Scott Matthews - The Assassin's list

Drake accelerated his old Porsche away from the charter service hanger and hit the speed dial on his cell phone.

“Hi Margo, anything urgent develop this morning?”

“Nothing that wasn’t expected. Cutler and Whitcomb said they were reporting you to the bar. Judge Beck said he’d give you to the end of the week to respond to their motions, or he’d grant summary judgment. I’m working through the pile of work you left on my desk, but we have to do something about these motions.

“I know. I’m not going to have much time until Thursday or Friday. Give Eric Katz a call, see if he’s available for some short-notice contract work. He was brilliant on the Court of Appeals brief, he can handle the motions.

“You have fun this morning?”

“More than you can imagine. Tell you about it when I get back. I’m headed to the Secret Service field office. While I’m there, would you call Detective Carson and ask if he’s making any headway? I should be finished with the Secret Service in an hour or so.”

“I will, if you promise you’ll be back this afternoon,” Margo bargained.

“Yes boss, I promise,” Drake said, closing his phone. Her next performance and salary review was going to be a lot like a union contract negotiation, giving her everything she asked for.

Drake drove to the parking garage across from the Federal office building. He didn’t expect them to tell him much, but he wanted them to realize he’d be along for the ride. After twenty minutes waiting in the reception area reading an old Sports Illustrated, he was escorted to the office of the managing agent in the Portland office.

Richard Rendell sat behind an uncluttered government-issue executive desk. Sitting across from him was the man who had warned him to stay out of the government’s business. Neither man got up when he entered the room.

“Mr. Drake, I’m told you have a habit of involving yourself in things that don’t concern you. I hope you’re not here to waste my time on something of that nature.”

Drake ignored Rendell’s greeting and sat down in the other chair in front of the desk, turning to John Mason.

“Nice to see you again, John. I see you’ve been telling Mr. Rendell about me.”

“No need to, really. He was in charge of cleaning up the mess on your farm last week. What is it you want, Drake?” Mason said, in his best, bored civil servant tone.

“I don’t want anything, John. This is a courtesy call. Senator Hazelton asked me to accompany him to the dedication ceremony at the Umatilla depot. He wants to know what security arrangements you’ve made for the event. Have the person in charge of planning security see me, and I’m out of here. Then you two can get back to the high-level discussions I interrupted.”

Mason looked across the desk at Rendell. “We don’t have any security plans. The Army’s in charge of that.”

“What about security for Secretary Rallings?” Drake asked, with lifted eyebrows. “Surely you’ve made arrangements for his protection. He’s your boss.”

Mason bristled. “Let me tell you something you obviously don’t know. The Secret Service is not authorized to protect the Secretary of Homeland Security. Congress provides us with a list of protectees, and he’s not on it. We do not implement operational security plans for dedication ceremonies, unless the President designates the event as a National Security Special Event, which he hasn’t. This is an Army ceremony, on an Army facility, and they’re quite capable of handling an event for a couple hundred people. Secretary Rallings has his own personal protection, just as Senator Hazelton does. Ask them what their plans are.”

“You’re telling me one of the most obvious terrorist targets walks around the country without your protection?” Drake exclaimed incredulously.

Mason stood and tried to stare down Drake. “I don’t know who you think you are, coming here to tell me what I need to do. I don’t care if Senator Hazelton sent you, we’re done here.”

Drake rose and stepped close, his nose inches away from Mason’s. “Mason, I know more about protecting someone than you’ll learn in two lifetimes. I learned from experience how to get inside security planned by little men like you. I was very good at it. You’re making a mistake, letting Secretary Rallings walk around without protection. If anything happens to him that you could have prevented, I’ll make sure someone who knows what they’re doing has your job. Sit back down, I’ll show myself out.”

Ten minutes later, Drake was in his office, trying to calm down. Margo had followed him and stood in front of his desk, waiting for an explanation.

“I think it’s time you told me what’s going on.”

“You’re right. Have a seat,” he said, as he turned from looking out the window at the marina below. Drake trusted her enough to tell her everything, and expected her to provide her usual, common-sense reality check. When he finished telling her about the last two and a half days, she had a few questions.

“Shall I assume you were trespassing when you saw these things at the ISIS ranch?”

“Let’s just say it was night, and could have been open rangeland. Hard to tell where one ranch ends and another begins, except for the fence I had to crawl under. ISIS isn’t going to say anything, but you can see why I can’t explain things to the FBI or the Secret Service.”

“So, how does your intuition jump from Kaamil and Roberto smuggling drugs into the chemical weapons depot to a terrorist plot tomorrow? I haven’t heard much that supports your conclusion,” she challenged.

“That’s just it, Margo. I don’t have anything conclusive. I just know something’s not right and there doesn’t seem to be much I can do about it.”

“Can you ask the Senator to do something?”

“I can’t get him directly involved. I did this on my own. I won’t jeopardize his career. If I tell DHS or the FBI everything I know, I’m sure they’d welcome the opportunity to teach me a lesson, or embarrass him.”

“So why did you go to Hermiston today?” Margo continued.

“I went to check security arrangements. With my concerns, I had to know how he’s going to be protected.”

“So if you tag along as part of the Senator’s security detail, are you going to be able to do anything to protect him?” she asked.

Drake looked at her for a long moment. “I knew I could count on you. Probably not by myself. If you’d be so kind to get my friend in Seattle on the phone, I might be able to round up some help.”

He thought he caught a smile on her lips as she turned and walked down the stairs to her desk. She was right, of course. If he was going to do anything more than worry, he needed his old partner along for the ride.

With a rough idea of a plan in mind, Drake picked up the phone to talk with Mike.

“If you’re calling to thank me for all my help over the weekend, you’re welcome. The bill is already in the mail,” his friend answered.

“Nice. I thought we were friends. Now I’m just another client.”

“Just one among hundreds. So, what’s up this time? You connect the dots yet on our friends in Hood River?”

“Not yet, at least not with anything I can take to the bank. I need your help again. I’m accompanying my father-in-law to the weapons depot tomorrow as part of his security detail. I’d like you to join me, ride shotgun,” Drake said. “The Senator and the Secretary of DHS will each have their own personal two-man security detail, but if my hunch is right, that may not be enough.”

“What do you think we might need?”

“I’m thinking an armor-plated Yukon, chemical protective gear for nine and a driver who isn’t afraid of mixing it up if necessary. Think you can find someone like that on short notice?”