I do not own the Numb3rs characters

Chapter 30

When they got out of the car Bob led the way onto the cabin. There was only one small window. They propped the door for light.

It was a large room and a small room off the side. It hadn't been used in some time but there was still some covered furniture around. Bob pulled a sheet off the table and chairs in the large front room without warning. After Charlie's fit of sneezing he asked to see the disk.

When Bob saw the list of intended victims he was shocked at seeing his own name on the list. The next two names on the list were Governor Gary Grates, MA. And Cabinet Member, Nicholas Maxwell, Attorney General.

While the Director was reading the information on the disk, Charlie told him of his own thoughts on it. He said that as far as he knew the only suspect the FBI had was Leslie for the murder of the Senator.

Bob told Charlie, "Leslie Faulkner is well known in the political social circles. She's attracted to married and powerful politicians. Her name has been tied to some of the more influential names on Capital Hill. I'm not too much for listening to the gossips so I don't know for sure who else she may be involved with. She and Atwood have been together for quite a long time but I think they kept it pretty casual. I don't think she killed him."

Bob was suspicious of the names of the people involved. This was not possible. The NSA had always been on guard for a spy in the ranks. He kept his thoughts to himself for now but he suspected the list of those involved to be phony.

"Charlie where do you think this disk came from?"

"I've been thinking it over. Before I was injured on Thursday, so far as I know, no one in the training classes outside of the instructors knew who I was. But when Agent Belmont called you from the van, he addressed me as Dr. Eppes and then when we got back to the grounds, you called me by my first name. The most likely conclusion is that someone in that class already had that disk. They wanted to slip it to someone without getting caught and my unguarded sports bag and my connections made me an easy target for whom to give the information to."

"Makes sense Charlie. Granted this list is staggering. It makes it look like anyone in the NSA can be involved and could be wrecking enormous amounts of havoc within the ranks. The NSA has been ahead of the spy game for years. Absolutely no one is above suspicion."

"I'm going to give you my thoughts on what we have here. I think the hit list is real; we have two dead men to prove that. I don't believe the entire hit list is real. I think it was compiled with other names to throw off anyone who would try to link the murders. I don't believe the people listed are involved. I think it's a much smaller group. I'm telling you that this is entirely not possible. Now I can sit here and tell you of all of the precautions taken by the NSA to guard against corruption and I will if you want me to. The absolute only person that could pull off NSA spying and scandal of this size, the only one with real power to do much damage at all is me and even I would be caught before it got this far."

Now granted one or two could still be involved in the hits and I think that's what we have here. One or two with some financial backing to hire a hit man. The real culprit may or may not even be on this list. But as to why the list, if it got out it would actually start a nationwide NSA scandal by exposing a false list of those involved. If you notice that list does not have CIA, FBI, Secret Service or any of the other larger groups. But why would it just be NSA and a ton of politicians? Really doesn't make sense. A spy working alone or a small group doesn't stand a chance in the NSA. The only way to pull off spying in the NSA ranks is if there is more than 50 percent corruption and I can guarantee that that is not possible."

"Charlie, I have a covert team of invisible agents that are, except for one, completely untraceable to the NSA. I would trust that team with my life. I have no choice but to trust them now. I'm going to call them here and we are all going to go over what we have and dissect this. There is an answer somewhere and we will find it."

"A concern to me is how my phone was compromised. The only way for it to have been done successfully was outside of the NSA grounds. I don't believe the person or persons involved have access to tracking my movements. The phone would have had to have been tampered with at my house and I can guarantee you that the security there is also very strong."

"My office, as well as every other room in that building outside of the restrooms and the training grounds is under undetectable surveillance. There is no one that knows the extent of that surveillance outside of me. I have five different security groups that do constant monitoring. That's a lot of monitoring and they each have their own security team. But something worth knowing here is that none of those five groups even knows the others exist. It's overlapped in certain places where most areas are monitored by two separate groups, unknown to each other. Only one of the teams is even located on the grounds. I am the only one with the power, no one agent is above suspicion, no one agent flies solo on any project. The monitoring is just the tip of the iceberg Charlie."

"Bob, I don't know how you can safely assume the list is fake. Isn't that too big of a risk even with the security that you have in place?"

"This list makes it clear that we have an NSA conspiracy; That the organization cannot be trusted. If that information got out, it could cripple us and that's what I think the goal was with this disk. Let me explain more of why conspiracy could not exist in NSA. For instance, your office. There are two completely separate camera surveillance groups. There are no cameras pointed toward the chalkboards or to the chair at the end of the table where you sit. Your room is not wired for sound for obvious reasons. Every evening the room is swept for surveillance other than what I have in place, all under the supervision of me. No one is admitted for any reason alone to that room other than you or me. Even when the food is delivered in the morning, I have to be there or they do not get in. The guards that are assigned to that room are themselves under constant video surveillance. If you or any of your team disappear, or have unexplained injuries or death, the project would be scratched; a new team would be assigned under those circumstances. This is all an example of the security that exists throughout the NSA and most of the agents are not even aware of it."

"This all sounds a little over the top I'm sure, and for another organization it probably is. But the NSA has always been aware of any possibility of a spy and taken all steps necessary to avoid corruption."

"That's why I'm calling on the covert team Charlie. They are eleven of the very best, highly trained in espionage and search and destroy. They can eliminate what is bogus from what is real. I will have to halt the security project and I need you to go there first thing in the morning and sweep the computer in that room clean. For the time being it will be left on disks. If you let me use that phone to get Ted here then we can plan where we go from here."

"Ted Ferguson leads this group and he's an expert in this kind of activity. I want to assure you that he and his team will handle this and manage to keep the people on the list safe. He lives here in DC and his work in the public eye is as a writer. Mainly he writes the training manuals for the NSA, but he's also a highly talented painter."

Bob went out to a clearing outside the cabin to make the call. He gave a short version and Ted said that he was on the way and he would bring Vic.

Charlie could not help but think of the CIA tactics of covering up actions by using covert agents. It would make sense that Bob would not want this kind of thing exposed. But could there be other reasons than what he said. It was obvious that Bob was not involved but what steps would the NSA go to in order to protect themselves? To hide damaging information. Charlie had known Bob for years and trusted him completely, but this conspiracy information is something they had never been exposed to before with the NSA.

When the Director came back in, he again talked about the covert team. "The only one of the team that I know that you are familiar with is Vic Schneider, your Tae Kwon Do instructor. If you have any problem, you need only to let Vic now. He can be trusted beyond any slightest doubt. He's saved lives against the greatest of odds. He's saved mine a few times and I count him as one of the people that I most trust. We never associate together socially of course for the obvious reasons but I count him as one of my best friends. He is also the only member of the team that is directly, although indirectly involved with the NSA. He has never been a field agent, but rather has always been a marital arts instructor. Since he's the best and the NSA needed the best he was hired on staff."

When Ted and Vic arrived they were in an SUV. They were immediately brought up to date on the so called conspiracy.

Ted was a take charge individual with a very quick mind. He was in his late 50's but he was in top physical shape. Vic of course was a smaller man but both gave the appearance of being competent.

Ted and Vic agreed with Bob that the conspiracy was fake; they needed to find the people or persons involved and keep Bob and the rest of the list of people safe.

For his part, it was decided that given Charlie's physical appearance he would not arouse suspicion by not being in his office. This would keep the team away. But, first thing in the morning, Charlie needed to get to the office and wipe out the part of the security project that was already downloaded. The project should be loaded onto disks and would be put into a safe deposit box set up by Charlie. He would only be making a show of working on the project and the delay would be explained away as his injuries kept him away from it.

He told them, "Don's working on this case now with the DC FBI and I think I should at least print out a list of the intended victims."

All three of them shook their heads at this remark.

"Charlie, what are you going to tell him? If you tell him the truth, he's going to want all of the information you found."

Ted said, "Dr. Eppes, I believe that the first two murdered and the next intended victim, the Director, has a link somewhere that made them targets. Now more of that hit list could have the same link, but surely not all of it. We need to find that common link. I think the answer is in the old NSA files and we will have to look for it."

Bob continued for Ted. "Charlie, let the team work on this, you take the next two days off and I will stay hidden where I won't be found and just in case I will have my wife and her sister's family moved to a secure location."

We will get the next three people on that hit list and keep them safely hidden but I believe that to be a precaution that is not going to be needed."

"I can help with the old files. This is the kind of work I did for the FBI."

Bob told him "No Charlie, we can't risk it. You're too close to this. Someone gave you that disk for whatever reason. I don't believe you are a target as long as you do not appear to be involved."

Charlie needed a few answers before he let this go. "Bob, are you and this covert team trying to cover this up? If you find the persons responsible for the death of those two men, will they actually even make it to a fair trial?"