Part V
Unlocking the Mystery
Chapter 73
After fighting the brutal D.C. beltway rush hour traffic, Jesse pulled into his driveway twenty-four hours after leaving Phuket. His head hit the pillow a few minutes after he opened the front door. He didn’t bother to check his answering machine or even look at the stack of mail that had fallen on the floor from the mail slot next to the front door. He was exhausted from lack of sleep and the thoughts that continually ran through his mind after leaving Phuket. The new information provided by Shawn had filled in a lot of blanks. If the rumors that Madam Chi had heard were true, Sydney was involved in a whole lot more than prisoner interrogation, and Peter Jensen may have witnessed some things that got him killed. Now, the letter that Sanders had found so long ago made much more sense and explained why he was so upset. He recalled that Sanders had come under Sydney’s spell like every other man had. He must have been struggling with the fact that he had in his possession a letter that would end her career and possibly send her to prison for a very long time. Unfortunately, he didn’t have to make that decision. Now he did.
*****
Jesse got out of bed a little after 3:00 AM, and despite the early hour, he was wide awake after having slept for nearly nine hours. He made a pot of coffee and then checked his voicemail, text messages, and e-mail before jumping into the shower with a steaming cup of black coffee. Feeling refreshed, he made himself a breakfast of instant oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins. His meeting with General Jackson and the CIA director wasn’t scheduled for another four hours, so he decided to go to his office, finish some paperwork, and do some research before heading to the meeting.
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Sharply at 8:00 AM, Jesse walked into the secure meeting room at Langley and was quickly greeted by General Jackson, Tony Clayson, and the head of the FBI, Joseph Martinez. No staffers were present. After all the men were seated, Jesse handed the three men copies of his report on the events that took place in Phuket. Jesse gave the men a quick synopsis, then he reached into his briefcase and pulled out the envelope containing the encrypted document sealed in a clear Ziploc bag. Jesse handed it to Clayson, then sat back and watched as each man examined the document.
Clayson was the first to speak.
“I want this kept off the grid. I don’t have to tell you how sensitive this is.” Clayson let the sentence hang there for a minute before continuing.
“Joseph, because of your agency’s advanced facility and forensic technique’s, I have no doubt that you can handle this, but I need people that you have absolute trust in to keep this quiet, especially because of where this may lead.”
“I can think of one person who fits the bill, and she also happens to be one of our best experts on encryption. There will be no work record, and her findings will be kept on an encrypted flash drive with a protected password and handed only to me. I will instruct her to work alone.”
“How long you have known this woman?” Clayson asked.
Joseph smiled and said, “I have known Janet Rockwell for over twenty years. She’s a true professional. I happen to have a copy of her file with me.”
Clayson raised an eyebrow and said, “I’m glad to see that you’re on top of things. I guess you were pretty sure it would wind up in your lap.”
“It was the logical conclusion, Tony,” Martinez said with a straight face as he handed Clayson Janet’s file.
Clayson poured himself a cup of coffee for the carafe in the center of the table and read through Rockwell’s file for several minutes.
Satisfied that Martinez had the right person, he closed the file and handed it back to him.
“Very good; please inform me the minute you have something.”
“You’ll know a minute after I do, Tony.”
“Good, now that that’s out of the way, I want to move on to the people behind these attacks.”
