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Mac leaned back in her chair. “Well, he did go to Princeton so TigerKing could fit.”
“Yeah, but so did a pile of other people around here,” Jace said.
Dane had no idea who he was talking about, but it was a fair point. “Well, he also was the one with the connection to the container ship company. Cross’s office set up the training runs. That can’t be a coincidence.”
Mac turned and looked back at Dane. “But he would argue that while he had the connection, Owens had been the one who worked it out with the captains of the ships, or that one of the shipping executives and the captains had turned a blind eye. It doesn’t necessarily link him directly. If we’re going to accuse the Deputy Director of CGIS of selling American weaponry on the black market, then we better be damn sure we have solid proof.”
Koa stood and walked back to the kitchen. “She’s right.” A splash of coffee splattered the counter. He wiped it with a paper towel as he said, “We got nothing.”
“So, let’s get something,” Cain said. “It’s just gone twelve-hundred. Go home and get some sleep. Two together in shifts starting at sixteen-hundred. We’re gonna follow Cross until we catch him with his hand in the cookie jar, or something else breaks.”
“Why sixteen-hundred hours?” Cass demanded. “Why not start following him now?”
Dane sighed. “I can answer that. Because Cross is a political animal. They just found the weapons, and unless I miss my guess, Sinclair used mostly Navy guys to do it. Cross didn’t know Sinclair was undercover. He’s gonna be spitting mad. There will be lots of phone calls and name-calling and back and forth all afternoon. You gotta figure it will be at least sixteen-hundred before it gets sorted.”
Cain nodded. “Uh-huh, that’s what I figure. Then if he really is involved, he’s gonna want to check on his plans for the motherboards.”
“Why do we think they’re still on the island?” Mac asked. “I mean, think about it. Why wouldn’t he have sold them right away and gotten them out of here pronto?”
“It’s a good point,” Tac agreed.
Dane took another sip of his coffee. They weren’t wrong. Were they too late to find the motherboards? His gut said no. “Mac, you said he wanted the flow of information to go through him and only him, correct?”
She nodded.
“Well, what if there was a delay? What if he took the risk of riling everyone up to look for these things because he knew it would take a while to get them off Oahu?”
Mac frowned. “I’m not following you.”
“He knew the Navy would be looking for the motherboards, so he couldn’t move them quickly. What better way to control things than tell his people to look for them but keep him abreast of any tiny detail? He would know if someone was getting close and, better yet, all those people looking would scare informants and the like away. CGIS out there banging around as well as the Navy, there’s no way that wouldn’t cause a stir and he’d be in a position to control it.”
“He even said in his briefing to make as little noise as possible about this,” Mac added. “How can you send out an office full of agents and not make noise? That had to drive the Navy crazy because now everyone is talking about the weapons. They’re gonna get all kinds of false leads on one side of things, and people are going to disappear on the other. It’s brilliant when you think of it.”
Koa put his coffee cup in the sink. “Except now the other weapons have been found. So, what does that mean?”
Everyone stayed silent.
“It means we’re running out of time,” Dane said finally. “We have to find those motherboards soon, or they will be gone forever. Ben Hestman flipping sped up the timing on finding the weapons. Let’s hope Cross still isn’t quite ready to move the motherboards.”
“You know, you all are presuming that what you saw on the beach wasn’t the sale. That it was a delivery,” Mac pointed out. “It could have been the sale of the motherboards, and they could be long gone. Think about it. Owens had already collected the motherboards from the ship. Who would he be giving them to other than the buyer?”
“Fair point,” Cain agreed.
“My gut says no.” Dane just didn’t buy it. “I think he was delivering the motherboards to his boss.”
“Explain,” Cass demanded.
Dane mulled it over for a minute before speaking. He wanted to get everything straight in his head before spewing his theory. “I think Owens didn’t know who he was working for. Sinclair said the guy in San Diego didn’t know who the players were. He was kept in the dark for a reason. What if Owens was the same? He knew Casper was working for the same guy, but who’s to say he knew more than that? He knew Casper, and Casper knew the big boss. Casper kills Owens on the boss’s orders and then the boss kills him. Wraps everything up in a neat little bow. Hell, Owens’s team implodes all on their own, and I’m guessing they didn’t know anything beyond Casper either. Cross, or whoever the boss is, is home free.
“Now he has the motherboards and needs to sell them. Whatever the holdup was, it’s got to be close to being over. Cross is going to sell those motherboards in the next day or two, and then he really is home free.”
I agree,” Cain said. “With all these agents pounding around and asking questions, it would be damn hard to get the motherboards off the island. My gut says they’re still here. I have no idea if Cross has them, but whoever it is will probably want to move them quickly now. We just have to figure out how they’re going to do it.”
“You mean like a private jet or boat? There are how many of those on this island?” Cass demanded.
“Yeah, but maybe only a half dozen people who could be buyers,” Cain said. “Finn Walsh has been working on a list. There aren’t that many names. He said he’ll send it this afternoon. So I repeat—go home, get some rest, and be back here at sixteen-hundred. And, Mac, congratulations on being free.”
Mac stood. “Thanks. It’s kind of nice to know no one wants to kill me. Now, I just need a place to live, all new stuff, and possibly a new job, but hey, it’s all good.”
