To Probe A Beating Heart (32 page)

             
“Yeah, sort of, I don’t know, sort of, thinking about what this guy

thinks that I can give that he doesn’t already have.” They watched the

game, but Jim’s mind was on Annette and Aaron. All of a sudden it was the eighth inning and Cleveland was ahead by one run.

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

Yeah, planning . . . that was a good move . . .

Aaron tossed the cell phone he just used into a brief case and picked up another one. He checked his notes and placed another call. This call was to a man he knew only as ‘Adam’. As he was known only as Aaron to all but the very few at the top of this pyramid, so the man he now called was known as Adam. At the end of this project all cell phones and e-mail addresses would be abandoned and/or destroyed. There would be no trail to follow, no name to match, nothing. These men understood that they may well be closely related, or they could be distant cousins, many times removed. It was important that each individual maintain that wall of secrecy around himself. “The less you know, the less you can tell.” It had worked before and it would continue to work here . . .

             
“Adam, this is Aaron, I’ve sent the files to you already and had a brief conversation with our friend in Cleveland Heights. I think he wants to help, but his ethics are keeping him from jumping in, I respect the guy for that and assume that you do also. I told him that I will probably call him if we feel the need to talk, he may change his mind. You have a number to reach me, anytime. Good luck.”

             
The man listened and did not speak. He heard the message and hung up. These men avoided as much conversation as possible. The fewer words the better. He shuffled a few papers on his desk and found what he was after, picked up his cell phone and dialed a number, “We have a go, files will be in place in the AM. Meeting in two days at the prime location, time as set up” and he hung up. He took his wallet out and placed it in his desk drawer and took out a different wallet, checked the contents and put it in his pocket. He removed his ring and watch and put on others from the same drawer, packed a few papers in his brief case and walked out of his office. As he passed an administrative aid, he said “Marcy, you are looking fantastic today, I will be out for the rest of the week, got some family business to take care of, everything is in order, if you need me for anything, my cell will be on constantly. I hope to clean this up within a week, maybe an extra day or two.”

             
Marcy smiled, “Okay Jake. Is Paul aware of this one, or do you want me to advise him?”

             
“He knew it was coming, but yeah, let him know that I had to move on this now, and again I have my cell always.”

             
Marcy was used to this sudden shifting of gears, it’s what they did, constantly adjust, adapt, address whatever pops up. She nodded and scribbled a note and put it in an envelope. She put the envelope in a mail box behind her, and got back to her file searching. As Jake, or Adam as he would be known for the next week or so, walked out of the building he hit a number on his speed dial and spoke into the phone, “Yes, I need a flight to Buffalo, New York as soon as possible. I can be there in about thirty minutes. I will put this on my Amex.” and he rattled off the numbers as if he did this every day. He got in his car and drove out through the security gate. Adam, or Jake, was a veteran spook with almost twenty years of varied experience. He was young looking for his age, able to pass for being in his late twenties when he was actually forty two. Jake stood a full six foot three and tipped the scales a little over two hundred forty pounds. He was a bit over his desired two twenty five but it was mostly muscle he had gained playing hockey in a local men’s league and lifting weights. He was beginning to lose his hair at an alarming rate, but what remained retained  it’s dark brown coloring. He had a fist full of medals from his tours in Viet Nam including a Purple Heart for a bullet that made a mess of his left thigh. A year of rehab had gotten him over the hump and he passed a physical allowing him to return to active duty in the Marine Corps. His

duty, however, was destined to be pushing papers and that was not what he
signed on to do. So he resigned his commission, went back to school for a semester of post grad work and found a job with an engineering firm in Cleveland, Ohio. Design engineering and construction was an interesting and fun field and he was good at what he did, but the excitement that he saw in the corps was not to be found designing Air Conditioning systems. When an old friend approached him about an opportunity with an agency where he could use his many skills including his engineering talents, he was ready to sign up without any persuasion on the part of the agency. A few years into his new life as an agent with the CIA, Jake was again shot in the left leg, this time by an over anxious East German border guard who mistook him for someone else and this time the resulting hitch in his stride was a little more defined and made his participation in covert activities less likely. He spent the next several years in the several departments back in McLean working at various times on identifications, disbursing, weapons testing, and special equipment development. He, his wife Kate and their two sons lived in Northern Virginia in the middle of Fairfax County in a newer contemporary home. The boys were both approaching high school age and altogether too soon would be off to college and their own lives. For that reason, Jake was happy to no longer be in the field, traveling around the world. He was happy to be behind a desk and home almost every night. The last five years of his career had been in analyzing information gathered in the field and preparing analyses of potential operations.

             
This was truly family business as he stated to Marcy, even though she could tell there was something else in the background. Jake was related to Jim McClarry, Sean Daugherty, Aaron and the Sheltons, each was a distant relationship, but all part of the Clan, all part of the family. This time out of the office was going to use up a week or two of his accumulated vacation time. No problem there either, he had accumulated a number of days with late nights and weekends in the office.

             
Jake arrived in Buffalo and went to a motel near his final destination. He was now Adam and the name would be used throughout this specific operation and then discarded, only to be resurrected when and if the any activity on this project came up in the future. He took out a new cell phone inserted a battery and browsed the speed dial options. He went back to number one and pushed. “Hey, it’s Adam, I’m here and ready to receive the data.” He closed his phone and opened his computer, made the appropriate connections between his cell phone and his computer and started to dial a number. The system was up and running and he watched the traffic coming in. His files were there, ready to be accessed. He sat on the edge of the bed going over them.

             
Without an admission of some complicity on Averell’s part, there was no way he could be arrested and tried for any of the fifteen children that had disappeared or been murdered. It had been three days since Jim McClarry spoke to Aaron and his files had been distributed to the FBI’s offices at Quantico. Their review sparked a few phone calls to Jim at the office and at home. Even though the callers always identified themselves as being with the FBI, Jim was not certain just who was calling with the questions, but answered as best he could thinking at times that it may well have been Aaron’s people and not the FBI. Then again, they could well be the same people, Jim didn’t know. Nobody knew.

             
Over the years since the Liam Rynne incident in California, the Clan had amassed a sizable source of money from a donation here and there to the proceeds of an operation where money was recovered and could be disbursed back to its rightful owners. Often there was a bit more than had to be sent back and an operating fund was established. There was enough money to run this level of operation and more. The Clan elders had to approve the use of money and this project was considered a priority.

             
Through “Clan” connections, the family had access to a number of buildings of various descriptions around the country. In an industrial park in suburban Buffalo, New York a currently vacant building, originally designed as a light manufacturing plant, was made available for Adam to conduct the proceedings. It was estimated that it would take no more than two weeks to get everything that they needed from Averell, and the building would be secured for that period.

             
Adam now had everything that he and his team needed, except their guest. A separate two man team would be responsible for acquiring Averell and delivering him to Adam’s team. This team would restrict their activities to that one task and they were done. The four men, including Adam, who would conduct the interrogation would be on the job the longest, perhaps one full week at most for any one of them except Adam, he would ride this out till the end. A third team would take Averell, after he was finished being interrogated, to his final destination. Adam would remain involved to be sure that the process was complete and their tracks were properly covered.

             
The interrogation team assembled in Buffalo at a motel near the interstate. Adam was the lead, he would do the interrogation and be the

prime and possibly only contact with Averell. Andrew was the back up for
interrogation if absolutely necessary and split duty at the recording station with Bart. Bart’s strength was IT, but it’s use was limited. The team had the data base which Bart could manipulate and he was the primary on recording the sessions and making the edited tapes. In their first meeting, the target, Averell, was identified, everything that they knew about him was put on the table and added to the database. Then the eight specific cases that the team had assumed were Averell’s work were reviewed and the task of obtaining information was clarified. In each case they wanted to know how, when and where he took each girl. Exactly what he did with each girl and where they were today. The assumption was that they were all dead and Averell was the only one who knew where to look for them.

             
The family had contacts in every city where each incident had occurred and they were alerted to be ready if assistance was needed. Adam had already requested as much information as possible on each specific case from those local police departments. A little additional information on four of the cases was tacked on to their files and all was coordinated through the data base that Jim McClarry had assembled.

             
These men who were going to handle the interrogation were all very well versed in the art of questioning difficult criminals. Each had been through sessions while in the military with enemy combatants who had to be broken quickly. Information held by those people was needed to save lives, information that they were seeking from Averell was about people who were already dead. The task was not perceived to be difficult. It was simply a matter of time before Averell would tell them everything and they wanted to be done with him and get back to their lives and their families. Averell’s well being was not a prime consideration, but an accurate accounting was important. As Sean said to Jim on their first day as a team, “ we want him caught, not just somebody who might have done this, but THE somebody who DID do this.” The first order of business was to determine a questioning procedure. They decided to do a sleep deprivation process and confuse the time element. Averell would not be aware of the time of day or the day of the week. After being in their custody for a day, he may believe that a week had passed. If a week was required, then it may seem like a month to Averell. The net effect was a combination of needing sleep and thinking that he had held out for a long time and that the process would continue until he gave in. This technique worked on some hardened and well trained people and should work easily on Averell.

             
The team had reviewed the fifteen possible cases attributable to an “Interstate ninety” predator and reduced the list to the same eight that the Heights detectives had been concentrating on. The limited information on the eight victims that they were going to pursue was reviewed and a circle of possible candidates for Averell’s focus was assembled. It did not take long to reduce that list to Sarah. The specifics behind his desire to kill his sister were not yet understood and may never be determined. It was sufficient for this investigation to know that she was the prime target and the similarities between Sarah and the eight victims led Averell to each one. Their objective was to establish that Averell was the predator who took Annette and get him to disclose the location of her remains. Everything else, all the other victims, were secondary to this objective. Secondary, but somehow just as important. The more the team, including the Heights people, dug into this case or the combination of the eight cases, the more each one of the victims became important to them. They wanted to find each one of them and give closure, such as it was, to each of the families.

             
Coincidence is a real thing. There are cases where the occurrence of two similar events are related and others where there is no connection at all. The team did not know if the eight cases were related, but it was a logical assumption and they followed that lead. The known, or the best of the assumptions at this point was restricted to the Melissa Winton case. They intended to build backwards from that and hopefully reach Annette. The similarities were enumerated and were going to be used in questioning Averell. How would he respond to each of these and which could trigger a rapid response leading to another victim. They had eight victims, but did not know if there had been others that they did not yet identify. The list of cases that Adam’s team would concentrate on was finalized. The other six cases were outside, possible, additions. Averell Danker was a suspect and only a suspect until he confessed to one or more of these disappearances. Then, it would be a matter of eliciting as many details about each abduction as possible. Everything that he admitted would be documented and given to the FBI and the local authorities when the team had completed their task. The difference being, this team, the clan, was not hampered by rules and regulations. They could use any means that worked to question a suspect without reservation, they could bribe, tempt or torture to achieve their goal. The objective was from the beginning and remained through the process, getting the truth. An admission to a crime because of fear of torture was no good. They needed a confession and proof. That proof would come in the form of a full description of the event and locating the remains of the victim. They had to be absolutely sure that they had the right guy. Hopefully this would be obtained without too much out of bounds questioning techniques, but all options were on the table.