“God, yes! I…I can help you nail the one involved acquiring the five illegal passports. One of the intermediaries involved made an error when…when contacting me. I had a signal trace with each step. Until then, they bounced the signal around making my trace meaningless. I have a contact who is a first class hacker. He made me an ancillary device which probed and back-traced signals without setting off alarms or firewalls. It only worked the one time, but it was enough to then use the IP address located to hack in.”
“Not bad. I like this new attitude so far, Phil. Give me a reason I shouldn’t tickle your dick for having to do this investigation at all.”
“It came from Senator Cameron’s office! She’s behind this. After the blunder that night leading to my hack into her system. I found everything – her ties to a Muslim Brotherhood group with threads into Isis as well as Al-Qaeda. She’s in trouble financially. The Chinese whom she’s been in bed with for decades withdrew their support after her son Douglas was caught up in the Collister debacle. She needed tens of millions to turn negative public opinion around. Enter the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot. They-”
“Nick!” Gus grabbed Nick’s arm at his own considerable risk as his friend tore the stun-gun away from Gus, angling it for another jolt into Phil. “Don’t do it! What’s wrong?”
Nick kept staring into Phil’s horrified eyes until his clenched fists relaxed. He nodded at Gus who let him go. Nick tossed the stun-gun to the floor. “This bastard has it all. He knows the identities and whereabouts of the five who crossed over the border. Our buddy Phil is planning to blackmail Senator Cameron as well as the groups she’s hooked into. A cool million isn’t enough for Phil and Clarice. They want it all. Isn’t that right, Phil?”
“I…I was getting to that! Honest to God I was! Yes… I have copies of their passport pictures. I know Cameron has been paid millions already with more promised if I can deliver passports occasionally in the same manner. I can be your way in to get Cameron. She’ll deal once she knows we have her dead to rights! Diane will betray the ones she’s working with, but it would be an easier deal if you can offer her the chance to resign.”
“This sounds very good, Nick,” John said. “You can pretend Phil has been working undercover to get the Senator. It would be the perfect cover for him to stay out of prison and keep his job.”
“We can move fast if he turns Cameron,” Gus added. “You know how long these political hacks can pretend innocence until the public simply gives up. They hire lawyers at government expense and stone wall the investigations for years until nobody cares. Phil could turn her quick and we can get the ones she’s working for.”
“Or,” Nick replied, still staring at Phil, “I can shoot Phil in the head, torture that senatorial traitor until she gives me the names and then shoot her in the head too.”
When Phil began to speak, Gus slapped him on the forehead. “Shut up, dummy! C’mon, Nick, Paul can play out this scenario super easy if we give him the players. You gave your word Phil would live.”
“Paul would understand. Besides, my word to Phil doesn’t mean shit.”
“You gave your word to Sonny,” Gus reminded Nick without inflection or emphasis. Nick’s killing demeanor had both John and Gus on edge about whether Phil would ever see the outside of the interrogation room. Gus could tell his reminder about Sonny hit home.
“Phil is very lucky I brought you guys with me. I need to make the call in to Paul, so our operation isn’t blown before we get to start it working. Release Phil and let him get dressed. Then give him the return home syringe.”
“John and I will handle it, Nick. Go make the call.”
Nick walked off with phone in hand. Paul Gilbrech answered as usual on the first ring. Nick wasted no time in explaining the situation and what Phil offered to do in order to rectify the situation. “I’ll have to check over the evidence on his computer. After that, I’ll take Phil in to see Cameron personally if you like our idea, Paul. It’s the only way we could think of for Phil to come out of this with his job and freedom while forcing that traitor Cameron out of office.”
“It certainly works better than a long drawn out FBI investigation coupled with God knows how long before it ever reached a court. Add in the fact we’d never find those five infiltrators and we’d be waiting for cataclysmic events to happen without a clue.”
“Not really, my friend. I would have extracted the info in a different manner. If not for the FBI taking Phil’s coworker’s notification seriously we wouldn’t even have an investigation. Phil’s moral compass blows in any direction at any given time depending on where either the money trail leads or prison time dictates.”
“You must really like this kid, Sonny. I think a year ago you would have done it the deadly way without even confirming the action before it was a done deal.”
“You’re right, Paul, I do like him. He’s a kid with instincts well beyond his age, very much like Jean. I don’t want his life ruined because his luck in the parental draw came up snake eyes.”