While Justice Sleeps(71)
Avery thought about the dead scientists and their missing partner. The trail of breadcrumbs left by Justice Wynn led directly to Ani Ramji. The rest of them were likely in a cabin in Georgia. “I think we need to look for him. Physically.”
“Go to India?”
“Not yet. In the square must mean more than the chess game. If Ani is the key, then Justice Wynn expects us to find him. But I don’t think he’s still in India.”
“Why not?”
“They’ve planned this out too well. A trip to India to find him would be unfeasible. If we’re meant to find him, he’s here—in the U.S.”
Jared said, “I’ve checked passport entries and flight manifests. Ani Ramji has not entered the country in the last year. Of course, he could have traveled under an alias, and if he has, I have no way to track him.”
“Why not take out an ad?”
Everyone turned to stare at Ling, who’d made the suggestion. She shrugged. “If you chased him digitally, why not hedge your bets? Take out ads and ask him to meet you. In the square.”
“Because we still don’t know where that is,” Noah reminded her.
“Avery will figure it out. In the meantime, you use social media to make contact. Assume he is here, then post in multiple channels and let him know you’ve figured some of it out. Tell him to meet you in the square.”
“Run digital ads to track down one guy?” Noah asked. “That’ll be incredibly expensive if you want to saturate the market.”
“What other choice do we have? We need something concrete, and he’s our best hope.” Holding up her hand to stop Noah’s rebuttal, she added, “Yes, running digital ads will be expensive, but now isn’t the time to be cheap. The Supreme Court session ends in less than two weeks. Which is why it’s good we have half a million dollars at our disposal.”
Avery turned to Noah. “I need a corporate alias to place the ads and a social media account—ChessdynamoDC. Untraceable to me. Can you do it tomorrow?”
“Sure. I’ll set up a shell to place the ads and then create the profiles. That’s more exciting than the research I’m working on now. What is the message?”
“?‘ChessdynamoDC. In the square. Waiting for you.’?”
“That’s it?”
“Run digital ads that tag anyone playing chess online or who searches for chess-related info or searches for info on Justice Wynn. If he’s as dedicated to the game as he seems, he’ll see it. Hopefully, Dr. Ramji will understand, and he’ll contact me through Wynn’s game or the ChessdynamoDC DMs.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
She looked around the table. “If anyone has a better idea, I’m willing to listen.”
“While we go snipe hunting with digital ads,” Jared said, “I’ll set some pop-ups. If the person enters the right sequence of search terms on most of the engines, they’ll get an invitation to connect with you.”
“And what about your screenshots? What do they say?”
Opening one, he read it swiftly, getting the general gist. “TigrisLost starts off by talking about losing his job for speaking out against the advancement of evil. He calls on the Sansad to take action.”
“The Indian parliament,” Noah explained helpfully. “Take action on what?”
“He claims that because of his actions, the world was about to learn of Hygeia’s tyranny. However, before a full investigation could be launched, Advar bought out a controlling interest in Hygeia. Got all their patents and their data. He alleges that Advar promised the government they would bury the truth.”
Jared flipped to another screenshot. “This one was from a few months before. TigrisLost claims that Hygeia recruited certain subjects based on odd factors.”
“Such as?”
Squinting at the screen, he read, “A tendency for L1, L3, R2, HM69.”
“What are those?” Noah asked. “More algebraic notations for a phantom chess game?”
“Not quite.” Ling stood near Jared. “Haplogroups. Those numbers are code for genetic and archaeogenetic mapping.”
Avery leaned over, peering at Jared’s screen. “Mapping what?”
“Chromosomal DNA markers. Y chromosome instead of mtDNA, which is matrilineal.”
“The markers refer to specific regions of origin, based on either the mother’s or the father’s DNA. Researchers know that there are certain diseases that have a higher prevalence among ethnic groups. Like sickle-cell anemia among those of African descent or Sj?gren-Larsson syndrome in Scandinavian countries.”
“And the numbers there, what’s their significance?”
The doctor reached for Jared’s computer. “May I?” Jared slid the laptop over without a word. As Ling typed, she explained, “I’m not a geneticist. However, there is a human evolution project that tracks the Y haplogroups—the genetic groups—and measures their frequency in certain regions. It’s part of what those DNA tests rely on to tell you about your ancestry.”
“If you can get this from a twenty-dollar test, what’s the big deal?” Noah scoffed.
“The ancestry tests are superficial, but they use a basic premise. The Y chromosome is transmitted from father to son largely without mutations, and it escapes recombination, so it has the best ability to show lineage.”