SAFE HAVENS: Shadow Masters (A Sean Havens Black Ops Novel Book 1) (36 page)

“Sure. Talk to you later.”

Shit, what’s Whitt’s number? Maybe it’s time to work that nurse.
Harrison scrolled through a coded contact list.

Chapter 52

W
hile the doctor could not identify what the foreign compound was without another full lab report, he could tell that it had to be introduced into Maggie’s system proactively—and by another party. Given the exposure of the Havens incident, the doctor initially wanted to call police since he suspected something abnormal, but without proof he was required to consult the family first from a liability standpoint. He needed to show that if something was wrong it was not negligence on the part of the hospital. Even if he suspected a family member might be to blame.

Havens shook his head in disbelief. “OK, have you inspected her for sites of injection, is there another way she could have been exposed, like IV?”

“Mr. Havens, I have the lab checking a number of the past draws to see if we can do a time trace, level of the toxin, etc. She has no identifiable physical markings.”

“Can I go in and see her?”

“Of course. We should have some more information for you shortly. But Mr. Havens, we will have to contact the police if we find evidence of any foul play.”

“OK, thank you. I’ll be here.”

Havens opened the door to see his daughter. He noticed how thin and frail she was getting. She looked horrible. He took a brush from her bedside table. As he stroked her hair, large clumps came out and accumulated in the bristles. The shaved part of her head was barely growing stubble. It seemed like she had just been a pre-teen. It seemed like she was just a toddler. He had missed quite a bit of her life and he was losing more. He kissed her forehead.

“Hang in there kiddo, I’m still here.”

Havens checked his smart phone and saw there were a few bars of connectivity. Enough for a search. He should be jumping IP addresses if he was searching a target, but figured the risk was acceptable if he deleted the trail and ensured that his mobile wouldn’t get into the hands of a digital forensics technician. Right now he was more concerned about the whirlwind of thoughts going inside his head than the data on his device.

The search yielded little about the store owner with the exception of some public records for property ownership and past addresses. Ohio, Michigan, Illinois. Pretty typical. Havens searched a few of the addresses to see who or what else would come up. A first name Zahed matched Adeel’s family name and address that Havens spotted on a bill sitting out on the store counter. Havens found a newspaper article indicating Zahed was a high school track star before joining the Navy.
He has a son.
As he read on and strung out a few more search parameters, Havens discovered that Zahed was a Navy electronics specialist currently deployed.
Military.
Zahed had a LinkedIn profile and Facebook page. It appeared that Zahed was a typical young adult with no odd affiliations and mostly white American friends, a white girlfriend, typical interests, and age appropriate photos and wall postings.

What is this kid going to do when he finds out his dad is dead? How is he going to react? Who is going to tell him and what will they say? And what if his dad is linked to…an attack? This kid could be bent in so many directions. How would he feel? Would he feel responsible? I know I would…I did…I do…I need to revisit the Somali hit and the Rockford drug hit. What am I covering up? What kind of drugs does the Rockford hit have again?

Havens’ eyes darted to his daughter then to a blank wall. He began going over all the strange events and a sickening realization slowly emerged from the fog of his grieving mind.

Christina…Maggie…gone, taken. The unbearable grief. Then I’m fired…destitute. Suddenly willing to entertain new options without considering the ramifications.

Havens’ insides began to boil. His eyes were shooting everywhere and nowhere. He looked down to see his palms had begun to sweat. His heart raced. He knew he was being played.

But who? Why? Someone is on the other end of this attack. Someone like me…Draeger? But why? Draeger would have the ability. And the stomach. Where was Draeger working exactly? Exactly. He never says.

A nurse called out to Havens as he headed towards the elevator bank. “Mr. Havens, the doctor is coming back up. He has some results.”

“So do I. It’s a narcotic to keep her from recovering.”

“How did you know?”

“Call CPD and ask for Detective Neil. Tell him everything and that I told the doctor to call him with the details. Have Detective Neil call me afterwards.”

“But sir, there is a note here that I am supposed to call a Lars Ba…jor…”

“Bjorklund. Call Detective Neil!” The elevator doors opened. Sean took a deep breath and checked his watch.

16:20. I can make it home and grab my kit and still get to Lars’ place with plenty of time before he gets back. But if Lars is by the shop owner today, could that mean they moved up the timeframe on me? Why else would he be around there. He’s no beat cop. He’s involved too.

Chapter 53

H
arrison failed to get a hold of Whitt. He called Draeger as a last resort to find Whittington and was informed that Whitt was moved out of the area shortly after the accident with the security guard and replaced with a female nurse on staff.

“You can’t leave me out of these types of decisions! Is this the nurse I was working already? I was doing complete backgrounds before I put her in place.”

“It was a small detail. Nothing to concern you with. You still handle her.”

“It concerns me now!”

“Well when you are running things you can have it your way. Until then, consider them orders. I owe you only the information that you need to know to do the job in a manner that I want you to do your job.”

“When will you be back in town? You either need to let me run things in this AO or you need to be here to drive things and keep us all informed on your decisions. We aren’t running a company here where we can just video conference, email, and call each other. Shit, a secure VTC would beat the shit out of how we have been running things. And where are those damned Type-1 secure phones you promised? At least get some encryption packets.”

Harrison had made a living following orders, but as an officer himself and the respected leader of his men, he couldn’t stand idly by under a weak superior who didn’t respect his officers in charge.

“I won’t be back anytime soon. As a matter of fact, things will be ramping up here pretty quickly and that will require more of my time and attention. From here on out, I will simply fund accounts, give you names, and you can run your show. Fair?”

Surprised at Draeger’s willingness to delegate responsibility and grant more autonomy so readily, Harrison simply replied, “Fair.”
Fair unless the carnival is moving to another town and I am left holding this bag.

“This whole initiative, as you likely surmised, has a number of facets to a greater cause. Up to this point we have been laying groundwork. I’m finding that my initial thoughts of gaming these groups is taking too much time, effort, and planning. There are too many variables to assess and as much as I would like to think I could pull this off with Havens and these others, it’s not worth the time and effort. We are going for a more direct approach now and where we need to we can shape our battlespace after the fact.”

“So I am guessing you don’t believe in long stay counterinsurgency doctrine where you pay attention to the hairball of inter-related possible effects?”

Draeger knew Harrison was being glib, but he came to a realization about this setup. If he had had Havens doing the job of Harrison, Havens would have been able to play it off. The massacres had their purpose and set the foundation for where they were now. Vision and reality were separate. Even Draeger could see this.

Best just keep Havens as a patsy fall guy for this given his background and situation. It’s plausible enough, especially if supported by proper Information Operations and momentum in the right channels. Maybe Havens would even take care of Harrison…

“Harrison, I know you are pulling my chain, but frankly, I know where you are best skilled and I know how your teams need to operate, and this just isn’t working. I’m getting pressure from my superiors and time is running short. Don’t pretend you are a planner. Just execute your tasks.”

“So we done fucking around with Havens’ kid and all this Silver Star bullshit? I’m playing games around here with my thumbs up my ass being your piece of shit pawn so you can play with kings.”

Draeger liked the thought that he was playing with kings, but he too was a pawn. He aspired to be a king and needed to do something more king-like.

Time to put the bow on this
.

“Your part in Silver Star will be cutout as mine is through DOSA. Asset mode for you and your teams now. That kid of Havens’ is probably a vegetable now anyway and it’s best we drop the matter and back off. Let’s just cover our tracks. Seize opportunity where you can. Do as you see fit.”

“And Havens?”

Draeger sighed. He’d love to just kill Havens at this point but still needed him around. Draeger wrestled with need and want. Havens was a threat to Draeger’s career and the operation if he found out too much. Not that Havens would ever take Draeger’s job, but they knew each other and had worked together. Havens knew his history and could potentially question the fabrications that Draeger used to bolster his career. Havens was an inconvenience and Draeger would love nothing more than to discredit him and pin him as a scapegoat for subsequent plans. There was never a real plan for Havens; Draeger just wanted to mess with him every way possible like a toy.

“Hey, what about Havens?”

“Keep him on task for now, but pull him back a bit. Keep him away from this next bit of activity aside from his planning. Tell him to ramp it up more or get him frazzled or something. Do not let him near any sites. That asshole will jump light years ahead piecing this all together if he gets a sliver of reality. No telling how he will fuck it up. No, we will pin part of the end game on Havens. He will be very much in an unsafe place. Then you can take him out. If you have to do it sooner, so be it.”
Who gives a shit. Just keep yourselves busy and out of my way.

“Roger that.”
Good. My call.

Chapter 54

C
ougar had eaten a chair leg and was mid-cushion when Havens entered the house and caught her in the act.

“Hey!” Havens shouted, half wondering if the dog would attack him. While a vision ran through Havens’ head of the beast pouncing on him to take a death bite from his throat, Cougar laid down in a sphinx position and put her head on the ground in submission.

“OK, girl. Let’s get you out quick for a piss, then I need to get my gear and we’ll go for a ride to Uncle Lars’.”

Cougar rose with guarded excitement and nuzzled Havens’ hand, emitting a deep affectionate growl.

Havens grabbed his EnCase, FTK and Cellebrite UFED data forensics kit and headed for the door. Cougar bolted out the door before he could change his mind, but turned immediately to await further instruction.

“Smart dog, Cougar, but damn you are a horse.”

Chapter 55

W
hile Cougar waited in the car parked a block over, Havens ran up the flight of stairs to Lars’ apartment. The hallways were always dark and there were few other residents. Lars rented two of the units which cut down on foot traffic—something Lars valued, and now so did Havens.

Sean was prepared to use his custom pick set. Lars hadn’t changed locks in this older unit so the standard lock rake and tension bar would suffice.

Fuck it. We’re in a hurry.

Havens reached for his tried and true Lockaid gun. Some chose the Cobra Electronic, but Lockaid never let him down when time was critical to pick a lock.

In.

It had been some time since Sean was at Lars’ place. Last time he had come by to help move a new couch in, but Lars had beaten him to it and moved it on his own. Instead Lars coaxed him into staying for a few beers and a Cubs game.

Havens looked around the bachelor pad scanning for anything unusual. Sean was surprised that Lars never invested in a security system, but then again, he made sure everyone in the building knew he was a cop.

Eyeing Lars’ workstation, Havens pulled out his phone and took a number of photos to ensure everything would be put back in order when he was ready to leave. If anyone would sense something out of place, it would be Lars. What else did he have to do in here aside from watching the games and admiring his shrine of Chicago sports memorabilia? Above Havens was a framed 20x24 photo of a tattooed and pierced Dennis Rodman of the Chicago Bulls Dream Team. Rodman had his tongue sticking out. It read, “To Lars from Dennis.”

To the right was a signed photo of Michael Jordan walking with Charles Barkley. “Friends. Brothers.” Lars had given Sean the same framed photo for Christmas about six years ago. Lars had said at the time that it reminded him of Sean being like a brother. Lars joked that of the two of them, Sean was shaped more like Sir Charles. The whole family had a good laugh over it that morning.

Good times.

OK, user name up. Password. What else, Lars…C-U-B-S-W-I-N.

In. OK, let’s just mirror image your hard drive so I can review this all at home and…Hello?

Havens lifted his fingers from the keyboard. He hesitated before resting them back in place. Inside of Lars’ C drive was a My Documents folder named “SHhh.” No doubt the capitalization was intentional—SH for Sean Havens.

Havens opened the folder to find files attributed to link analysis software applications and geospatial overlays. On a map overlay, Lars had placed a pin with a date where—or where Christina may have said—Sean was traveling to. Nearby there was a correlating pin for an incident in another location with a date. There were trails all over the world where Sean supposedly was and where newsworthy events occurred during that time.