Shane set down the last file folder and ran a hand over his tired eyes. For the past two days - since the day after he had returned to Salem - he had been reviewing everything the ISA had on Lawrence Alamain's operations. So far, they made a spider web look neat and tidy.
From what Shane could tell from the reports, after the Egypt raid, Alamain's people had shut down four known facilities that the ISA suspected were used for research and development of everything from new oil drilling techniques to so-called "medical" research. Some of the scientists were shipped to different countries and new facilities opened, albeit with new screening procedures that both existing and new employees had to undergo. Only two of the six ISA agents undercover in Alamain's operation had managed so far to get through the screening and one had been found out and killed in Madagascar.
And all of that had happened while Lawrence was locked up in the local Salem prison.
Somehow, Lawrence was still running his operation, even though his cell and almost all of his prison visits were monitored, and his entire house was crawling with ISA bugs and hidden cameras. The place was wired from the wine cellar in the basement to the attic. There was no way any conversation could take place in the house without it being captured by the ISA. Not to mention that the ISA had round-the-clock surveillance teams watching the front and rear entrances to the house, recording everyone who entered or exited.
So how was Lawrence still operating under the nose of the ISA? Process of elimination left only one explanation: that Lawrence was using his attorney to carry out his orders. Maurice Marchand was the only visitor whose conversations were not recorded.
But how did Shane prove it? No judge would authorize recordings of legal communications and the prison warden, despite being an old friend of Shane's and loathing Lawrence, refused to allow the ISA to record Lawrence's and Marchand's meetings without a court order. That was the same warden who had been perfectly happy to let Shane plant Johnny Corelli in the prison to trick Cal into trying to escape. Apparently, it was a lot easier to deny an entrapment claim than explain away a tape of a confidential conversation.
That's not going to stop me. Maybe he could not record Lawrence's meetings with the attorney, but he could see what the attorney did after those meetings.
Shane picked up the phone and called Tarrington.
"It's Donovan," Shane said. "I've gone through the files and I want to start by putting round-the-clock surveillance on Alamain's lawyer. Let's also get a unit inside and wire Marchand's office. . . . Yes, I know it's a lawyer. . . . Yes, I know we don't have a court order, but I don't care. We won't use anything unrelated to Alamain, and even that will just be for background. We need to know what he's up to." After Tarrington grudgingly approved, Shane added, "We'll have a 'cleaning crew' go in tonight or tomorrow. They'll go in at night, so the office should be empty, giving them plenty of time to make sure everything's operational."
With that done, Shane turned to some other outstanding issues. "What have the scientists come up with on Egypt?" The ISA had assembled several of their top scientists and medical personnel to review Shane's and Nowicki's reports on the raid and the effects they had described from the chemical fire.
Tarrington did not sound very optimistic. "Dr. Reilly's team doesn't have enough information right now. Has Johnson remembered anything else?"
Not that Shane knew, but then he had not discussed Steve's progress with Kim yet. After their exchange the day he came back to Salem, he had tried to keep his distance. But he would have to begin pushing soon.
"I haven't had a chance to discuss matters with Kim," Shane said. "I've been too busy trying to get up to speed on the Alamain investigation."
"Shane . . . We need to find out what Johnson knows. I told you in Cyprus that it is critical. I've already given you a great deal of latitude because he's a member of your family, but if we do not get answers soon, we have ways of extracting the information."
Shane understood what Tarrington meant. In the years since Shane had tried an ISA 'truth serum' on Emma, the scientists had improved the agents significantly. But Steve would have to be restrained and possibly sedated before they could use something like that on him. And that meant locking him up.
"Give me more time, Tarrington. I'm sure Kim's made progress." Shane hoped he could back that up. "Before I left England, Steve was opening up to her. So let me talk to her and see what she can tell me."
"Very well, Shane," Tarrington said. "But I'm giving you two weeks. If you don't have significant progress by then, we move Johnson."
That was about as much as Shane could have hoped for on Steve right now. If it came to it, Shane would do everything he could to prevent the ISA from taking Steve, but Shane did not want to get into open warfare with his boss unless it became absolutely necessary. For the moment, Steve was safe; Shane could reassess the situation in a week.
Rather than continuing that topic of discussion, Shane changed the subject. "In the meantime, what about getting a couple of scientists to the compound in Egypt? If we could get soil samples or have them check the ruins, maybe they could find out what chemicals were there."
"That's not going to happen," Tarrington said. "The Egyptian government has the compound being guarded by regular army units. Alamain paid a lot of money to get that compound up and running, and the government is quite unhappy about the raid. It's just a good thing they have no idea who did it or we would have quite an international incident on our hands - as you well know."
"If that's a reminder to keep things quiet, Tarrington, I didn't need one." Shane was well-aware of the consequences of the ISA's involvement in the raid becoming public. "I guess it's too much to hope that we could sneak an operative into one of the units assigned to guard the facility?" Tarrington's harsh laugh gave the answer. With a sigh, Shane said, "Yes, I suppose that was overly optimistic."
They finished the call by dealing with a couple of routine matters, but Shane barely paid attention. The entire time he was thinking about how he needed to find out what Steve knew. As Shane hung up the phone, he knew he would have to discuss the matter with Kim, though he would have liked to avoid another uncomfortable scene.
Shane started to pick up the phone, but there was a knock at the door of his study. "Come in," he called out.
Simmons entered. "Mrs. Johnson is here to see you."
"Kayla?" Shane asked, standing up from his desk. That was definitely a surprise.
"Yes . . . me, Shane." Kayla walked past Simmons, a determined look on her face. "We need to talk - and I'm not leaving until you tell me what I want to know."