Page 67 of Undercover Savior

“Where did you get this information? Who were your sources?” Con asked.

My eyes met Fallon’s, and she shook her head.

“I’m not ready to divulge that information. I may never be.”

Rather than anger, what I saw in Con’s eyes was respect. His question had been a test that I’d passed.

“Explain about the two ports,” David prompted.

“Right. Most larger UK shipping companies, of which Tower-Meridian is one of the biggest in existence, are registered in Felixstowe. Tees is the home port for every vessel I’ve identified as being theirs.”

“If I may,” said David.

“Go ahead.”

“The working theory is that Weber is intentionally exploiting the inherent chaos in traveling between two such different ports.” He looked over at me. “Right?”

I smiled. “Correct and close to verbatim what I said. And, as David alluded to, the manifests are signed off at Tees and spot-checked in Felixstowe.”

“Where they’re most likely getting rubber-stamped without anyone ever checking,” said Tag.

“Correct.”

“What do you think he’s transporting?” Con asked.

“As I also told David, my first theory was he was heavy into human trafficking. Based on the communications blackouts alone, combined with blocked tracking, Tower-Meridian’s ships could make any number of stops virtually anywhere in the world.”

“And now?” Con pressed.

“Weapons are the next most obvious.”

I caught a look between him and David.

“Except that isn’t enough,” Con muttered. “The risk they’re taking is disproportionate to either form of trafficking.”

“As David said the other day, a series of well-timed raids would bury them,” I added.

Con nodded. “Which means whatever it is they’re moving isn’t discernible or at least not immediately obvious.” His eyes met mine. “So what is it?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“Do you have a guess?” Fallon asked.

Had anyone else posed the same question, I would’ve responded, in my line of work, I couldn’t afford to guess. Fallon too would’ve given the same stock answer.

“Something far worse, obviously, but what? I can’t fathom.”

“You’re right about whatever it is being far worse. The problem as it stands right now is Weber believes you’ve figured it out. And if you haven’t, you’re close enough that he sees you as a big-enough threat that he’ll take you out regardless of risk,” said Con.

“What do you think it is?” Fallon asked him.

“Weapons of mass destruction would make sense, but how would he get his hands on them, in the first place, let alone load them into containers? The payoffs at the ports would be staggering, plus with that number of people, the odds of discovery are astronomical,” I responded.

“Except you also believe that whatever it is, isn’t discernible. WMDs certainly would be, unless what he’s moving is something no one has ever seen before,” said Gus.

My eyes met Fallon’s. That was exactly right. And if no one had seen whatever it was before, how could it ever be detected?

“Where do we go from here?” Tag asked.

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