“You’re right, Pete,” Wheldon said as he returned and sat down. “Dunning’s plane isn’t at its usual hangar at Joint Base Bolling in DC. It never returned from Italy. Not only that, there are rumors that it never actually landed in Aviano Air Base in Italy like it was scheduled to.”

“What do you make of that?” Gannon said.

Wheldon shook his head.

“I’m trying to grasp all this,” he said. “Dunning’s supposed to go to Italy but doesn’t arrive. Then there’s the diamonds. Uncut diamonds. Sounds like Africa. Has to be. Blood diamonds probably.”

“You’ve lost me,” Gannon said.

“This is what I think,” Wheldon said. “I think Dunning was running what they call a rat line. Basically, it’s smuggling using diplomatic cover. They used them in World War II to get the Nazis out of Germany into South America. They’ve been using them since probably forever to smuggle drugs or stolen valuables. Whatever you want to wherever you want. Hide it in the diplomatic bag. It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book.”

“But in America? I don’t buy it. The FBI director? You’re saying he’s secretly a smuggler?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I bet the stones from the plane are blood diamonds out of Sierra Leone or the Ivory Coast. Instead of Italy, Dunning went there. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dunning was facilitating an arms deal.”

“An arms deal?”

Wheldon nodded.

“In the interim between when he was deputy director and director, he was counsel for one of the nation’s biggest defense companies. Since it’s illegal to sell guns to these rebel groups, they love to use untraceable diamonds.”

“Like a secret cash-for-clunkers deal?” Gannon said.

“Exactly. Only in this case, it’s diamonds for land mines or maybe attack helicopters. But on the way back, something went wrong with the plane and now their ass is hanging in the breeze.”

“That’s crazy,” Gannon said. “That only happens in the movies.”

Wheldon shook his head.

“What do you think makes this world go round, Pete? Truth, justice and the American way?”

“Yes,” Gannon said.

“Lucky you,” Wheldon said, letting out a breath. “It’s power, Pete. Power.”

46

Gannon made a pained face.

“So they’ve just gone crazy? At the top? At the FBI? Full-tilt corrupt?”

Wheldon nodded.

“Bought and paid for. An organization is only as good as the people in it, Pete. You ever hear of a dirty cop when you were on the force?”

Gannon squinted at him.

“On the force?” Gannon said, making a puzzled face. “What do you mean? You think I’m a cop?”

“Let’s see,” Wheldon said. “Face like the map of Ireland, voice like a Yankee announcer and you actually want to return several million dollars of loot you found while fishing out on your boat. Is it such a crazy guess?”

“No comment,” Gannon said.

“Anyway,” Wheldon said. “The combination of the global money and influence and no one checking up on them is like nothing ever before seen on the planet. Now you add the technology, the NSA collection of all the global communication data, and now they have a trove of information and blackmail on virtually everyone.”