The Zodiac: LEO

[xp-changeling.livejournal.com]

Christian Kane gives Kevin and Dom some information about a potential enemy long thought gone.



The Biltmore hotel could always be counted on for two things; the smell of old money and the smell of older people. Kane liked to joke that sitting in the hotel's lounge refreshed him, reminding him of the difference between being older and being old. It was also because one of the hotel secrets was that because so many patrons either demanded privacy or had business matters that required it, the room was impossible to bug or watch covertly. He waved them over from his seat in a deep leather chair that was possibly older than the spy.

He took a drag from his cigar as they sat down. Privilege had its own ways of getting around NYC's famous smoking bans.

"Vanessa, Kevin. I hope I'm not interrupting anything with this meeting?"

"You're interrupting me getting a bit of fresh air," Dom said with a conspicuous cough; cigars were nasty things. "But y'know, besides that. What's up?"

"Fresh air? In New York City?" He barked a laugh. "I think my cigar is vaguely healthier as a filter in this place."

"Dom's just unhappy she hasn't gotten to shoot someone lately."

"Well, this should cheer you up then. You recall that bit of information you sent me, about one of our designated watch accounts being used? That account is connected to the Zodiac."

Kevin blinked twice, slowly. "The Zodiac? You mean the 'what's your sign, baby?' Zodiac? Also, before you say anything, I've never used that line, Dom."

A quip was already forming on her lips by the time the bell ran in her head. "No, wait - I think I've heard of these guys. Bunch of thugs, they're like... all over, have their hands in a bunch of pies. Remember? That asshole in Bangkok said they were 'on the rise' or whatever, we thought he was just making shit up to intimidate us?"

"Those jokers? Hard time believing that they're even more than a rumour."

"They are, Kevin. A little piece of British Cold War trivia we declined to share with the Agency. Zodiac was originally a kind of third party intelligence ring, made up of secret members from a dozen different agencies. At the time, their goal was to manipulate intelligence into a perpetual state of brinkmanship, making their positions more invaluable and take advantage of the financial opportunities it offered. Because they weren't trading the secrets to anyone but themselves, they managed to be convinced that it wasn't really treason." Kane said, dismissing the idea with a wave of his cigar. "MI6 first became aware of them when they got sloppy kidnapping an Oxford mathematician, Leo Brandes. Leo was producing brilliant work in advanced algorithmic crypto-theory, which is why we'd recruited him years before. So our minders saw the kidnapping and in the rescue, uncovered enough about the Zodiac to plug our internal holes and root out the others."

"Wait. The Ned Kettling expose. I knew it had been too pat finding his organized crime links." Kevin said with a snap of his fingers. Kane nodded.

"Indeed. Inside of a year, Zodiac was broken. Dr. Brandes said they wanted him to work on something they called 'the key'. A kind of super code breaking technology."

"Well shit." Dom had forgotten all about the cigar stench by this point. "If they're back on that again who knows what their target is. Could be anything, thanks to the internet."

"It could be. Especially considering that when the Zodiac were crushed, we knew that we'd missed people on their roster. So the target could be something else entirely." Kane said, taking a long pull. "The only thing that we have are those accounts. We linked them to the Zodiac but never touched them. Hoping that they'd be a way to track the rest. We need to determine what the funds in that account were used for and where they went."

"Can I have a look at them?" It stood to reason that if he was coming to them he wanted them to use their particular... skills to address the problem. Dom had poked around a few bank accounts in her day; knowing what they were working with was the first step.

"I was hoping you'd say that. My hope is that the account information as slowly filtered down through legal means to someone barely connected to the original owners and they are just cleaning up old loose ends. But if not... well..."

"You need to know what their plan is. Great, secret society that is supposed to be over thirty years dead and buried, now sending out checks for some reason." Kevin shook his head. "Dom, you think you can get inside Swiss banking security?"

Swiss? "Yeah, sure, no problem, I'll get on it right after I crack this whole cold fusion thing. Piece of cake."

"I'll see if I can make it easier. Go in as a VP to a New York branch and slip a data tap in." Kevin offered.

She shot him a grateful look; he did have his uses. "Cool, that should help."

"Good. It looks like you both have everything in hand. Connect me once you've got some solid leads." Christian said as they both rose to leave.

"Hey," Dom said as they made their way out towards the lobby, "you think being a VP at a big bank gives you any, y'know, perks? Hot car, free drinks? 'Cuz you know what they say, work hard, play hard..."