Rundown (Curveball Book 2) (39 page)

“
The
new leader was an unknown; an extremist.  He believed that if
Americans wouldn’t listen to the dangers of technology, they needed
to be shown by using their own advances against them.”

“
That’s
a bit hypocritical if I understand you correctly,” Breanne states. 

“
Aren’t
all extremist groups?” Mark counters before going on. 
“Believe it or not, Vivian and another member of Threads are the
only ones who have met their new leader…even after years of
building their trust I was never given access.  Because of their
new philosophy the CIA decided that I needed to get closer in order
to figure out their true intentions.  This is what led to me
faking my death.”

Mark
takes a sip of coffee and turns his attention to me.

“
Alexis’s
involvement began just shy of a year later.  She became aware of
a breach in Innovation Airways network, and ultimately came across
the first email between Vivian and her manager, Henry Ridges,
regarding Threads.  She performed digital forensics to recover
deleted records and personal folders on their computers by hacking
the Threads’ network.”

Standing,
I walk over to ‘the board’, looking at where Mark had pointed
when he said the name Henry Ridges. 

“
You
said Henry Ridges was Alexis’s boss.  This,” I say pointing
to the prick’s headshot, “is a picture of the pilot.”

Breanne
gets up and joins me, trying to recall seeing him, I think. 

“
That’s
correct,” he replies, taking the picture down and studying it
himself.  “You know what happened to the actual pilots. 
Henry was responsible for that and he flew the plane that day. 
He had been an airline pilot in his late 20’s, before his license
was revoked for flying while intoxicated.  He spent a few years
doing odd jobs while he pursued his Associates Degree in computer
science.  After that, he held a few jobs in IT security for
other airlines and ultimately secured a managerial position with
Innovation Airlines.”

“
How’d
he get involved with Threads?” Breanne asks.

“
Black
widow,” Spencer says.  “A female member of the organization
recruited him.”

Turning
my attention back to the board, I follow a line from Henry to
Alexis.  Above the line is a piece of paper that reads ‘manager’
and below the line is the word ‘accident’.  I remove the
tack from the latter and rub the paper between my thumb and
forefinger. 

Mark
hands me a document and points to an email exchange between
[email protected],
who we’ve confirmed is Vivian, and
[email protected]
. 

Perplexed,
I look to Mark. 

“
Pilots
use the phrase, ‘dashes two’ as slang for a co-pilot. In this
instance, Henry was the actual pilot of the flight.  However, he
was Vivian’s second in command, her co-pilot so to speak, which is
where the nickname came from.”

“
I
feel like I’m missing something,” Breanne says.  “What
does any of this have to do with Innovation Airways?”

“
The
airline was targeted by Threads because of the technology. 
Members of Threads thought linking people’s thumbprints to their
bank accounts and storing it was wrong.  In their opinion, the
misuse of that information was imminent so they set out to show the
world that technology could be used against them by redirecting a
plane that shouldn’t have been susceptible to an attack.”

“
Killing
all those people was justified to them?”

“
The
people aboard the plane were never supposed to be killed.  As
you’re well aware, many people aboard were heavily involved in
high-tech charities.  Several owned their own companies in
Silicon Valley or were involved in government decisions that resulted
in funding being given to those organizations.  Redirecting the
flight was intended to be a scare tactic.

“
But
when the new leader got wind of a financial opportunity if the
passengers were killed, their objective changed.  This of course
wasn’t widely known.  Only Major Arnold, Vivian and Henry
Ridges were part of that plan.  No matter how close I got to
Vivian, she never confided that piece of information, and I’m sure
that was to limit the amount of people with whom they’d have to
share their wealth.” 

“
How
would they get rich off of people dying?” I ask.

“
The
code Henry asked Alexis to develop was…I’ll try to simplify how
it would have worked.  Someone is targeted for a few months
before they die, maybe even longer.  The person’s death could
have been brought on by an accident or it could be a cancer patient
who didn’t have long to live.  Their home systems are
hacked to gain access to bank accounts.  Purchase history and
basic lifestyle choices are monitored.  Once Henry had access,
the code would have allowed him to take small amounts of money over
time, and override bank statements and other account history so that
the missing funds wouldn’t draw attention.  Essentially, they
were rewriting history while pocketing the change.”

Spencer
steps forward and points to an advertisement that boasts Innovation
Airways value proposition.

“
Major
Arnold wanted to test the software on a large scale.  They were
already moving forward with rerouting the maiden flight and they
fundamentally disagreed with the values of the people onboard,”
Spencer explains.  “And because of how passengers’
thumbprints linked to all the personal records they were looking for,
Threads decided to use those passengers as subjects for their test
case.”

 “
If
they didn’t have the code Alexis was supposedly developing, why’d
they go forward with the plan?”

“
Simple,”
Spencer replies.  “It had been their plan all along. 
They couldn’t back out or they risked raising flags with other
members.  Henry also thought he could figure out the code
himself, but he was unsuccessful.”

“
When
the two of you survived,” Mark interjects, “the amount of
information you had about what happened was unclear to Vivian and
Major Arnold.  That’s why they tried to track you down before
anyone knew you were alive.”

“
So
why’d they kill innocent people if they got nothing from it?” I
press.

“
We
aren’t positive, but we have reasons to believe that Vivian and
Major Arnold thought Henry could figure it out up until the end. 
Now that Vivian knows there’s information potentially linking
Alexis to knowledge of my death and Innovation Airways, she’s
convinced Alexis had information hidden at her house.  Vivian
doesn’t know that I’m aware of the code Alexis was developing,
only that they planned on diverting the plane.  When Vivian left
the gala, she was agitated and told me that she was concerned that
her involvement in the organization was going to be exposed, though
she wouldn’t elaborate.  I convinced her that it was a good
idea to go to California and see what she could find out about who
had been there.  Right now she’s probably concerned that Major
Arnold will throw her to the wolves to save himself, and she’s
probably right.”

“
If
you knew Vivian and this Henry guy were plotting to do all of this,
why is Vivian still running free?” Breanne asks.

“
Because
unless we can find the information Alexis had, Vivian is the only one
who can provide it.  I’m talking about names of high-level,
influential people who are supporters of this organization. 
More importantly, we need to identify their leader.  Without him
this organization will just rebuild itself under another name and
we’ll be starting from scratch.  Any downtime will cost more
time, money and lives.”    

“
What
is it that you think we can do to help?” I ask.

“
We’re
going to convince Vivian that you have incriminating evidence,”
Mark says, looking straight at me. “We’re going to force Major
Arnold out of hiding.”

Likely
Story

“
This
is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard,” I mutter. 

For
over two hours I’ve had to listen to Mark and Spencer go on and on
about their plan, which to me sounds more like a suicide mission
starring Drew as the victim.  I’m trying not to be too
condescending, but let’s be honest; I don’t have the energy to
care about sparing their egos.  Not when Drew’s life could be
in danger.

Sick
of fidgeting with my necklace, I pile my hair on top of my head and
secure it with a rubber band.  I’m so anxious that my hands
won’t stay still, nor will my feet.  While fidgeting with my
necklace and wearing the carpet thin, I come to the conclusion that
I’m having a moment—one that thousands of women have experienced
since the beginning of time… 

Say
you’re in the kitchen and you have a hot dish in your hand and need
to get a trivet from the drawer adjacent to the stove.  Only the
stove and drawer aren’t just next to each other, they’re
placement creates a 90 degree angle which prevents you from fully
opening the drawer unless the stove is open.  Why?  Because
when the stove is shut there’s an inch of overlap.  Try as you
may, the two objects always clash.

Or
imagine that you want to dry your hair in front of the mirror,
because hello, where else would you dry it?  Unfortunately, the
only outlet is across the room.  Without an extension cord you
have to dry your hair in the corner. 

The
placement of the drawer or the outlet might be esthetically pleasing,
but when you actually sit back to analyze it, you realize it’s
utterly preposterous.  No one gave the designs a second thought
besides the superficial requirements.  They’re not
functional.  They’re useless.  You ask yourself, ‘who
would do such a thing?’  And then it hits you…they were
designed by a man. 

That’s
how I feel about this plan. 

“
You
have a better idea?” Spencer retorts, snapping me back to the
present.

Yeah,
just about anything…

“
Let
me make sure I understand this.  You want
me
to call
Vivian and ask her to go to dinner tomorrow night since Drew has
plans with his teammates at some bar.  With spring training
coming up, the Red Sox will be leaving for Florida soon, and as a way
to celebrate the beginning of the season, they’re going out to get
shit-faced?” 

I
look back and forth between Spencer and Mark until both confirm what
I’m saying.  Spencer appears downright defensive and Mark…I
can’t quite read him, though he’s not a man that likes to be
challenged.

“
Where
was I?  Oh, right.  By hyping up the part about the team
partying hard, you’re expecting Vivian to turn me down for dinner,
and instead show up at the bar Drew’s supposed to be at…because
drunken men apparently have loose lips and spill top secret
information.”

Mark
believes that because Vivian approached Drew at a bar months ago,
attempting to get her hands on similar information, that she’ll
deny my invitation.  Instead, she’ll head to the local
watering hole and seduce Drew into giving her information.  But
wait…it gets better.