Last Chance to Die, Noah Boyd [most read book in the world TXT] 📗

they sent this out, trying to find out who he is. They wanted to reward him. Why do you think someone would vanish like that?”

“Maybe he didn’t want to pay for the windows,” Vail said. “Or answer a lot of useless questions.”

Carson turned the flyer around to show Vail the surveillance photo of the man who had disrupted the robbery. “You wouldn’t know anything about it, would you? What with both of you being from the Northwest Side and in the construction business.”

Vail didn’t look at the flyer. “Retired or not, Les, you’ve still got a pretty good eye.”

“We heard that when you were fired, it was for doing the right thing, but nobody ever got any particulars. And that bank robbery . . . well, that tells me a hell of a lot more about you than a set of credentials. I assume that any good faith I might show you will be reciprocated.”

“Just give me someone to throw through the window.”

Carson typed the account number into the computer on his desk. “The balance on that account is zero.”

“That’s good. What’s the holder’s name?”

“Donald Brown. With an address in Evanston.” Carson started writing down the information.

“Is there a phone number?”

“Yes,” Carson said.

“Let’s find out if any of this isn’t phony. Can I use your phone?” Carson pushed it toward Vail and wrote down the number for him.

“Can I ask what kind of case this is?”

“This has to stay right here. The only thing I can tell you is that it is a counterintelligence matter, at an extremely high level.” Vail dialed the number. He listened for a few seconds and hung up. “It’s a restaurant. Did this Brown withdraw the money himself?”

Carson queried the computer again. “No, all three deposits were wire-transferred out of here the day they were received.”

“To where?”

Carson hit another key. “That’s odd, it doesn’t show. That information has to be listed.”

“Does someone have to authorize those transfers?”

“Yes,” Carson said. “But the data can’t just disappear. Let me get ahold of our IT guy.” While Carson made the call, Vail wondered if he hadn’t run into another dead end.

He felt something he wasn’t used to—panic. What if he couldn’t figure this out? What if Kate went to prison? How could this be happening? He thought about what she must be going through, the confusion of being one of the top law-enforcement officials in the country and then, the next moment, a prisoner. And even if they were able to clear her, was her career over? Her competence was already being questioned because of that ridiculous suicide rumor. How could she recover from this? She must be going crazy right now. At least he was able to do something about it to keep his sanity.

He hoped she would realize that he was working on it. If only there were some way for him to get word to her that he was, but that might prove just as difficult as tracing the three-quarters of a million dollars that had seemed to vanish from the bank.

Carson said, “He’s going to trace everything through the computers. I told him to make it a priority, but it’ll be at least an hour. Come on, I’ll buy you lunch.”

When they returned, Carson called the computer analyst back. Almost immediately he started writing on a pad of paper. “Okay . . . Okay . . . Really? That’s odd. Can you trace that? . . . Okay, thanks, Tommy.” He hung up. “All three transfers out of the bank were authorized by employee code ‘13walker13.’ And it looks as if the same person wiped the transfer information from our computer.”

“What’s his name?” Vail asked.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Why?”

“That was the user ID for one of our vice presidents who retired six months ago and moved to Arizona. His access to the system was never canceled. Someone got ahold of it and used it.”

“So the Bureau sent three-quarters of a million dollars to this bank and there’s no way to track where it went.”

“The IT analyst says he doesn’t think so, but he’s going to keep at it. I have to apologize, Steve. Security at this bank is my responsibility, and obviously I’ve got some work to do.”

“Don’t disembowel yourself just yet. The people involved in this investigation are very smart and have gone to a great deal of trouble and possess unlimited resources. If it’s any consolation, I’ve been made a bigger fool than anyone. We’ll just have to get creative.”

“How?”

“Whether you’re after the lowliest of thieves or the president of the United States, what’s the one tactic that rarely fails?” Vail said.

“I don’t know, what?”

“Follow the money. Is there a phone somewhere I can use in private?”

“Use mine. I’m going to go find out how this happened.”

“Actually, if you could, leave that access in place. I think I know a way to use it.”

After Carson left the office, Vail picked up the phone and dialed John Kalix’s number.

19

At a few minutes before eight the next morning, Vail walked into Les Carson’s office and asked, “Your people ready?”

“I just talked to Tommy. They’re locked onto that account. In fact, the deposit won’t move out of here until he personally releases it.”

“And if 13walker13 accesses it, we’ll be able to trace it to whoever is using the password?”

“To whatever computer is being used in this building, yes,” Carson said. “This must be a big case. One phone call and you get them to send half a million dollars that’s just going to disappear into . . . who-knows-where.”

When Vail had called Kalix, he told the deputy assistant director he wanted the half million dollars they had promised Calculus for the final double agent to be wired to the same Chicago bank first thing in the morning. Kalix had argued that was in effect tantamount to giving the Russians half a million dollars more for framing Kate. He feared that when it got out, which the Russians would make sure happened eventually, it would be highly embarrassing for the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division.

Vail said, “It’s the only