A Drone over New York
Chapter 20

Back riding the subway, Max’s mind started to buzz again. The night had gone completely different than how he thought it would. He had left Anton feeling so sure of himself. Now, alone in the early morning subway crowd, he was unsure.

It had taken him longer than he had hoped to drop off the drive again. He had managed to get a short snippet of footage onto the phone Rachael had given him, so he could show it to her. It was only the scene with Tyell, of course, along with the murder, but it was enough. He wasn’t sure what changed his mind about it, but now he thought it was the best course of action. It was a risk that he had to take. He just had to make sure he didn’t get caught with it.

His main priority now was getting back to her place. The subway was taking longer than he hoped. The night was almost over. He had to get inside somewhere. The eyes in the sky were starting up, but more importantly he needed to talk to Rachael. She would be heading to the office soon, and he needed to show her the video before she left.

He had no idea what he was going to say to her. Things were moving fast. The deal could close today. Max wondered what would happen then. He had time to think it through now; he had the entire subway ride.

The whole night’s ordeal with Anton played on his mind. It wasn’t just about the deal anymore. People were getting hurt as a result of this. The worst part was, if Anton was right, even more people could come into harm’s way. It was not something Max wanted, but it was happening. Anton thought it was worth the risks, but Max wasn’t sure.

Max tried to think about what it would have been like for Svenlatan. How did he replace out what ProBlez was doing? Max liked to think he was probably in his office in Germany when another director at ProBlez would have told him. Whoever it was probably made it sound like it was fine, run of the mill, and business as usual. Something would have told Svenlatan it wasn’t, though. Svenlatan would have sat there, thinking through what he had heard, what he had seen. He probably denied to himself that the company could do such a thing.

Svenlatan had so much more on the line than Max did. He had been a director, charged with ensuring the company’s survival. But he was also German too, and the Germans take privacy very seriously. ProBlez was able to see every single internet search at all the different investment banks, all the strategy companies, and even all the competitors who used their search engine. It was only a matter of time before someone put the pieces together. They had stayed under the radar for such a long time. But it was the Hayoo merger that did it. Some poor kid at a strategy consultancy had used one of ProBlez’s engines to search for a few too many things. It wasn’t Svenlatan who made the call, but he must have felt guilty about all those people at Hayoo Germany who lost their jobs. It could have been so many different things that started it, so many different things that made him go public.

That was when the dominoes started to fall. ProBlez Germany was first, with the government shutting it down the next day. The German government had gone after them hard. The public wanted blood. The chancellor had labeled ProBlez “the new SS.” It was a label that stuck. It was easy to shut them down after that. Other countries in Europe started to do the same. Eventually it came to the US, and Silicon Valley’s bubble burst hard and fast. It was a frenzy as other parts of ProBlez were bought up cheaply by anyone and everyone. Many people lost their jobs. The country’s best and brightest were suddenly out of work, and the money they lived and leeched on quickly dried up and was sent elsewhere. The economic collapse sent a shock wave through the whole world.

It was big stuff. The revelation of how much ProBlez really knew about other companies from the employees’ internet searches was a real Edward Snowden, NSA moment. Unlike the NSA, though, it was not the people who were scared, but the corporations. They were the ones who insisted it be brought to justice.

Max still remembered when Svenlatan came to the Washington to testify. That was when the engineer shot him. Svenlatan was shot at point-blank range in front of his wife and kid. Max remembered the news coverage on the shooter. The poor engineer’s life was ProBlez. He even lived in an RV in the ProBlez parking lot. The man’s life had been ruined.

But when Svenlatan died, others stepped up. People wanted to clear their consciences and probably their names as well. Most of the directors were getting blacklisted if they didn’t do something to clear themselves. But there were those who thought they had done nothing wrong. The guy who invented the software pleaded his innocence. But it was too late. The government needed people to blame and he was one. Enron, WorldCom, Madoff. The government had sadly become very good at replaceing the smoking gun. It all somehow made more of an impact with the assassination of a German in Washington.

The same would happen if Max died too. Anton and others would step up and continue the work. But Max didn’t want that. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to become some martyr.

The alternatives were not great options either: living hidden away in Russia like Snowden, or the Ecuador embassy like Assange. That was for people like Anton. They had a higher purpose. Max just wanted to sit on a beach. Was that too much to ask?

But Dale and Jack were a direct result of this deal. Max had caused it; now he had to correct it somehow. It was no longer about trying to choose between the deal and the truth. It was about burying whoever was behind everything in the process. Max was going to get his payday. But he needed to make someone pay for it. The price was not going to be small either.

Max changed lines. He glanced over his shoulder and remembered he had forgotten to look for people trying to follow him. He had been too preoccupied in his own thoughts. Now the station was starting to fill up. The morning rush hour was in its infancy. The best he could do now was pray that no one was following him. If he kept his head down the rest of the way, no one would notice another person, lost in the commuter crowd. He put his latest hat purchase back on and pulled it down to hide his face.

As the train pulled up, Max glanced up to see the bright C at the front. He could easily be catching this to work. Today would be the second day he missed. He never missed work. He had never even taken a sick day. Kate would start to worry. She might start to suspect something was going on. If he wasn’t careful, they might link him to the deal.

The C train. He could ride it to work, walk into the office, and say that he had found the footage himself. Give it over to Martha. Get a nice little bonus and get protected. Then explain what Anton wanted to do. She would understand. She was one of the smartest people Max knew. She would protect him and give Anton the material he needed.

But where would that leave him? Scared, afraid, and on the hook for outing Tyell, the mob, and Enexup. They would all come after him just to prove a point. They would also go after everyone he knew. No, he knew he couldn’t do that. His best bet was anonymity. It was the safest way.

The C train. He just needed to ride it past work. Stay anonymous. Stay hidden. Fewer people would get hurt this way.

He boarded with the small commuter crowd. People in suits, ties, and business attire were slowly waking up, sipping their coffee and preparing for the day ahead. People in gym gear were on their way to spin class, carrying their work clothes in various bags of different shapes and sizes. All these people would make it slower going. More time being used. The cloudy sky gave Max a bigger window to get back to Brooklyn, but he still had to hurry. He couldn’t afford another delay.

The crowd pushed him down the aisle, away from the doors. Max didn’t mind, though. It was better this way. Less people to interact with. The next stop some people stood and Max found a seat. Head stayed down as he thought of what to say to Rachael.

The next stop more people changed. The feet in front of him the only thing Max saw. Black shoes and suit pants were replaced with sneakers. The seat to his right became vacant. The shoes in front were replaced with heels.

Next stop, more started to change while others stayed. Max removed his cap for a moment to run his hand through his hair. It had been a long night. Anton was right: he should go and sleep on it. He tried to relax.

“Max?” said a soft voice.

He looked up to see the bright blue eyes and blonde hair of Kate. His heart jumped into his throat. He had forgotten to keep a lookout for who was on the train with him.

“Oh my God, Max, you’ve had us all worried sick. Are you feeling okay? What happened to you?”

“Sorry,” was all he could say as he motioned for her to sit down next to her.

“You okay? What’s going on?” Kate sounded truly worried, and why wouldn’t she be? No one ever called in sick when the office had this sort of case.

Max realized he looked like crap. He still was still bruised from the beating he had taken as part of the mugging. He had also barely slept in three days.

“Got mugged yesterday,” he said quietly. He found it hard to look at her. If he saw her eyes, they would get the truth from him. He was going to have to lie to her. He was not proud of what he was going to do.

“Oh God, are you okay?” she said, then followed right up with, “We need to get you to a safe place.”

He didn’t need this right now. He needed to get her away from him. The longer they were together, the longer he risked saying something stupid and giving the game away. Worse than that, the longer she stayed with him, the more dangerous it became for both of them. He had to get rid of her. The best way to do that would be to throw her a bone.

“I’ll be fine,” he whispered as he leaned in closer. “Look, I can’t talk about it, but I need another day or two. Something related to the case we were talking about at work …”

Max watched Kate’s face change as she put the pieces together in her head. He was feeding her only half-truths. Max was banking on her trust.

She leaned in as well, her voice now turning to almost a hush to match his. “You should come in,” she said. “We’ve got a security detail at the office at the moment. Martha has had all the writers put under security protection. I can get you on it. She’ll look after you.”

“And what about you? Why are you here?” Max asked. With the type of security they normally put in place, there should be no way that Kate should be riding the subway.

“Apparently our team is not high profile enough. Martha is running a story on how we get targeted, but she’s cutting back on the security detail, ironically enough.”

Max immediately understood the game that Martha was playing. She wanted people to get hurt. If she could link an attack to the story, it would cause another storm. Emma and Zoe had refused their stories to be made public, even threatened to sue. But Martha had been manipulating everyone since. She wanted this to happen. She wanted revenge for what had happened to Emma and Zoe.

“That’s a risky move,” Max said.

“I know. I think it’s because the guy is asking for four and half mill.”

The number hung with Max for a second. Max tried to act calm.

“We’re all working crazy hours trying to work out if it is worth that sort of price. But we can handle that. Max, Callie’s worried about you too. You didn’t return her calls yesterday.”

“Sorry,” Max said yet again. He really didn’t want to talk about Callie.

“Enough about us. What about you? What’s going on, Max? How is this connected?”

“I can’t say much, but do you remember the guy you had me work with on the Bubber case. I’m working on something with him. It’s related, and it’s big. I mean really big. I promise we’ll get a piece of the action.”

Max suddenly felt like he just admitted he was going to do what Anton had asked.

Kate gave him a funny look. She was definitely trying to guess what he was going on about. Max knew he had never been one for keeping what he was working on a secret. But he was hoping Kate had enough faith in him.

Sure enough, she sat a little straighter, like the way she did when she was trying to make an important decision.

“Okay, if you say it’s big, I trust you. You’ve never steered me wrong before,” she said in that professional voice she always used for big decisions.

Max felt like he was in the clear now and gave her a small smile. “Thanks.”

“In the meantime, is there anything I can do?” she asked.

“I’m fine.” Max slumped in relief. “I just need a day or two. Everything should come together soon.”

He paused for a second. He couldn’t resist not giving her something. She would need it to go in front of Martha. It could also raise the price a little. Play the game. With a subtle wave of his hand, he signaled for her to come closer.

“I think there is a different connection between the story and what happened to Jack. I mean, different than what we think it is. Me and the guy I’m teaming with are doing some quiet digging. Don’t tell anyone. It’s a little dangerous, but trust me, if you get the footage, I think we’ll have more than we bargained for.”

That made Kate smile the little smile she always gave when she knew a story had just taken an interesting twist. It was a smile of gold—a smile hopefully worth another million dollars.

“Anything else?” she asked after a few moments.

Max shook his head.

“You look like you’ve been through hell, Max. Is there anything I can do for you personally?”

“Tell Callie I’m fine. I can’t go home, so a friend is putting me up. But without my wallet …” He let the words hang.

Without another word, or being asked, Kate grabbed her purse and pulled out all the cash she had, her hands covering the sight of the money the entire time. She then reached out and placed it in Max’s hand.

“Take it,” she said.

Max felt a ping of guilt for doing that to Kate, but he would replace a way to pay her back. With the money he was going to get, he could send her all he owed her plus plenty of interest.

“Who’s the friend you’re staying with?” she asked.

“No one you know. Need it to be someone unrelated to the case,” Max lied. “It’s safer this way. Don’t worry, it’s not a girl.”

Kate smiled. She was a good boss. Someday he’d have to tell her what was really happening. Invite her to Thailand or wherever he ended up. Treat her to a drink and tell her everything.

“Put your hat on right now, Max,” she whispered.

Max did what he was told without thinking. A few moments later Kate stood up and walked a few paces away.

“Hey, Kate,” said a voice that Max knew to be Michael’s. “How’s your morning?”

The two started chatting away, and Max kept his head down and his hat on until they both got off at their station.

That was a close one.

Now he just had to get home and talk to Rachael. That $4.5 million was going to be an interesting chat.