Effected Intent

  Chapter 24

  Darren Gets Enough

  One more week of this and he’ll be completely crazy, Darren thought as he surfed the web looking for interesting news and checking out the new movie releases that were coming out. He’d been begging for work and had spent a couple of days combing through intel reports and chatter logs for some other cases but neither developed into anything important. George had dragged him off to another long lunch and bought another guitar in the process, something of a déjà vu of the past month around the office. There was a birthday luncheon for one of the other agents, Darren didn’t even remember who it was but had signed the card and donated twenty bucks toward the food and some presents. At least it was a diversion from waiting for something to happen.

  He checked Jack’s website for the hundredth time this week and saw that something had changed. There was some additional information about supplies, indicating that they were in some kind of chemical production activity but not enough to nail them yet. This was getting old, seems like it’s never going to amount to anything. Frustrated, he wandered over to see how the party setup was proceeding. He helped hang decorations and set up the food and drinks, actually didn’t smell bad and the cake looked really good. Darren felt like he was in some corporate world, not the place for an adrenaline junkie. He settled in to yell surprise at the unassuming co-worker, still unsure who it was.

  Bill had a very filling lunch, able to put aside the thoughts of what the terrorists were doing nearby long enough to enjoy what Kathy had brought. The mood was relaxed, as though everyone in the office was getting ready to go on vacation. He and Margie talked for a while, mostly about Joshua and what plans she had for the weekend. He reminisced about the summers in New York, thinking about the Institution and the memories of growing up in and on the water.

  “If I was free this weekend the first thing I would do is get crispy in the sun and cool down in the water. I know Lake Erie isn’t the most beautiful body of water in the world but it would seem like heaven to me.”

  “My aunt and uncle used to have a boat and we’d spend a lot of Saturdays out on the lake, doing exactly what you’re saying. Even tried water skiing a time or two but that didn’t work out so well.”

  “We liked riding tire inner tubes better. It was easier to hold on and more fun. My dad used to call it legal child abuse and loved to drag us through wakes and try to get us off the tube.” Bill mused, getting lost in the memory.

  Margie gave him time to remember and focused on what was left of her lunch. Bill didn’t really come back, cleaning up his dishes and wandering back to his desk without another word. He was lost in thought for some time, not enough memories and too much time between really good ones. Needing to get out of this mindset, Bill logged on to The Cause’s website to see if there was additional information. The site was still the same so he checked out the logging program to see if there’d been any email traffic to the chemist’s computer. There wasn’t much on the computer, the chemist either was using another machine or hadn’t been doing much lately online. Toward the end of the file there was text from an email communication from Robert that mentioned Korea being a go, though it didn’t mention a time or location within the country.

  Bill updated the website to include the information from the email, setting up the website on a different virtual machine to further obfuscate his location. He used the same anonymous remailer and sent off a note to Darren, letting him know the website had been updated. He logged on to the Nigerian server to do this and also updated the box on the site, telling Darren that he wished he had more for him but something was definitely happening in Korea soon. He kept the connection open between Nigeria and Czechoslovakia, in case Darren responded.

  The email popped up late in the afternoon, Darren staring dumbly out the window, waiting for the clock to reach four so he could go home. There was no sense sitting around to fight more traffic, better to start the weekend early and surprise Monica again, which she was really getting used to. They were going to Virginia beach in the morning, planning on spending the day there and getting some sun.

  He read the mail and thought that it was good but not enough to call in the Calvary. The timing and location weren’t qualified and there was nothing new in any of the chatter to indicate corroborating evidence but this was a very big break in terms of expressed intent on the part of the terrorists. Darren checked the website but found nothing new except for the note from Jack.

  “Why don’t you come forward? I can offer you protection and by working together we could solve this faster.” He refreshed the screen every few seconds, hoping that there’d be a response. Darren thought if he could get some one on one time with Jack he might be able to talk him into coming forward.

  Bill stared at the screen, thinking about what to say without giving himself away. He was stumped and couldn’t come up with anything. He simply typed “Can’t right now, will keep you posted. Jack”

  Darren was mad but didn’t want to push Jack away from the case. He had brought consistent evidence and the Korea lead helped substantiate what had been claimed before and meant that progress was happening. He left for the weekend thinking that things were going to open up soon.