by Rick Murcer
He released her and moved toward the door, his hand resting on the handle.
“Yeah, I said that and I meant it.”
“So?”
“So I’ve already decided what I need to do.”
“And?”
He laughed out loud. “Now I know where Chloe, and Jen, for that matter, get their got-to-know attitudes.”
“We stick together, don’t ya know.”
“Glad to hear that. Because I’m going to need you to help me.”
“If I can.”
“You can. I’m in. I have to be. Not just because my beautiful wife is involved, but because it’s the right thing to do, no matter what I feel from time to time. Helping to save lives, if I can, is why I’m on this rock.”
“Of course ya are, and it’s the right call. Even this old Irish lass can see that one.”
“Wise is a better word than old. Far better, especially for you.”
“Thank ya, Manny.”
She watched him run his free hand through his blond hair and waited.
“Haley Rose. This new unit will take Chloe and me away from time to time, and at some inopportune moments, I suspect. I need to know that Ian and Jen are taken care of.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’m asking you to stay here and watch them. And if, God forbid, the worst thing happens, and Chloe and I don’t come home, that Ian will have someone he can count on. That Jen will have her Granny, no matter what else goes on.”
Haley Rose exhaled. She’d been ready to go back to Ireland, to find a life that was hers, to shake off the last couple of years that had been filled with new joys and incredible disappointments and heartbreaks.
She’d wanted to rid herself of the deceased Gavin Crosby’s rugged face when she opened her eyes each morning and leave behind the thoughts of “could have been.” She wanted to abolish the image of her insane ex-lover dying at the hands of Jen Williams when she pulled that trigger that saved her, and Ian, and Haley Rose from the murder Preston had in his heart, and the guilt that went with putting them in that situation.
To find the answers that were hers to locate and actually possess the peace that would finally rule her life. And, yes, to reconcile her bizarre relationship with Fredrick Argyle, whose words and actions still haunted her in more ways than she wanted to admit. But was that her destiny now, if there was such a damned thing?
“Haley Rose?” asked Manny, searching her face.
“Yeah, I’m here, boy. I was just thinking how I had to follow my own advice if I expected ya to listen to me.”
“Life can slap you around that way.”
Manny bent down and kissed her on the forehead.
“Listen. I know you’ve been through your own version of hell lately. You wanted to go back to Ireland after Jen’s prom, but hung around for another damned funeral, which I imagine brought another issue or two closer to the surface,” he said, his voice as smooth as an Irish whistle.
“I also know what it’s like to blame yourself, or at least to be confused regarding someone else’s actions. I’m here to tell you that you can’t control anyone’s actions but your own. No guilt, no what-could-have-beens, no condemnation. Life is life, and even though I’m struggling with my own advice, I know what I’m saying is true.”
“Knowing is one thing,” she answered.
“Yep, it is. But it’s ninety percent of the battle.” His smile broke loose again. “So are ya in with the rest of us broken folk, lass?” he asked in his best Irish lilt.
She had no choice but to grin back at him. “Yeah, I suppose I am, pieces and all. For a while anyway.”
“Fair enough.”
The door slid open, and Josh hurried inside.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting, but two things have come up rather quickly.”
“What would those be?” asked Manny, more at peace than Haley Rose had seen him in a few weeks.
“Well, I have to pee. So that takes immediate precedence,” said Josh. His cobalt-blue eyes twinkling.
“The other?”
“Well, it seems there’s a problem in New Orleans, and this unit is heading there in the morning.”
“So?” asked Manny.
“So. Are you coming?”
“I’ll answer that,” said Haley Rose, stopping Manny’s response with a hand to his arm.
Josh frowned, looked at Manny then at her, and waited for her to speak.
Running the conversation with Manny through her mind one last time, as if the idea of it gave her more strength, Haley Rose Franson then took her hand from Manny’s arm and placed it on Josh’s,
Right is right, is it not?
“Well, Josh Corner, where else would the Guardian of the Universe be?”
Then, after kissing Manny on the cheek, she sauntered down the hall to check on Ian, feeling better than she had in months.
CHAPTER-6
Manny stood near the metal door leading to the tarmac at Lansing’s Capital City Airport, holding his overnight bag in one hand, coffee in the other.
It was only seven thirty a.m., but the Michigan sun was already struggling to add its special brand of light to the day. Fine by him. He loved the old saying that light overcame the darkness so that people could see what fear had hidden.
He smiled. Maybe that was his old saying. At any rate, working in the light made for a better day if for no other reason than because people could see what and who they were up against.
He sipped his coffee, taking in the aroma of vanilla bean and coffee.
The funny thing about people who embraced their twisted, evil side, if that was a truism, is that they preferred the dark. He could write a book on how that psychology had played out in his life and with his line of work.
Two books.
“What the hell are you doing here so early?”
He didn’t turn around. He didn’t have to. “Me? What are you doing here at this time of the day? You should have stayed in bed longer. You may not get much beauty sleep for a while.”
Sophie looped her arm through his and nudged him with her shoulder.
“Yeah? Well, maybe I don’t need as much as some of us.”
He laughed, dropping his bag and putting his hand on hers. She wasn’t anywhere near her old self, but there were small fissures breaking through her immense grief.
“What are you saying?”
“I think she’s saying you aren’t getting any younger and need more rest than you used to.”
Josh circled his right side followed by Alex and Barb. Braxton Smythe was a few paces behind them.
It seemed like they had just left each other after a five-hour briefing session last night. They had put the final pieces together for forming the new Alpha Counter Terrorism Unit, of which he was now a card-carrying member.
While the work would be intense and could be far more dangerous than working with the BAU, it was good to be part of a team that could make a difference on a far larger scale. Despite how quickly and even crazily this whole thing had come together, he felt he was ready.
There wouldn’t be any Argyle types, per se. He suspected the people they would try to stop would be far worse. That sent a mental chill down his spine. But, because of that truth, he was in.
The new ID in his pocket and the upgraded 9mm Glock 34 in his shoulder holster helped to seal the deal, but nothing galvanized his commitment like the people around him. Even the almost-unknowable Braxton Smythe had passed his profiling scrutiny.
During their prep and briefing get-together the evening before, Manny had gotten the rest of his concerns off his chest regarding trusting the big man. The conversation and emotion had grown tense, more than once, but when the dust had cleared, Manny’s mind and intuition were in a better place regarding Braxton. Still.
“Hey, I heard when you get older you don’t need that much sleep, so I’m good to go,” answered Manny, gesturing toward Josh.
“That’s a good thing, because you w
on’t be getting as much either,” said Barb.
“I was just going to say that,” said Sophie.
“Great. Wisdom from you this early in the morning,” said Alex.
Sophie stepped away from Manny, looped two fingers beneath the leather strap on the sling holding Alex’s left arm, and brought his face close to hers.
“Listen, Dough Boy, if I want anything out of your helpless ass, I’ll let you know, capisce?”
“Is that Chinese-speaking-Italian thing supposed to scare me, wench? And what do you mean helpless? You’ll thank me when I find something in these databases that will save you and your fake rack. And don’t call me Dough Boy. Capisce that?”
“Yeah, you’ll be a ton of help with one hand. Hell, you couldn’t work a keyboard with two.”
“I don’t need a keyboard. Voice-command software is through the roof these days. I’ll be talking, and the databases will be listening. Besides, this sling comes off in a day or two. Now let go of me before I have to kick your ass.”
Slowly, the smile spread across her pretty face. Then she kissed Alex on the cheek. “Good to have you back,” she whispered.
Alex moved his mouth then turned his head, trying to hide the sudden attack of emotion. The forensic expert then cleared his throat. “Ditto, girl, ditto,” he said gently. “Now get away from me before somebody thinks I really care what you think.”
“Yes sir, Dough Boy.”
“I see you two are going to be just fine,” said Josh. He then glanced around the terminal area. “Where’s Chloe?”
“She’ll be here in a minute. She wanted a muffin and to make one more call to her mom,” said Manny.
“Understandable,” said Barb as she moved closer to her husband.
Manny watched Barb, revisiting her part in all of this. He hadn’t really wondered why, over the years, Alex’s wife was gone to visit relatives so often, especially given that Alex was busy working cases with him. But to be a member of the CIA doing undercover work hadn’t even remotely entered his thought process. Never mind how deeply she’d been involved in a couple of covert operations with Braxton that bordered on Jason Bourne territory.
“Why, Agent Williams, you seem to be staring,” said Barb, grinning.
“Sorry about that, Barb. I’ve had enough time to process the information about your other life, and I’m still trying to reconcile that with my ego.”
“Join the club with that one,” said Alex.
“Well, it’s out there now, and I’m personally glad. Like I shared last night, at times it’s been a rough road. I wanted to tell Alex a thousand times, and God knows, I was always on guard that you would see something in me that would give away my secret,” said Barb, with a nod toward Manny.
“I saw nothing, so you did your job,” he said.
“I did my best. But that phase of this operation is over. Getting necessary things done will be much easier being part of a team. And a team I trust.”
“I think you’re right,” said Manny, hoping the team environment was going to be what it should. People like Braxton and Barb, who had worked on their own for years, sometimes had difficulty assimilating into a group.
Just then, Chloe walked up beside Manny, rolling her suitcase.
“What did I miss?”
“Nothing. Is everything all right? I mean, you left home a whole hour ago,” said Josh.
“Things are fine, don’t ya know, smartass. And for the record, I’ll be callin’ home any damn time I feel like it,” said Chloe, a glint in her eye.
“That’s the spirit,” said Josh. “And I know you will. Okay. Now that we’re here, I want to go over a couple of things again before the jet arrives. We need to understand each other’s roles so we have each other’s butts.”
The feeling was noticeable and a bit odd, even with his experience, but Manny could swear the six others of the ACTU moved closer together in that one moment in time. Not just physically—that was obvious—but inexplicably more in tune mentally.
Maybe there was some truth in what Alex had claimed. Maybe he did process micro expressions along with body language like a computer, but there was no denying what he felt, whether that was scientifically measurable or something else entirely.
“Alex and Chloe will set up the data center. Chloe helping with the profiling as needed. Barb will help them with the hardware configurations and then help with accessing our Counter Terrorism Division and the National Strategy for Counterterrorism databases. Most of what we need is already on the jet, but there isn’t anything we can’t get if we need it, so don’t be shy.”
“Damn. Nothing like carte blanche for a geek in techno land,” said Sophie.
“Oh hell yes,” answered Alex.
“You won’t get to use rubber gloves though.”
“Some things are more important than others,” he said. “Dean would have loved this.”
There was an ever-so-slightly awkward silence as, in sync, the team glanced at Sophie. She abolished that demon before it took hold.
“Yes, he would have, even without the gloves. I’ll tell him about it tonight when we talk,” said Sophie, her voice steady.
Josh nodded to her. “He’ll appreciate that.” He turned back to the huddle. “Remember what I said about having a bit of expertise within each sub-team. Chloe will help with insight to domestic terrorist profiles on that end, and Barb will provide and research information on particular methods of finance and less-than-ethical sources of materials these creeps might need.”
Josh made the organization of the new unit sound so complete. And for all intents and purposes it was, but there was something . . . Manny then dismissed the thought. What could be missing at this juncture?
The FBI’s new Gulfstream G650 then hit the runway behind them, speeding past the window like a white bullet as it headed to the west end of the runway.
“Dat belongs to us?” asked Braxton.
“We’ll get to use it,” said Josh.
“It’s pretty dang shiny,” said Alex, grinning.
“I like shiny,” said Manny.
“Me too,” said Chloe.
“Yeah? Wait until you see the inside,” said Josh. “Soon. But let’s stay on task for a few more minutes. The next part of the organizational setup is this: Manny, Sophie, and Braxton will be involved in profiling. We’ll need to start piecing together the reasons why New Orleans is the place where . . . this incident occurred.”
Manny watched as Josh finished. “We don’t really know what that means, Josh. You keep saying all of the right things, but you’re not really telling us anything about what happened in New Orleans, other than a husband of a New Orleans detective was killed in questionable circumstances with five other people in a warehouse.”
“That’s all true,” said Josh.
“I know this must be a case for us, but tell me why?”
“I think you know why. But I’ll make it easy for you. It’s because of the circumstances surrounding the killing. Six people killed in an off-the-beaten-path warehouse is a spike on our radar.”
“I get that. Why aren’t we getting files on what happened?”
“I told them to keep their information until we get there. I don’t want to taint any of your thought progressions when you’re doing what you do—that goes for everyone, but especially you, Manny. When we get all of the names and background checks in, we’ll discuss the particulars. Trust me on this one, Manny. I know what I’m doing.”
Manny started to speak, but Braxton interrupted him. “Let me say someting here.”
Josh raised his eyebrows and gestured for him to go ahead.
“If dese people were dealing in illegal shit, and it looks like it to me, den we have to figure out what. We don’t know dat part for sure, so we need to be clean wit what we see from da beginning.”
“So if we have a preconceived idea of what’s going on, we won’t be looking at everything equally? Is that it?” asked Manny.
“Yeah, dat covers it
. Sometimes ya have to make sure ya don’t miss nuttin, so start from da beginning. Dis profiling be a bit different dan da psychos you tracked down wit da BAU. Dey be better at dere trade. Dey have to be.”
“That part is true,” said Chloe. “They are unpredictable at best.”
“We won’t miss anything,” said Manny, glancing around the circle of agents and friends. He felt his pulse step up at the confidence he heard in his own voice.
Any doubts about accepting the next chapter in his life were now gone. Maybe everything that he’d gone through over the last four years was a base for this. Destiny doesn’t give itself away until it’s time to do it. Manny knew that one.
“We can’t afford to,” said Josh. “Remember what I said. New Orleans may be nothing, or it could be everything. That’s why we’re going there first.”
“Crime scenes are crime scenes, right?” said Sophie.
“They are,” said Josh.
Together, they watched the jet taxi to the section of tarmac in front of the window in silence. A few seconds later, the airport’s runway crew moved the mobile stairway to the gleaming hatch of the jet.
Josh looked at the group. “Are we ready?”
“Hell yes. Let’s get this show on the road. I took my motion-sickness pill, so I’m right as rain,” said Sophie. “And they better have good food. I’m hungry.”
She picked up her bag and headed for the terminal door, each of the others following suit, Manny and Josh bringing up the rear.
“Are we, Josh? Are we ready?” Manny asked.
“We’d better be. I keep saying it, but we have to get it into their heads. If New Orleans is a precursor for something else, we’d better find out in a hurry. This stuff, this next part of our professional lives, isn’t like the last.”
“Argyle was nothing?”
“He was a baby compared to what these people are capable of doing.” Then Josh walked ahead of Manny and entered the jet.
Baby, huh? He felt the confidence he’d claimed a few minutes before waver. People like Argyle were a far cry from harmless. Just ask the families of his victims. He boarded the jet, praying it wasn’t true, but deep down he knew Josh was right.