Chapter 15.
SABOTAGE
The following morning a Sea Knight circled overhead the pad in San Diego until the pilot got clearance to land. From the helicopter emerged Hugh Heyman accompanied as always by Helena Bennett.
A couple of MPs, together with Admiral Canfield and Matt Trakker awaited him.
"Good morning, Sir." Matt said. "Sorry to have you coming out so early."
"Not at all, my boy." Said Hugh. "I can't sit out on something as important as this."
Matt introduced Hugh to Admiral Canfield, and the chief of security shock the admiral's hand.
"Do you have any updates?" Hugh inquired.
"Quite a lot." Matt replied. "I'll fill you in during the briefing."
They entered the main building, walked through a corridor, and then sat down in the briefing room. Canfield turned to the MPs at the door.
"Make sure that we are not disturbed."
When the door had been closed and everyone had sat down, Matt begun the briefing, standing in the front of the room, facing the crowd with a wall sized video screen behind him.
"We have spent the whole night going through the intelligence reports, sat system reports as well as signal intelligence and recordings of conversations between the cockpit of the Reconnaissance aircraft and the control tower. We have also spoken with the pilots and they have verified the reports given to us. The plane went down courtesy of an engine failure and it did not catch fire as it hit ground."
"But you said that the plane had burned." Canfield interrupted.
"Yes, I'm just coming to that." Matt said. "We arrived on the island at 02:43 PM yesterday, and according to calculations based on the heat around the wreckage and particles in the air, we believe that the plane was set on fire earlier the same day."
"No one was on that atoll before you." Canfield insisted. "We had the island under constant surveillance and should have detected the fire on our instruments!"
"Indeed, you would." Confirmed Matt. "If you had been briefed about it. We believe however that agents loyal to the Syndicate was on duty while this violation of the atoll occurred, and that they covered up the tracks by manipulating with the recordings."
Canfield sat up in his chair.
"That's preposterous! Can you substantiate that accusation of my men?"
Matt nodded to Paul who switched on the cannon to feed the computer images to the video screen on the wall.
"This is a satellite image of the island." Paul explained. "I have used the computer to magnify the image and we can clearly discern the crashed plane on the island. As noted, there is no evidence of any fire. I also want you to note the time in the upper frame."
The seconds passed by, and suddenly the image changed notably. The area around the wreckage was suddenly blackened, as if a fire had occurred. Of the plane only, a scarred skeleton remained. But the time indicated that only seventeen seconds had passed since Paul had begun running the sequence.
"What happened?" Both Canfield and H.H. asked. "To make that kind of damage a fire must have burned for several hours!"
"Indeed." Matt agreed. "We checked the recordings and discovered that it had been manipulated with. A looped sequence has been recorded over the original footage to cover the time that the hostile forces were on the atoll."
"Then it's safe to surmise that the personnel on duty during this time of space might be on the payroll of the Syndicate." Hugh noted.
"We have already taken the liberty of arresting those men for interrogation. Hondo and Morten are guarding them, so they don't experience any unfortunate accidents as some of our other prime suspects."
"We'll interrogate them after this briefing is over." Hugh said. "Right now, I want to hear all about what transpired out on the atoll yesterday."
Matt begun to give him detailed descriptions on the enemy, while Helena took notes. Calhoun added to the information by sketching out pictures of the speedboats and the uniforms worn by the agents they had encountered the previous day.
"They used helicopters of a type I've never seen before," Matt explained. "The helicopters had intermeshing-rotor configuration, with left and right axles close together but tilting outwards. It was a two-seater with weapon operator in the front and the pilot higher to the rear. Both crewmembers sit in separate dome-shaped cabins. It also had weapon wings with a total of six stores pylons."
Helena glanced over at H.H.
"It sounds like they developed those directly from the L.M. Talon prototype." She noted.
"The L.M. Talon prototype?" Hugh asked. "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that."
"If I remember the information correctly, an order was issued two years ago to Lucius Air Divisions to develop a new helicopter for the US Air Force," Helena explained. "His engineers came up with the Talon. Aviation experts at the Pentagon tested the helicopter, and they decided that they wanted some different features, delaying the order so the first shipment of Talons shouldn't be shipped out until next year."
"So how did it end up with the Syndicate?" Brad wondered.
"The most possible explanation is that the Syndicate, if this was indeed them, has performed acts of industrial espionage and stole the blueprints, and have access to factories that could build the helicopters for them." Helena said.
H.H. accepted this with a nod. He scratched his jaw, wondering just how large organization the Syndicate could have.
"What about the soldiers?" he asked.
Brad gave a good description on how they looked.
"All of them wore black leather jackets and brown uniform pants with leather boots." He told. "On the head they had a blue helmet with a mirrored visor. They also had a very impressive arsenal. Morten and I took out one MMS and one LMS, and they had one more LMS that we were unable to take out. I also noted a Multiple grenade launcher among the things they were setting up. Most of the soldiers carried M203 Grenade launchers as their personal weapons."
"Each of the vehicles we encountered had an insignia that might be the symbol of the Syndicate." Dusty added. "It was an insignia of a black cobra, coiled up to strike."
"What about the speedboats?" H.H. asked.
"Two-man crew. One driver, one gunner." Calhoun pointed out. "Two skis on the front. Armed with four torpedoes, spring launched. The gun tower had a two-barreled machine gun. .50 caliber bullets. Amour piercing."
H.H. was silent for a long instant, trying to absorb the information. Finally, he looked up again.
"Where you able to determine their destination when they retreated from the atoll?"
"They headed out towards the open sea." Bishop explained. "It appeared like they were heading towards Mexico, but then they disappeared from the screens. It's possible that they are using some kind of stealth feature."
"They do." Confirmed Helena. "The Talon is fitted with an advanced guiding system, stealth capabilities and an advanced flight computer. It was to be painted in a special alloy that would make all kind of radar and laser bounce off the hull, making it basically invisible to all kind of tracking equipment. The rotor is different as well, fitted with a special system that would silence the engine."
Marvin Rico added his voice to the discussion.
"Something I don't understand is how they could obtain this information in the first place. It's not the first time that the Syndicate goes inside our network. According to the reports Matt made they had also obtained secret information that enabled them to get inside of the World Consultation Building."
"There are always routes." Paul replied. "It is possible to monitor the computer traffic by linking up to a wireless network from a near located computer. The culprits could have parked outside the building and linked up on ordinary laptops via Wi-Fi, and that way obtain passwords that enabled them to hack into the network."
"Surely that could be avoided by using a coded security system?"
"People has a tendency of underestimating the risk of security breaches and all too often their passwords are extremely easy to figure out. Some use the name of their girlfriends, children and even pets as password. I knew one fellow who used his nickname as both username and password. From a security standpoint it is totally unacceptable."
Both H.H. and Helena had listened to this conversation with interest.
"Perhaps we should have all our personnel change their passwords." Helena suggested. "The passwords should be changed at least every month and must consist of both letters and digits."
"I was thinking the same thoughts." H.H. agreed. "It could at least stall and complicate further intrusions in the network."
"I've been thinking." Jacques said. "We know now that the Syndicate has in their possession some state-of-the-art weaponry and equipment. Obviously, they also intend to use it. I would believe that it's quite evident that they have their sight set for the conference in New York."
"I couldn't agree with you more." H.H. said. "This proves that they are prepared to use military force in order to attain their goal."
"It also dawned upon me that this doesn't fit in with the usual Modus Operandi of the Syndicate." Jacques continued. "This is a far more aggressive approach then we are used to. I'm thinking of the lecture Ms. Moore held about terrorism: The purpose of terrorism is to undermine their immediate target group – a government, political party or even a company and force them to change in a way that benefits the terrorists."
"You've given this quite a thought I see." H.H. noted. "But you are right. This fits perfectly with the most possible scenario that we ran. It's quite possible that the Syndicate now intend to draw our attention away from them and force us to deal with a more immediate problem. With our attention diverted, they will continue to spread their venom until they can take over this nation legally."
"In other words," Matt said. "It should be of top priority that we get back to Langley and complete our training, so we are ready for the peace conference. As it appears, we're going to get our hands full."
"I agree." H.H. said and got up. "I have a lot of paper works to deal with as well."
He turned towards Admiral Canfield, who had been silent during the last part of the briefing.
"If those men decide to talk, I want a full transcript." H.H. said. "And keep them under tight watch, our enemies have been known to silence witnesses."
Back at the Thomas Jefferson Training Field Matt put the team under a new training session. With the experience from how Brad and Morten had cooperated on the atoll, Matt had the team train in groups of two and learn to work better together. He wanted them to function as a well-oiled unit. He also had the agents learning how to use each other's vehicles.
"There might be times when one of you is not part of a mission, but we might have usage of your vehicle or your expertise anyway." Matt explained.
Pleased with how well things were going with the team, Matt took a stroll around the training center one evening.
A sudden sound brought him out of his thoughts. It was a moan of pain. It brought goose flesh on his arms and filled him with dread. Something terrible had just happened.
He rushed to the garage, where he had heard the sound coming from.
Lying in his full length at the floor was Marvin Rico. Matt rushed over and carefully turned him over on his back. His stomach was red with blood. He had been stabbed!
"Good Grief!" Matt gasped, then called out for assistance. "Medics!"
Matt's voice brought life to one of the shadows. A man rushed out of the garage. Matt wanted to take up the chase, but he could not desert Marvin, even if that meant allowing the culprit to escape.
He put his hand on Marvin's throat, searching for a pulse. He felt one. It was very weak. He turned over him to begin administrating CPR but was abruptly pushed away by Dr. Claire Peters who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Let me handle this." She said in a no-nonsense tone. "Try to get the culprit."
She didn't need to tell him twice. He immediately got up on his feet, and like an Olympic runner he sprinted after the fleeing man. He could still make him out clearly in the pale light cast by the moon as he dashed across the open field.
Matt was faster, and he rapidly closed in on his prey when he suddenly disappeared into the shadows between two buildings, hoping to lose him in the darkness.
This made Matt hesitate. He was not eager on following him into the shadows where the man could easily blindside him. He had already seriously injured one man, and what was to stop him from stabbing another?
He strained his eyes, trying to penetrate the darkness and forced himself to breath slowly, hoping to hear the other man.
Suddenly he saw an instant flash of light. It was the moon that reflected on the knife as the man tried to rush him. Matt caught him by the arm and twisted hard, forcing him to release the weapon. But when he tried to capitalize on the situation, the man dodged so quickly that Matt momentarily lost his balance. The man turned and fled once more.
Some shouts were heard then the night was torn apart by two loud shots. And he could hear something solid falling to the ground.
As he came up, he found a shocked soldier, one of the guards, standing over the fallen man.
He bent down and checked the man's pulse and found none. He was dead.
"He… he continued to run, even though I told him to stop!" he stuttered. "I killed him!"
"It's alright." Matt said. "You just did your job."
As he continued to examine the man the rest of the agents, as well as some of the center's soldiers came rushing over to see what the commotion was all about. Bishop brought with him a flashlight and directed the light into the face of the dead man, so they could get a good look at him.
"Good Lord," Calhoun gasped. "That's Chip Ramsey, he's one of the mechanics!"
"And obviously he was on the Syndicate's payroll." Matt added bitterly, showing the bloodied knife he had wrestled out of his hands.
Dr. Claire Peters was the last one to join up with them.
Everyone looked at her, waiting for news. Claire sadly shook her head.
"He's dead." She told. "Stabbed through the heart. He lived only long enough to warn me that some vehicles had been sabotaged, but not which."
"This is sickening!" Matt said, gritting his teeth in anger. "They figure that they can't take us out in fair combat, so instead they commit cowardly deeds like this, murdering our agents one by one in cold blood!"
Morten Øygard watched the dead man on the ground.
"He has been with us ever since we began our vehicular training." He recalled, scratching his thick hair as he talked. "Is it possible that he was also behind the sabotage of Phalanx?"
"It's not impossible." Bishop agreed. "But we will never learn the truth now that he's dead."
The MP's arrived and picked up the body and sealed of the area. They questioned both Matt and the soldier about what had happened, and it took quite some time before the specialists from Andy team could get into the garage and start to examine the vehicles. They discovered that Ramsey had only had time to sabotage Thunderhawk and Gator. The examination had been giving the team a whole day off duty.
The team was no less shaken by the death of Marvin Rico than they had been by the death of Katrina Dabrowski. But there was one significant difference between the two deaths; When Katrina had died, everyone had believed that it was a mechanical failure and that the vehicles they were assigned to was dangerous. This time it was a deliberate murder. An inside man had tried to sabotage the vehicles and Rico had died trying to stop him. It filled the agents with anger and a determination to bring down the Syndicate.
Matt flew over to New Orleans and The World Consultation Building for a lengthy meeting with Hugh Heyman regarding the latest incident. Once more he stressed on the importance to move the team to a confided base where only a carefully selected group of people could go in and out.
"How will this death affect the team?" H.H. asked. "Will you be able to attend the Peace building commission in New York?"
"The team is determined to get even with the Syndicate now that two members has been murdered. We will be there."
"Good. Because I really need you to be present." H.H. explained. "Once the top brass learned about the armed force that you encountered in San Diego, they have begun to take the threat they possess very seriously. They have asked Colonel Wolf to deal with the security measures."
Matt made a face.
"So they have no faith in us to be able to deal with the problem?"
"It's more that they expect a war." H.H. said bemused. "You know just as well as I do how Wolf will deal with the situation. He will go out with maximum force in order to repel his opposition, paying little attention to the safety of the public. I want your team to be there to contain the violence. Make certain that the civilians are evacuated."
"We'll do everything we can." Matt promised.
Hugh turned over to Lisa Moore, who looked weary. Matt guessed that she had been working hard with interrogations and different investigations since he last saw her.
"Has the interrogations turned up any leads?" H.H. asked.
"The soldiers from San Diego have made a full confession." Lisa said. "but the people they've pointed out are just small fries. We checked the bank account numbers from where they received their payment for the jobs, but they have also turned up blanks. The owner of the bank account used a faked identity."
"What about Alexander Osborne?"
"He refuses to talk. Some of our best interrogators have been trying to convince him to talk but to no avail. He's one tough nut to crack."
"What about Bonica and Dagger? They were both part of the operation."
"Gone underground. We have seen neither man since Bonica escaped Sato. He hasn't turned up in any of his usual places."
There was silence in the conference room. Lisa sipped on a cup of coffee. Matt stared into the wall. Hugh drew meaningless figures in his notes.
It was finally Lisa who begun talking once more.
"I have investigated Lucius Air Divisions in New Hampshire. Unlike Jefferson Pratt, the owner of the Cold Store, Lucius Matthews was very forthcoming and tried to assist me in my investigations as much as he possibly could. He was very distressed to hear that industrial spies had been able to steal the blueprints for the Talon and manufactured it on their own."
Hugh threw her a questioning look.
"I don't believe that he's on the payroll of the Syndicate." She added.
"I don't believe that either." Matt said. "My father and Lucius worked together from time to time. He's one of the last men I believe would sell out to the likes of the Syndicate."
"What about the weaponry?" Hugh asked. "Can we find out where they bought them?"
"Not likely. There are black market conventions everywhere where they could have bought those weapons. Basically, everything can be had if the price is right: Scud missiles, mortars, AK-47s, grenades, chemical weapons. You name it."
H.H. adjourned the meeting, and they began to gather their notes and clean up coffee mugs. When Matt was about to walk through the door, H.H. caught him by the shoulder.
"I want you to know that we are working on a special base of operations for your team." He told. "We have bought a large complex outside of Denver that our engineering crew is converting so it will be able to house all your vehicles, computer and other equipment that you will require. We will also help each of your agents to find apartments or family houses in the area."
"Very good, Sir." Matt said, but Hugh immediately pointed a finger at him, and he quickly corrected himself. "Hugh."
Matt took the elevator down to the engineering section and joined Andy and Maurice Billington over a cup of coffee. Andy was disturbed to learn that the saboteur had been a man from his own department.
"Do you believe that Ramsey was the inside man that's been bugging us?" He asked.
"No." Matt said. "He was just probably another one of the Syndicate's pawns. He wasn't important enough to have the knowledge that the insider has."
"Do you suspect anyone in particular? I know that you have a way of solving puzzles."
"No. I don't." Matt confessed. "This is one tough riddle to solve. Whoever this insider is he not only have access to top priority information, but he also sits in a position where he can stretch out his tentacles all across the organization. At first, I considered if it could be someone from Hugh's own office, but the incident when Alexander Osborne and Cesar Bonica broke into the building has made me reconsider. Not even Hugh himself has access to the whole building."
"Have it ever occurred to you that this insider of yours might be more than one person?" Maurice suggested. "He could have people in the building that reports to him."
"Actually, I don't think so." Matt dismissed. "I think that it is in fact just one man. His position is so important that he can't risk having people knowing who he is in case they would be exposed."
"I don't intend to argue with you," Maurice said and sipped on his coffee. "But I think that he definitely must have some kind of network in order to be as efficient as the security department believes him to be. There is no man alive who can have knowledge about everything that goes on in such a big complex as the World Consultation Building as well as what's transpiring outside of it."
"Perhaps you're right. I think the best way of defusing him is to share as little as possible about our discoveries and break-troughs."
Maurice agreed.
"Quite obviously the leak must be among the people who handles this information. I don't think that you should exclude the people working in Mr. Heyman's own staff so easily."
Matt tried a new approach.
"Let's say that Ulysses is not located in the building." He suggested. "But that he has people reporting to him on regular basis. What chances do we have of tracing the origins of these reports?"
Maurice thought it over for a few moments.
"Every E-Mail that's being sent from the computer is stored in the buildings main server where it is possible to locate it and search through its content. But of course, the plants would most likely not use something so easily obtainable."
"Are those messages traceable?"
"Surely you heard of Signal Intelligence?" Maurice asked. "An analysis network that can capture radio and satellite communications, telephone calls, faxes, e-mails and practically any kind of data streams anywhere in the world. If you really want to you can find anything in the world."
"It's just a matter of how much you really want it." Matt added, more to himself.
"Why wouldn't we want them stopped?" Andy asked.
"There are several reasons." Matt pointed out. "One of them is that the Syndicates existence is still not confirmed. They haven't admitted responsibility for any of the disturbances that has taken place around the country. Until their threat is established our resources will be limited."
"Perhaps this will change once the armed forces of the Syndicate starts to raise hell all over the country." Andy suggested.
"Probably." Matt agreed. "But then the question remains if our government will use these resources for domestic use, or if they will come to believe that they are originating from an outside source and instead fund our agency's for actions abroad."