Operation Hell Gate - Marc Cerasini [36]
Heart racing, Jamey reversed the tracking mode camera and retraced the path of the GPS blip back to the second it vanished. The signal ceased transmitting thirty-five seconds before she'd looked up — more than a minute ago when accounting for the East Coast/West Coast signal delay. It took another minute for Jamey to switch from terrain mode, and to overlay the map grid of New York City on the GPS path. As the images were forming on her main screen, it first appeared to Jamey that Dante Arete's signal vanished over the East River. Finally, the three-dimensional image of the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge appeared. The blip had vanished in the middle of the span.
Jamey activated a subsystem that could immediately interface with emergency services departments in dozens of major American metropolitan areas. She keyed in the EMS code for New York City, and ten seconds later a massive log of 911 calls appeared on her monitor.
Before Jamey could even begin to scan the contents a new call appeared on top of the 911 roster — one that alerted the New York Police Department and Fire Department about an accident in the middle of the Fifty-ninth Street Bridge. According to the frantic 911 call, a white, late-model SUV was engulfed in flames — or possibly an explosion. A subsequent caller reported multiple fatalities.
Jamey stared at the screen in disbelief. The phone beeped and she hit the intercom. "Yes?"
"It's Nina."
"God, Nina I just lost..."
Nina interrupted her. "Listen, Jamey, we don't have much time. I have Jack on the line. He's just dumped new intelligence in our lap, including the possible identity of the men with the missile launcher. Now Jack needs an update on Dante Arete's position."
* * *
2:14:10 A.M. EDT
Tatiana's Tavern
Jack took the news about Arete's death hard. Their best lead — gone. He ended the call with Jamey Farrell and contacted Ryan Chappelle.
Diplomatically, Georgi Timko chose that moment to "get more tea." Cups in hand, the Ukrainian mobster left Jack alone in his office to speak to his superior in private, though Jack already assumed Timko had bugged the place.
"You heard about Arete?" Jack began.
"Nina just told me," Chappelle replied, "but I didn't have time for a thorough briefing..."
"Listen, I don't know if I mentioned the fact that the Lynch brothers slipped Dante an attache case when they met up with him..."
"The Lynch brothers?"
"The men in the Mercedes. The ones who drove away with the missile launcher in their trunk," Jack explained, impatient that Chappelle had not bothered to keep up with the events he'd already relayed to the command center.
"What about these Lynch brothers, Jack?"
"I think they placed a bomb in that case to take Arete out."
"That doesn't make any sense. Weren't they the guys who shot the FBI airplane down to help Arete escape?"
"Maybe Arete's outlived his usefulness now that CTU's exposed his activities," said Jack. "Or maybe it had something to do with the deal Dante Arete made with Special Agent Hensley."
Jack heard a deep sigh on the other end. "What's wrong?"
"Special Agent Hensley is talking to his bosses, Jack. He fingered you for the murder of the two Federal marshals, for shooting the pilot, and for helping Dante Arete escape."
"That's crazy. I told you Frank Hensley's the traitor."
"Naturally the FBI is having a little trouble buying that. Hensley is a highly decorated field agent. He's been on the job for close to five years. That's longer than CTU's been around."
"So what are you telling me?"
"We're doing everything on our end to get to the bottom of things, but I've got to tell you some of the other agencies are shutting CTU