The Sentinel (Jack Reacher #25)(58)

‘Who lives at the so-called Spy House? Don’t even think of going there. It’s such an obvious coincidence but we checked it out anyway. Those original guys from the fifties weren’t KGB agents. Just misguided citizens giving secrets to people they thought were their friends. They did some serious damage when they were in Los Alamos but nothing at all while they were here. They moved on after two years and defected soon after because they felt the noose beginning to close. They’re both dead now. They never married. They had no illegitimate offspring. No cousins. No other family that we know of. And they weren’t members of any parties or groups that might be looking to carry on their work.’

‘So there’s no connection to Klostermann other than the address?’

‘No. None. Why?’

‘I met him this morning. I think he’s looking for the same thing you are.’

‘You know what the thing is?’

‘Possibly. A computer thing. A server. It has a preliminary copy of part of the town archive on it.’

‘Jesus Christ. Why didn’t you say so before?’

‘I didn’t know about the agent and The Sentinel before. Klostermann said he wanted it for a different reason.’

‘What reason?’

‘Some family tree project, he claimed. It didn’t quite ring true. I think he’s trying to hide something.’

‘How does he know about this server?’

‘He said he hired Toni Garza, the journalist who was murdered, to dig up some property records going back to when his father immigrated. She found out that when the town started putting the archive on the computer they were using this server. It turned out to be too small so they switched it for a larger one, and Rutherford as IT manager took it back into stock for some future use.’

‘When did Garza start working for Klostermann?’

‘I don’t know exactly.’

‘But before the archive burned down?’

‘Yes. She started searching the paper records, then was going to use the online archive, then contacted Rutherford as some kind of Hail Mary, hoping he still had the server.’

‘This is finally starting to make sense. She must have found something in the records. Realized the significance and tried to report it. Or just mentioned it to the wrong person without even knowing its importance.’

‘Or the Russians could have had some kind of tripwire in place. Something to alert them if anyone was close to finding whatever they wanted to keep hidden. They’re not reckless. They’d know that one document sitting unnoticed amongst how many – thousands? millions? – in a dusty old archive would attract less attention than a fire.’

‘Either way, Rutherford needs to hand over that server. Like, yesterday.’

‘That’s a logical request. But it’s impossible.’

‘Why?’

‘Rutherford doesn’t know where the server is.’

Fisher turned and slammed her palm against the wall. ‘Damn. Are you sure?’

Reacher nodded. ‘He already tried to get it back.’

‘How did Klostermann account for his project getting someone killed?’

‘He claimed Garza wasn’t working for him exclusively. Said she had a bunch of projects on the go. Blamed her death on some hoodlums from Nashville that she’d been sniffing around.’

‘But you didn’t believe him.’

‘I’m not saying he killed her. I’m not saying he’s working for the Russians. But I know when someone’s hiding something.’

‘I’ll have my people take another look at him. The organization is so compartmentalized you could be married to the local Russian contact and not know it.’

‘I get that.’

‘And Rutherford? Not knowing where the server is? Are you sure he’s telling the truth?’

‘I am. It turns out he used the server for some other project and—’

‘Tell me he didn’t wipe it.’

‘No. He didn’t. Don’t worry. Before the ransomware attack he pressed the town to buy a backup system for all the computers. They wouldn’t come up with the cash so he tried to build one of his own out of spare parts. It was supposed to overwrite whatever was on the server, but that didn’t happen. That’s how he knew it had failed. He was so mad about it he threw all the equipment in the trash.’

‘He’s got to get it back.’

‘He’s trying.’

‘Why? To give it to Klostermann?’

‘No. He thinks the server can help with another thing he’s working on. He wants it back for himself.’

‘Can you help him find it?’

‘Can’t you? With all the resources of the Bureau?’

‘No.’ Fisher shook her head. ‘If the Russians latch on to a bunch of federal agents searching the local trash heaps they’ll know where to look. We have to keep this under the radar. Give it another couple of days. Please.’

‘What difference will a couple of days make? The election is weeks away. Rutherford can find the server on his own and figure out a way to get a copy to you. He’s a smart guy.’

‘It’s not that simple. For a start, the election. Yes, it’s a while away. But for thirty days leading up to it there’s what’s called a systems freeze. Nothing computer related can be changed in any way. It’s the same kind of thing the credit card companies and online retailers do heading into Black Friday and Christmas. It makes sure no one loads new software which turns out not to work properly and screws everything up at their most critical time. So, if we can’t positively confirm that The Sentinel hasn’t been compromised before then, we have a real problem. And if – when – we get our hands on Rutherford’s server we don’t even know what we’re looking for. There could be thousands of documents on there, and I very much doubt one of them will be labelled Identity of Russian Spy. All kinds of cross-referencing will be needed. Lateral thinking. Reading tea leaves and casting chicken bones, probably. So the bottom line, like I said, is we need that thing yesterday.’