He put me on hold and I turned to Jennifer, saying, “They got him flying to Argentina, of all places.”
She said, “Why?”
“I think it’s a diversion. That guy is one smart mother fucker, and we’re being played.”
Creed came back and said, “Yep. They do.”
“Crack their system and check for his entry. Get the biometrics there and match it to ours. I’m betting it’s someone else.”
He said, “I’m going to need authority to do offensive network ops in South America. My acting authority ended in Mexico.”
I got a little aggravated, saying, “How hard is it? Are you going to have to risk exposure?”
“No, it’s easy if I get permission.”
“Then just fucking do it. If anyone bitches, tell them you thought the authority was for the SOUTHCOM region, not for the country of Mexico.”
He said, “That’s what I have, but Mexico’s in NORTHCOM, so unless you want me to crack into Canada’s system, we’re out of luck.”
I snarled, “Then tell them you’re stupid and you thought Argentina was NORTHCOM too.”
He backed off, saying, “Okay, okay, calm down. I’ll do it. They probably don’t know how any of this works anyway. They’re like a bunch of Boomers trying to make a router work. I’ll say the information was passed to Mexico or something.”
“Good, good. I appreciate it. We may only get one chance at this, so while you’re rooting around in there, capture any biometrics and passport data for anyone else who’s traveled to Argentina on a Lebanese passport in the last few days.”
I heard, “Pike, come on...” and hung up the phone.
Jennifer said, “That’s going to go over well when you brief it.”
“I’m not allowed to talk, and Creed thinks they’re too computer illiterate to realize he cheated. How much time do we have?”
“Five minutes.”
“Get the reservation at the steak house and then pull up the VTC.”
Two minutes later, the screen cleared and I could see the Blaisdell Consulting SCIF with the monitor on the far wall showing the Oversight Council situation room. Wolffe heard the beep of me logging in and moved in front of the camera, saying, “You on, Pike?”
I said, “Yeah. Got you five-by-five, but I didn’t get the Oversight feed. I’m on yours.”
“Yeah, I did that on purpose. I don’t want them knowing you’ve dialed in.”
“You mean you don’t want me to have the ability to break into the conversation.”
“Yeah, well, that too.”
I laughed and said, “You got my notes? About the sponsors?”
“I do, and Creed just told me about the Argentina thing, but Pike, I should warn you, this is going to be quick. The president said he only had five minutes to spare before a trade delegation, and I don’t think they’re going to agree to let you fly to South America.”
I said, “Well, just press them. You never know. They may have a momentary lapse in judgment.”
Chapter 27
We only had to wait another minute before I caught movement on the far screen. I saw the Council begin to file in the room and Wolffe said, “Showtime, putting you on mute.”
The Council took their seats and without preamble, President Hannister said, “Make this quick. Where do we stand?”
Kerry Bostwick, the D/CIA said, “We know for a fact that the Ghost crossed the border to Mexico, and suspect he has had onwards travel to Argentina.”
