GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Chapter Twenty-Five

Duke set his hands on the edge of the desk and leaned forward to look over Breaker’s shoulder. “So what do you have for me?” he asked.

The building was still busy with federal agents coming and going, but it seemed that the work was finally winding down. The underground complex was being fully investigated, and most of the team was down there now, searching every last inch of the place. After quick but thorough background checks, most of the employees of Arbco Marketing were allowed to go home at the end of the day, although a few of the upper management were still there, working with the federal agents. It had been long day.

Hawk had already returned to Washington to give an update to his superiors there, and Duke was left in command. So far, they’d found nothing of value in the underground complex, except that there was evidence of a serious operation, the extent of which was still being investigated.

“I’m afraid we don’t have much,” Breaker said. He blew a bubble and it popped loudly as he pointed at the screen. “I’d need six months and an army of accountants to figure out all the finances for this company. They have so much money coming and going that I can’t see any kind of pattern to it. But I’m hardly an expert.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Duke said. “The FBI has men checking it out. Just tell me what you do have.”

Breaker shrugged and closed a few windows on the screen, opening up to another program. “Well, I did a search for the guy who founded the company, like you asked me to. I didn’t find much on him, but I did find this.”

The screen showed a list of companies amidst a series of numbers and accounts, listed in alphabetical order. Right near the top of the list were companies with the same name as the marketing firm.

“See these?” Breaker said, tapping the screen. “We have Arbco Construction, Arbco Financial Advisors, Arbco Sales, Arbco Transport Company. There’s a whole list of companies here with that name, so they must be connected. I’m guessing that guy just founded all these companies himself.”

“The president of the company didn’t mention this,” Duke said. “Of course, he didn’t seem to know much at all about the founder. He said he only met him a few times.”

“Whoever this David Ekans guy was, he’s certainly hard to track down,” Breaker admitted. “His name pops up a few times in a web search, but its all related to these companies. Nothing about him personally. I gave the Feds his name and they’re trying to get information on him now.”

Duke frowned and put his hands on his hips. He sighed and waved his hand toward the screen in a futile gesture. “So that’s all we have?”

“Well,” Breaker said, “I cross-referenced all these companies with the financial records, and I did find two matches.” He typed for a moment and the screen flipped through more program windows, until only two companies were listed.

“Arbco Construction and Arbco Janitorial Supplies,” Duke said, reading it off the screen. “So this company transferred money to them?”

“Yes, sir. And here is the interesting thing. Check the date.”

“That’s today’s date,” Duke said. “Are you telling me that those transactions were made this morning?”

“Seems that way.”

“How much money are we talking?”

“About seven-hundred thousand dollars. Maybe more.”

“Jesus,” Duke said. “First the basement and now this. They knew we were coming and they grabbed whatever they could before they left.”

“Makes sense though,” Breaker said. “When that attack on you failed, they must have known we would trace them here eventually.”

“Can you trace those money transfers? Maybe get a bank account or something?”

“Not from here, but the Feds can.”

“Do it. And find out whatever else you can. Keep me informed.”

“Yes, sir.”

Duke left the office and headed down the hall to the back of the building, where he could access the parking lot and head down into the underground base. He could just call them on a walkie-talkie to learn their status, but he wanted to go down again himself and see what was going on first-hand.

Short Fuse and Shipwreck appeared down the hall and stopped him. Short Fuse handed him a folder and started talking as Duke opened it up.

“The FBI told me to give this to you. It’s their official file on Mr. Ekans.”

“They had a complete file on him?” Duke asked, flipping through the pages. “You mean they were already investigating him?”

“They said he was suspected of funneling money to a group of political extremists about ten years ago. They never proved anything though.”

“Political extremists?”

“Think domestic terrorists,” Shipwreck explained. “They vandalized a bunch of local government offices in Vermont and supposedly used a car bomb to try to assassinate some local politician. No one was ever caught, but somehow this Ekans guy was connected to it, or at least they thought he was. The case was closed a long time ago, though.”

“I’m beginning to think David Ekans is the key to this whole thing,” Duke said. “The guy upstairs said that he died in a house fire, but this file doesn’t have his death listed.”

“His death was never verified,” Shipwreck said. “His house burned down and they found a body, but it was never positively identified as him. We checked with the police, and they said the fire was probably arson, but they never arrested anyone.”

“This just gets weirder and weirder,” Duke said, closing the file. “I take it you guys didn’t find any new information when you searched the employee records?”

Short Fuse shook his head. “No, nothing there.”

“Alright. Are you done up here, then? I was heading back downstairs, if you want to come along.”

“Whatever you say, Hauser.”

Duke, Shipwreck, and Short Fuse went to the parking garage and descended into the underground facility by way of the freight elevator, which had been rewired to allow it to go down. As the elevator descended, Duke tapped the David Ekans file impatiently against his leg, trying to figure out how all of this fit together. They had a mysterious company founder who may or may not be dead, a secret underground base, and an armed terrorist organization, and somehow they all were interconnected. And they also had a weapons manufacturer, a prominent neurological psychiatrist, and who knows what else might be involved. They had uncovered so much information in just a few days that it was hard to process it all.

“Any theories?” Duke asked out loud.

“About Cobra?” Shipwreck asked.

“About anything.”

Shipwreck rubbed his chin, which sported two days worth of stubble. “Well, I think it’s pretty obvious that Cobra had a large operation here. This Ekans guy must be involved, or at least he was involved at some point. I’m not sure what other conclusions we can make. You talked to Breaker already, right?”

“Yeah, he told me about those other companies.”

“Okay,” Shipwreck said. “So Ekans used those other companies as a front to launder money, or maybe some other reason. He fakes his death and goes underground. How does that sound so far?”

Duke nodded to himself. “Sounds about right. That’s a lot of speculation, though. Ekans really could be dead for all we know.”

“Where does that scientist fit into this?” Short Fuse asked, leaning against the wall of the elevator with his arms crossed over his chest. “That guy from the institute?”

“Yes, the good Doctor Bogdanovich,” Duke said dismissively. “Apparently, he left the institute in a hurry not long after we left yesterday, and he didn’t show up today. They have no idea where he is. The FBI already searched his office and found nothing.”

“So he’s involved, then?”

“I think he is. He’s probably the one who sent those thugs after us yesterday, and sent that assassin to the Pit. He’s the only one who knew about our investigation.”

“What could he possibly have to do with this, though? I thought the guy was a respected scientist. Why would he be working with Cobra?”

“I have no idea,” Duke confessed. “Just one more mystery to figure out.”

The elevator thumped to a stop and the doors opened, and the three of them walked down the silver hallway to catch up with the rest of the team. There were more federal agents everywhere, brushing the walls for fingerprints, examining every item they could find, scanning the area for spying or listening devices, and all sorts of other activities. So far, they had found little of value.

By checking the utility records, they had learned that Arbco Marketing had been using almost twice the amount of electricity it should have been using. Combined with some of the marks on the floor in some of the rooms, they surmised that there had been large machinery in place, although they had no idea what kind of equipment was being used. They were testing the floor for any residue or substances that would identify the kind of work that was done, but it was a long process and could take weeks to figure out.

“Here’s another thing I don’t get,” Shipwreck said as they passed empty room after empty room. “They must have had some kind of major operation here, right? So how in the hell did they move everything out so fast? They couldn’t have just sent everything up the elevator, could they? It would have drawn too much attention.”

“Without the surveillance tapes of the parking garage, we’ll never know,” Duke said. “I’m guessing they didn’t really have that much equipment down here. Maybe a few truckloads worth. They could have done in the middle of the night and no one would have noticed.”

They walked into one of the larger rooms, where a dozen federal agents with white gloves were examining the floor, and dusting the doorways for fingerprints. One of the agents stopped Duke and the others from entering. “Please, sir,” he said. “Only walk in the area we marked off, we don’t want anyone contaminating the scene.”

“Of course. Have you found anything?”

“Some tobacco ash, probably from a pipe. There’s also some dirt and mud, but it could have been tracked here from anywhere. We’ve only started collecting evidence.”

“Okay. Keep us informed.”

“Yes, sir.”

They walked through the room, keeping to the area that the agents had already checked, and headed into another larger chamber, where Scarlett was waiting for them. There were tables scattered around with some of the objects they had found, as well as numerous laptop computers that the agents were using.

“Why do I get the feeling that you enjoy it when people call you ‘sir’?” Short Fuse commented.

“It’s very empowering,” Duke admitted. “You should try being in charge sometime.”

Scarlett came up to them and handed Duke a slip of paper. It was nothing but a series of red lines. “What is this?” he asked her.

“We found it in one of the side rooms,” Scarlett said. “The man who broke into the Pit was carrying a katana sword that had the same design on the handle. It’s a symbol for a dojo or a training school, or even for a ninja clan.”

“Okay,” Duke said. “That’s a start. Is there any way that we can learn what school uses this symbol?”

“As a matter of fact, there is,” Scarlett said. “Snake Eyes recognizes it. He had to return to the Pit to check on it, but I think he’ll be able to tell us exactly what school uses this symbol. Right now it’s all we have.”

Gung-Ho’s voice came over the walkie-talkie. “Duke, you better come down here. We found something.”

“I’m already here,” Duke said. “Where are you?”

“The west corner of the complex,” Gung-Ho replied. “Scarlett can lead you there.”

A few minutes later, all of them arrived in a wide corner hallway that appeared to be a dead end, where a bunch of agents were standing around. Gung-Ho stood in the middle of them with his muscular arms crossed. He was easy to see because he was a head taller than any of the people around him. He started at the wall as Duke and the others approached.

“So what do you have for me?”

“It’s right here, Duke,” Gung-Ho said, and then he snapped at one of the agents. “Hey, are you guys done with that yet?”

“Yes, we’ve gotten it. Everyone get out of the way.”

One of the agents was kneeling down in front of the wall, fiddling with some electrical wires that had been pulled out. He twisted two of them together and suddenly there was the sound of a motor coming to life. A huge section of the wall moved backward and swung out, revealing a hidden chamber beyond. The agents, as well as the Joe team, all drew their weapons and aimed them into the darkness.

The hidden door led to a room that attached to a series of maintenance tunnels that led into the sewer system. They could see footprints and other marks in the dust, as well as lines and tracks made by wheels. The federal agents swept into the room and called for backup, while Duke and the others stood back.

“Well, I guess this answers your question,” Duke said to Shipwreck. “Here’s how they got everything out without being seen.”

“Should we check it out?” Scarlett asked. “To see where it leads?”

Gung-Ho shook his head and said, “Not worth the trouble. There probably ain’t anything for us to find anyway. Let the Feds go looking.”

“You’re probably right,” Duke said.

“Besides,” Gun-Ho said. “It’s getting pretty late. And most of us have been up since what, one in the morning?”

“You getting tired?” Duke said with a grin.

“I need my beauty sleep,” Gung-Ho grunted.

“It has been a long day,” Scarlett chimed in. “And to be honest, there isn’t much left for us to do here. We’re not forensic investigators, after all. Maybe we should leave the rest of this to the FBI agents.”

Duke glanced back at Shipwreck and Short Fuse, who nodded their agreement. It had been a very long day, Duke admitted that. He’d been awakened at a little after midnight by Hawk’s phone call, after only getting two hours of sleep, and he’d spent all day working. If he spent much longer here, he would be too tired to think straight.

“All right,” he said. “You guys can leave if you want. Let’s all meet back at the Pit tomorrow. Say, eight in the morning. I think the FBI can handle it until then.”

As the rest of them left, Duke pulled out his walkie-talkie and said, “Breaker, this is Duke. You can pack it up for the night, I’m sending everyone home. We’ll meet back at the Pit tomorrow morning at eight.”

“I was just about to call you,” Breaker said. “You might want to come back up here, we have some more information on those other companies. I think we have a lead.”

“I’ll be up shortly,” Duke said. He sighed and decided that sleep would have to wait.

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