Chapter 36 #2
But there’s one more thing I have to know first. I have to understand what Renner is going to do with this damn box.
One thing I can’t do is give it to him if he’s going to finance terrorism or go on a killing spree.
It’s one thing to rob banks, insured jewelry stores and Chinese corporates with illegal dealings.
But I’m still me. I have morals… some, anyway.
And that’s the goddamn dichotomy—I am still me.
Both Hale and Maddox.
Renner’s always had a zero body count policy. I know it’s as self-serving as it is smart, but it gives me hope.
I pick up my phone, find his number, and hit the button.
Remembering to breathe while it rings.
Eight very long seconds before he answers. “Declan?”
“Kurt.”
“What news? Where’s Raven?”
“On her way back to LA.” Probably.
“Oh, that’s fantastic.” The relief in his voice comes through clearly. “And she has the box?”
“Actually… no.”
“No?” Relief turns to alarm. There’s a pause, and when he speaks again, his voice is carefully controlled. “Do you have the box?”
“Your package is on the seat next to me, yeah. Along with two bags of diamonds.”
“I see. And your intentions?”
What a good question.
Time to do this if you’re going to, Declan.
I still hesitate for longer than I’m proud of. Then I clear my throat. “That depends quite a lot on you, Kurt. What’s the box for?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
A pause. “Won’t.”
“Fine. Then let’s play a little guessing game, shall we?”
He doesn’t say anything.
“This is a hardware wallet. A whole bunch of crypto keys held within. You and I both know it’s absolutely worthless. Whoever owns it can just make another with the seed phrase. So why do you want it?”
He still doesn’t say anything. The line’s so quiet I have to check the signal bars on my phone.
“Renner?” I prompt. “How about I just throw it out the window on the 101? You go make another, and we’ll talk about the dia—”
“It’s not worthless,” he grinds out.
“Really?” No shit. “Do tell.”
There’s silence for far too long, and I get impatient.
“Renner, I’m hanging up now. If I haven’t heard from you in ten minutes, this box is gone. When you call me back—”
“Fine. I’ll tell you.” He doesn’t sound happy about it, but that’s okay. There’s still time to win him back when he hears what I have in mind.
“I’m listening.”
“The wallet was stolen from the… from a man who also happened to be the only one who knew the seed. He’s dead.”
That explains a lot. “So this box is literally the only way of getting access to whatever crypto is sitting behind it.”
“Exactly. Keep it safe, huh?”
“Sure. Let me just wind my window back up.” The curse down the line is surprisingly gratifying, and I grin to myself. “Back to my original question. What are you going to do with it?”
“Return it to its rightful owners.”
Not the answer I expected. “How very altruistic. How are you going to do that when you just told me he’s dead?”
“Owners.” Renner emphasizes the plural. “Not that altruistic; I’m getting paid, of course.”
“Of course.” But a payday I don’t care about. That’s measured in low-millions. Not the kind of money that finances revolutions or alters politics. “I’m guessing the owners aren’t the Chinese. Who are they?”
And as soon as I put those two questions together, the answer hits me like a semi-truck.
A man killed. A Chinese operation. An intermediary on US soil, holding it. MSS connections.
“Shit,” I breathe. “It’s the government, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Renner grudgingly admits.
It all falls into place. He’s working for them. That’s why he never accused me of being FBI after he was picked up; he was expecting interference. The only question was which agency.
“Why didn’t Meridian Pacific ship it out?” I ask. That’s the one piece I don’t get.
“Because they didn’t have the PIN,” Renner replies, “and it’s useless without it. My intelligence suggested they were working on hacking it, and had a specialist coming in this week. Hence our window. The wallet wipes if you enter the PIN wrong.”
I was aware of that. “So tell me, Kurt. Who is your contractor?” Or, which agency.
“Why don’t you tell me something, Declan. Who are you really working for?”
I chuckle. It seems Renner hasn’t fully bought into my story after all. “You know, don’t you?”
“Suspect, at least, yes.”
“Yet you still sent me after Raven.”
“Yes, I did.” He pauses. “She’s quite… compelling, isn’t she?”
My heart skips a beat, then thumps hard, and I have to ease up my grip on the phone before I break it. “Meaning?” I ask coldly.
“Nothing like that,” he says easily. “I assure you I have no romantic interest in her. Just that I’ve watched her these past few years, and you bring something she sorely needs.”
Sounds like he’s feeding me a line of bullshit because he thinks it’s what I want to hear. “Yeah? What’s that?”
“Loyalty. Excitement. Someone to challenge her.”
I sit with it for a moment, but I know he’s right. “I aspire, anyway.”
“Yeah, you do. And it’s what she needs. I know my crew, Declan.”
He does. I have to hand him that.
I let out a sigh. “Fine. We’ve both been keeping things from each other. Shall we come clean?”
“Gentleman’s agreement?”
“Sure.”
Renner doesn’t hesitate. “My contractor is the CIA. The wallet’s theirs. As I suspect you know, they can’t move against Meridian Pacific on US soil. So they came to me because it’s funds that… er… don’t exist.”
I bark a laugh. On the seat next to me is a cryptocurrency wallet of illegal CIA slush funds, no doubt measured in the hundreds of millions. That explains everything.
Kurt Renner isn’t CIA, he’s a deniable asset. There’s a story there, but this isn’t the time for it.
“Your turn,” he prompts.
“FBI,” I say. “Investigating bank robberies, not Meridian Pacific.”
“Yeah, I figured.” He goes quiet. “So I guess the big question is, what are you going to do, Agent Hale?” A short, wry laugh. “It’s not Hale, is it?”
“No, it’s not.” And that is the big question. “A smart man would take this wallet to the FBI field office in LA and get a promotion.” I want it said, so he understands what’s at stake when I don’t.
“Are you a smart man?”
“Fuck, no. I’m one that’s helplessly, stupidly in love.”
“You poor bastard.” He chuckles. “You really are screwed, aren’t you?”
“And you set me up with her.”
“To be fair, I just gave you a nudge. You did it all yourselves without much of my involvement.”
True.
I let out a sigh. “The wallet I wanted so I could negotiate Raven going free,” I tell him. “It’s the only thing that guarantees her safety. So tell me, Renner: if I give it to you instead, can you make the same promises?”
“Amnesty? Yeah, I’ve already got that covered for the crew.”
Of course he has. Smart fucker. “Then I’ll give you the wallet. I can do that with a clean conscience now.” The CIA have the PIN. It’s useless to Renner, except as a payday.
“And the diamonds?”
“Those too, I guess. They belong to the crew.”
“What will your FBI paymasters say to that?”
“Not much, I imagine,” I tell him. “They don’t know I have the wallet or the diamonds, and the next call I make will be a resignation.”
“Sacrificing everything for her, huh?”
“That’s about it, yeah.” And hoping against hope it’s not too little, too late.
“Thank you, Declan.” He pauses. “You’re a good man.”
“Persuading Raven of that will be the challenge.”
“Yeah, well.” He makes a noise of sympathy. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
“Thanks,” I say dryly.
He’s not wrong.