Page 58 of The Devil's Ransom

Brett nodded and left. In between, Creed told us that the computer drain we’d accomplished was healthy, and that these guys were involved in the lockup of GRS. The man we’d saved was, in fact, the ransomware gang.

Should have taken him down.

But I knew that was just wasted breath. I had no idea at the time if he was a bad guy, and I had no authority to do so even if he was. With everything we were working now, we’d get another shot. Maybe.

Creed could tell us what was on the computer, but none of thatdata had any location we could target. But maybe Veep’s work would change that equation.

Brett returned with a brand-new iPhone, saying, “When this is done, do I get to keep it?”

I said, “No. But you can give it to your wife.”

He passed the phone, saying, “I don’t have a wife.”

I took it, plugged it into the VPN on our Taskforce computer, the iPhone I’d found in the grass right next to it, and said, “Oh. Sorry. I guess Jennifer gets it then.”

He scowled and said, “Sounds a little bit like nepotism here.”

Creed came on saying, “Okay, the phone’s good. Downloading to yours now.”

When it was complete, I said, “All right, Creed, how does this help us?”

He said, “The phone is tied to that computer you cloned. The same guy owned both. He has the ‘Find my Mac’ segment on, and I can see his MacBook like he was searching for it.”

“You can see where that computer is, right now?”

“Yes.”

“Send me a map.”

He did, and it was in the heart of the old town of Split, right smack dab in what was known as Diocletian’s Palace.

Creed said, “It also has an Apple AirTag tied to the system. I have no idea what it is, but he’s tracking something.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I have no idea. AirTags are used to mark things that are ordinarily lost. Could be his keys, could be a bicycle. Could be anything. But what’s odd is the trace is in the middle of a national park. Nothing else around.”

I said, “Okay, let’s focus on the computer. It’s in Split?”

“Yeah, right where that marble shows. You’re basically duplicating his phone and they’re tied together.”

I said, “Okay, good to go, Creed. Good work.”

I disconnected the VPN and said, “Let’s get some sleep. I’m going to send the SITREP asking for authority to interdict anyone who’s associated with that computer, but the first thing I want to know is if it’s still in the same place tomorrow. I don’t want to do a ‘Where’s Waldo?’ on this thing.”

The next morning, I awoke and checked the trace again. It was in the same spot. I picked up the target phone, and sure enough, the guy who owned it had wiped it. The background screen no longer showed some snowboarder doing a jump, and the phone itself showed no apps having been downloaded.

It was now functionally dead, but luckily, our cloned phone was still active. I initiated the VPN and pulled up the answer to our SITREP, worried about what I’d see. I’d asked for Omega authority, but really, I’d left a dead guy from Turkey on the ground in Croatia while operating out of Tajikistan. It was a little bit much, even for me.

Jennifer leaned over me to read what the Taskforce had sent, saying, “Can’t wait to see what they thought about last night.”

Her wet hair fell in front of my face, and I smelled the shampoo. I turned to her and said, “Do you mind?”

She looked at me like she didn’t understand, then said, “Are you hiding something? You don’t want me to see what the Taskforce sent?”

I shook my head and said, “No. All I meant was that your shampoo tends to break my concentration.”

She smiled and said, “Well, it’s good that something can do that, because you never listen to me otherwise.”

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