Font Size:  

Cipriani nodded. “The client is completely anonymous, but we have a hard copy of his instructions. They include various scenarios and schedules for file release.”

“I’d love to have the original of that as well as your assurance that no copies exist.”

“I’ll arrange it.”

That was apparently more than Necchi could bear. “Marcelo. This is malpractice. You can’t—”

“Shut up, Dante,” Cipriani said before Rapp had to. “I don’t think I need you anymore. Why don’t you go back to your office.”

“But—”

“Now, Dante!”

He reached for his phone, but Rapp beat him to it and smashed it against the table.

“I don’t think it benefits either party to have a recording of this conversation,” Nash said as Rapp stood and headed for the door.

He pulled out his wallet and tossed a few hundred-euro notes on the table to cover the damage. “Now, if you could get us that original, it looks like we’re leaving.”

CHAPTER 41

CIA HEADQUARTERS

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA

U.S.A.

IS Mitch all right?” Marcus Dumond said. “He looks dead.”

“Not yet,” Rapp said from his position lying on the couch in Irene Kennedy’s office. He didn’t bother to open his eyes when the young hacker walked in. More than forty-eight hours without sleep had made them feel like they were full of sand.

“You sure?” Dumond said. “You kind of smell like it.”

Also, more than forty-eight hours without a shower, he was reminded.

“What did you find?” Kennedy said as Rapp pushed himself into a sitting position. She was at her desk with Mike Nash in one of the facing chairs. He was fresh as a daisy in neatly pressed khakis and a golf shirt. No matter what the circumstances, Nash always looked like the former Eagle Scout he was.

“Not much,” Dumond admitted. “The computers were wiped clean.”

“Not what we wanted to hear,” Rapp said. “Are you sure?”

“Mitch, please. Do I tell you how to shoot people?”

Rapp didn’t react other than to frown imperceptibly. In his current mood, anyone else ribbing him would have found themselves with their face shoved through a wall. He had a soft spot for this kid, though. Dumond had always reminded Rapp of his younger brother Steven. But with an Afro.

“Could they be holding out on us?” Nash said. “Dante Necchi didn’t look happy about handing us the keys to their kingdom.”

Dumond shook his head. “The files were overwritten the day Isabella Accorso died. They have a system in place for eradicating data and making sure it’s unrecoverable. All very thorough and professional.”

“We’ve looked into Accorso’s background, and there’s nothing to suggest that she had some hidden involvement in this,” Kennedy said. “I don’t think there’s any question that she was threatened and told to wipe the system after she delivered the files. The only reason we have the hard copy of the instructions is because they were stored in a filing cabinet that she didn’t have access to.”

“Speaking of which,” Nash said. “Isn’t the next release scheduled for today?”

Kennedy nodded. “Ten minutes from now.”

“Do you think it’s still going to happen?” Rapp said. “If I had those files, I’d want to know what was in them before I splashed them across the ’Net. Controlling information is more useful than releasing it.”

“It’ll go out,” Dumond said, sounding typically confident. “I know the level of encryption Rick used, and I can tell you it’s not trivial. Even with unlimited resources, we’re talking years to crack it. Maybe -decades.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like