BRONX WOMAN MURDERS HUSBAND
The victim was identified as disabled Army veteran Sergio Vega, forty, and the suspect was his wife, Camila Vega, thirty-seven. They lived in an apartment building on Benedict Avenue in the Castle Hill neighborhood, had been married nineteen years, and had three children.
Several weeks of reporting followed before the story faded from public interest. Camila had been found kneeling by her husband’s body, holding the bloody knife used to stab him. Police had taken her into custody but determined she was unable to answer questions due to her mental state. She was eventually found unfit to stand trial by reason of insanity and remanded to the psych ward at Bellevue for treatment until deemed sufficiently recovered to answer for her crime. Further online searches revealed no change in Camila Vega’s circumstances.
Could these two have been Daniela Vega’s parents? A closer examination of the news articles about Daniela’s military success revealed that she had been twenty-two years old when she graduated from the second part of Ranger school, which would make her twenty-six years old now.
Daniela’s father had also been an Army Ranger and was wounded in action, receiving a Purple Heart, a Silver Star, and a medical discharge.
After leaving the Army, he must have returned to his old neighborhood with his wife and their three children. A few years later, Daniela’s mother had killed her father and was now in a mental institution. Daniela would have been seventeen at the time of the murder nine years ago. She had enlisted the following year, probably to escape her past.
Very few organizations could create such an elaborate fake history. The educational, social media, and military records had been thorough and convincing. Only a multilevel detailed search with specialty software uncovered the truth.
Who had the ability to scrub every image that did not align with the Corazón persona? Just as important, who would go to all the trouble?
Only three types of people created a false identity going back to early childhood: criminals, spies, and undercover cops.
Working on defense contracts required limited access to certain government databases. Using access gained from those contracts in the past allowed Nemesis to create a back door into the federal employee database.
Less than five minutes later, the answer popped onto the screen. Nikki Corazón, paid assassin, was actually FBI Agent Daniela Vega. As Nemesis suspected, no one had purged the file from what they would consider a secure internal system.
What about Gustavo Toro? He’d been involved in the operation that had changed everything ten years ago. He had also murdered Nathan Costner. He couldn’t be an agent.
So why were they posing as a couple? Only one logical reason. Vega was working undercover, and he was helping her infiltrate the Colonel’s group. The Feds must have caught Toro, and he’d snitched on the others to save himself.
Nemesis sat back in the overstuffed black leather chair, fingers steepled. This new development needed careful consideration. And a tweak to the plan. The first order of business was to delete Toro’s comment about Vega being a Ranger before uploading that camera’s footage to the dedicated server. The FBI would be looking for their missing agent by now, and the remark could attract their attention.
Had the Feds already connected the dots that would lead them here? No. The Colonel had been ordered to take every precaution, and he might be a soulless killer, but he knew tactics. He would have made sure no one followed them.
Did the Colonel know Vega was FBI? Again, no. He had called to say Toro wanted to bring Nikki Corazón with him at no extra charge. She had military experience, and the DOD types might like a female in the training scenario. Of course, that was when the Colonel thought this was all about getting a defense contract.
Before he learned the truth of his situation.
The FBI presented a new problem. Could they track Vega down?
Not likely. The pilot who flew the team here, well paid and always discreet, had been the one to suggest the repair hangar in New Jersey to get a small aircraft up without filing a flight plan. Their current location was so remote that any approaching vehicles could be detected miles away.
A review of current news stories revealed nothing about a search for a missing agent. The FBI must be hesitant to reveal her status as one of theirs and blow her cover. A peek into what must be a desperate but quiet hunt for Vega would offer a warning if they were getting close. Unlike accessing the federal employee database, hacking into the FBI’s secure server to gather information about the investigation was too risky. The Feds had firewalls and traps specifically designed to catch and trace virtual intruders. A softer target would make a better choice, but who? Where would the FBI share information outside of their own ranks?
Nemesis crossed the room and poured two fingers of scotch, using the time to contemplate the problem. This was yet another puzzle to solve. The answer presented itself after a few sips. Vega’s family would notice her missing and start asking questions. The Feds wouldn’t want that because she was undercover. They would have to share a certain amount of information about her disappearance and what they were doing to find her. They were bound to reveal more to the family than the public—if they ever even acknowledged what had occurred.
A specially designed Trojan horse virus could create a back door into a computer belonging to one of her closest relatives. Once inside the system, controlling the camera and microphone would make it possible to spy on them, providing all the information the family knew in real time. Strategic problems solved, Nemesis swirled the liquid in the glass, considering the ramifications of Vega’s presence in the game. Everything had been planned to punish those who had been involved in the fiasco ten years ago. When Nikki Corazón had wanted in, Nemesis had allowed her into the game, under the impression that the female assassin had as much blood on her hands as the others, just not the same blood. Now Nikki turned out to be Special Agent Daniela Vega. How did that change things?
Draining the glass, Nemesis concluded that it didn’t.
If the vaunted FBI had done their job ten years ago, none of this would be happening. First, they never detected years of criminal behavior. Next, they failed to figure out who was behind the crime once it came to their attention. Finally, after it was over, they never investigated enough to learn the truth. Killers had gotten away with murder, and they could have stopped it, but they didn’t.
Nemesis had discovered the truth. Not the damned FBI.
Agent Vega was too young to have been involved back then, but she was guilty by association. Fate had brought her here to answer for her agency’s incompetence. Her presence would make the retribution complete.
A new idea began to take root, bringing satisfaction with it. The undercover spy was about to get a surprise.
CHAPTER 37
After a nerve-racking drive from the used-car lot in Queens to the Bronx, Wu climbed to the top floor of a five-story walkup on Benedict Avenue. The century-old building wasn’t built with heavy vehicle traffic in mind and had no dedicated parking. Flint had spent twenty minutes of their lives they would never get back circling the block before finally throwing an NYPD placard on his dashboard and double-parking.
An urgent phone call had brought them here to speak with Agent Vega’s family. Vega had an apartment in Brooklyn, but Wu had just learned her younger sister and brother lived with her aunt and uncle when university wasn’t in session. Her younger brother, Axel, had called the main JTTF number, asking for the special agent in charge. When pressed, he claimed to have information about his sister that he could share only in person.
Wu had put off discussing Vega’s status with her family, but now her brother was forcing his hand. Vega had mentioned visiting her younger siblings before the undercover assignment. Without divulging details, she must have told them she’d be unavailable for a while.
He would have to walk a fine line, learning what Axel had discovered that had prompted him to call the JTTF while not letting on that she was MIA.
Unless her brother had already figured that out.
Wu had worked out what he wanted to say in case the family had questions about her situation on the drive over, but his carefully worded reassurances were bound to fall short. How could he explain losing someone he was responsible for?