Gospel (41 page)

‘Thank God for the phenomenon of the lying teenager,' said Frank.

‘Exactly,' said Ryan. ‘So, I thank her for her honesty, warn her against any further illegal activities and race the MDMA to the lab hoping I can source the origin of the drug from its composition – which is exactly what I did.'

‘You guys can trace a drug source from a single ecstasy tablet?' asked Frank.

‘Not always. But this stuff was pure – top quality. It resembled similar batches of the drug that had been confiscated by the DEA in Washington last Christmas. In fact it was almost identical. The stuff was made in Colombia, packaged in Panama and moved across the border into Texas before being flown into Philly. The vacuum-sealed plastic containers used in the packaging were traced back to a covert pharmaceutical outfit in Panama City.'

‘But didn't the Food and Drug Administration introduce some tough new laws on the registration of companies who manufacture drugs and dietary supplements a couple of years back?' asked Frank. ‘I mean, how did this stuff get registered and then go undetected at an airport like Philly?'

‘You're right, Frank,' said Ryan. ‘As of December 2003 every manufacturer of food stuffs, including vitamin supplements, had to register with the FDA and then give prior notice on the movement of said merchandise by either using Custom and Border Protection's automated commercial system or the FDA's Prior Notice Interface System. But GIV had it covered because they had someone who could make sure the company was registered and all paperwork done.

‘One of the four,' said Frank.

‘You got it,' said Ryan. ‘In fact it was Mark – one Travis Toovey, Assistant Director of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection's Office of Intelligence. His last job was as a Special Agent for the FDA's Office of Criminal Investigations – so the guy had all bases covered.'

‘Jesus,' said Joe, turning to Frank. ‘The Bible code, 2V –
Toovey
.'

Ryan stopped short, the look of shock clear on his weather-beaten face. ‘You saw our Bible? How the
hell
did you . . . ?'

‘Pieter Capon saw your coded list before he handed it to you in Bradshaw's suite,' said Mannix. ‘Lucky for us the guy has a good memory. But we'll get to that in a minute – go on Director, this stuff is important and something tells me it only gets better.'

Ryan hesitated before going on, but he had already taken the ‘leap' and now there was no going back.

‘You're right,' he said, starting to walk again. ‘It does get better . . . or worse, depending on how you look at it, because the next person we identified was a decorated agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration – Robert Doyle, alias Luke.'

Ryan told them how, after identifying Toovey, he took the information to the Vice President. They both agreed the quality of the narcotics and the organised regular operation of GIV's business meant that at least one of the operation's leaders had good contacts in South America – and the negotiating power and expertise to set up and maintain the flow of the A1 produce.

‘Someone in the DEA,' said Joe.

‘That was Tom's guess. In fact, he suggested we check who the agent was who busted the DC raid. He rightly guessed this coup was set up by the DEA operative to maintain his high status at the DEA while he carried out his part of the illegal operation on the side.'

‘But wouldn't that mean a crackdown on his suppliers?' asked Frank.

‘Normally yes, but according to our guys the investigation into supply was called off immediately after the raid, the agent claiming it had been handed over to the FBI – or more specifically to Assistant Director in Charge Antonio Ramirez from the Washington Field Office.'

‘Shit,' said Joe.

‘Exactly.'

Ryan then explained how, once they had identified Robert Doyle as the DEA operative, he and Tom Bradshaw came up with the idea of trying to scuttle the ‘business' by sending Doyle into witness protection.

‘Long story short, we didn't want to arrest Toovey or Doyle, especially given our suspicions about Ramirez. We knew once we did this, the operation would most likely dissolve and we would risk losing Ramirez and the other, yet to be identified person, who we believed completed the key group of four.'

‘
You
put Doyle into witness protection?' asked Frank.

‘Yeah. In fact, that part was easy. You have to remember the CIA's jurisdiction is outside of the US. We have plenty of stand-up – and I suppose you could say not so stand-up – contacts in South America. We simply researched Doyle's Operations profile and concocted a believable story about a Colombian drug lord putting out a contract on his life and that of his family. Tom called upon some friends at the US Marshal's Office and before long Doyle was convinced an old enemy was out to kill him. Three days later he and his family were on their way to California. Once he was in LA we bugged his phone, waiting . . . hoping he would contact one of the others. We knew he had to be panicking about where this left him in the group, and as it turned out we were right.'

Ryan explained how, early in April, Doyle placed a call to Travis Toovey at his home in DC. The conversation was short but telling, with a nervous Doyle asking Toovey, alias Mark, for his support at the next Gospel meeting.

Doyle – or Luke as he called himself at all times during the conversation – was worried John and Matthew would try to join forces to eliminate him from the four and asked for Mark's support in any vote of that nature. An equally nervous Mark said nothing, bar demanding Doyle never call him at home again – and that it wasn't his problem if Doyle had basically forfeited his value to the group by going into witness protection.

‘And that's how you found out about their code names – the Gospel connection – and the synergy with GIV?' asked Joe.

‘Right.'

‘What about this Gospel meeting?' asked Frank. ‘Did it ever take place?'

‘We weren't sure,' said Ryan. ‘But at this point we were really just a band of two undertaking an ad hoc, unofficial investigation. We were wary that Ramirez's men were also monitoring Doyle, so we had to be careful not to be exposed in the double up. Doyle could have slipped out for a meeting without us knowing it. In fact, considering his intelligence background, it would have been a piece of cake.'

‘Hold on a minute,' said Joe. ‘I can understand your focus on the three identified Gospel members, but wasn't there an easier way to bring them down? I mean, why didn't you just get the client list from Pippa Mahoney and hassle the users receiving the drugs. Maybe they knew something about their suppliers and had proof of . . .'

‘I was waiting for you to ask me that,' said Ryan with a half smile. ‘But I wanted to leave it to the end, because that's the craziest thing about this whole deal – the client list, who they are and/or who they are related to.'

‘I don't get it,' said Frank.

‘We considered asking Pippa to lift the list but given her current state of distress and unreliability we figured it was easier and cleaner to park outside GIV's Philly offices and hack into their computers, which we did. We got the clients list all right – just over 210 private security box addresses.'

‘And . . .'

‘And,' said Ryan savouring the clincher, ‘the list blew us away. Everyone on it –
every last one —
was either a working member of Congress or a relative of said influential individuals. We couldn't go through the clients. We had to keep them intact because they were the key to this whole thing. This, my friends, was a drug operation for the political elite, run by some of the most significant members of three of the most important security and law enforcement institutions in the country. In other words, it was a perfectly camouflaged, multi-million dollar making, extortionist's dream.'

‘
Extortion
,' said Mannix, stopping short. ‘You think the Four were setting up their rich and influential clients so that they could threaten exposure if they didn't . . .'

‘Pay up big time,' finished Ryan. ‘That's right. Most of the men and women on this list are paid very healthy salaries – and a lot of them were wealthy in their own right prior to entering politics. These people spend their lives burying the skeletons in their closets. You have to remember that, thanks to Tom Bradshaw, the drug issue was the issue of the moment. One of these guys gets caught abusing narcotics, or has a close relative doing the same, their career is over. Kaput. Dead in the water,' said Ryan, lifting his hand to shade his pale eyes from the now harsh morning sun.

‘Of course at that point we started pulling each and every one of the clients' financial records to see if they had in fact been the victims of extortion. The minute we saw a big withdrawal or any indication they were under sudden financial pressure, we were going to confront said client and see if they could help us nail the criminals threatening to expose their, or their loved one's, illegal little habit.'

‘But the extortion never happened,' said Frank. ‘And somehow the Gospel Four got wind that Bradshaw knew what was going on.'

‘Right,' said Ryan. ‘Which ironically was largely Tom's doing. He was determined to smoke them out. He started mentioning that we were investigating the existence of a new blue chip drug cartel at certain meetings and briefings – no details of course, just off-the-cuff references. He figured if this “John” got wind that we were onto them, he might start extorting, might start taking some risks and in the process, expose himself.'

‘But didn't the Vice President realise this might put him in danger?' asked McKay.

‘Sure, and that's why I told him to be careful. But this one really got under Tom's skin – probably because he knew the people involved were two-faced patriots working within his own government; traitors at his table paying lip service to his anti-drug agendas while simultaneously collecting massive dividends from peddling the narcotics illegally – right under the government's nose.' Ryan took a breath before going on. ‘The funny thing is, I told him on the night of 30 April that he had to watch his back. And he said . . .'

‘What?' said Mannix. ‘What did he say?'

‘He said “bring them on”. And I guess, in the end, we did.'

At that point Ryan, obviously needing a break, stopped to queue at a drink vendor to buy three cokes, leaving McKay and Mannix off to his side.

Mannix looked at his friend and shook his head. ‘Jesus, the poor guy must be kicking himself,' he said. ‘He blames himself for not protecting Bradshaw, for allowing the Vice President to put himself out there.'

‘There was nothing he could have done,' said McKay.

‘Doesn't make any difference,' said Mannix. ‘The thing is, they were so close. They were right about most of it, but wrong about the most important part. This thing was
never
about extortion, it was always about blackmail. This isn't about the money, it's about the control of Congress, it's about influencing votes, it's about absolute power.'

The pair now understood the drug business was not just a money earner, but a process that would have given the Four ultimate domination over some of the most influential members of government. Some 5000 bills came in front of the 435 Congress men and women and 100 Senators that sat in Congress every year, and guaranteed control over at least 210 of these voters would hand John and his friends an unstoppable majority on every issue brought to hand.

‘So what did you do?' asked Joe, taking his coke and wanting Ryan to finish his story before he contemplated telling him theirs. ‘I mean, after Bradshaw was killed?'

‘There was nothing I could do but sit back and wait. Ramirez and his power base were already starting to undermine my authority. I am being left out of important meetings, sidelined by the other major law enforcement agencies and there is talk of a fund allocation shift from CIA to FBI at the next appropriations subcommittee meeting. My biggest regret was Nancy Doyle. I didn't know her husband had told her about his Gospel friends until it was too late. I found out about her car accident through my LA contacts and have been kicking myself for not pulling her and her son out sooner. Now Gavin Doyle is dead and I thought she was too until Frank here told me otherwise. You guys saved her, didn't you? You faked her death and bought her some time.'

Mannix and Frank said nothing, and Ryan just nodded before going on.

‘Despite everything I know, my priority has to be the future of the Agency. Tom trusted me with the position of CIA Director and I will not disappoint him by abandoning my responsibilities, no matter what the cost. Right now I am fighting just to keep my head above water so . . .' He
stopped at the end of the Reflecting Pool, his brow now sweating in the late morning sun. ‘Do you know what you see the minute you walk into the CIA's original building? The minute you cross that famous marble seal and glance to your left?' he asked.

Mannix and Joe both shook their heads.

‘Inscribed in the wall is a quote – “And Ye Shall Know The Truth And The Truth Shall Set You Free – John VIII–XXXII”.'

They stood there then, taking in the irony of it all.

‘Bottom line,' Ryan went on, ‘unless you guys can come up with something new, I am afraid there is little we can do but sit back and wait for the day that these guys start asking for the money, and even then, given their influence and attention to detail, and no doubt what will be the clients' reluctance to cooperate, it may be impossible to stop them.'

With that, Frank McKay put his hand on Ryan's back – an inclusive gesture Joe thought fitting given they were about to tell their side of the story which basically began where Ryan's left off.

‘Director,' said Mannix.

‘Call me, Dick, Joe. I think it's about time we were all on first name basis, don't you?'