The Hermetrius Conspiracy Read online

  Tom heard the car door slam and a roll-up garage door close behind the car as it left. Another thing FRA taught it agents was to grab naps whenever you can – when you’re tired you’re easier to break. So Tom closed his eyes and dozed off.

  He awoke when they pulled the hood off, with no idea how long he slept. There were two men with him, one sitting in a chair across from him and another lounging on an old couch.

  “Good morning, Mr. Gutierrez . . . May I call you Tom? I understand you like to be called by your middle name.” No answer.

  “O.K., then, Tom it is. We need to talk about what you were doing in the contract file room of Energy Resources. What your ‘mission’ was, in agent jargon.”

  Tom thought ‘This definitely is not Gravel Voice in front of me, or anyone else high up, or he wouldn’t let me see his face. Of course they could be planning to get rid of me later, so it wouldn’t matter if I know what they look like.’ Tom decided to string them along. He would make it up as he went.

  “I was sent there by the agency I work for, but why I was there is classified top secret. Without verbal approval from my supervisor, I can’t tell you any more than that.”

  “Well, that’s a start Tom, but not very helpful. We think you were in there to steal back a file you planted on a mission back in . . . let’s see, April 12th, 2013. “

  Tom stalled to give his mind time to figure out where to take this. “Why would I do that?”

  “That’s the puzzling part, Tom. We have no idea. You didn’t have any documents with you when you were caught, and we’ve looked everywhere you could have hidden them in the file room.”

  “Did you look behind the copier? I might have stashed something there.”

  “Of course we did, Tom, we know our business well.”

  “That sounds like you might work for a private company, maybe a security firm?”

  Tom watched for the brief pupil dilation that meant he had guessed right, and there it was.

  “I’m asking the questions here, Tom, and I’m loosing my patience.”

  “Just get my supervisor at the Federal Remediation Agency on the phone.” Tom paused here to make it seem like he had just slipped up by identifying the agency he worked for. “If he clears me to talk about the mission, then I can tell you more.”

  “What if I told you that the FRA is under investigation. If I call your boss it might tip him off that he’s under investigation.”

  Tom didn’t believe that for a minute. Mack was a compulsively honest man. But he played along.

  “You mean Mack McCauley is being investigated!” Tom flashed a brief guilty look, like he just let something else slip – his bosses name. “Is it for embezzlement? I always wondered why my expense reports showed up on the computer with more charges than I submitted. Old Mack was boosting the costs and pocketing the difference.”

  “We can’t tell you why he is under investigation, Mr. Gutierrez, but you can see why we can’t get him to authorize you to tell us about your mission.”

  Tom thought ‘Good. He’s calling me Mr. Gutierrez again, so I’ve earned some respect.’

  “Does the investigation have anything to do with the new files I planted last night?” Tom threw out another guilty look for telling them too much. ‘There goes the eye dilation again. I must have surprised him with that one. Maybe they’re starting to believe my lies.’

  “Who assigned the mission? Your supervisor?”

  Tom took a shot in the dark. “No, this mission was assigned by another agency.”

  Big-time pupil response that time. This was getting enjoyable.

  The interrogator paused for awhile, then jumped up and said “I need to talk to someone. I’ll get back to you.” He turned to the other man in the room. “Get him some food and water, Jake. I need to call headquarters.”

  This worried Tom. It would only take a couple of phone calls to blow his fabricated story out of the water. When the interrogator came back into the room, Jack might be in for some physical pain.

  CHARTER 29

  Lynn turned off the TV. She had heard enough about the ‘bad guys’ efforts to frame Jack, and she wanted to get his mind off that problem. She sat back on the couch next to Jack and asked “What’s on the schedule for tomorrow, Jack.”

  “We’ll plan the break-in at Forman’s over coffee. Then I’ll need to change my disguise. We can’t walk O’Malley past the house with me looking like Einstein. Maybe some facial hair, silly putty in my cheeks to fill them out, and a baseball cap with dirty matted hair sticking out around the edges. My protruding ears are a noticeable characteristic, so I’ll pin them back with some super glue. But the most effective part of the disguise will be a change in posture and gait. Maybe I’ll add a slight limp. I’ll also need some shabby clothes to go with the dirty hair and cap. You can get those at Goodwill. We’ll need to fix you up to look like you belong with me. I’ll leave that up to you. You can go out after breakfast and buy what we need.”

  “When do we leave here?”

  “Fredericksburg is only an hour and a half away. I want to be there by mid-afternoon to start our dog walk. That will give us time to make adjustments to our intrusion plan before we go into Foreman’s house about 10 pm. If we find the place is staked out by the opposition we’ll have to revise our break-in plan, so I want time to do that between our dog walk and break-in.”

  “Jack, we’re not going to take O’Malley with us during the break-in, are we?”

  “As much as I would like to have his Jasper alter-ego protecting me, we can’t risk leaving him behind if I have to make a run for it. That’s about it for tonight, Lynn.”

  “I brought a couple of bottles of wine along. Do you want to relax with a glass before we go to bed?”

  “Sure, if you’ll come over here and let me put my arms around you.”

  They sat in the corner of the couch spoon fashion for awhile, enjoying the wine and the closeness. “You know Jack, I’m beginning to enjoy this chaste relationship more and more. With the love-making issue out of the picture, it’s an entirely different relationship.”

  “You’re right about that, Lynn. This is a different kind of pleasure.”

  When they went to bed, Lynn got in Jack’s bed and snuggled up to his back.

  #

  Jack was pulled up out of a very enjoyable dream by the raucous ring of his cell phone. He definitely had to change his ring tone to something more soothing than Flight of the Valkyries.

  Jack used his usual brief answer that gave away nothing. “Hello?”

  “Jack, this is Harriet Goodman. Nothing’s happening here, but I saw a report on TV that the police are looking for you as a murder suspect. Give me an update of things at your end.”

  Jack brought her up to date on being framed for a murder, Tom’s phone call, and his plans for getting into Foreman’s house to look for a CYA file. He told her that he and Lynn would need an untraceable safe house for a month or so while they found a way to expose the conspiracy.

  Harriet said “Let me turn my husband loose on that issue. He owns a real estate marketing company and has listings of dozens of rental homes in an isolated country setting. I’ll have a place by tomorrow afternoon that Rick can rent through his company, so there will be no connection to us. We will move out there and wait for you two to join us.”

  “That’s great, Harriet. I’m hoping that Tom Gutierrez can join us if he was able to escape. Then the three of us can figure out what to do. I’ll call you after we’re through at Foreman’s house.”

  Chapter 30

  When Lynn woke up, Jack was already dressed and going over the neighborhood map of Foreman’s neighborhood on his computer. She walked up behind him and put her arms around his neck. Jack looked up; “Morning, Lynn. Did you have any more of your secret dreams?” Jack said with a smile.

  She came back with “Wouldn’t you like to know. . . . Didn’t we go over the map last night?”

  “Yes, but I need to memorize conti
ngency escape routes in case something goes wrong. Why don’t you get dressed and grab us some breakfast in the lobby, and I’ll finish this up. Then you can go out and buy what we need. I’ll have a list ready for you.”

  Lynn was back from shopping by 11 a.m. with everything on the list. Jack went into the bathroom and worked on his new disguise. When he limped out Lynn held up her hands in mock fear and said “Help, there’s a strange man in my room. Jack, come and rescue me!”

  “I guess my disguise is working. The opposition may have been in Foreman’s house already and planted hidden cameras, so they may get more than a casual look at me. They will eventually figure out who went into Foreman’s house, but I want to keep them confused for awhile so we have time to get to Harriet’s hide-a-way.”

  A few minutes later Lynn came out of the bathroom dressed like an aging flower child from the seventies.

  #

  Jack pulled the Jeep into the neighborhood park two blocks from Foremen’s home. Lynn got out and put the leash on O’Malley while she looked about nervously. Jack came up beside her. “Relax. Your emotional state will be the first thing an agent looks for. If you’re nervous, with your eyes flicking in all directions, anyone watching us will immediately be suspicious. Let’s start our walk.”

  “I know I said I wanted to be a spy, Jack, but this is scary.”

  “O.K. We’ll carry on a normal conversation for a husband and wife out walking their dog. You’re Irene and I’m . . . Alfred. Not Al, but Alfred.”

  Lynn got into the role right away, with the loud voice of a full-time bitch. “Alfred, when are you going to ask for that promotion! You said you would go see the boss last week, but you just didn’t have the cojones. I’m tired of living on the edge, never knowing if I can pay all the bills. Are you going to man-up and demand your raise, or am I going to have to sleep with your boss to make it happen.”

  “Honey, you know I do the best I can. It’s all I can do to keep up with the job now. If I get a promotion I’ll have to work late all the time.”

  “Having you working late won’t change my life at all. Now you just come home with a six pack under your arm and watch non-stop football . . . or basketball . . . or baseball. You never pay attention to me.”

  They walked into Foreman’s neighborhood and kept up the dialog. “I know you think I’m a failure, Irene. Our life isn’t what we planned when we were young and in love. But maybe if you gave me more love, I would be more motivated to do better.”

  Lynn answered “More love? Every time I’m in the mood, you’re drunk on your ass and can’t do it. Maybe I should find myself a younger man to have a fling with. I could be one of them cougars I saw on TV.”

  They kept up this banter as they walked past Forman’s house. Jack scanned the parked cars they passed, but they were all empty. Then, up the block he saw a dark sedan with a silhouette behind the wheel. They were watching Foreman’s house. That will make things difficult, but he didn’t say anything to Lynn.

  On the pass through the alley, Jack looked closely at the padlock on the back gate. An old fashioned Master combination lock like they used on their high school lockers. Jack would have no trouble opening that with no sign of tampering. Jack also looked for cameras in the trees, but didn’t see anything. They continued their walk, and their bickering, into the next block, and then worked their way back to the Jeep.

  Back at the motel Jack took a small pair of scissors out of his toiletries kit and started cutting the aluminum side of the soda can. When he was done, he held up an irregularly shaped piece of aluminum and said “This should do it.”

  “O.K. For us new spies, what is it and why do you need it.”

  “When I was back in high school someone came up with a device like this to open any simple combination lock. If I bend it around my little finger to shape it, I can slide it down the shaft of the lock and it will pop open. If I close it back up, it locks normally.”

  “Well, we have a few hours before we have to head back to Fredericksburg. What should we do, Jack?”

  “I’m going to stretch out on the bed and get a nap.”

  Lynn climbed in beside him and asked “Wanna make out for awhile?”

  Jack recalled when Helen used to say that back in high school, and it brought a smile to his lips. “I don’t want to mess up my makeup or my hair. It took me awhile to put this disguise on. Maybe later, after the mission.”

  “Oooh . . . I’m going on a mission with a secret agent man. I love this spy stuff.”

  Chapter 31

  Tom woke up just as the interrogator came back into the room and sat down in front of him. “What do you know about Hermetrius, Tom?”

  “Nothing, except that he might be the one who authorized my first mission to ER. I was curious so I searched the internet for the name. Nothing showed up. It’s like he doesn’t exist.”

  “Oh he exists alright, Tom. We’re working for him right now, but your information brings up some questions. If some other agency had you plant some new files, the program is not going as planned. We need to know what was in those files you smuggled into Energy Resources yesterday.”

  “I wish I could tell you what was in them Mr. . . . What’s your name?” Tom was trying to establish some rapport of his own.

  “You can call me Willy, like in Willy Wonka.”

  “Like I was saying, Willy, I didn’t get a look at the new files, so I can’t help you out there. But the assignment popped up out of nowhere. Usually we have a couple of weeks or more to prepare for a mission, but when this mission came down from DNI, they wanted it done within two days.”

  Definite alarm response from Willy there!

  “Did you say DNI issued the mission orders, Mr. Gutierrez?”

  Tom paused for effect . . . “T-that’s right. . . . The Defense Nuclear Institute” Tom mentioned the first thing that came to mind that fit the three letters.

  Willy stared at him for several seconds. “You’re lying to me, Tom. I’m not stupid. We both know that DNI is the Director of the National Intelligence Office – the people who rule all other federal intelligence agencies; the watchdog agency for whistle blowers throughout the Government. Do you know any whistle blowers, Tom?”

  “I don’t know anything except that the DNI had me plant four files into the Energy Resources contract records last night.”

  Willy Wonka considered that for a minute, then said “Lock him up in the upstairs office. We need to visit the head man in this operation. Something doesn’t add up.” Willy’s assistant got up off the couch, cut the duct tape on Tom’s wrists and ankles with his expensive pocket knife, and led him up the stairs to the warehouse office. He handcuffed Tom to a heating pipe and left.

  Chapter 32

  Jack and Lynn woke up at 8 p.m. They ate some snacks Lynn brought back from her shopping trip, then touched up their disguises. Jack went over the plans one more time, then told Lynn that she would stay back in the Jeep with O’Malley at the park.

  “No Jack! I want to go in with you! What if something happens to you and you need help to escape?”

  “That’s exactly why I want you to stay at the park, Lynn. We’ll be in constant contact over our headphones, so if the intrusion goes bad I’ll run and tell you where to pick me up. You’ll be the get-away driver. That’s the safest way to do this job.”

  “So I will be your junior assistant secret agent, safely out of the action.”

  “You got it. Keep the packet of false I.D.s and replacement license plates next to you, in case I get caught and you have to leave without me. I gave you Harriet Goodman’s phone number, so call her as soon as you’re safe and go join her. I’ve transferred copies of all of my computer files to her machine, so you two will have something to work with if you have to go on without me.”

  “No Jack! You’re talking garbage – you won’t get caught. You can get away from anything.”

  “I’m just being a realist, Lynn. The contingency plan is just in case I don’t make it
out. I don’t expect that to happen.”

  #

  They pulled into a parking place in the nearly deserted city park. Jack put Lynn’s gun in her hand and kissed her. “I will talk over the headphones only when necessary. You only speak in response to a direct question from me. No chatter; it could give me away.”

  As he started to get out of the car Lynn put her hand behind his neck and kissed him hard. She had tears in her eyes as she said “You better come back to me!”

  Jack started walking, using a cane to support his phony limp. He circled around the neighborhood so he could come up behind the surveillance car. He approached from the rear, staying in the driver’s blind spot. When he got up to the car he squatted down and reached his cane forward to tap on the driver’s window. Three soft, quick taps. Not a sound the driver could immediately identify, but one that would get his attention. He waited 30 seconds, then repeated the taps. This time the driver opened the door and tried to step out. Jack jumped forward and pinned him behind the partially open door. As the guy struggled to get loose Jack shoved a syringe into his neck and emptied it. The man struggled for a couple more minutes, getting weaker all the time, until the drug took him into unconsciousness.

  Jack eased the man back into the driver’s seat. The drug would keep him out for at lest two hours, plenty of time for Jack to get in and out of Foreman’s house. Jack crossed the street and went down the alley to Foreman’s back gate. He pulled the aluminum lock tool he made out of his pocket and opened the combination lock. Who knew that skills he learned in 10th grade would still be useful today.

  Jack scanned the back yard and rear of the house with his camera detector binoculars but it was all clear. He put gloves on and walked up to the sliding door. In two minutes his electric lock picker buzzed its way through all the tumblers and Jack was inside. He immediately looked around for a burglar alarm key pad; he had 30 seconds to disarm it. He found it and stepped up to work his magic when he realized it was disarmed. That’s strange. When Jim Foreman and his wife left on vacation, they certainly would have armed it. As Jack walked through the house looking for Foreman’s office and found the master bedroom. He saw that someone had been here before him; drawers were pulled open, mattresses were pulled off the beds, and the closet shelves had been cleared off. Jack found Jim’s office in a spare bedroom and things were even worse there. Filing cabinet drawers dumped on the floor, storage cabinets stripped of their contents, corners of the carpet pulled up by someone looking for a secret compartment under the floor. The place was a wreck.