Chip had placed a call to Huggard back in D.C. as Ben was being escorted off the aircraft, but it was a full two and a half hours before the admiral returned his call. In the meantime he had moved into the pilots’ ready lounge, where he had a cup of coffee and a sandwich from one of the machines.
He’d also found out that Ben had been taken to the Midtown South Precinct, along with the names of the precinct commander and the New York City commissioner of police.
“Tell me that you and Ben are in the air and on the way back to do what you’re being paid to do,” Huggard said.
“Still on the ground, sir. We ran into some trouble.”
“Police trouble?”
“Yes, sir. Ben was arrested as soon as we touched down.”
“On what charge?”
“Threatening an ex-cop who is head of security at the investment bank where Ben’s girlfriend, Cassy, works in IT.”
“If I’m going to pull some strings for you guys, I need to know exactly what the hell is going on up there.”
“Cassy Levin evidently stumbled on some problem at the bank—something her bosses evidently didn’t want her meddling with—and she was kidnapped by a person or persons we believe are Russian and probably taken to an unknown location in Brighton Beach.”
Huggard was silent for a moment or two. “How sure are you about your information?”
“She was recording what was happening to her and sending it to Ben’s phone in real time until the transmission was cut off. The speaker was definitely Russian, and my guess, from the way he talked and the way the grab went down, would be that he was a former Spetsnaz operator.”
“What other intel do you have, and how are you getting it?”
“We believe that she left the bank with one of her coworkers, a guy by the name of Donni Imani, and just prior to the grab, they separated. The bank’s security officer said the two of them were out to lunch.”
“And?”
“On a hunch I trolled the Manhattan nine-one-one logs, and found that at the same time Cassy was being taken, an unidentified male was struck by a truck less than a block away. I checked the EMT and hospital mainframes and found Imani’s name as deceased. His body was taken to the morgue at Bellevue Hospital.”
“And you believe that his death is connected with the kidnapping.”
“Coincidental but connected,” Chip said. “Cassy was evidently carrying a flash drive with information on it that the bank apparently didn’t want her to take out of the building. I think that when she realized what was happening, she gave the drive to her friend, who took off and was killed.”
“What else?”
“A guy by the name of Tom Raven showed up at the morgue claiming to be Imani’s uncle and wanted to collect his nephew’s belongings. He had no proof of kinship, so he was turned away. But I’m betting he was a Russian sent there to find the flash drive.”
“Did you get the name of the arresting officer, and where Ben was taken?”
“Sergeant Roger Adams, and he’s at the Midtown South Precinct.”
“Hold on, I’ll get right back to you.”
“Do you want the precinct commander’s name?”
“I’m going to call the mayor, we’re old friends,” Huggard said. “In the meantime, I suggest that you rent a car and get over to the precinct. I want this settled and you two back to work first thing in the A.M. Clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Chip said, but the admiral had already rung off.