Kirk Russell - Counterfeit Road

Raveneau pulled a chair over in front of the TV.

‘This conversation is between a former Utah banker named Jamison Garner and our agent who’s making a contribution using the alias Robert Jenner. Garner used to work for Zion Bank but now works for a very private and political group. Within that group we think may be people who belong to yet another more exclusive group. There’s twenty minutes of talking before they really get to it, and I could fast forward but I think it’s worth hearing all of it. Coffee?’

‘Sure, double espresso, refined sugar, not brown.’

‘You bet, and would you like some fresh pastry?’

‘I would. Bring the cart out and I’ll pick something.’

Coe left as the audio started and Raveneau leaned back and listened to Jamison Garner, deep voiced, easy going, sounding like a big guy who life had treated well. They were talking politics and Garner, like many on either side in these times, was confident he was right. He quietly trash-talked Obama and Congress before launching into the gold bugs’ rap about the Federal Reserve destroying the US dollar. It was talk you could hear a lot of places nowadays. You could turn on the TV and hear experts like Garner on any number of channels. Garner and the man he was talking with were brushing around the edges of ‘something needing doing’ when Coe walked back in.

‘I didn’t look for any milk. Hope you like your coffee black. Sorry it’s in a paper cup.’

Raveneau took a sip. He was watching the transcript and listening to Garner as he asked, ‘Does the Bureau have a file on Alan Krueger?’

‘I knew if I invited you here you’d start asking questions. To get hired on to the Homicide Detail do you have to prove you can ask two hundred questions in an hour? We do have a file. Yes, you can read it. No, it hasn’t been updated since he was killed.’

‘Was it started before or after he left the Secret Service?’

‘After.’

‘Good guy or bad guy?’

‘Good guy doing business with bad guys as near as I can tell.’

‘Who set him up with the bad guys?’

‘That’s a big open question.’

‘Was he an embarrassment to the Secret Service?’

‘No, but they were worried about it at the time and something happened there they’re fuzzy about.’

‘They shut out our inspectors.’

‘They had their own investigation going and they were working hard to figure out who Krueger was dealing with. They had supernotes starting to spread around the world.’

‘Did they begin to question Krueger?’

‘Maybe, probably, and it’s possible more than one party was making supernotes.’

‘Could that party have set-up the North Koreans?’

‘They may have, yes.’

‘What was the Bureau’s theory of who killed Krueger?’

‘We never concluded anything. You’ll read it.’

Raveneau quit talking as the conversation between Garner and Jenner changed abruptly, Jenner getting a little whiny when Garner asked, ‘Can I deposit this today?’

‘You can, but when is anyone going to talk to me? A hundred thousand dollars is still worth something. I just want some sign things are progressing.’

‘We’re doing fine and I’m talking to you, and you knew when you got in that your contributions would be directed to making the changes we know need to happen.’

‘Give me something concrete. You know damn well it’s not going any farther than me.’

‘I don’t know the things you want to know. My job is to gather and pass the money on to those overseeing the work.’

Raveneau heard exasperation creep into Garner’s voice. Exasperation as if he’d had this same conversation before.

‘Jamie, you’re treating me like an outsider.’

A chair shifted, probably Garner.

‘We can return your money.’

‘Don’t be so hardnosed. I’m not asking for much. Three contributions downstream I’m owed something, so just give me a time frame. Am I going to turn on the TV in three months, six months, and see things have started and there’s news?’

‘You’re making me think I misread you initially, and I don’t like making that kind of mistake. I rarely make a mistake about character but you’re starting to disappoint me. You’re asking something you have no business asking and I’m advising you to stop now. I strongly suggest you don’t make me question you any more than you already have today. I don’t want to think I’ve made a mistake that needs to be rectified.’

‘Are you threatening me?’

‘I’m being honest with you.’

Something got whispered that Raveneau couldn’t make out and no text appeared on the screen.

‘The agent didn’t hear it either,’ Coe said. ‘Whatever Garner said, he said under his breath.’

‘I’m as certain we need change as anybody,’ Jenner said. ‘I’m as solid as anybody and you shouldn’t talk to me the way you are. Three hundred thousand dollars is what I’m in so far.’

‘Three hundred thousand dollars is nothing compared to what others are contributing. All you need to know is it’s in motion now.’

‘Just tell me it begins with him.’

‘I’m tearing this check in half. The rest of your contributions will be returned to you. Good day, sir.’

Garner hung up.

‘How long did it take your agent to get that close?’

‘Over a year and a half and it wasn’t easy. We were asked by the Secret Service to push harder, so we did and as you heard it was a mistake. There are other pieces. There are two former Army snipers we’re also watching. We believe there are military links but that’s not confirmed. This next clip is an individual talking about a military supply depot in Kentucky. In this passage the individual working with us is X4. He’s not an FBI agent. He came to us and the man he’s talking to he’s never met or seen. X4 is trying to sell him black market current grade US military hardware.’

X4: ‘I’m calling about the parts order. I can get what you need in time.’

Unsub: ‘Then we’re probably doing business.’

X4: ‘There is a glitch though. My supplier won’t disassemble and ship.’

Unsub: ‘Disassembly and separate shipping is the only way we’ll do this.’

X4: ‘I know. He’s not set-up to disassemble.’

Unsub: ‘That’s a problem.’

X-4: ‘It’s my problem.’

Unsub: ‘You’re right about that and you’ve got a week before I go somewhere else.’

X4: ‘Understood.’

Coe changed the screen now. ‘Here’s another Garner and sorry to do this with scraps, but I’ll sketch it together for you. This is an older Garner tape from last July. We don’t know who he was talking to. The party on the other end had a throwaway phone.’

Raveneau listened and read the text as it passed by. It was all Garner, a monologue, a diatribe on social values that morphed into protecting the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic as if somehow there was a natural connection. He segued into corruption in Washington and said they were using someone in Washington to gain access, but that those getting paid for that would not ‘make the long trip with us.’ ‘Their purpose will have been fulfilled,’ he said. He spoke about sacrifice and necessary shock to the country, corruption trials, and public executions ‘after the mobilization.’

‘What do you think the mobilization is?’ Raveneau asked. ‘And what are you calling this guy?’

‘We call him Jericho.’ He paused. ‘You’ll think we’ve gone nuts in here.’

‘I already think that.’

‘Let me say first we have no real theory yet, but there is a link to weapon purchases and this counterfeit series you’re caught up in. We’ve recorded references to a first event. The Secret Service believes that’s an assassination plan and we gather that’s just the initial step. These are planners. The mobilization, and this is where you’re going to shake your head and laugh, is later and involves some aspect of our military and a temporary occupation of Washington. It’s possible the planning began a decade or more ago.’