Primary Valor Jack Mars (miss read books TXT) 📖

“We got a message from the jumpplane,” Swann said.

“Okay.”

“It was sent in the code we’vebeen using, and it took me a few minutes to decipher it. It reads Big mandid not go. Boss held him back. Proceeding to destination 2.”

Don sighed. “What does that mean?”

Swann shrugged. “Well, Ed is thebig man. The boss is Stone. It sounds like Stone told Ed not to jump with them.Why he would do that is beyond me. Destination 2 is Airbase Amistad inHonduras. For some reason, Ed is still on the plane and the plane itself isn’tgoing back to Jamaica. It’s going to Honduras instead.”

“I know that much, Swann. I mean,what is the reasoning behind it?”

He looked at Trudy.

Now she shrugged. Her eyes weretired behind her red glasses.

“Stone always has his reasons. Hegoes by instinct. You know that. It sounds like he kept Ed on the plane, andtold them to go to Honduras in case he needed backup. Why he would go withHenry Bowles and not Ed is anybody’s guess.”

“And that’s all we’ve heard?” Donsaid.

“That’s all we’ve heard,” Swannsaid. “And that message just came through a few moments ago. So that means tome that nothing has happened yet.”

“Do you still have the drone inthe air?”

Swann shook his head. “I returnedit several hours ago. Its night optics aren’t great, so we weren’t going to seemuch. Anyway, it’s better that we don’t have it.”

“Why’s that?” Don said.

Swann looked at Don, then toTrudy, and back again. It was a rare moment when Swann could almost be thoughtto have a steely gaze.

“This needs to stay in this room,”he said.

Don suppressed a smile. Trudy saidnothing.

“I was talking to a friend ofmine,” Swann said. “Not really a friend. A guy I know. As you’re both aware,the SRT seems to have sprung a leak somewhere. I’ve been wracking my brains,trying to figure out where it is. We’ve been sweeping these offices like crazy.We use codes and encryptions. We’re keeping information tight, on a need toknow basis. So where’s the leak?”

Don had been beginning to wonderif Swann himself wasn’t the leak. “Okay,” he said. “And did you find an answer?”

Swann nodded. “Maybe. Maybe oneanswer. Maybe there are more than one, but this might be an important one.”

“So give it.”

“ECHELON,” Swann said. “It’s amonster computer application they have at the National Security Agency. The PatriotAct authorized its existence, but I know NSA had earlier versions of it goingback to the mid-1990s, and possibly before. Those were unauthorized. The newestiteration is the most advanced and comprehensive data monitoring program everinvented.”

“I’ve heard of it,” Trudy said. “Itcan intercept messages.”

“It can intercept every digitalcommunication sent in the United States,” Swann said. “And communications areall digital now. Phone calls have gone digital. Emails, texts, satellitecommunications. It vacuums all of them up and collects them.”

“Okay, but what good is it?” Trudysaid. “No one can monitor all of those messages. It would take thousands ofpeople, working in three shifts, twenty-four hours a day…”

Swann shook his head. “That isn’tthe point of it. That isn’t their intention. The program gets tripped bykeywords. Any keyword they want can flag a communication for furtherinvestigation. Bomb. Assassinate. Al-Qaeda. Whatever keyword interests you. Thatnarrows down who to listen to.”

“I don’t know what kind of emailsyou write,” Trudy said. “But I don’t generally use those words.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Swann said. “Theycan also just pick and choose people to hone in on. My acquaintance suggestedto me that the SRT has been flagged for close monitoring the past three months,maybe longer.”

“Our communications are encrypted,”Don said. “Are they not?”

Swann shrugged. “Yes and no. Theencryption package we have was developed for us by the Bureau. Can a rogueoutside party figure out what we’re saying? Absolutely not. Can NSA datascientists unravel standard FBI encryption? Of course they can. Or maybe NSAjust reroutes our communications to FBI headquarters, where they have thedecryption keys.”

He looked at Don closely. “Theygave us the encryption. You see what I’m saying? You said that was okay at thetime we started. We work for them. We use their resources. They own thisbuilding. Of course we’ll use their encryption methods. It would seem a littleodd if we didn’t.”

“So you’re saying…”

Swann nodded. “Yes. They neverneeded to bug this place. They can listen to us whenever they want. They knowwhat we’re doing almost before we do.”

He paused.

“And they probably know Ed isgoing to Honduras.”

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

10:15 p.m. Central Standard Time (11:15 p.m. EasternStandard Time)

La Sierra de San Simon (St. Simon’s Saw)

Near Honduras

The Caribbean Sea

“So much for night vision gear,”Luke whispered.

The place was lit up like awedding was going on.

He was holed up, lying on hisstomach, the sniper rifle on its bipod, in dense foliage at the edge of thecompound, watching the house. With the black face paint on, and the darkclothing he was wearing, he was confident that no one could see him. But hecouldn’t stay in here forever.

The house was massive. There was amain house, and then wings heading off to the right and left. There were threefloors, and there must be dozens of rooms. Some windows were lit up, and somewere not. An area on the third floor, on the left, western wing, had dim,flickering lights, as though it was lit by candles. That might be something,and it might not.

There was no way to search a housethis big, not by himself, not with a dozen guys. He was going to have to take ahostage, preferably someone who knew where the girl was kept, and have thatperson lead him there.

But he needed to make it acrossthe compound to the house first.

To his far left was the ingroundpool area. A blue light from the bottom of the pool shone, causing an eerieglow. There didn’t appear to be anyone over there.

Closer, to his right, was anoutbuilding, probably left over from the hotel days. Maybe it had bathrooms, orchanging rooms, or some kind of snack bar. Three men dressed in drab greenmilitary uniforms were posted near the doorway to this building. They weresmoking cigarettes and chatting in low voices. They had rifles slung over