Chapter 11

Chapter 11—Reginald has a clue

9:40 p.m., Sunday, December 25

Once he had written down all that he knew about the puzzles, Jack sat back in his chair, and stared straight ahead.  Even though Kate’s abductor did not articulate it, Jack could not help but think that the puzzles had something significant to do with Kate’s current situation. He then stood to his feet, and began pacing around his tiny room. A cloud of helpless frustration had settled over him, and he sensed his need to shake it off.
“I’ve got to get to the bottom of those remaining lines. … I’ve got to decipher them. But what can I do without the keyword, … or keywords?”
Even though he had concluded that the only proactive thing he could do right now would be to crack the remaining two lines of ciphertext, he was at a loss as to how to move forward with it. Something significant was missing. He needed more information. What exactly that was, he didn’t know.
He then checked the battery and reception on his cell to be certain that he would be able to take a call from Kate’s abductors.
Confident that his cell was functioning properly, he sat back down and continued to scrutinize the remaining two lines of the puzzle. “I could sure use a cup of coffee,” he muttered.
Half an hour later Jack’s phone rang. He looked at the calling number to see if was from his daughter’s phone. Immediately he recognized that it was Reginald calling him.
“I’ll be at your hotel in ten,” Reginald said.
“Thanks,” Jack replied. “I’ll meet you in the lobby. … And you did remember the coffee, right?”
Jack knew that he would have to escort Reginald past hotel security to the elevators, so he unplugged the charger from his door lock, and tested it again to be certain it was functioning properly. Confident he would be able to get back in, he locked up his room, and headed down to meet Reginald. He slid his right hand into his jacket pocket, and tightly gripped his knife.
“This is a bunch of bull,” He said out loud, as he stood alone in an elevator. Jack was not used to being on the defensive. And he did not like his dependence on a combat knife.
He had timed it perfectly. Just as he reached the lobby, his friend appeared through the revolving door.
“Hey, Buddy,” Jack said, reaching out to shake Reginald’s hand. “Thanks for coming so quickly. I’ll explain what it’s all about when we get up to my room.” He noticed that his friend was carrying a brown paper bag, just the right size for two large coffees.
“Good to see you too,” Reginald replied, as the two men headed toward the elevator. Jack did not want to waste time, but he was unable to discuss the matter with his friend on the elevator, because an elderly couple had joined them. When the elevator reached Jack’s floor, they exchanged pleasantries with the strangers, got off the elevator, and continued on to Jack’s room.
Just as they approached the door, Jack hit his remote, unlocking the mag lock.
“What’s that all about?” Reginald inquired.
“Just a lock I put on my door when I’m traveling. That way I know my room’s secure.”
As the two old friends closed and secured the door behind them, Reginald inquired:  “Jack, is everything okay?”
“No, far from it,” Jack answered. “Kate’s been kidnapped.”
“What are you talking about?” Reginald asked in unbelief.
Looking down at his watch, Jack replied. “I was on the phone with her less than an hour ago—maybe forty five minutes. I heard two or more men enter her apartment, and abduct her. I talked to one of them.”
“ That’s unbelievable. Do you know who it is that has her, and what they are after? Have they made any demands?”
“Not yet. But I sense that they will not harm her, at least not right now,” Jack said.
“Okay, Reg,” Jack said. “I want you to listen carefully. This is what I know. See if you can think of anything I might be missing. First of all, when I was about to leave the hotel earlier this evening, on my way to meet Kate, a young muscular fellow approached me from behind. With bad intentions. I had a feeling, so I turned to check him out. And it was this guy. Reg, you’re not gonna believe this. He had pulled an ice pick and was about to stick the business end of it through my heart. I side stepped him, and he kept going.”
“An ice pick you say?” Reginald said. “That is a bit unusual.”
“That’s what I thought,” Jack responded. “But when I met up with Kate, right after that, she told me about a murder at a commuter train station, and the weapon used was an ice pick. I suspect it might have been the same fellow that I encountered in the hotel. Perhaps not, but the ice pick does make it plausible.”
Reginald’s countenance abruptly turned very somber. “I’ve got to tell you right off the top,” he said, “the fellow who got hit in the tunnel sounds like a guy who was working with me, Jack. He had information for me that he thought critical. He worked at the State Department. That’s what I was hinting at earlier, when I called you while you were still in Chicago.”
“Oh yeah? Working for you? Well, Kate’s got that case, and she was deeply troubled about it,” Jack said.
“I hate to say it, but your daughter is in over her head, Jack,” Reginald said. “This is a matter of national security. It goes all the way to the top. Those are very treacherous men she’s dealing with.”
“What do you mean by ‘all the way to the top?’ … the top of what?” Jack asked.
“I am not sure what my man had for me, but I’ve never heard him so agitated.” Reginald said.
“So, when you say this goes to the top, what do you mean? Are you suggesting what I think you are?”
“Yes,” Reginald answered, “this could go all the way to the President.”
Jack paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. “What sort of transmission device did you use to communicate with your contact?”
“It varied,” Reginald said. “But this time we were going to exchange coats at a restaurant. We’ve done that before. He would put his information in the lining of the coat, always encrypted.”
Jack walked over to the bed and retrieved the large envelope into which he had earlier slid the coded messages Kate had given him. Handing them to Reginald, he asked, “do your messages ever look anything like this?”
“Where did you get this?” Reginald asked, flipping the sheet over to see if there was anything on the underside. “This looks very much like the message I was expecting him to give me. … Actually, this a copy. Do you know who has the original? ”
“I got this from Kate,” Jack said. “She did say it was a copy. From what I can tell, it is a cryptogram. … Actually, it is four separate cryptograms.”
“That’s typically how we communicated, all right,” Reginald said. “But it would be very helpful to have the original. Do you know who has it?”
Jack did not immediately respond to the question, instead he pursued the logic of using cryptograms for this purpose. “That’s a bit archaic, don’t you think?” Jack commented. “Why would you use something so analog in this digital age?”
“It’s safer,” Reginald replied. “Almost any standard encryption can be cracked if you have the right software, or if you rip off a guy’s laptop. But the cryptograms we use are so short, without the keys they are virtually indecipherable. Take these four lines, for instance, typically I would expect each of them to have a different key.”
“I’m pretty sure I got two of the four,” Jack said. “I plugged ‘Russia’ into one of them, and ‘Chinatown’ into another. I got ‘Hawaii to China in fifty,’ and ‘Alaska to Russia in fifty.’ Does that make any sense to you?”
“Yes it does,” Reginald said. “This is all indirectly related to the business I called you in to help me with.”
“What, exactly, are you saying?” Jack asked.
“Look, Jack, I am really sorry that your daughter is stuck in the middle of this, and I will do anything and everything I can to help you get her out. … But I won’t kid you about it, these guys are very dangerous.”
“Okay, Reg, start talking to me. What the hell is this all about? And what is it these guys are looking for?”
“Well, for starters, I think it safe to say that they want this message,” Reginald said. “I think you might negotiate her release with it. At least, you can use it to get the process moving. How and when are you supposed to talk to them again?”
“They said they would call me, using Kate’s phone,” Jack answered. “But I don’t know when. Explain to me what this message is all about, and why it is so important to these guys. … And who are they? They’re spooks, right? But whose spooks?”
“Mossad. At least I know Mossad is a major player. The Russians are involved as well, but to what extent here, I don’t know. … Take your pick. I’m suspecting the guys you are dealing with are either Mossad or the Russians, you know, the GRU. But my guess is Mossad.”
“Why are they so interested in this State Department stuff?” Jack asked.
“Here’s the deal,” Reginald said. “We have known for some time that there have been high level talks between the President himself, and Russia. Recently we learned that he has been talking with China as well. On the highest level. My friend at the State Department got wind of what the talks were about. That was the gist of this message. Apparently our speculation was correct. From the looks of what you have deciphered already, the President is negotiating the sale of Hawaii and Alaska. We surmised that before. It looks like he is planning to use the sale of those two states to finance the debt.
“He has exhausted all the credit he could, and now they are calling in the chips. The deal he has apparently worked out in both cases is to give the residents of those states fifty years to relocate back in the 48, if they wish to. Fifty years is considered two generations. We’ve heard that he intends to give each person who relocates during the first year one hundred thousand dollars. Otherwise, if they choose to stay beyond a year, there will be no payoff.”
“And that information got your man killed?” Jack asked.
“Sure did. Israel is worried. Even though they have virtually no vested interest in either of those states, they fear that should such a deal be struck, it would cause civil unrest in the US, perhaps even start a revolution. And that could be devastating for them.”
“That’s who’s got my daughter? The Israelis?”
“Could be,” Reginald replied. “Probably is. We’re not totally convinced that’s who hit our operative in the State Department. Because, the crazy thing is, the Russians are now actively involving themselves in this thing, but for different reasons than is Mossad. They do have an iron in this fire, and they are hell bent on making sure this deal happens—that they get Alaska. The natural resources there are worth trillions, plus it would provide them with a base in North America. It is really a sweet deal for them, at any price. I’m sure you know that the Russians have no national debt. So that puts them in a position of strength. They are intent on seeing this deal go through.”
“Who, exactly, are you working for this time?” Jack asked.
“Freelancing,” Reginald replied. “You know how that goes.”
“Freelancing. But for who?”
Reginald paused a moment before answering. “Ostensibly I’m working with a group of concerned parties—people both you and I have worked with before.”
“And who might they be?”
“Allison is heading it up,” Reginald answered. “There are three others, and you know some of them … maybe all of them.”
“Allison is in charge? What is the ultimate goal of this group?” Jack asked. He felt comfortable grilling his friend about this because it had already been established that Reginald had called him in to work with them.
“The five us have been meeting for a couple of weeks,” Reginald replied. “Al put the group together to lay the groundwork for her presidency.”
“Is Bob part of this group?”
“No, Al did not think he should be a part of it.”
“That scares me more than a little,” Jack said. “Bob was always the glue that held everything together.”
“I know what you mean,” Reginald agreed, “but Al has done a good job, so far. That having been said, I can’t help but agree with you that I would be a lot more comfortable if Bob were running the show. He invokes an aura of fear that Al is not capable of. I suspect that’s what you mean by ‘glue’.”
“I’m going to need to know who the other parties are, in your little group, and what their roles are; but right now I’m interested in what you and your buddies are talking about, what decisions have been made. And what sort of work has been contemplated that would elicit so violent a reaction by Mossad, or the Russians. Talk to me about that, Reg, I need to understand what is going on here. … My daughter’s life is at stake.”
“Initially we started out reviewing what our options might be heading into the general election. Al was concerned that even though she might successfully challenge Butler in the primary, she would likely lose in the general—that, given this president’s growing unpopularity and the state of the economy. … And if Butler were to consummate a deal for the sale of even one of the states, democrats would be lucky if their own families voted for them.
“We discussed every possible tactic, but could not find one that provided a scenario where she would likely win. In fact, one of our major concerns was that Butler would invoke executive powers, and put off the election altogether. Given his penchant for power, it seems a real possibility.”
“I’ve heard that suggested before,” Jack said, “but coming from the right. I’ve not heard any on the left talking like that—not until just now.”
“And you won’t. But, trust me, it’s in the back of everyone’s mind. With this president, the unthinkable has become plausible.”
“Okay, Reg, given that scenario, what did you guys come up with as a viable option?” Jack asked, already sensing what he was about to hear. “Did you get that far?”
“I’m sure you’ve got this all figured out, right?” Reginald asked, not wanting to mouth the words.
“Maybe,” Jack said, “but I want to hear the words come from your mouth.”
“It was the consensus of the group,” Reginald said, “that …” He hesitated for a moment, obviously looking for the right way to articulate it. “We decided that there was not a way for Al to win against the Republicans,” Reginald finally said. “She possibly could wrest the nomination away from Butler, if there were actually to be a convention and a nomination. But, when it came to the general election, she would lose. And we would lose even more seats in both the House and the Senate.”
“You’re skirting the question,” Jack said. “What did you guys decide to do about it?”
“It was decided,” Reginald said, again hesitating, “that the only way to deal with this would be to see this president leave office before the end of his term. That having been accomplished, he would be replaced by the VP, who would appoint Al to take his place, as VP.
“We agreed that John was too old to want to run for a full term. So, of course, Al would run. And she would have a great chance to win.
“The critical factor here would be to convince the country that the right was to blame for Butler’s departure. The backlash would carry Al into office, and quite possibly we would make sizeable gains in the House and Senate on her coattails. It was our only viable solution. Or so the group concluded.”
“That’s what I thought you were going to say,” Jack responded. “Of course, you know just how insane this whole thing is, don’t you? How the hell could you possibly think I would ever agree to something this nuts? The whole thing is insane. Now you’ve got my daughter kidnapped.”
Jack paused for a moment. He looked over at Reginald, who now sat silently, not able to make eye contact with his old friend.
“Reg, you know me better than any other human being on earth knows me,” Jack said, his voice had assumed a very somber tone. “You fully understand what I’m capable of. … I swear to God, if I did not need you to get my daughter back, I just might kill you on the spot. How could you ever think I would be willing to help with something this stupid? What were you thinking?”
“Look, Jack,” Reginald said, now looking directly into Jack’s eyes, “I had no idea that your daughter would be involved in this. I am truly sorry for that. And I will help you get her back. Then, if you still feel you need to, go ahead and kill me. This thing has got so out of hand, the way things are going, I’m a dead man anyway. And I mean that. I would rather have a friend put a bullet in my brain, than suffer the indignities of a trial.”
“Make me feel better about this,” Jack commanded. “You are my friend, but I am not liking what you have been telling me. What am I missing?”
“Jack, I called you in because you are the only person I trust. I would trust my life, and the life of my family, in your hands. … I am looking for a way out of this, and I figured you would be the only person who could help me pull it off. There is just no way in hell that I could allow this assassination to take place. I knew something had to be done. It could mean the end of the Free World. I do not mean to sound melodramatic, but it is that serious. I don’t think the others in the group appreciate the gravity of what they are planning—what we are planning. As a member of the group, I’m virtually helpless. That’s why I called you in. If I buck the consensus, I’m dead. And this lunacy moves ahead. I’m trying to find an acceptable way out of this.”
“Damn it, Reg, you know I’m not a politically motivated person. You know that. Why would you ever drag me into something like this?”
“Jack, if you can help me here, there’s several million in it for you. You name your price.” Reginald said. “I know that money means nothing to you in light of your daughter’s kidnapping. But once we get her back, you help me pull this off, you will be set for the rest of your life. No more penny-ante stuff. … We just might be able to save the country, and get rich at the same time.”
Reginald paused for a moment, and then continued. “Jack, I am truly sorry that your daughter got dragged into it. I would never have put Kate in harm’s way, any more than I would have done it to my own daughter. But this whole thing is still salvageable, if we work together, like we have before.”
“Forget the money, I need to get my daughter back.” Jack said. “You help me get her back, unharmed, I might be willing to help you. But she comes first.”
Just then, Jack’s phone rang. He looked down at it, and then back up at Reginald. “It’s them.”