9
After Webb and Grange had left the room Logan asked Cahill if he thought they would tell them what had been going on with Tim Stark.
‘Unlikely.’
‘Why?’
‘You heard them. All that national security stuff. Plus if this has anything to do with terrorists—’
‘Then why is DHS not involved?’
‘The Feds like to keep things tight. All law enforcement agencies do. Inter-agency cooperation is something that gets talked about more in the abstract than anything else.’
Cahill got up from his seat and went to the window.
‘You weren’t serious about going to the press, were you?’ Logan asked.
‘No. And they knew it.’
‘So if they decide that they won’t tell us anything else, where do we go from here?’
‘I haven’t thought that far ahead.’
Cahill turned back to Logan and leaned against the window sill. Logan shook his head.
‘I love it when a plan comes together.’
Cahill laughed.
They had been waiting for a half-hour – Cahill starting to get restless – when Webb came in on his own. Logan took this for a good sign.
Webb made them wait, pouring a glass of water and flicking through a legal pad with handwritten notes before speaking.
‘Mr Cahill. I checked with your former boss in the service.’
‘Scott Boston?’
‘Yes.’
‘Scott’s a good man.’
‘That he is. And he spoke highly of you.’
Cahill nodded but didn’t say anything. Webb toyed with a pen on the table, as though he were still trying to decide how much he was going to tell them.
‘I’ll try to answer some of your questions. But I can’t reveal anything of operational sensitivity.’
‘Sounds fair enough,’ Logan said.
Webb leaned forward and looked at Cahill.
‘I’m doing this out of respect and as a professional courtesy to someone who has a proud history of serving this country. Nothing more. I don’t respond well to threats.’
Cahill met Webb’s gaze.
‘Do we understand each other?’
‘We do,’ Cahill answered.
Webb appeared to relax, sat back in his seat.
‘The plane Tim Stark was on crashed due to an engine malfunction. That will be made public in the next day or two, which is why I can tell you.’
‘Did you think originally that it might have been brought down?’ Logan asked. ‘Is that why Agent Grange was involved?’
Webb considered Logan for a moment in silence.
‘I can’t say much more about that right now, I’m sorry.’
‘Tell us this,’ Cahill said. ‘Was Tim using an alias? The reason I ask is that his name was not on the passenger list.’
‘He died on that flight. That’s your answer.’
‘He was working undercover?’
Webb said nothing, inclined his chin and brought it back down. Logan wasn’t sure if it was a nod in confirmation and looked at Cahill.
‘Okay,’ Cahill said, apparently satisfied that it had been intended as an answer to his question.
‘Is that enough?’ Webb asked.
‘It’s enough for Tim’s wife.’
‘And for you?’
‘I always prefer to know more than less.’ Cahill smiled.
It was Webb’s turn to stand and go to the window, looking down at the late afternoon traffic starting to build.
‘We carry out background checks on all gun purchases in the country,’ Webb said, still facing the window. ‘I guess you know that.’
They took it for a rhetorical question and waited for Webb to continue.
‘Some time ago a man who had previously come to our attention due to some minor anti-government activities – letter writing, things like that – started to buy up legal weapons. A background check was done automatically each time and because he had a clean record the purchases were approved.’
‘But multiple purchases raised a red flag somewhere, right?’ Cahill asked.
Webb turned to face them again and nodded.
‘As you would expect it to,’ he said.
‘Then what?’
‘He stopped. I mean, after seven purchases in the space of six months he just stopped.’
‘So?’
‘He also sold his house. Didn’t buy another one that we’re aware of. No record of him renting either. At least, not under his real name.’
‘He was working?’
‘He quit. Didn’t take up another job.’
‘Gets you thinking what is he up to?’
‘Correct.’
‘Then what?’
‘We start working in the background to find out what he’s doing. He’s got our attention now. We start to look at some associates. Turns out a few of them have also given up steady, decent-paying jobs and don’t seem to have replaced them with anything.’
‘Associates?’ Logan asked.
‘All ex-military.’
‘They served together?’ Cahill asked.
‘Afghanistan.’ Webb nodded.
A thought occurred to Logan.
‘These activities you spoke about,’ he said. ‘The stuff that initially brought him to your attention. Was it related to the conduct of the war over there?’
‘Something like that.’
‘So,’ Cahill said. ‘You manufacture Tim Stark getting sacked. He has a legitimate anti-government gripe and can find a kindred spirit in this soldier. Ex-soldier.’
Webb nodded.
‘Stark was brought in to infiltrate the group.’
Another nod.
Logan frowned. ‘I don’t get it,’ he said. ‘I mean, if Stark was fired to give him a reason to be pissed off at the Government so he could use his real name and background, why was he using an alias when he got on the flight?’
‘To avoid detection,’ Cahill said. ‘Am I right?’
‘Yes,’ Webb said. ‘The alias was to send us a message. To let us know that he had been compromised and was coming home. The op was being run out of our headquarters in Washington. That’s where Tim was going.’
‘So you knew that they were on to him,’ Logan said. ‘Which is why you thought the plane crash might have been deliberate. To kill Stark?’
‘Correct.’
‘Turns out it was just his bad luck,’ Cahill said.
Webb sat down again. ‘You can see why this is sensitive,’ he said. ‘These people are still out there. Still planning whatever it is that they are going to do.’
‘Except now you’re blind because your man on the inside is gone.’
‘Yes.’
Cahill was quiet for a moment before he spoke again.
‘Do you need a replacement?’