The Freelancer – Chapter 63

“Well Agent Caldwell, if everything you say is true, please rest assured that you’ll have complete cooperation from this facility.  I apologize, but I have a pressing meeting.  Please make yourself comfortable and Mr. McNamara will be in momentarily to facilitate things.”

After he left, I turned to Collin.  “If he had another meeting, why did he bother talking to us for five minutes?”

“That was my doing.  I kept getting the runaround from his assistant, so I threatened to inform the Department of Homeland Security of their lack of cooperation in the matter.”  Collin smiled.  “I got a call ten minutes later.”

“Have you worked with these guys since you’ve been with the Bureau?”

“No, but I dealt with them plenty when I was with the Dallas PD.”

“How was it?”

“Not horrible, but it can be if you don’t let them retain some sense of …” Collin stopped short as the conference room door opened.

“Good morning gentlemen.  I’m Eric McNamara, Assistant Director of Airport Security, and I’ll be assisting you.”

He had a firm handshake, but I could tell I shouldn’t trust him with any more information than was necessary.  From his manicured hands and expensive shoes, I knew this guy was a suit, nothing more, who would use the situation for his own advancement purposes.

After McNamara poured himself a cup of coffee and took his seat across from us at the expansive table he said, “I’ve taken the liberty of having my assistant start putting some things together for you.  I’ll have a complete set of location maps for you by the time this meeting is over.  Of course, you and your agents will have total access to all areas, with the exception of upper level management offices, that is.”

“I’ll need a master key,” I said flatly.

“Under normal circumstance that would not be possible.  However, Agent Caldwell, I anticipated that request and I will be able to provide you with one key which is to remain on you, and only you, at all times.  I understand that much of what you do is classified, but certain details would aid me in making security preparations.”

“Such as?”

“What are we dealing with, Agent Caldwell?  A terrorist threat is rather vague.”

I could tell he was fishing.  I mulled over what to tell him as I took a sip of my coffee.  Finally, I decided to show my hand.

“We have a freelancer on our hands, Mr. McNamara.”

“A what?” he questioned.

“A psychopath with enough knowledge to do serious damage.  We have reason to believe he will stage an attack on this airport on Sunday, but the rest of our details are sketchy at the moment.  We know who the individual is and will provide you with his picture, but we don’t have enough to hold him with yet.”

McNamara’s expression hardened.  “What kind of threats are we looking at?”

“Biological or chemical.  Nothing that would show up during a normal passenger or luggage screening,” Collin answered.

“What do you propose we do?” McNamara asked, his face now void of color.

I cleared my throat.  “I hope to be able to narrow it down to a single terminal to keep under watch, but I’m prepared to have over a hundred plain clothes agents here to cover each terminal.  I’ll need a complete list of everyone with any level of clearance to be here.”

“If you take into account airport personnel, airline personnel, and private contractors; that could be several thousand people.  That will take me some time to put my hands on,” McNamara said.

“I’m aware of that, but we don’t have time on our side right now.  Please do what you can.”

McNamara rose.  “I’ll get started on it right away, unless there’s anything else.”

I was thoughtful as I stood.  Remembering what I learned on the way over I asked, “Do you have the authority to change the security clearance of an airline employee?”

“No, that would have to go through the airline itself.  I can have the employee flagged, if that would help.”

“Would that enable us to keep tabs on him?”

“It would as long as he was in an employee restricted zone.”

“I need you to flag a pilot for me.  This has to be kept confidential because there’s an excellent chance he has no involvement.”

“I understand, Agent Caldwell.  Just give me a name and, with the exception of the technician who flags him, it will stay in this room,” he assured me.

“Daniel Whitman.”

“I have your cell phone number, Agent Caldwell.  I’ll see to it that you’re contacted directly with his whereabouts.”

Once we were in the car, Collin turned to me and asked, “Daniel Whitman?  What are you thinking?”

I shook my head.  “I may be wasting his time, but something occurred to me earlier.  Whitman has complete access to the aircraft and the hangers.  He’s also in financial distress.”

Collin started the engine.  “I think I see where you’re going, but put it together for me anyway.”

“What if Blackstone needed someone on the inside to help him?  This guy is obsessed with Jenna, so we have to assume he’s done his homework on her family.

“What if Blackstone offered Daniel Whitman a substantial amount of money to get him in, or plant a device for him?  I think a man in Whitman’s position might take him up on it.”

“Problem,” Collin stated, “Blackstone doesn’t have anywhere near the amount of money that would justify a, for the most part, law abiding citizen to break the law.”

“We know that because we’ve done a thorough background check on him, but Whitman wouldn’t know it until it was too late.”  I paused and blew out a breath.  “I’m in love with Jenna.”

Collin gave me an odd look.  “I know.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

I shook my head.  “I don’t know anymore.”  I looked out the window as he merged in with traffic.  “I’m going to come clean with her…tell her everything and hope to hell she doesn’t start throwing things at me.”

“Am I supposed to be in support of this hair-brained idea of yours?”

I shrugged.  “I know it’s a bad idea, but I don’t have anything else. If you’ve got an alternative, let’s hear it.  I can’t live with myself anymore.  Every time I’m with her, I have to lie to her about who I am.  It’s ripping me to pieces.”

Collin sighed.  “Love sucks, Caldwell, but this is your job.  If you blow your cover in the middle of an operation…I’m certain your boss will have you tossed into jail for the next five years.”

“Longer, knowing Banks.” I thought about the way Jenna looked at me last night and again before I’d left this morning.  “If there’s even a slim chance she’d be waiting for me when I got out…it would be time well spent.”

Collin chuckled.  “Dead man walking.”

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