immense database, the program gave Hannah the ability to immediately trace the location of the receiving cell.

The Hollywood image of agents attempting to locate the bad guy by keeping them talking for long enough to get a trace had long ago become a thing of the past. A landline call could be originated immediately by the carrier, which in this case was Hannah’s own desk phone at the field office. Likewise, using a digital trace to the receiving cell that had picked up the call could reveal the location of the user, if one had the FBI on their side and the complicity of the relevant phone company.

Hannah watched and waited as she saw a visual indication of the call trace being mapped out on a simple image of the United States before her. Moments later the image zoomed in on Washington DC, in particular an area just off the east shore of the Potomac River alongside Highway 295.

‘Joint Base Anacostia — Bolling,’ Vaughn read from the screen.

‘Headquarters of the Defense Intelligence Agency,’ Hannah murmured in reply as she leaned back in her seat.

‘Looks like your boy Warner was telling the truth,’ Vaughn said. ‘They do work for the DIA. Which makes me wonder again why LeMay wants them in prison so badly?’

‘Me too,’ she replied as she stood up abruptly and grabbed her jacket. ‘I guess there’s only one way to find out.’

‘What’s that?’

‘Get your coat,’ Hannah said as she breezed past him. ‘We’re going to DC. I’m going to follow Warner and find out what he’s really up to.’