Burke was confident that Simon was heading in his direction and had taken all precautions. Roadblocks had been set up at all access roads leading into St. Paul, Minnesota. Anyone crossing the junction onto either State Road 280, Route 35, or I-94 would be stopped for visual identification. All hotels had been alerted in the area surrounding the Mideast ISO control center. The local authorities maintained around-the-clock stakeouts.
Nothing more could be done—other than to wait.
Burke understood that Simon would likely hack surreptitiously into the facility’s network directly and it would be untraceable. However, he would have to be within range of the source. Burke set up surveillance along the perimeter of the control center at Energy Park Drive and North Lexington Parkway. He also arranged for the parking lot at the apartment complex adjacent to the center to be patrolled.
It had been a frustrating week. The situation had remained stagnant and Burke’s confidence had eroded. The time had come to report in to the director.
“Burke, what’s the status?”
“Nothing has surfaced. There have been no sightings of Simon and no unusual activity at the center.”
“Do you still have the roadblocks set up?
“Yes, but he must have eluded us in some way. In fact, only one Ford Bronco was stopped.” Burke explained that the particular vehicle was red and that the plates did not match. The two occupants were males with proper I.D., but the driver was a nineteen-year-old college student heading to the University of Minnesota. The passenger was an older man with short blond hair and dark blue eyes with his right arm in a sling. “That’s the closest we’ve come.”
“BURKE!” Noble shouted. “Get their descriptions out to the local hotels. See if anyone resembling the pair checked in or out within the past few days. Call me right back.” Noble slammed the receiver back into its cradle.
Noble tapped feverishly at the keyboard to access the St. Paul computer system. Within minutes, he located Simon’s telltale code. Simon had left his imprint. They were too late—at least to capture him. It took Noble another thirty minutes, to remove the trigger date along with Simon’s permutations and delete his failsafe program, leaving the original program intact. On a hunch, he entered the computer system for the Carmel control center and located Simon’s failsafe program—he had already penetrated that system as well. Noble quickly performed the same procedure and restored the original code.
Then after moments of contemplation, he deciphered that Simon had changed the failsafe codes at both installations from within the St. Paul’s control center. At that point, he sat back and stared at the screen. Simon, what are you planning next? “Shit, he never intended to go to Carmel,” he blurted aloud. He hurriedly pulled up a map of the country on his computer and zoomed in to The Great Lakes region. After studying the map further, he concluded there were several options for crossing over the border into Canada.
“Doris, please get Agent Burke on the line.”
Noble stood up and paced his office reevaluating his conclusion, while he waited to speak with Burke.
“He is on line one.”
“Thank you.” Noble took a calming breath and hit the button. “Burke, did anyone see our duo?”
“Your instinct was correct,” Burke sighed. “The person fitting the description of the passenger checked out of the Best Western at Bandana Square two nights ago around eleven o’clock.”
“You mean Simon.”
“I’m afraid so. The location of the hotel would make sense. It is a seven-minute walk to the Midwest ISO building. Moreover, there is an apartment complex located between the hotel and the facility. The resident’s parking lot can be accessed without difficulty and is situated essentially outside the control center’s door.”
Burke continued to inform Noble of another possible lead he had received moments before from one of the other agents. “Yesterday night, the local authorities conducted a raid at a local chop shop in Dubuque, Iowa, suspected of conducting illegal activities other than the obvious. The owner is a two-time felon on parole.”
“Agent, please cut to the chase.” Noble’s eagerness was evident.
“Director, the felon didn’t ask for his legal mouthpiece but asked to speak with the feds. He wanted a deal. Our blond-haired, blue-eyed passenger traded his red Ford Bronco for a souped-up silver 2010 Dodge Challenger. I just sent out an updated APB and I’m in the process of setting up roadblocks heading into Carmel.” Burke hoped it was the lead Noble wanted.
“Forget it Burke, he’s not heading to Carmel. He is heading to the Canadian border.”
“Sir, with all due respect, how can you be sure?” Burke held his breath and waited for the reproach. He was pleasantly surprised when Noble explained his logic with composure.
“Simon already infiltrated the Carmel facility using the St. Paul network. Therefore, he is on his way to the Canadian border and to the final facility in Mississauga—but which way, we do not know. He could either head north toward Sarnia, Ontario or to Fort Erie, Ontario via Buffalo, New York.”
“Director, how can we be sure that he won’t charter a plane or a boat to transport him across the border?”
“He’ll take the route we don’t expect, purposely to tie up our resources. Simon needs to be in control and the fewer people he has to interact with the better. I still contend he will drive to the border.” Noble feared his reasoning may prove to be irrational, but it was worth the risk.
“That would make sense, Director. He would not switch cars on the way into town, but would on his way out of the country. Dubuque is eight hours to Sarnia and eleven to Buffalo. I suspect he’d take the shortest route.”
“Again we can only speculate. Simon has gotten this far without a trace.”
“We still have some time in our favor if he heads toward Buffalo. Let’s focus on Sarnia first. I’ll send up a helicopter to see if they can spot him, but if he continues to travel at night it will be near impossible.”
“I’m afraid Burke, our best bet will be to capture him at the border. But which border?”
“Director, I’ll arrange for the traffic to be rerouted to prevent border crossings, and coordinate with the local feds and the Mounties to move in at a moment’s notice.”
“Get to work. Alert me the second you know anything. And Burke, sorry about losing my temper. Simon has the tendency to get under my skin.”
“No worries Director. He’s getting to all of us. In fact, I think he’s living under my skin.”
“Call me back after you have everything in place.”
“Will do.”
Noble tried to make sense of all of the events that had occurred, but knew there was a missing part to the conundrum. He asked himself, “Simon, what do you and the other players in this drama have in common?”