Page 93 of The Devil's Ransom

“Well, we can’t do a real-time geolocation track, but we can find historical patterns of that phone here in the country. It’s not optimal, and we’ll probably see a bunch of bars or clubs he frequents, but we might also see a historical cluster at another safehouse.”

“That won’t tell us he’s there.”

“I know, but we’ve got nothing else. If you want to continue on this guy, that’s what we’ve got.”

Brett said, “That might work if we had a single date where we knew he was somewhere and wanted to know that location, but looking at a date range is going to be information overload. His cell has been all over this country.”

I picked up my Taskforce phone, looked at my watch, and said, “You’re right, but Veep’s got a damn good idea, and the information overload is Creed’s problem. It’s nine in the morning there. He’ll be at work.”

I dialed and was surprised when I got a switchboard operatorinstead of the network operation’s cell. A woman said, “Blaisdell Consulting, how can I direct your call?”

I stuttered for a moment, then said, “Hang on.” I muted the phone and said, “What’s this month’s code to tell them to go secure and that I’m not under duress?”

Knuckles said, “Why? We have a direct secure line for this operation.”

“I don’t know. I got Marge at the front desk.”

Marge was about two hundred years old and had been working as our “receptionist” since the Taskforce had been created. She loved me, but there was no way I was getting behind her firewall. Either I knew the code, or she’d tell me to pack sand.

Jennifer said, “Tell her, ‘I’m calling about your team-building services.’ She’ll ask how you found out about them, and you say, ‘I was given a brochure at a conference by Xavier Barclay.’”

I said, “You’re shitting me.” Honestly, I never bothered to memorize the bullshit the Taskforce put out about these things because I was always on the forefront of any operation, but now I wasn’t, and I was happy that Jennifer never ignored them.

She smiled and said, “Nope.”

I unmuted and said, “Hey, you still there?”

“Yes. How may I direct your call?”

“I’m calling about your team-building services.”

“Okay. How did you hear about us?”

“I was given a brochure from Xavier Barclay at a conference.”

She said, “Let me transfer your call,” and the encryption protocols began. I waited, saying, “This secret spy stuff is really getting ridiculous. Xavier Barclay? Who came up with that damn name?”

I understood the reason why in that we had no idea who was listening in on our phone calls, meaning we needed to sound innocuous before we encrypted, and the Taskforce had to make sure that I wasn’t calling with a gun to my head. If I had been, it would have been a different name I’d supposedly met.

Knuckles said, “The bigger question is why are we cut off.”

Marge came back, the encryption making her sound a little like she was speaking in a tube. “How can I direct your call?”

“Hey, Marge, it’s Pike. I need Creed in the network operations center.”

She said, “Well, at least you remembered the protocol this time. Stand by.”

Reminding me I’d used the switchboard line a few times without remembering what I was supposed to say...

The phone rang through and Creed answered, saying, “Sorry about that redirect, Pike, but we’ve been shut down on the Branko mission. No more phone pings or other work.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know. I’m just the computer guy. Something to do with the threat. George Wolffe is headed to a briefing at the White House right now.”

I rolled my eyes to the team and said, “Okay, well, I don’t need an active ping on a phone, just some historical data drawn from the phone itself. Can you do that?”

“What do you have?”

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