Free 3 - Buffalo Mountain: Ike Schwartz Mystery 3 by Frederick Ramsay Page A

Karl. Sam, what happens if we confirm the black operation is the Bureau’s? You will be working against them and not in a nice way. Can you do that?”
    “You mean could I pursue whatever measures I’m called on to do even if it means compromising or putting Karl at risk?”
    “In a nutshell—yes.”
    “Oh my. I’ve only known him for a couple of months but I thought this weekend he would…”
    Ike waited. His heart went out to her. She was bright and quick and loyal. He had a feeling that her relationship with Karl Hedrick could be the first really serious one she’d ever had. At the same time her dream of becoming a law enforcement officer was at stake as well. Ike sighed, afraid he would be the one to break her heart. She swallowed. “If it’s about murder and my job is to find that out, then Karl will have to understand. If he doesn’t, I guess he’s not the person I think he is.”
    “You don’t have to do this, Sam. I can take you off this case and find something else.”
    “I’m in.”
    “Okay. Here’s what we do next.”
    ***
    An hour later the three separated. Whaite headed to Floyd County to track down Donnie Oldham and Steve Bolt. Somewhere in the county someone knew what had happened to Kamarov/Harris. The smart odds were not on Bolt or Oldham, but you had to start somewhere. Ike explained how the secure phone worked. Whaite looked at its bulk and declined.
    “Look, I’ll just use the normal one to call you, Ike. The town ordinance probably doesn’t carry down there and even if it does, who’s going to know?” Ike nodded and Whaite slipped out the door.
    “Okay, Sam, now you understand why I didn’t want you on the internet or poking around in law enforcement databases. The minute you started, whoever is behind this would disappear into thin air. We’d never find out what happened.”
    “We’re good. The only possible hit is with the driver’s licensing people and, worst case, they think they were hit by a hacker.”
    “Sam, what can you do with that system of yours?”
    “It depends on what you have in mind. But if you’re asking, can I go deep into programs and sites—yes, I can.”
    “How deep?”
    “Pretty nearly anywhere. I have the latest and the best software. In a way, we are a black program ourselves.”
    “How’s that?”
    “Like your former colleagues in the government, we are almost completely off-budget and we don’t have to take low bid. Most of this software came to me from friends and acquaintances in the field. Some of it isn’t even registered anywhere.”
    “You can out-do the CIA, FBI, DIA, and NSA?”
    “I didn’t say that. To do that, we’d need a quantum computer. You don’t want to know the price tag on one of those. What I said is, we have the capacity to get in anywhere. I presume they do, too.”
    “I see, I guess…okay, see if you can track down the black program…but be careful.”
    ***
    Hollis settled in front of his father’s computer. He turned and looked at Donnie. “You don’t have his driver’s license?”
    “It wasn’t in the wallet.”
    “Man, I can’t do anything without someplace to start.”
    “You’re stalling. You have a name. Don’t you just swipe that thing and read the PIN off the back?”
    “It isn’t that easy.”
    “How often have you done this, Hollis? I mean, you know what you’re doing, right?”
    “I watched the old man a couple of times.”
    “You watched. That’s it?”
    Hollis gazed at the blue-green screen and tried to remember what he had to do next. He opened his father’s files and began to look for one that had a name that might tell him what it was. His father had not left a pathway. He knew his father’s password—period. He felt Donnie’s anger building. Donnie was crazy. You didn’t want him angry at you. He had some notion he really was a throwback to the old mountain men that used to live in the area and he was as likely to shoot you as look at you. At least that’s what Hollis