by Sarah Holman
Perhaps he was a good actor, but Patrick guessed that Brett wasn’t their guy. He was still voting for Liam. Even if he wasn’t their guy, maybe being held by the FBI for questioning would do him some good. Okay, he wouldn’t really want to hold an innocent person, but this guy was getting on his nerves.
“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Brian said, loading a chip with dip. “My parents are pushing me to get into this school. They seem pretty tough and not very forgiving.”
“And if I had listened to them instead of some of my friends who got me into drugs, I might be in a better place.”
“Hey, let’s just watch the game,” Patrick offered.
Brett shook his head and stood. “I appreciate the invite, but I think I need to go.” He walked out the door, insults and name-calling following him from Liam.
Great, again Patrick got stuck with the nut and they had to watch a whole game with him.
Patrick was glad the evening was over. He wanted to turn in for the night but he knew there was another thing he needed to do.
“Any progress?” Thomas answered his phone without ceremony.
“Brett doesn’t look like our guy. Liam is still in the running, though he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would be able to carry out something of this sophistication. We can’t rule him out.”
“Duly noted. Is there anything else?”
Patrick swallowed. “Any update about Kate?”
Thomas let out an audible sigh. “You’re not going to get an answer anytime soon. This case is keeping everyone busy. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.”
It was at times like these that Patrick was glad for the boss he had. Thomas cared, even if he didn’t show it like some of the others. “Thanks. Have a good night.”
“I doubt it. I’ll probably be up checking out suspects and trying to get a better idea who our bomber is.”
“I’ll pray you are able to fit in some sleep.” Patrick said the words without even thinking.
“Whatever,” Thomas grunted and ended the call.
Patrick grinned at his screen. He must be growing on Thomas. After all, he hadn’t told him not to bother praying.
Kate’s Past
Saturday, December 5 8:15AM
The air came out in white puffs in front of Kate as she jogged down the street. She took a deep breath as she slowed her pace a little to take in shops and Christmas decorations along the street. Her heart felt light and happy this morning. Happiness could be so fleeting, she wanted to savor each moment. She passed a thrift store and an antique store that were already open. She had done her morning jog late because she had enjoyed being curled up with hot tea and reading her Bible.
She looked around her and realized there weren’t many people out and about. The few that were seemed to have purposed jobs and looked around every few minutes. The city was on edge with the threat of the bombs. Somehow, that still didn’t dampen Kate’s mood. Perhaps her happiness was realizing that unlike a year ago when she had been in the middle of training and gaining a new identity, she had friends, a job she loved, and a renewed sense of purpose.
“Hey.”
Kate turned and smiled at Patrick. “Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Jogging, same as you.” He winked.
Kate stopped and turned to him. “Seriously?”
“What? Am I not allowed to jog on a public street?” He flashed his contagious smile, his dimples showing.
She glanced at his jacket. It was the same blue one he had worn last year. Her knight in the blue nylon jacket. She shook these foolish thoughts from her head. “I’m glad to see you, but won’t your girlfriend be jealous?” She wasn’t sure if they needed to be worried about his cover or hers, but it never hurt to make sure.
“Kim is very understanding and enlightened.” He winked again.
“Yeah, I’ll remind you of that when you come back with a black eye.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the very idea. Would gentle Kim hurt anyone?
“Duly noted.” Patrick fell into step beside her and they continued down the street at a walk.
Kate shoved her hands into her pockets and took a deep breath of the cool air.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t talk yesterday.”
She shrugged. “I get it. Work is crazy right now for both of us.” But the reminder put a damper on her feelings.
He stopped her with a touch on her shoulder. “My friends are always important to me. I regret that my work gets in the way sometimes. Do you still want to talk about…whatever it was?”
Chewing on her lip, Kate thought for a moment. Did she want to go into this now? She realized that her gaze had drifted to the sidewalk. She forced her eyes to meet Patrick’s. “Logan and I talked about it some. Maybe it’s silly.”
The sparkle of humor that had been there was replaced with intensity. “It wasn’t silly to you.”
Looking around, Kate spotted a nearby bench and sat down. “Have you ever felt alone in a crowded room?”
“Sure,” Patrick said, taking a seat next to her.
“I’m hearing of all these people who feel alone when there are so many people around, and it keeps stirring up a memory.”
The silence stretched for a few seconds and didn’t end until she met Patrick’s gaze again.
“Anything you care to share?”
She took a deep breath. She was ready to share this memory. It wasn’t like it was the one that haunted her. “When Dad was stationed in Germany, he made a lot of friends. Dad and Mom were into ballroom dancing. He and his local friends would host these lavish traditional balls.”
Patrick blinked. “So, your dad, the general, liked ballroom dancing and had a lot of German friends?”
She nodded. “He speaks German like a native.”
“What about you?”
“Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch.”
“Uh, I may not be an expert, but that didn’t sound too shabby to me.”
She felt heat creep into her cheeks. “Thanks.”
“So, back to these balls.”
“I was fifteen and sixteen when we were over there and Dad arranged for me to go to a ball with this young man who was the son of one of his friends. I didn’t want to because the guy wouldn’t acknowledge my presence when I had met him before.”
“Showing very poor judgment.”
If there hadn’t been a blush in her cheeks before, they must be glowing red now. Kate only hoped that Patrick would attribute it to the cold. “Mom went out and bought a new dress for me because we were going to go to the ball to celebrate my sixteenth birthday. I felt like a princess in it. When my escort arrived, he went from looking pained to actually being excited to take me to the ball. I felt so hollow in that moment. It was like all he could see was the dress, not me.”
Patrick said nothing but kept silent, waiting for her to continue.
“Anyway, for the first couple of dances, I had a good time. Many of the teen boys that had ignored me before saw me in that dress with all that makeup on and saw something different in me. After a short time, they realized that I was still the same straitlaced girl they had always known. My dress and cosmetics didn’t transform me into a party girl. My escort spent most of the evening flirting with all the other girls. I spent most of the ball next to the wall feeling invisible.”
“As I said, the guys had poor judgment.”
Kate stood. “That happens to people all the time. They find themselves standing against the wall, in a corner, all alone in a crowded room because no one values them for who they are. Why did God give me this team and so many people are out there alone?”
“You didn’t want us to be friends as I recall.”
“But you didn’t give up.”
Patrick stood. “No, we didn’t. And some people don’t keep pursuing someone when they’re rebuffed. I’ll bet you there were some guys there who thought you were still worthy of some of their dance time, but they felt the peer pressure. Some of these pe
ople we have met who are all alone have people in their lives who have tried to be their friend and let them go when they pushed them away. Look at you. You almost left us before Charleston.”
She had. She hadn’t wanted all the mess that came with friendship. She had almost walked away from it all because it had been hard.
“One of the things that I’ve learned in this line of work is criminals often have networks, they have people that they hang with, but they don’t often have deep friends. Friends expect more from you than you expect from yourself. Not because they want you to be perfect, but because they want you to be the best you can be. Being alone, having few friends or shallow friends who are united by a common like or dislike, means you don’t have to change.”
Kate chewed on her lower lip again.
“Hey.” He put a hand on her arm. “I’m sorry that happened to you. It is hard to deal with that kind of stuff as a teen or really anytime.”
She lifted her eyes to meet his and was warmed by the compassion shining in them. “And I think that whoever we are after is suffering from feeling all alone. Maybe it’s from a choice to push others away, but still…” She allowed her words to drift off.
“And we—”
A loud bang shattered the calm. Kate was pushed into the nearest doorway by Patrick before she had time to react. He pulled her toward the back of a sporting goods shop. A verse about God is our refuge fell from his lips as he pulled out his cell phone.
“This is Patrick. There’s just been another explosion near our location.”
Kate breathed hard as she stared up at Patrick.
“Okay, we will hold position.” Patrick hung up his phone. “Are you okay?”
She didn’t break eye contact, but she wasn’t sure she could speak. How could she tell him? She hadn’t been afraid because he was there, once again her knight in the blue nylon jacket. But those words wouldn’t form. She had already shared enough of her heart for one day.
“Kate?”
She drew in a deep breath, trying to bury her emotions. “I’m okay. Where was the bomb?”
“I wish I knew.”
The Picture
Saturday, December 5 12:45PM
Patrick laughed. He couldn’t help it. “It was a what?”
“Hey, you weren’t that close.” Brian gave him a light punch in the arm. “It shouldn’t have affected your hearing.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just having a hard time believing you.”
Thomas crossed his arms. “Believe it. It was a World War Two grenade that had been donated to the thrift store along with other historical paraphernalia. The worker carelessly handled it.”
Brian cleared his throat. “I think the words you are looking for, Mr. President, is the guy acted as if he were invincible and pulled out the pin. Who did he think he was? A superhero? No! A supervillain!”
“And,” Thomas continued with a glare at Brian, “it went off. Good news is that no one was seriously hurt, bad news is it has spread panic. We’re putting out the word that this wasn’t related to the other bombings, but it’s hard to combat the fact it was already reported as one.”
“None of these leads feel right,” Kim remarked, looking at the digital screen that held their suspects.
“I agree,” Brian said.
“We have surveillance watching some of our suspects, but so far we haven’t seen anything suspicious,” Logan said.
“And as a helpful reminder, my supervisor reminded me that we are fast approaching the Dickens of a Christmas festival,” Thomas said.
If the supervisor had mentioned that, it was possible Thomas had spoken with him about Kate’s situation. Maybe after this meeting, they could talk.
Thomas’s phone rang and he moved toward a corner of the meeting room.
“I’m trying to see if I can make any progress with Hal,” Kate said. “I tried messaging him through my fake social media account set up by the FBI. He responded that he really wasn’t interested in church people.”
Logan nodded. “I’ve talked with a lot of those from the church about the troubled kids that have come through their doors. I told them I was interested in starting a ministry to reach those kids and I wanted to know about the things they’ve faced. None of the troubled kids they mentioned raised any red flags.”
Thomas rejoined them, his face grave.
Patrick swallowed; this couldn’t be good news.
“There was another bombing in a neighborhood.”
The room grew silent.
“This time the package was hand delivered and the perpetrator seems to have made a fatal error.”
“He blew himself up?” Patrick said, sure the horror on his face showed.
“Let me rephrase: he made a mistake that may land him in jail a lot sooner than he thought.” He tapped on his phone and passed it around. “This was taken from the security camera of the house of an older woman. We still aren’t sure what her connection with the school is.”
Patrick took the phone and glanced down at the face, but he had never seen the young man before. He passed it to Kate.
“We are still—”
Kate gasped, cutting Thomas off. “It’s Janice’s brother.”
Logan snatched the phone, disbelief in her eyes. “It couldn’t… Well, the security footage is clear but…how could…” She set the phone down and started smashing her ball between her hands.
“You know this person?” Thomas said.
Kate nodded slowly and Patrick wished that he could do something, anything to alleviate that pained expression on her face. “He was at the bowling alley the other day. Lana told me that he rejected the faith, but he’s still in contact with his family and others. His dad has been helping him fix up a house. He comes from a good home. This doesn’t fit the profile.”
Thomas shrugged. “Sometimes it’s the people found within the church walls that make the most bizarre criminals.”
Brian stood. “I think you have it wrong. I think it is the people who hide within the church walls you’re talking about. People who blow up buildings, kidnap young people, and commit heinous acts don’t reflect the faith that’s within the church walls.”
Thomas crossed his arms. “I fail to see the difference. Do you know the percentage of radical criminals I’ve seen who claimed to be Christians?”
Brian closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Do you know how many well-meaning psychologists and social workers said that I would never be able to lead a normal life? Have a healthy relationship with a woman? Have a marriage that lasted? Be a good father? They thought the scars of my past would keep me from all of that. Jesus made it so that my past does not have to hold me captive. What happened to me does not define who I am. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. You’ve heard it all before. I’m going to remind you of something you told me a long time ago. You have to take off the preconceptions you have in order to see a case clearly. That includes the case for Jesus.”
Patrick squirmed. Really, what had got into Brian?
Thomas glanced at the others in the room. “We don’t have time to debate this. We have a bomber and killer we need to catch. What is this man’s name?”
“Calvin Oke,” Logan said. “He lives on his own. I could probably find out his address from his family.”
Thomas nodded to Kim. “Start digging up all records you have on him. Find out where he lives and get me as much detail as you can.”
“On it.” Kim opened her computer.
“Brian, as much as it pains me, we need to alert the local cops. I’m going to alert all the state and federal as you get this out to the locals. Let them know that this needs to be handled in a quiet manner. This guy probably has bombs with him, if not strapped to him. They shouldn’t move unless we are working with them.”
Brian saluted and headed out the door.
“Patrick, I want you to hit the street and talk with some of the contacts you’ve made. See if any of them know this guy. He may or m
ay not be working alone. I especially would like to know if he and Liam have any contact.”
Patrick nodded. As he walked out the door, he heard Thomas assign Kate and Logan to contact Calvin’s family.
A Torn Hem
Saturday, December 5 5:30PM
“I’m so sorry about this,” Logan said as Janice let them into her home. “I probably shouldn’t have been wearing it, but my mom and I were Skyping and I wanted to show it to her and then I stepped on the hem.” She sighed dramatically and pointed to her costume.
Kate was almost tempted to smile. Logan had stepped on the hem and had to pull pretty hard before the fabric would rip.
“Hey, not a problem.” Janice beckoned them in. “These things happen. How’s your mom?”
“Doing great. I think that she’s jealous. She’s always wanted to come to the Dickens festival.”
Janice’s reply was lost to Kate. Her spine tingled. She felt like someone had poured ice water in her veins. In the living room, standing next to Penny, was Calvin.
“Kathrine, Logan, good to see both of you. Have you met Calvin?”
Kate couldn’t move. When Calvin lifted his eyes to meet hers, she was afraid they would see right through her cover. She was afraid that he would know she was law enforcement and blow them up right here and now.
“Hi!” Logan said in her normal perky voice. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Logan. Now Janice, about this dress. I…oh, Kathrine, are you feeling bad again?”
Kate took in a shallow breath and forced her eyes to Logan.
“The bathroom is right down the hall. Maybe you can call Uncle Thomas to come and get you.”
“That…might be a good idea.” Kate clutched her stomach and moved toward the bathroom. How did Logan do it? She never thought it would be this hard, this chilling, to stumble upon a criminal. But he was standing there next to his mother and sister like…like he was a normal person.
She took a deep breath. She had to remember they could be wrong. He could have been delivering a package for a friend, having no idea what was inside.