87th Precinct - The Frumious Bandersnatch Part 10

aPiece of cake,a Benny Lu said, grinning.

His bas.e.m.e.nt looked like a computer nerdas hangout. Benny himself looked a little like Fu Manchu in the silk robe he was wearing, which he told Avery his sister who still lived in Hong Kong had sent him for Christmas.

aShe says itas no different under the Chinese,a he a.s.sured Avery, who didnat give a ratas a.s.s about Hong Kongor the Britishor the Chinese. All he cared about was getting the stuff he needed. It was raining outside the bas.e.m.e.nt windows. This was now the end of April. The kidnapping scheme had already been underway for almost two months by then.

When Benny was skimming credit cards for the Hong Kong gang, he was paid a thousand Hong Kong dollars for every name he delivered, which at the time was the equivalent of about a hundred and fifty U.S. bucks. He would skim three or four cards every day except on his day off, which was Wednesday. This averaged out to something like a thousand bucks a week, not enough to buy his own restaurant but plenty of extra spending money if only the Hong Kong credit card d.i.c.ks hadnat busted the gang, and almost busted him in the bargain.

Here in the U.S., Benny paid a hundred bucks for each name skimmed by his people in restaurants and gasoline stations. He got his supply of blank plastic cards from a manufacturer in Germany who ma.s.s-produced them and sold them to him (and many other counterfeiters like him) for two hundred bucks a card. Using a thermal dye printer, Benny stamped American Express, Visa, or Master-Card graphics onto the face of a blank card, embossed it with the name and account number of a skimmed cardas true owner, and then embedded the stolen code onto the counterfeitas pristine magnetic stripe. He sold the clones for two thousand bucks a pop, cheap at twice the price when you considered that whatever you charged on the electronically identical card wouldnat be discovered until the genuine cardas owner got his bill a month later.

aSign the name on this sheet of paper a dozen or so times before you sign the back of the card,a Benny told him. aSo itall have a natural flow to it.a aAndy Hardy?a Avery said. aThatas the guyas name?a aThatas his name, thatas right. Thatas the name on the original card.a aLike in Mickey Rooney?a aWhoas Mickey Rooney?a Benny asked.

aDonat they show old movies on television in Hong Kong?a aSure, but whoas Mickey Rooney?a aHe was Andy Hardy.a aI donat get it.a aYou never heard of Judge Hardy?a aI try to stay far away from judges,a Benny said.

Avery shrugged, and then signed the name aAndy Hardya ten times before he signed the back of the card. He was now in possession of a credit card with the name ANDY HARDY embossed on its front in raised letters, and his own aAndy Hardya signature on the back of it.

aHow long will this fly?a he asked Benny.

aShould take you through the end of May at least.a Which was world enough and time.

Replicating a driveras license was a simpler and much less expensive matter.

Benny explained that in his line of work a atemplatea was a layered graphics file that could be computer-manipulated to hide or reveal images and text. In the good old days two or three years ago, when thirty percent of all counterfeit and false identification seized by law enforcement agencies came from the internet, Benny had purchased driveras-license templates for all fifty states, G.o.d bless American enterprise!

Now, while April showers lashed his bas.e.m.e.nt windows, Benny took a digital head-and-shoulders photograph of Avery standing against a blue background. He stored this on one of his computers, together with the scanned aAndy Hardya signature Avery had used on the credit card. Loading the template for a Connecticut state driveras license, Benny first called up the photograph, hid it, and then revealed a stored Department-of-Motor-Vehicles signature. When he revealed the photo again, the signature seemed superimposed along its right hand side. Then, in repeated mouse clicks that first hid and then revealed successive layers, Benny replicated the Connecticut state seal, and a shadow image of Averyas head shot, and the Andy Hardy signature.

Filling in the blank s.p.a.ces on the template, he typed in the name HARDY, ANDY and an address he pulled from a Connecticut phone book, and below that Averyas actual date of birth, September 12, 1969. Just beneath that, he typed in a date of issue, which he fabricated as July 26 the previous year, and to the right of that the letter M for Averyas s.e.x, and the abbreviation BR for the color of his eyes, and 6a1" for his height. He typed in a false identifying license number across the top of the template, and then an expiration date that was on Averyas birthday, two years after the date of issuance. Lastly, he hid everything head already done, and revealed only the bar-code Connecticut had conceived as a security feature. When he revealed the license again, the bar code was running along the bottom of it.

Voil!

He now had on his computer a doc.u.ment virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. All he had to do was print it and laminate it, and Avery would be in possession of a Connecticut state driveras license bearing his own photograph alongside Andy Hardyas name and signature.

The fake license cost Avery three hundred bucks.

For $2,300, he had become Judge Hardyas son.

Everything else was free.

That was because everything else had been stolen.

Including the girl, too, when he thought about it.

Cal was the experienced thief here, experienced in that head never been sent away for Auto Theft, of which there had been plenty, believe me, him having started taking cars on joy rides when he was but a mere sixteen. It was a shame his record had toave been marred by that one botched bank holdup, but n.o.bodyas perfect.

The first car theyad used was the black Explorer, which theyad driven to and from the marina, and which theyad already ditched this morning after theyad dropped the girl and Kellie off at the house. Scoped the early morning streets searching for a vehicle parked in a deserted area, found one that looked reliable enough, parked the Explorer behind it while Cal jimmied the door of the prospect car, opened the hood, jump-wired the ignition, and off they went into the wild blue yonder. Nice roomy Pontiac Montana, too.

Avery found it amusing that all these city dwellers owned or leased these big gas-guzzling SUVs with names that sounded all macho woodsy and outdoorsy. These people lived in apartment buildings, and they took the subway to work, and they probably never drove the car further than the nearest movie complex on weekends, but they were all dying to have these big monsters they could drive aoff-road.a Off-roadwhere? Avery wondered.

This was the big bad city, man. You didnat need an Explorer or a Montana or a Durango unless you wore leather chaps and a cowboy hat. Or unless you were transporting merchandise worth a quarter of a million bucks. They would use the Montana when they picked up the ransom money tomorrow, two hundred and fifty Gs in crisp new hundred-dollar bills. By then, Cal would have stolen the third and final cara"probably another one with a name like Caravan or Forester or Range Rovera"which they would use to drive the girl from the house to wherever they decided to drop her off.

At first Avery thought he might have some difficulty finding a suitable house. They needed something isolated, but they all wanted to get out of here as soon after the exchange as possible. Cal would be heading for Jamaica because he dug black girls. Kellie was heading for Paris, France; she had already begun taking French lessons. Because traveling together might be dangerous, Avery would be going to London first, and would join her a week later.

The house head found was in the direct flight path of the cityas international airport, perched on the edge of South Beach, not one of the countyas better resort areas. Even so, during the summer, and because of its location on the sea, the house would have carried a price tag of five, six thousand a month. A big old gray ramshackle structure furnished with rattan furniture and lumpy cus.h.i.+ons that smelled of mildew, it was flanked by two similarly dilapidated buildings, empty now during the transitional days of April and May.

When the real estate agent told him the owner was asking three thou a month, Avery asked, aFor what? A house n.o.body wants because of all the air traffic zooming and roaring overhead?a The agent argued that in these days of extended airport ha.s.sles and long delays the houseas proximity to the airport was a plus. It must have also occurred to her that closeness to the airport might be desirable to terrorists as wella"I mean, what the h.e.l.l, did Avery look like some kind of f.u.c.king terrorist? The questions shead asked, the identification shead pored overa"the fake Andy Hardy stuff, ha ha, ladya"youad think Avery was about to build a bomb instead of just kidnap a girl!

The girl was now safely ensconced in the house, and tomorrow morning Avery would make the first of his phone calls. The phones themselvesa"but that was another story.

By tomorrow night at this time, head be in possession of two hundred and fifty thousand bucks!

Thank you, Barney Loomis, and G.o.d bless us every one!

7.

THERE WERE MARCHERSoutside the Rio Building when Carella got there on Monday morning at eight oaclock. The marchers were carrying hand-lettered signs on wooden sticks.

Some of the signs read:ROCK RACIAL PROFILING!

Others read:TAMAR IS A RACIST!

Yet others read:WHY A BLACK RAPIST?

The marchers were chanting, aBan Banders.n.a.t.c.h! Ban Banders.n.a.t.c.h! Ban Banders.n.a.t.c.h!a Television cameras were rolling.

Carella was not surprised to see the Reverend Gabriel Foster at the head of the procession.

Six-feet-two-inches tall, with the wide shoulders and broad chest of the heavyweight fighter he once had been, his eyebrows still ridged with scar tissue, Foster at the age of forty-nine still looked as if he could knock your average contender on his a.s.s in thirty seconds flat. According to police records, the reverendas birth name was Gabriel Foster Jones. Head changed it to Rhino Jones when head enjoyed his brief career as a boxer, and then settled on Gabriel Foster when he began preaching. Foster considered himself a civil rights activist. The police considered him a rabble rouser, an opportunistic self-promoter, and a race racketeer. His church, in fact, was listed in the files as a asensitive location,a departmental code for anyplace where the uninvited presence of the police might cause a race riot.

Foster looked as if he might be promoting just such a commotion on this bright May morning.

aGood morning, Gabe,a Carella said.

aBan Banderaa Foster said, and then cut himself off mid-sentence and opened his eyes wide when he saw Carella. He thrust out his hand, stepped away from the line of protestors, and grinned broadly. Carella actually believed the reverend was glad to see him. Shaking hands, Foster said, aDonat tell me youare on this kidnapping?a aMore or less,a Carella said, which was the truth.

aDid you see the video?a Foster asked him.

aI saw the taping they did last night,a Carella said. aNot the video itself, no.a aIt depicts the girlas rapist as a black man.a aWell, it depicts a black dancer portraying some kind of mythical beastaa aSome kind of mythicalblack beast,a Foster said.

aThe beast in the original poem isnat black,a Carella said.

aThatas exactly myaa aAnd the poem was written in England, back in the 1800as.a aSo whya?a aThere isnat even arapist in the poem. Thatas whatas so fresh about the song. This girl takes aaa aThatas exactly my point, Steve! Thereis a rapist now. And the rapist is black.a aCome on, Gabe. The song takes a powerful standagainst rape! You canat object to that.a aI can most certainly object to the rapist being black.a aItas thedancer whoas black. Tamar Valparaiso hired a black dancer. Equal opportunity. Do you objecta?a aTo portray a black rapist.a aGabe, I think youare barking up the wrong tree. I donat know the girl, but Iam willing to bet my last dollar she isnat a racist.a aI can smell one a hundred yards away,a Foster said.

aMaybe your nose is too sensitive,a Carella said. aI have to go upstairs, Gabe. You want my advice?a aNo.a aOkay, see you later then.a aLet me hear it.a aPack up and go home. You donat want to be on the wrong side of this one. Itall come back to haunt you.a aAh, but Iam on the right side of it, Steve. The rapist on that video is vicious and monstrous and black. Thatas racist. And thatas good enough for me.a aI have to go,a Carella said.

aGood seeing you again,a Foster said, and nodded briefly, and stepped back into the line of marchers. aBan Banders.n.a.t.c.h!a he shouted. aBan Banders.n.a.t.c.h! Ban Banders.n.a.t.c.h! Ban Banders.n.a.t.c.h!a The black security guard who took Carellaas name and phoned it upstairs glanced through the tall gla.s.s windows fronting the street, and asked, aWhatasthat all about?a aBeats me,a Carella said, and signed his name, and waited for clearance. When it came, he took the elevator up to the twenty-third floor, and went through the still-empty reception area directly to Barney Loomisa office at the end of the hall. The Squad was already there. Loomis was not.

aSteve, ah,a Corcoran said, and immediately looked at his watch as if to imply that Carella was late, which he wasnat. aFew people you should meet who werenat here yesterday,a he said, and introduced a handful of FBI agents and detectives whose names Carella forgot the moment he shook hands with them.

The office itself had undergone something of a transformation since late last night. There was now new equipment everywhere Carella looked. In fact, someone he guessed was an FBI technician was busily testing an electronic device set up on a long folding table across the room.

aLet me tell you what weave done here,a Endicott said.

He looked wide awake and alert, wearing this morning a dark gray suit that seemed better tailored than the blue one head worn yesterday. Corcoran, in contrast, was wearing brown slacks and a brown V-necked sweater over a plaid sports s.h.i.+rt. Carella himself had worn a suit today. He suddenly felt overdressed for a city detective.

aFirst off, weave installed a direct line to your office. You pick up that green phone there,a Endicott said, pointing, aand youave got the squadroom at the Eight-Seven. Howas that for service?a Carella was wondering How come?

aWe figured wead let you guys do what you do best, am I right, Charles?a Endicott said. aThe legwork, the nuts and bolts, the nitty gritty. We get anything to chase, you pick up that green phone, your boys are on it in a minute. Will that work for you?a aSure,a Carella said. aThanks.a aRegarding all this other stuff,a he said, awe noticed that your telephone guy set up a simple Tap and Tape, with a jack for a single listener, but weall be more people working on this, so weave installed equipment thatall accommodate three more sets of ear phones, you can understand why that would be necessary,a Endicott said, and smiled hopefully, as if seeking Carellaas approval.

aMore the merrier,a Carella said.

aThe other thingathe court orders you got yesterday were for the primary landline carriersaAT&T, Verizon, Sprint, MCIabut there are at least half a dozen other service providers so weave taken the liberty of obtaining court orders for those as well, a.s.suming our boy will be calling from landline equipmenta"which may not be the case.a aThis is all so much easier since 9/11,a Corcoran said.

aOhso much,a Endicott agreed. aThough I have to tell you the truth, Iave never known a judge to turn down a federal request for a wiretap.a aUsed to be probable cause, probable cause,a Corcoran said, and rolled his eyes.

He was referring to the way it customarily worked. Before a judge could approve an application for electronic surveillance and issue a court order, he had to determine that: a) there was probable cause for belief that an individual was committing, had committed, or was about to commit an offense covered by lawa b) there was probable cause for belief that particular communications concerning that offense would be obtained through such interceptiona c) normal investigative procedures had been tried and had failed or reasonably appeared unlikely to succeed or to be too dangerousa d) there was probable cause for belief that the facilities from which, or the place where the communications were to be intercepted were being used, or were about to be used, in connection with the commission of such offense.

In each of Carellaas applications yesterday, he had cited probable cause. His pet.i.tions had been granted in every instance. But Corcoran was sayinga aJudges are a lot more malleable since 9/11. Before then, to get a court order for a pen registeraa aThatas a sort of reverse caller-ID,a Endicott explained.

aYes, I know,a Carella said.

aWe record the numbers dialedout. a aYes, Iaa aayou had to show probable cause. Now, you just go in and say the information will be relevant to an ongoing investigation, and by federal law, a judge is required to approve the order. Relevant, can you believe it?a aMakes it nice,a Endicott said.

aMakes it simple.a aAnyway,a Endicott said, asince youad covered only the landline carriers, we went ahead and obtained additional court orders for the wireless companies, too. These computers you see around the roomaa Carella counted four of them.

aatap into our central computers down at Number One Fed. If our boy uses any of the seven mobile-phone providers servicing this city, weave got sophisticated links to all of them, and weall triangulate in a second.a Carella nodded.

He didnat know what atriangulatea meant. He said nothing.

aWant to try your new toy?a Corcoran said, and handed him the receiver on the green phone.

Carella put it to his ear.

He heard the phone ringing on the other end.

aEighty-seventh Squad, Detective Hawes.a aCotton, itas me. Just testing.a aTesting what?a Hawes asked.

ON ONE WALLof Bisonas conference room down the hall, the company had set out a generous buffet consisting of orange juice (or grapefruit juice), croissants (plain or chocolate), Danish pastries (cheese or jelly), bagels (plain, onion, or poppy seed), smoked Norwegian salmon, cream cheese, b.u.t.ter, jellies and jams in a wide variety of flavors, and coffee (either full-strength or de-caf).

The four men seated around the huge rosewood conference table had helped themselves to the sideboard goodies and were now leisurely enjoying their morning repast before getting down to business. They were in a jocular mood. They had a lot to be happy about.

Barney Loomisa plate was br.i.m.m.i.n.g, as usual. He demolished his breakfast with obvious gusto now, listening to the chatter all around him, but not distracted by it in the slightest. Gulping down the last of his onion bagel heaped with salmon and cream cheese, he washed it down with the last of his ahi-test coffee,a as he called it, and began the meeting abruptly by asking, aDid you see those marchers outside? Theyare labeling Tamar a racist! Whatas wrong with these people, anyway?,a never once realizing that referring to the black protestors as athese peoplea might in itself be considered a trifle racist.

aControversy never hurt anybody,a Binkie Horowitz said.

As Bisonas Vice President in charge of Promotion, he had checked all his people before this morningas meeting, and was confident that the only thing that could possibly hurt them now was if the kidnappers actually killed Tamar Valparaiso, bite your tongue.

aIam not so sure,a Loomis said. aWe lose the black market because of those jacka.s.ses marching out thereaa aWe wonat lose the black market,a Binkie said, adonat worry.a Short and slight, narrow-waisted and narrow-shouldered as well, he resembled a harried jockey whipping a tired nag across the finish line. Leaning over the table, his brown eyes intense, he said, aWe are not at this verymoment, in fact, losing the black market. Weare, in fact, averagingmore spins per hour on all-black radio than we are on the white stations. Take WJAX, for examplea"which by the way played Alicia Keysa aFallina a a hundred and seven times in its first week of releasea"I checked with our man in Florida first thing this morning, and since news of the kidnapping broke, and especially since the kidnap tape ran last night on network news, theyave been playing aBanders.n.a.t.c.ha every hour and a half, with requests for it pouring in all the time. If the momentum holds at that rate, weare looking at sixteen spins a day, times seven days a week, will come to a hundred and twelve spins in the next week alone, which will top Aliciaas hundred and seven for a week on that same station. And I donat have to tell you aFallina a was number one all over the country. And JAX is atop black station, this isnat some thirty-kilowatt shack in rural Mississippi. We donat have to worry about losing the black market, Barney, I can a.s.sure you of that.a aTell that to the good Reverend Foster,a Loomis said, going to the sideboard and pouring himself another cup of coffee. aHeas a national player, heall be all over cable television in a minute and a half.a J. P. Higgins, Bisonas VP in charge of Video Production, had been silent until now. Truth of the matter was that he was nursing a hangover this morning, having partied too strenuously aboard theRiver Princess on Sat.u.r.day night, and having partied privately with the black reporter fromRolling Stone last night, celebrating what he considered the fortuitous circ.u.mstance of a kidnapping that had thrust Tamaras video into national prominence.

Dressed this morning in sweater and slacks and wearing a blue beret he thought made him look debonair if only he had a mustache, he turned to Binkie Horowitz and, seemingly suddenly inspired, asked, aAny chance we can get more cable stations to show our video?a aWhy not?a Loomis said from the sideboard, and while he was just standing there, fixed himself another bagel with salmon and cream cheese. aIf Fosteras going to join the talking heads, then maybe theyad like to lead in with our actual G.o.dd.a.m.n video! Let it speak for itself. h.e.l.l, that video isnat aboutrace, itas aboutrape! a aThatas a good point to make to the radio stations, too,a Harry Di Fidelio said. aA good talking point. aBanders.n.a.t.c.ha isnat about race, itas about rape. Race, rape, they almost rhyme, in fact. What they call a slant rhyme.a Dressed this morning in a dark blue suit with a white s.h.i.+rt and a blue tie, Di Fidelio lacked only laced black shoes to blend right in with most of the FBI agents down the hall in Loomisa office. Instead, unaware that he might be emulating the fas.h.i.+on preferences of a former U.S. President, he was wearing brown loafers with the blue suit. His socks were brown, too, but thatas because he was color blind.

As Bisonas VP in charge of Radio Marketing, Di Fidelio was constantly on the lookout for ways to convince the deejays that they actually had something totalk about. It was one thing to Pay-for-Play a radio station, and another to sic the indie promoters on them, but if you could give a deejay a trulypersonal reason to plug a record, you were home free. So far, the single had been played on more than 115 Top 40 stations including Z100, WKTU, KIIS, WHYI, KZQZ, WNCI, KDWB, KSLZ, WEZB, and enough d.a.m.n alphabet soup to feed an army of fans. But if this thing becamereally controversiala aRape or Race, we could say,a he suggested, and spread his hands on the air to spell out the words. aRape or Race.You decide.a aThatas not bad,a Binkie said. aRape or Race. We fight fire with fire. Go head to toe with Foster or anyone else who wants to bring up the race issue. h.e.l.l, our hands are clean, our credentials are spotless,a he said, seemingly unaware of the fact that no one around that table was black.

aLetas shotgun the video all over the place,a Loomis said. aUse the aRape or Racea pitch, I like it, spell it all out for them. Maybe get viewers to call in or e-mail, get a poll going, is it rape or race?You decide.a aRape or Race,a Di Fidelio repeated, spreading his hands on the air again, reminding everyone that this was.h.i.+s idea, after all. aYoudecide.a aBe great if we could get some womenas rights groups to champion the video,a Higgins said. aGet them to say what a brave stand Tamar took, get them to suggest sheherself may be out there getting raped this veryaa aI wouldnat go there,a Loomis said at once.

aWell, we donat reallyknow whatas happening to her, do we?a Higgins said. His head was pounding. He didnat feel like arguing.

aWhen they call today,a Loomis said, and looked at his watch, aIall ask to speak to her. Before we turn over any money, I want some a.s.surance thataa aIncidentallyaa They all turned toward the far end of the table.

A short, slender man wearing a blue blazer, gray flannel slacks, a paler blue s.h.i.+rt, and a gold-and-blue silk-rep tie, sat there with only a cup of coffee in front of him. Jedediah Bailey, the firmas accountant.

aDo you have any idea how much theyall be asking for?a aOf course not,a Loomis said. aHow would I know how mucha?a aJust asking,a Jedediah said, and spread his hands defensively, palms outward. Head merely wanted to ascertain that Loomis could get hold of what would most certainly be a sizable amount of cash in a short period of time. Loomis was the companyas sole shareholder and CEO. Were his personal a.s.sets liquid enough? Thatas all Jedediah wished to determine, so sue him.

aIam hoping weall have her back by tonight sometime,a Loomis said.

The room went silent.

aYou knowaa Higgins ventured, and then shook his head.

aWhat?a Loomis asked.

aIt wouldnat hurt if this thing dragged on even longer. Few days longer,a Higgins said, and shrugged. aIt wouldnat hurt, really.a He was the only one in the room whoad dared say it.

THE ENTIRE SQUADwas in the office when Endicott gave Loomisa private secretary her marching orders.

Gloria Klein was in her early thirties, a somewhat plain-looking woman, even in the mini and tight sweater she felt appropriate to her job at a record company. She kept s.h.i.+fting her attention and her pale blue eyes from Endicott to Loomis, as if checking to see that her boss agreed with all this.

aMr. Loomis wonat be taking any calls from people you can identify. If you recognize a name, you tell the caller Mr. Loomis will get back to him or her. Have you got that?a aYes, sir,a she said.

aNow, Gloria,a Endicott said, aif a caller refuses to give his name, or if he says something like aThis is personal,a you ask him to hold, please, and then check with Mr. Loomis before putting him through. Have you got that?a aYes, sir. Does this have to do with Tamar, sir?a No, it has to do with the price of fish in Norway, Endicott thought, but did not say.

aYes, it has to do with Tamar,a he said.

aAre we expecting a call from her kidnappers, is that it?a aYou donat need to know that.a aYes, sir.a aAnyone whose name you recognizeaa aMr. Loomis will call back.a aAny strange name, or anyone who wonat give a nameaa aI buzz Mr. Loomis, check if itas okay to put the call through.a aVery good, Gloria. And if anyone should ask, thereas no one here with Mr. Loomis.a aYes, sir.a aHeas alone.a aYes, sir.a aThatas it.a aThank you, sir,a Gloria said, and made eye contact with her boss again, checking.

Loomis gave a slight nod.

THE PHONEon his desk rang at twelve oaclock sharp.

He picked up.

aYes?a he said.