Page 49 of Double Edged Hearts
He could only know such a thing if he had some special tech person like me and if they had someone like me working with them to implement it in the first place.
If they have such a person or people like that I’m screwed.
I don’t know if I can even go back.
I rush back to the apartment and stand with my back to the door of my bedroom for a full minute before I can move.
I try to calm my breathing hoping it will in turn slow the rapid beat of my heart. My mind is still racing. I know I’m in danger, I can feel it. I overheard a conversation I shouldn’t have. I should leave, but can I just run away and let whatever happens take place. That would be running from responsibility.
They’re planning to traffic weapons to Sierra Leone. I’m not surprised by that discovery. What I’m shocked at is the knowledge that he’s working with someone who was in the Bureau building. Someone who could be Zack.
I need to know more.
I can imagine Matvey and his people hard at work trying to see who hacked them so it’s only a matter of time before they get some kind of lead, and even then they’d still have some work to do to know it was me.
So what do I do?
Glancing at my phone I remember the email.
I open it and see it’s just account details but with that email address I might be able to do something with it.
I had a job once where I was able to use an email address to track a location, but I was also able to get a record of the IP addresses of the computers it was connected to. If I can do that then I can get a lot.
I rush over to my computer and cloak myself with extra firewalls. This was the way I got around for those two years I was in Europe without anyone being able to find me.
I type the email address into my program and it starts to link showing the login activities, and an IP address for a network that has been used repeatedly over the last week. I’m guessing that’s his base. I click on the link and an address comes up.
An address for the base. My God, if that is a base then I found him. I’ve gone from knowing nothing to knowing too much.
It takes me seconds to get through the firewalls on the computer listed in that location. There’s only a handful of files. It’s always easier to check on emails this way too so I can do both. I check that first because it seems to be the way Matvey usually communicates.
There are a lot of emails from an undisclosed recipient. I scroll until I see one going a month back with the title: Mission Protocol, in the subject line. I click on it and when it opens I see quite a lengthy message but I don’t need to read the whole thing to know why Matvey is in Chicago.
The first few paragraphs are sufficient. It says:
Mission Protocol
Retrieve 200 9K38 Igla surface-to-air missiles from the Chicago Midway Armory to send to Sierra Leone for the payment of $9 million. Take a small team once you arrive and execute the men at the base. Leave no one alive.
Payment will be made in two installments.
Jesus Christ, this is it.
I don’t have to read anymore.
That’s why Matvey is in Chicago.
Surface-to-air missiles are anti-aircraft missiles designed to destroy aircraft, and they are being smuggled into Sierra Leone. The mention of so many suggests prep for war, or selling them to terrorists and militants who want to overthrow a government, or start a fucking war. Why else would they want them and so many?
Matvey mentioned Friday at midnight. That’s when it’s all happening, and there’s a mole in the Bureau helping him.
Maybe Giles found out about the plot and that’s why he’s dead.
This is not good. I have to be careful I don’t suffer the same fate too.
* * *
I pack my bags and book myself on the first flight to LA. It leaves at six-thirty. I just pack what I need to travel light. Some clothes, my phone, passport, and some other stuff. I haven’t called Richard yet. I just plan to find him when I arrive.
