Papa Jack Chapter 44
Richard waves Kate into the desk chair in his home office. "Have at it! My sign-on is EdgarArthur, all one word, but the names are capitalized."
"An homage to Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle?" Kate asks. "Your literary idols?"
"Indeed they are, Detective. Excellent deductive reasoning."
"Let's hope my deductive reasoning is as good on this case," Kate says, logging onto the search engine she needs. "The name on the attaché case guy's itinerary was Jason Marks."
"Marks is a pretty common name," Richard muses, "and Jason isn't rare either. You might try throwing Bracken in as an additional keyword and see if you can get mentions of them together."
"Which would be what I need," Kate agrees. "All right. Here we go. Castle! There are a few articles here written by reporters questioning Jason Marks as an aide to the Bracken campaign. And there's a picture, too, of Bracken surrounded by eager young supporters, including Jason Marks. He's a little older now, but the face is a match."
"Do the articles say anything specific about what Jason does for Bracken?" Richard asks.
"Something about being a liaison to constituents in need of Bracken's strong support."
Richard snorts. "Like supporting their drug habits. But a job like that would justify Jason shuttling back and forth to the city. He could transmit orders, and God knows what else."
"I couldn't tell anything from what was in his attaché case except that he likes to stay clean-shaven. Bracken's on the run. What kind of an order would Marks be transmitting now?" Kate wonders.
Richard's throat tightens. "Beckett, if Bracken is covering his tracks and Coonan is still a hitman…."
A chill courses through Kate's veins."Then Marks could have been transmitting a hit list."
"And perhaps instructions for accessing funds to pay for the hits," Richard adds.
"We've established the Bracken connection to Coonan. I'll need to have someone on him 24/7. If we can catch him trying to carry out his assignment, I'll be able to squeeze him."
"And what about Vong?" Richard queries.
"If we have eyes on Coonan, we should pick up on whatever he's doing with Vong, too. If it's drugs, maybe we can get Vong to flip on Coonan. That will give us even more pressure to bear on the big Dick. And we can turn anything we find out about drugs over to Narcotics and the DEA."
"Sounds like a plan," Richard notes. "But I'm going to have to leave you to carry it out for a while. I have a meeting tonight with…."
"Your anonymous source?"
"Uh-huh. You can keep using the computer if you want. Just put it to sleep when you're done and set the door to lock behind you when you leave."
"No, I'm leaving too, Castle. I need to go to the precinct and get the ball rolling for the dedicated surveillance on Coonan. Can I drop you somewhere?"
Richard chuckles. "And keep your eyes open for who I might be meeting? Sorry, Beckett. I know your detective's curiosity must be tingling, but anonymous must remain anonymous. Believe me, it's safer that way – for everyone, including you."
"So, Beckett, this Jason Marks is a direct connection between Bracken and Dick Coonan?" Montgomery questions.
"Absolutely," Kate declares. "I have printouts of articles verifying Marks worked for Bracken. It all fits together, Sir, the drugs, the hits, everything. We just need to keep eyes on Coonan long enough to get something that will stand up in court."
"All right, Beckett," Montgomery allows, "but that kind of surveillance is expensive. If it doesn't yield results, 1PP isn't going to be having any celebrations for either of us."
"I understand that Sir, but Marks and Coonan are the links we need to Bracken's whole filthy drugs and murder chain."
"Then get your surveillance going, but one of the shifts will have to be yours."
"I've got it, Sir."
After a cab, a subway ride, and another cab, Richard slides into a battered booth opposite his father in a dingy bar. "Why the enhanced spy stuff, Dad? What's going on?"
"I have Bracken's location for you, at least where he was at my last update."
"Where?" Richard demands.
"Aboard a yacht on a general heading toward Venezuela."
"Which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.," Richard says.
Amusement plays in Jack's eyes. "Did you expect him to go somewhere that has one, Richard? The real problem is the number of resort islands all along the Venezuelan coast, including Isla de Margarita and Los Roques archipelago. If he has the funds, he could hide out quite comfortably on any of them. I won't be able to tell you which one unless a satellite picks up his boat dropping anchor. But that information isn't why all the cloak and dagger stuff. I got a call alert today."
"What kind of a call?"
"From your Ms. Nekras to a suspicious cell number. She called right after she spoke to you."
"How did you know that she – never mind, CIA. So, a suspicious cell number assigned to whom?"
"We don't have the highest confidence level on that intelligence, but we suspect that it's associated with the remaining member of the rogue cell. Son, if that's true, the fundraiser you and Martha are planning at Loftview could be the target of the next bombing attempt."
"We'd lose our deposit, and I don't know how I'd explain the loss to the charities, but I could pull out of having the event there."
"Richard, that's the last thing you should do. They'll figure out you've caught on and choose another target, maybe one of the more heavily populated stops on your book tour. But if we know the venue, we can lure the last remnant of the cell in and take him out once and for all."
"Dad, the agency can't just endanger all those people."
"It won't. It will have operatives there ahead of time to sweep for any signs of explosives. If we can't give the all-clear, we can always put out a story that there's a gas leak or something and cancel the event before anyone is in the target zone. But whenever you work with Ms. Nekras again, you have to keep your eyes and ears open for any contact she has with the cell. We think the rogue agent involved calls himself Anatoly. You'll have to be alert for any whisper of that name."
"Anatoly," Richard repeats. "Got it. And Dad, have you ever heard of a Jason Marks working for Bracken?"
"The name doesn't ring a bell, but if his job is primarily domestic, it wouldn't. Still, with Marks or anyone else you suspect of working with Bracken, you need to be on double your guard."
"Yeah, Dad, I know. Do they serve something resembling food here? I haven't had anything except coffee and a doughnut since breakfast this morning, and I'm starving."
"Actually, the Irish stew is pretty good. I heard the owner got the recipe from his grandmother. Other than the bookmaking and discrete referrals to ladies of the evening, it's what keeps this place afloat."
Richard shakes his head. "Nice to know that there's one legitimate attraction to this place. I'll go put in an order for some stew. You want some?"
"Sure," Jack agrees, "And the Irish coffee isn't bad either."
"Irish stew and Irish coffee, " Richard notes. "Got it."