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Watkins shook his head. “The Russians, the North Koreans, the Iranians…none of them could put together something this big. It has to be China.”
Lacy remained calm and respectful, but she pushed back. “Or a non-state actor with the means. It still could be an industrial espionage operation, although admittedly, it would be the largest one I’ve ever heard about.”
A little derision slipped into Watkins’s voice now. “You are saying Microsoft’s assassination squads are doing this to bolster the corporate bottom line?”
There were soft chuckles throughout the room. But Lacy, as far as Pace could tell, remained unfazed. “Respectfully, Deputy Director, Microsoft has a market value higher than the gross domestic product of Italy. Apple has twice the market value of Mexico’s GDP. Alphabet has the market value of Russia’s GDP. There are many companies on Earth with resources on par with or in excess of many nations.”
“Apple doesn’t have an army,” Nance countered.
“Armies can be bought, Chip.” She held her hands up. “I’m just suggesting that fixating immediately on China, despite their known interests in AI, might hamper our investigation, especially when we’re talking about the very lucrative high-tech space.”
Pace expected Lacy to be admonished by Watkins, but instead the big man said, “Fair enough. Everybody keep an open mind.” He turned to Pace, changing the subject. “What do we know about the hitters?”
Pace was back on solid ground. “Palo Alto, we’re relatively certain, was conducted by Scott Kincaid.”
“Fuck,” Watkins muttered now.
Watkins clearly knew the name Scott Kincaid, and it was clear to Pace by looking around the table that everyone else did, as well.
“How do we know?” the DDO asked.
“He was sighted about ten or twelve minutes after the attack. A private jet left Palo Alto airport an hour after that and flew to a regional airport in Guatemala. The next morning it flew up to Mexico City. The jet’s registry is impossibly murky, hinting at some sort of subterfuge, but the timing and locations are right for the hits in Cali and Mexico City.”
Watkins was confused. “So…what happened in Guatemala?”
“Nothing, as far as we know. There was a shooting an hour or so away from where his plane landed, but they like local gang members for that.”
“Are the gang members talking?”
“All three on the scene when the smoke cleared are now on slabs at the local coroner.”
Watkins nodded, thinking a moment. “How long has it been since Kincaid’s trial?”
Nance answered this. “Ten years.”
Watkins shook his head. “Piece of shit. Dude should be in the naval brig in Norfolk for the rest of his life after what he did to those civilians in Syria. Instead, he gets a pat on the ass and a ‘sorry for the misunderstanding’ from the DOJ, then starts plying his trade as a killer for hire.”
Gopal said, “The one good thing about Kincaid is that, unlike the Gray Man, we never had anything to do with him. He’s the SEALs’ problem, not ours.”
Watkins countered his subordinate. “He’s our problem now, Naveen.” Back to Pace he said, “What about the other locations? The assassins?”
“In the attempted assassination of Anton Hinton in the UK, the dead hitters were Bulgarian. In Israel we have no idea, ditto Osaka, Munich, Seoul, and Bangkok, Bucharest, and Sydney. I’m working with the FBI on reaching out to local authorities in all these places so that as soon as they know, we know.”
Watkins waved a hand in the air. The Chinese are not going to…” He stopped, looked at Angela, then said, “The unknown opposition…is not going to just be allowed to slaughter everyone in the tech industry they see as a threat to their mission. Whoever the hell they are, and whatever the hell their mission is.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Jim, the Agency needs to have eyes on everything that’s happening on this issue, all over the world. It’s on your shoulders. You good with that?”
“Fine, sir. What resources do I get?”
“What do you need?”
“Clearance to talk to everyone. About everything.”
“Done. What else?”
“I need a pipeline to the FBI.”
