The Other Path Chapter 85
"So, where will the girls stay while Vice hunts down Viveca, Brix, and the purple palace of pubescent prostitution?" Rick inquires, plopping bowls of tortilla chips and guacamole on the coffee table in front of Kate.
"The social worker, Miriam Gross, told me that they'd normally be sent to juvie while their home situations are evaluated. But since they haven't been charged with a crime and they're potential witnesses against a sex trafficker, they're in a safe house. Mike was pretty vocal about not trusting the cops guarding them, but I promised to keep an eye on the situation and check in with them. And they'll get a case manager they find less unsettling."
"That's good, but if someone ever tried to lure Alexis that way, I'd want to see them drawn and quartered. Better still, Gina's favorite torture: set out on a nest of fire ants with honey on their eyeballs."
Kate's lips twitch at the image. "I get where you're coming from, but I think a judge would rule that as cruel and unusual punishment."
"Of course, but that would be the point. Some cruelty might be a better deterrent than the system offers now. I'm guessing an asshole like Brix Borstein will have an army of lawyers to run interference for him. He could delay the case for years and end up with a slap on the wrist. In the meantime, those girls will have a lot fewer resources to help them overcome what happened to them – if they ever overcome it."
Kate loudly snaps a chip in half. "Sometimes, the justice system stinks. But at least those girls will have a chance now. And if Vice can track down Borstein, the DA will be anxious to nail him."
"So how hard can it be to locate that purple monstrosity? It would probably show up on Google Earth. And the satellite system the military and alphabet soup agencies use could pin down the coordinates to the millimeter."
"Tech is supposed to be working on it now, but the area around New York has a lot of coast. With Google maps, you know where you're looking. And the military surveils specific areas. Our people will have to search through a hell of a lot of images, assuming a satellite is aimed at the right spot."
"Maybe there's a faster way," Rick suggests.
"How?"
"You told me you think the house is on Long Island, maybe in the Hamptons. I know the denizens of that neck of the woods. They're anything but close-mouthed about what they consider an eyesore. We could drop in on some of the more gossip-ridden watering holes and see if we pick up any chatter. And there may be some rumors out there that can help me with my GAN. Some major political contributors hang out in the Hamptons. I might pick up some enlightening snatches of conversation."
"I understand keeping our ears open, but I can't drink, Babe. You know that."
"I'm not about to get boozed up while we're on the hunt, either. But virgin drinks look as fancy as the more mind-numbing versions. And the establishments are ecstatic to provide offerings with higher profit margins. They charge for the alcohol whether they add it or not."
"OK, but I'm teaching tomorrow."
"But you're off the next day, right? If your Tech people haven't found anything by then, we can take our field trip."
"What about Cronut?"
"We can use the beach house as our base of operations. The housekeeper will be there that day. He can stay with her. Everything will have our scents on it. He should feel right at home. And he'll have lots of room on the grounds to run around, too."
"I guess that could work," Kate considers. "And I wouldn't mind a walk on the beach. It's been a while."
"Yes, it has. So assuming the location of Borstein's retreat remains undiscovered, we'll execute our beachbound excursion."
While Kate is at the academy molding young minds, Rick reaches for his second cup of coffee. He'll run the kitchen fan to make sure the brewing aroma is gone by the time Kate gets home. But for now, he needs the caffeine. He's traced the origin of much of Hitman Hitch's wealth. He got a good start with wife number one, who was killed in a tragic accident that received almost no investigation. Aside from a trust for their son, Hitch got it all, about 30 million bucks. But wife number 2 is quite a step up. A Chinese immigrant, educated in the United States, she still has close ties to her family in China. That family happens to control a substantial slice of the cargo shipping from Asia. Over recent years, Hitch's father-in-law made substantial monetary gifts to Hitch, along with investments in his state that kept him popular with his constituents.
Marrying for money is not a new story. In many cultures and much of the world, it is an approved practice. And Hitch is hardly the only senator from either party to score big at the altar. The problem creeps in when politicians use their positions to further enhance their fortunes, particularly if a foreign power is involved. A foreign power with possible hostile intent transforms the corruption from dishonest to dangerous. This appears to be the case with Hitch. In particular, he's done everything he could to keep the United States from coming down on Chinese cybercrime. And watering down the laws giving the Chinese a pass also allows other adversaries to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities. Power companies attacked by ransomware are a prime example. Hitch has managed to seriously compromise the country's welfare for whatever slice of his in-laws' pie he receives.
Unfortunately, what Hitch gets out of the country's weakened defenses is still small potatoes. Someone, essentially a traitor, has to be cashing in a lot bigger. And Rick has yet to figure out who that someone is. Apparently, the various intelligence agencies haven't either, or if they have, they're keeping it under their hats.
So far, it's been Rick's experience that the government functionaries get so bogged down by bureaucracy that it takes civilian investigators to rake the ugly truth from the muck. In Rick's books, Rook is one of those investigators. And Rook is Rick's alter-ego, one of them at least. Rick will keep digging, right after he downloads even more security software for his computer. Who knows? He might even pick something up during his foray into the refuges of the rich and not-always-so-famous. It sure as hell can't hurt to try.
Kate slides behind the wheel of her unit but just sits for a while with her key in the ignition. She hopes she's getting through to the cadets, but she's far from sure. They're starting to offer the right answers to her questions. Still, she's suspicious that at least some of them have worked out what she wants to hear and are going along to score points. As her mock interrogations continue, her students start off according to the guidelines she's given them. Yet every so often, a strategy pulled from an old episode of "Law and Order" creeps in. Kate can almost hear the "chung chung" sound effect. She needs to shake things up a bit, but she's not sure how. Her road trip with Rick may clear her mind. She hopes so.
