making unofficial inquiries about the firm. “What about her?”
“She’s the daughter of one of Orozco’s partners. We think she might have been in Mexico back in October.”
“And you think this is how she got the key? How it came to be on their copy machine?”
“It fits. She worked in San Francisco at the time.”
“So Orozco gave her the list?”
“So it would seem.”
“Why would he do that? He knew how valuable it was.”
“Only valuable if you knew what to do with it, and he didn’t exactly get that part. Then again, it’s possible he still has the original.”
Stiles looked up at the door of the building, seeing the Wingman and Wingman sign in gold-leafed lettering. The firm had been on life support when they approached him for help more than twenty years ago. He’d worked hard to ensure its continued success, getting into bed with almost every White House administration since, facilitating those candidates who would best serve his purposes, all while keeping the DOJ wolves from getting past the gates.
This matter with Orozco didn’t help. If he had his way, he’d kill the man right now. “Find this FBI agent. If she’s got a copy, I want it.”
“And if she doesn’t have it? Because we know her partner didn’t have it. We already checked.”
“ Someone made a copy or those numbers wouldn’t have ended up on a copier machine hard drive and popped up in the search. We start going down the list of who knew. In fact, since your men are on the West Coast, have them drop by for a chat with Mr. Orozco. Find out what he knows about the code he’s been holding on to for two decades, and what he told this FBI agent. And don’t leave any loose ends.” He took a frustrated breath, not happy that his morning routine had been interrupted. “Anything else?”
“One of those so-called loose ends might be an issue. A girl was at the scene. She may have seen me.”
“What the hell were you doing there?”
“If the Devil’s Key was there, you think I was about to entrust it to anyone else to bring it back?”
“Where is she?”
“Not sure. She disappeared right after my men made contact with her friend. They went looking for her, but she had help.”
“Government help?”
“Possibly. We have to assume they’ve been monitoring the Internet as well. And it fits, since the girl simply disappeared.”
“Disappeared? We may not have the key yet, but with the database you have access to, people do not just disappear.”
“Put it this way. She never returned to her apartment.”
“Find her. Make sure that she never does. When the time comes, we’ll take care of anyone else who had access to the code.”
Stiles disconnected, then dropped his phone into his pocket. He hadn’t lasted this long by being careless, and when it came to loose ends, his philosophy was to eliminate them. Unfortunately, it was becoming more difficult to eliminate anyone who posed a risk to his plans without drawing undue attention.
Certain people would have to be killed. The girl, for one. Others . . . ? This would definitely take some creativity on his part to make sure they didn’t get in his way.
8
The following morning
A lthough Sydney had wanted to begin her investigation of the files Scotty had given her the moment she got home, she didn’t want to open them on a computer that she used to connect to the Internet. Unfortunately, finding her old laptop proved harder than she expected. She spent her time looking through several boxes in her spare bedroom, digging through things she hadn’t yet needed, therefore hadn’t bothered to unpack. In fact, she only ventured into this room on the rare occasion she did need to search for some long-missing item. Thinking that the laptop would be in the one marked “Old Office Equip,” she shuffled the boxes, pulling it out from the bottom. It wasn’t there.
Her eleven-year-old sister, Angie, had helped her pack when she’d made the move from San
“She’s the daughter of one of Orozco’s partners. We think she might have been in Mexico back in October.”
“And you think this is how she got the key? How it came to be on their copy machine?”
“It fits. She worked in San Francisco at the time.”
“So Orozco gave her the list?”
“So it would seem.”
“Why would he do that? He knew how valuable it was.”
“Only valuable if you knew what to do with it, and he didn’t exactly get that part. Then again, it’s possible he still has the original.”
Stiles looked up at the door of the building, seeing the Wingman and Wingman sign in gold-leafed lettering. The firm had been on life support when they approached him for help more than twenty years ago. He’d worked hard to ensure its continued success, getting into bed with almost every White House administration since, facilitating those candidates who would best serve his purposes, all while keeping the DOJ wolves from getting past the gates.
This matter with Orozco didn’t help. If he had his way, he’d kill the man right now. “Find this FBI agent. If she’s got a copy, I want it.”
“And if she doesn’t have it? Because we know her partner didn’t have it. We already checked.”
“ Someone made a copy or those numbers wouldn’t have ended up on a copier machine hard drive and popped up in the search. We start going down the list of who knew. In fact, since your men are on the West Coast, have them drop by for a chat with Mr. Orozco. Find out what he knows about the code he’s been holding on to for two decades, and what he told this FBI agent. And don’t leave any loose ends.” He took a frustrated breath, not happy that his morning routine had been interrupted. “Anything else?”
“One of those so-called loose ends might be an issue. A girl was at the scene. She may have seen me.”
“What the hell were you doing there?”
“If the Devil’s Key was there, you think I was about to entrust it to anyone else to bring it back?”
“Where is she?”
“Not sure. She disappeared right after my men made contact with her friend. They went looking for her, but she had help.”
“Government help?”
“Possibly. We have to assume they’ve been monitoring the Internet as well. And it fits, since the girl simply disappeared.”
“Disappeared? We may not have the key yet, but with the database you have access to, people do not just disappear.”
“Put it this way. She never returned to her apartment.”
“Find her. Make sure that she never does. When the time comes, we’ll take care of anyone else who had access to the code.”
Stiles disconnected, then dropped his phone into his pocket. He hadn’t lasted this long by being careless, and when it came to loose ends, his philosophy was to eliminate them. Unfortunately, it was becoming more difficult to eliminate anyone who posed a risk to his plans without drawing undue attention.
Certain people would have to be killed. The girl, for one. Others . . . ? This would definitely take some creativity on his part to make sure they didn’t get in his way.
8
The following morning
A lthough Sydney had wanted to begin her investigation of the files Scotty had given her the moment she got home, she didn’t want to open them on a computer that she used to connect to the Internet. Unfortunately, finding her old laptop proved harder than she expected. She spent her time looking through several boxes in her spare bedroom, digging through things she hadn’t yet needed, therefore hadn’t bothered to unpack. In fact, she only ventured into this room on the rare occasion she did need to search for some long-missing item. Thinking that the laptop would be in the one marked “Old Office Equip,” she shuffled the boxes, pulling it out from the bottom. It wasn’t there.
Her eleven-year-old sister, Angie, had helped her pack when she’d made the move from San
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