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“Is this the Man of Iron?”
“It is. Is this the Frog?”
“I’m afraid it is.”
Rapp wasn’t sure how to play it. He had worked with Villaume and Lukas on three separate occasions, all of them in France, and he had been impressed by both men. They were proficient and dependable. They had helped Rapp hunt Rafique Aziz, a Palestinian terrorist who was one of the men responsible for the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Villaume and Lukas had been there on a night when Rapp had come within inches of losing his life. In fact, if Lukas hadn’t arrived when he had, Rapp probably would be dead.
“I’m sorry to hear about Mario. He was a good man.”
“I appreciate that.” There was a pause. “Mario liked you. He believed you were honest.”
“He was, too. Very dependable.”
Slightly overcome with emotion at the loss of his old friend, Villaume said nothing for a while. “I hope you will forgive me, but in light of Mario’s incident the other day, I’m a little skittish.”
“I don’t blame you, but we need to talk.”
“In person?”
“That would help.”
“I’m afraid that’s out of the question.”
Villaume’s position did not surprise Rapp. He would do the same. “That’s too bad, but I understand.”
The NSA captured literally every cellular and digital call made in the metro area. The cellular calls were analyzed almost instantly. The digital calls took more time because they had to be deciphered. The massive computers out at Fort Meade sifted through them searching for key words such as gun, bomb, assassinate, and thousands more. If the computers came across a word that was flagged, they would kick the call up to the next level of programmed analysis. If a call contained enough flagged words, it eventually garnered the attention of a real person. Conversations that took place in Arabic, Chinese, or Russian received extra attention. The easiest way to defeat the system was to talk like a normal businessperson.
Rapp formulated his next sentence carefully. “I think we might have a common problem.”
“What would that be?”
“I was across the pond on business last week, with your friends from Colorado. Do you know the ones I’m talking about?”
“I think so.”
“They screwed me on a deal.”
“How do you mean?”
“They were supposed to be working with me, and they ended up working for someone else.”
“I’m not sure I follow.”
Rapp’s voice took on an angry tone. “They double-crossed me and tried to send me into permanent retirement.”
“Oh…I see. Were they following company orders?”
“I can assure you they were not. I went to the top to find out, and they were in the dark as much as me.”
“I’m not sure where I fit into all of this.”
“Someone hired you to make that trip to Colorado. I have a pretty strong idea that same person interfered with my business deal across the pond.” Rapp waited for a second and added, “I would also bet that same person had something to do with Mario’s accident the other day.”
There was a long pause, and then Villaume asked, “How did you know I had business in Colorado?”
Rapp looked at Coleman. “There were some people there watching you.”
“Were they with the company?”