Unfinished Business, page 22
part #17 of Sam Prichard Series
“Sam Prichard,” he said.
“Sam, it’s Hunter Lambert. I'm working on getting things set up for Hickam, but it’s taking a little time. In the meanwhile, I thought about your call about the Secretary of State. I’ve got a friend who works for the State Department, and I think she might be helpful to you. Her name is Elizabeth Harrison, let me give you her phone number.”
Sam typed the number into his phone, then added it to his contacts. “How do you expect her to help me?” Sam asked.
Lambert chuckled. “Just give her a call,” he said. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“So, what was that all about?” Steve asked when Sam got off the phone.
“Hunter Lambert wants to hook us up with a local lady,” Sam said. “Someone he says might be able to help us out. Let me give her a call, and I'll know more.”
Steve nodded. Sam dialed the number for Elizabeth Harrison.
“Elizabeth, it’s Sam Prichard,” Sam said. “Hunter Lambert said I should give you a call. Anything going on I should know about?”
“Not much of anything, actually,” Elizabeth said. “Hunter asked me to assist you in any way I can, so I'm rattling all the cages I know of to see if I can find any sign of your suspect. Have you found anything new?”
“Not so far,” Sam said. “We are on the way to see the Secretary of State now. I take it Hunter briefed you on our suspicions?”
“He did. To be honest, I can’t really see a lot of point in assassinating the PM. He is a decent man, but I don’t think there would be a lot of real political value in it. He’s not really accomplished all that much of the peace process, so I can’t see any of the rival states being behind this. In any kind of attempt to assassinate him while he's over here, I would expect to see some sort of political motivation, but I just don’t have any clue who might stand to gain from it, right now.”
“I don’t need to understand it,” Sam said, “I just need to stop it. Motivation is for the politicians to figure out, or the prosecutors. I'm just out to prevent the man from getting killed.”
“Understood. Can you think of anything I can do at the moment? Hunter says I'm to put myself at your disposal for the duration of this situation.”
“Not that I can think of. You got my number? You can call me if you run across anything, or I'll call you if I do.”
“Very good, sir,” Elizabeth said. “I'll let you know if anything comes up. Goodbye for now.”
The line went dead and Sam slipped the phone back into his pocket. “Darren, check with your friends at the FBI. I'm just curious who Elizabeth Harrison is.”
“No problem,” Darren said. “Did you get some kind of odd feeling about her?”
“Nothing bad,” Sam said. “I just like to know who I'm dealing with.”
Steve glanced at him. “You know, I think we're going to need all the help we can get on this one.”
Sam shrugged. “She might be good to have on our side,” he said. “I just can’t see the harm in double checking.”
Steve grinned and nodded. They drove on the rest of the way quietly, and arrived at the federal building twenty minutes later.
The security guard checked their IDs, and then they were escorted to an office that was currently being used by the Secretary of State. They were ushered inside and the secretary rose to his feet.
“Mr. Prichard,” the secretary said. “I'm delighted to finally get to meet you. Your exploits are somewhat legendary around D.C., and I've been following your blog for the last few months. Good to finally get the chance to shake your hand.”
“I appreciate that, Mr. Secretary,” Sam said. He introduced the other men, and the five of them sat down around a table.
It took Sam and the others nearly half an hour just to explain to the secretary why they were there, including filling in the background on the Web Wide Awards case back in Denver. When he finally understood the situation, the secretary seemed almost shocked.
“So, let me get this straight,” he said. “You think this woman is going to try to kill the Israeli Prime Minister? Do you have any idea why?”
“No sir, I’m afraid we don’t. In her case, it’s a simple matter of doing the job she's paid to do. It would be the client who hired her and her organization who would know what the motive behind the assassination could be, but I don’t have the luxury of understanding that.”
“All right,” the secretary said. “What can I do to assist?”
“Well, the very first thing you should do is change the venue of the meeting. If Gabby is planning to strike at the PM, she's planning it based on the meeting being at the Israeli Embassy, as planned. If you change that, it’ll throw a monkey wrench into her works.”
The secretary sucked on his cheek. “I hate to admit it, but I can’t. This meeting is rather sensitive, to be honest, and it’s got to be at their embassy. I can add extra security, of course, and I can let the ambassador know that we think there might be a problem. Surely that will keep this woman from getting to the PM.”
Sam sighed. “Mr. Secretary, it might,” he said, “but this woman has been known to accomplish assassinations under even more stringent security conditions. Is there honestly no way to move the venue?”
The secretary shook his head. “I’m afraid there just isn’t. Some of what we're going to ddiscuss involves intelligence the Mossad has picked up regarding Syrian troop activity and espionage out of Iran. This stuff is highly classified, to the point that I haven’t seen any of it yet, and won’t get to see it until the meeting tomorrow. It can’t be taken out of the embassy, not for any reason.”
“Then, in that case,” Sam said, “I’d like to put some of my people with you. Is that possible?”
The secretary frowned. “Mr. Prichard,” he said slowly, “despite all you have done for the country, I'm afraid that’s a request I cannot grant. As I said, this information is extremely sensitive; I'm afraid I can’t bring anyone in from outside. On the other hand, that should tell you just how tight our security will be. I really do not think there’s much chance this woman could ever get close to the Prime Minister.”
Sam tried for ten more minutes to convince the secretary of the danger, but the man would not budge. By the time they left, Sam suspected he might have lost a fan.
So be it, he figured. He was trying to make sure somebody didn’t get killed, and trying to put a stop to the career of a known assassin. That shouldn’t be all that difficult to do, especially when it was something the American government had some influence over that needed to be dealt with. Having politics involved, however, was going to make it almost impossible to keep Gabby from accomplishing the mission, if—and that was a big if—they were right about what she was trying to do.
With nothing else to do, they got into the car and headed back into the city. They had no leads, no way to track Gabby, and very little time with which to come up with a solution.
“Let’s go to the Westchester,” Sam said. “I think it’s time Mr. Hickam and I had a conversation.”
“I'm looking forward to watching that,” Steve said. He turned the car in the proper direction and they arrived at the Westchester thirty minutes later.
Stacy answered the door when they knocked and stood aside to let them in. Hickam was once again handcuffed to the bed, but they had allowed him to put on his clothing. Sam stood and stared at him for a moment, then motioned for someone to bring him a chair. Darren obliged, and Sam sat down facing the prisoner.
He simply stared at him for a long minute, then Hickam had all he could take.
“Well? Isn’t this the part where you begin to threaten me?”
“I don’t need to make any threats,” Sam said. “A federal judge has already ruled that we have sufficient evidence to charge you with multiple crimes, and I understand the Crown Prosecution Service is reopening their own investigation into the murder of Lord Devon Chamberlain. With the video confession you made to Ms. Raines, I doubt they’re going to be able to avoid prosecuting you. You’re on the way to prison, Mr. Hickam, if not worse. Considering that some of your crimes could be considered economic espionage, you could possibly be looking at the death penalty. To be perfectly honest, I would not lose any sleep at all if you were stood in front of a firing squad.”
Hickam stared at him. “I wasn’t the brains behind this, you know,” he said. “I certainly never intended for anyone to be hurt. The boy who was shot, he was only supposed to be slightly injured. There was never any intent for him to die, and I'm certainly glad that he’s still alive.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that you agreed to him being shot. We had that on tape, Mr. Hickam, a recording we found in your own company’s computer systems. Now, you might be able to sit there and tell yourself that you didn’t really do anything wrong, but the courts are going to see it quite a bit differently. There’s no doubt in my mind that you are looking at a minimum of life without the possibility of parole, but you could very well still be facing the death penalty. And frankly, I think you had it coming. I don’t think there’s any chance in the world that a jury would think you deserved to continue living.”
Hickam licked his lips. “What if I become a witness for you? I could testify against the people who actually did commit the crimes. With my testimony, you have a much stronger case.”
“We don’t need your testimony, Mr. Hickam,” Sam said. “We have all the evidence we need, including the fact that we now know who the woman is who took over for Reynard. We identified her, and we know what she looks like. Her picture is all over the news, in case you haven’t been allowed to watch it.”
“Then what about the fact that I'm being held without a lawyer? I have the right to have a lawyer, don’t I?”
“Of course you do. You have the right to have an attorney present in question, but I'm not questioning you. I've not asked you a single question, have I?”
The old man seemed to deflate a bit. “Look, there has to be some sort of arrangement we can make. I was simply trying to conduct business, it was young Mr. Linden who came up with this plan. You need me when you prosecute him, won’t you?”
“Nope. He confessed. He is sitting on a number of murder charges, himself. You see, for every person who was killed during the commission of these crimes, even the criminals themselves, you can be charged with murder because of your involvement. I'm personally hoping to see you charged with every single one, but that’s not entirely up to me. I'm simply the investigator, I'm the guy who has to figure out who did what and put the evidence in front of the prosecutor, so he can put it in front of the judge. Now you get to stand in front of a jury of your peers and let them decide your fate.”
Hickam took a look around, as if there must an answer hidden somewhere that he had to find. “I can give you the name of the person who arranged Chamberlain’s death. All I did was make a phone call, asked about how to keep him from going to the CPS with his suspicions. I didn’t intend for him to be killed, he was my friend, for God’s sake.”
“If that’s how you treat your friends,” Sam said, “I hope you always consider me your enemy. Being friends with somebody like you can be dangerous.”
“Is it, now? And what about you, Prichard? You sent that little whore of yours to trick me into confessions I never would have made voluntarily.”
“That I did,” Sam said. “You’re wrong, though. The fact is that you did make them voluntarily. Now, the fact that you weren’t aware they were being recorded, that might’ve had a little bit to do with how free you were with your mouth, but it doesn’t prevent us from using the confession against you. No, Mr. Hickam, I don’t think there’s any possibility that your life is going to continue the way it was. I don’t think you have anything to offer that can get you out of this mess.”
“But I do,” Hickam said. “I've money, Mr. Prichard. More than enough to make you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams, all of you. If you would simply agree to forgetting what you know, losing that little video, I would be more than generous.”
“Hey, Summer? Make a note, would you? The suspect tried to bribe all of us to conceal evidence of his crimes.”
“Good God, man! Have you no decency? I'm an old man, I won’t be around much longer, anyway. Isn’t there some way we can work this out?”
“Well, yes, there might be. I guess it all depends.”
Hickam looked hopeful. “Depends on what? Name it, I'll do anything you want.”
“The way I see it, the only hope you got of avoiding the death penalty is to make a free and willing confession to all of the crimes you are charged with. That way, since it will save the prosecutor a lot of time and effort, I'm pretty sure I could talk them into waiving the death penalty. You’d never get to go home, but at least you could live out the rest of your life. And, from what I understand, federal prison really is not that bad.”
Hickam sat and stared at Sam, his demeanor that of a man who had realized his ship was sinking and his lifeboat had already floated away. He tried to say something a couple of times, then looked down at the floor and stayed quiet.
“Of course, I really could think of one thing that might work in your favor,” Sam said.
“What?” Hickam said, his eyes jerking back up to meet Sam’s. “Tell me what it is, and I'll do it, if I can.”
“You can tell us where to find the organization that put Reynard and Gabriella Fabron onto this case.”
Hickam’s eyes bored into Sam’s for a moment. “And if I did that,” he asked, “what would that do for me?”
“It could give you a chance to avoid dying by lethal injection,” Sam said. “Considering your age, you could probably live out the rest of your life in a minimum security prison.”
17
“Balls!” Denny said. “Sam, you can’t possibly be thinking of letting him avoid what’s coming to him. He ordered the murder of my uncle! Uncle Devon never hurt anybody, he didn’t deserve to be murdered that way.”
Sam turned and started to say something, but Hickam interrupted him. “You are correct, young man,” he said. “He did not deserve to be murdered. If anyone, then it was me that should have been shot down like that.” He looked down at the floor. “I never intended for him to die. I thought that perhaps he could be frightened, enough to keep him from going to the CPS, but I never, never wanted him to die.” He rubbed his free hand across his face. “And yet, I sit here before you showing myself to be the coward that I truly am. I'm begging for my life, when I don’t deserve even the slightest leniency.”
He looked up at Sam. “I can give you the name that allows you to contact those people,” he said. “I’d heard of them over the years, but never really knew who they were or what they were capable of. When Linden came to me, proposing to work with me on putting through the merger, he said we needed the help of someone who could push the issue, who could force Morton’s hand. He said that if the company were to suffer some grievous misfortune, he believed that he could then force Morton to agree to the merger. I admitted that I knew of people who could bring about misfortunes, but I never considered how they would happen.”
“Well, what did you expect?” Sam asked. “You contacted these people to arrange a misfortune?”
“I made the initial contact, yes,” Hickam said. “After that, I let Mr. Linden deal with them for quite some time. It was only when things were coming to a head that I was suddenly thrust into the middle of it all. Reynard did not trust Mr. Linden, so I was dragged into the midst of it all in order to ensure that we would comply with all of the demands the organization made. Tom Linden provided some of the money necessary, by stealing it from his sister and her young man, but I had to pay the majority of it. More than six million dollars in total, and it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I learned just what was really going on.” He shrugged. “By then, it was just too late. I was in too deep, and could not get out.”
“And you would give us the contact information in exchange for a more lenient sentencing?” Sam asked.
“Indeed,” Hickam said. “It’s the only way I can think of trying to atone for what I've done.”
“But, Ben,” Summer said. “What about all that stuff you told me, about how you need so much wickedness in your life?”
“My dear young lady,” Hickam said, “I'm certain that you are aware that men will do absolutely anything to please a beautiful woman, especially if she's promising him such pleasures as you alluded to. I was on the verge of making up stories to tell you, simply to keep you close to me.” He looked back at Sam. “Yes, I'll give you the contact information in return for my life, and I'll include a full and complete confession as to my involvement in all of the crimes you have described.”
Sam stared at him for a moment, just watching his eyes. “Jade?”
“Yes, sir?”
“I’d like you to record Mr. Hickam’s complete confession, and then type it up for his signature. You and Stacy can witness it.”
“No problem, sir,” Jade said.
“What about me, boss?” Summer asked. “I take it you have something else for me to do?”
“Yes,” Sam said. “You will be coming with us.”
He turned back to Hickam. “Now,” he said. “Tell me about this contact.”
* * * * *
It turned out that Claire was quite adept with the computer, and Gabby had put her to work as soon as they got to the house the four of them were staying in. She needed details of the Israeli Embassy, and it took Claire only minutes to find the actual blueprints of the building.
“Now, there have probably been some changes made to the building that do not show up here,” she said. “The building itself has been there for many years, but it’s not uncommon for a foreign government to make modifications to any building they use as an extension of their country. The Israelis, in particular, will have made many changes to help ensure their security, and probably to facilitate some of their efforts at espionage.”
