by Misty Malone
The agent radioed the information to the lieutenant, who sent the message out to the agents in the field and the police officers.
A little over an hour later Agent Reed announced, "We have him. Thank John for the tip. He was in a tree. We walked past him half a dozen times before John said to look up. We're bringing him in. Our ETA at the FBI office is eleven minutes."
A cheer went up from everyone at the safe house. Agent Barstow quieted them quickly, though. "Joe somehow knew you guys were here. Until we have a chance to question him thoroughly, we don't know if he was working alone out there or if there were others involved, or if he brought in someone else recently. If there is anyone else, they more than likely know about this location, as well. Until we've questioned him and are confident that you're safe, we're going to move you to another safe house."
At their collective groan, Agent Barstow laughed. "Are we really that bad as hosts?"
"Nothing personal, Brad," John said.
"I completely understand," the agent assured him. "The good news is, hopefully, it will only be for one or two more days, while they question Officer Decker and make sure they have everyone."
Cal tried to lighten the mood by pointing out, "Well, guys, at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now."
"Yeah, but I wish the light was a little brighter," Kelli said. "It's kind of hard to see as I'm getting ready to go to another house."
They all chuckled a bit, trying to make the most of the situation.
Alana asked Agent Barstow, "Do you have something with an indoor pool, maybe an exercise room with a nice punching bag we could take our frustrations out on?"
"I'll see what I can do," the agent said, laughing. "If you guys want to go get your stuff together, I imagine the lieutenant's going to want to get you moved a.s.a.p."
Sure enough, ten minutes later two more cars arrived and parked in the garage, along with the two already there. There were men lying in the back that got out, and when they left, John and Alana were laying in the back of one car, while Cal and Kelli were lying in the back of another car. Two men were sitting in the front of all four cars. Two cars left, followed five minutes later by the other two. The lights were still on in the house after they left.
All four cars drove all over the city, passing by each other occasionally, going out of town and back in. The four of them eventually all ended up at another house, arriving fifteen minutes apart. When John and Alana went in, Cal and Kelli were already in and looking around.
Kelli grabbed Alana's hand and pulled her toward a hall as she said, "You gotta see this, Alana." When John looked at his brother and saw a big smile on his face, he followed along behind the girls. Kelli went down the hall and turned the corner and opened a door.
Alana smelled chlorine right away, as they walked into an indoor pool area. "He got us the indoor pool!" She was laughing as she went over and leaned down to feel the water. "Ooh, it's nice! I wonder if we can get someone to bring us swimsuits?"
"Is there an exercise room with a punching bag, too?" John asked gleefully, sharing the girls' enthusiasm.
Agent Barstow laughed behind him. "Across the hall. We can go look at it if you want. Then we can come back here, and Alana, swimsuits of all sizes are on the shelves in the closet over there."
Both girls squealed and ran over and hugged the agent. He looked shocked, and looked at John and Cal with a rather smug look on his face. "Was it this easy for you two to get hugs from them, too?"
John smiled, thinking back to when they met. "No, not exactly. She wasn't too happy with me the first time we met. She was taking her driver's license test, and I failed her."
"No kidding! You must have passed her the next time, she's obviously talking to you again."
Chuckling, John said, "Actually, she still doesn't have her license." He winked at Alana, who was staring at him now, and added, "But she's ready to take it again. She's ready to drive now, no doubt in my mind. That's one of the reasons she's eager to get out from under your control. As soon as she gets her license, there's a new career waiting for her."
Agent Barstow could see the pride in John's eyes. It was easy to see how much they meant to each other. "Well, hopefully we'll have you out of here in a day or two."
"And in the meantime, we have a pool and exercise room! That should make it a little easier to endure," Alana teased. "We'll do our best to cope with it."
They all laughed. John turned to Agent Barstow and said, "Brad, seriously, thank you for setting this up for us. We were kidding when we said it, but I won't lie to you, we will really enjoy it. We're all about to go stir crazy being forced to stay inside. This will give us a good way to work off that excess energy. Then we'll go take our frustration out on the punching bag, and we'll be good again."
"It wasn't a problem, John. This house was open, so I'm glad you guys said something."
They had gotten to the exercise room, and as they went inside John said, "Wow. This has everything you'd want for a good workout."
Cal sat down and tried out one of the weight machines. "If we could have been here the whole time I would in shape by now."
Kelli was watching Cal work out, and without thinking she said, "There's nothing I see that's out of shape." When everyone turned to look at her, she turned bright red. "Whoops! Did I really say that out loud?"
They all laughed, but she was a good sport about it, laughing along with them. Cal went to her and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him. He gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. "You sure did. I heard it loud and clear, Sweetheart."
She groaned. "And he's not going to let me forget it, either."
Eager to change the subject and end her embarrassment, Cal asked, "So, anyone feel like a midnight swim before bed?"
"I'd love that," Alana quickly said. "I know it's late, but I'm so wound up I know I wouldn't be able to sleep yet."
"It sounds good to me, too," John agreed.
They put their things in the bedrooms, again with the girls feeling better sharing a room, and met at the pool fifteen minutes later. The guys had already found swim trunks to fit and changed in the dressing room.
The girls both gasped as they walked into the pool area and saw John and Cal in swim trunks, their bare chests looking pretty magnificent. They recovered quickly, though, and found suits in their size and went to change. Once in the dressing room Alana quietly said, "Those brothers are two good-looking guys, aren't they?"
"No argument here," Kelli agreed.
When they went out a couple minutes later the men did a quick gasp of their own. They, too, recovered quickly, and after telling their women they look nice in their suits, they all dove in.
They swam laps. They played tag. They wrestled, and dove for toys on the floor of the pool. They worked off the tension and stress from their unplanned vacation. An hour later, they finally felt like they could get some sleep.
The next morning, they familiarized themselves with their new home away from home after they had breakfast. John had become good friends by now with Brad Barstow, and he asked him about any information they'd learned overnight.
"We actually got quite a bit from Joe, but there's a couple things that don't quite fit together yet," he answered. "Let's go to the office and I'll fill you in."
John followed him in, and once the door was closed he asked, "Is this room soundproof, too, Brad?"
"It is. That's why I wanted to come here to talk."
"I thought that might be the case. Something's up, isn't it? You're worried about the other three hearing us, aren't you?"
Brad looked at John curiously. "Now, how did you know that?"
"Just something about how you answered me. What's going on?"
"I'm impressed, John, that you picked up on something. I need to hide it better. Okay, here's the thing. He's a cop, he knows the routine, he knows he's been caught. He told us if he's going down, the rest of them are, too, and was willing to talk for a lighter sentence.
He named the people involved, and we have all of them but one. He told us where we'd more than likely find him, so we have guys on their way there now."
"That's great. I assume your guys asked him how he knew where we were?"
"They did. He said being a cop, he knew we, the FBI, would have you put up somewhere in a safe house, so he started following agents when they left the office. He knew eventually someone would be going there to talk to you, or deliver food or something. He said that's why it took several days. He didn't know which agent, so he followed several before he found the right house."
"Okay. Did he say anything else?"
"Just that he hated to have to do what he was going to do because he liked you, but he knew that without the four of you we didn't have much of a case."
John shook his head and swallowed hard. "And I thought I knew Joe pretty well." Shaking his head again to clear his thoughts, he asked, "Any other information your guys got from him?"
Agent Barstow studied John a minute. "Information about what?" When John didn't say anything immediately, Brad said, "I'm curious. Something's bothering you about this case and I'm wondering what it is."
"To see if it's the same thing that's bothering you?"
Brad grinned as he confessed, "Exactly. You know, you'd make a good FBI agent."
"Thank you. And you'd make a good cop."
After a good laugh Brad asked, "So, what's bothering you about it, and then I'll share my concern."
"I'm still not totally convinced as to their reason for doing that fake stakeout that first night. I mean, I know what they said, but it still seems to me like it would have been easier for them just to knock us all off. That stakeout put them in the public eye. My gut tells me there was some other reason for them doing that, but I haven't figured out what that other reason is. Does that bother you at all?"
"It does. We think a lot alike, John. There's two things that aren't sitting right with me, and that's one of them."
"Me, too," John agreed. "I told you one of my concerns and we both agree on that. Why don't you tell me your other concern, and see if it's the other open end in my mind."
"Fair enough," Brad said. "I'm questioning Decker's story as to how he knew you were at that safe house."
"Bingo," John said with a smile. Getting very serious, he asked, "But if that's not how he found us, how did he?"
Brad frowned as he said, "I think you've come to the same conclusion that Lieutenant Berry and I have come to."
John nodded and asked, "There's a rat in the FBI?"
"I don't know any other possibility," Brad agreed.
"Any idea who it could be, or how to find him?"
"Not exactly, but it's got to be someone that was here at one time. We're going back over who all has been here."
"You're sure that whoever it is has been here?"
"Yes. We don't give out addresses until after the person leaves. Even then we tell them to turn on this street, turn on that street, as they're en route. The only ones who know where they're going when they leave our office are the main ones in charge. In this case it's Captain Wallace, Lieutenant Berry, myself and Agents Larry Kline and Ryan Reed. The others that were here for one shift while someone had a day off, or the one that delivered groceries the one time, they didn't know where they were going until they were on the road. We're making a list of all the people like that, thinking it's got to be one of them."
John said, "Who all do you have on your list? Maybe I'll remember someone else."
Brad pulled a list from his pocket and handed it to John. He read it over and said, "Let me think about it. If I come up with anyone else I'll let you know. Any idea how you're going to sniff them out?"
"Not yet. Any ideas?"
"Nope, but let me think about that, too."
Brad nodded. "You know, I'm not used to having a police officer as a client. It's nice having someone I can bounce ideas off of."
"Well, I have an obvious interest in the case. Speaking of that, I have to ask you something I've been worried about. If someone that's been involved in this leaked the information to Joe, how safe are we? I'm especially worried about Alana and Kelli."
"I think you're safe," Brad said, "but I understand your concern. Lieutenant Berry and I have talked about it, and the four of us that brought you guys here are the only ones that will be here. That's myself, Agents Reed and Kline, and Agent Sheila Livingston."
"She was one of them that was at the other place."
"She was."
"How about the four in the other decoy cars last night?"
"They were told where to turn as they got to the streets. They don't know where you are."
"So the only people who know where we are would be the four of you and Captain Wallace and Lieutenant Berry?"
"That's it. That's why I think you're safe. We're going to keep it to just the six of us this time, and we're working on a plan to ferret out the rat."
"Good enough. I'll talk to Cal so he can watch the girls a little closer, but I'll try to remember anyone else that may have been here."
"I appreciate your help."
Chapter 14
The rest of the day went by quickly for the four friends. They enjoyed the workout room, and spent more time in the pool before they went to bed again.
The next morning after breakfast, Alana wanted some time alone with John, which was fine with him, as well. He was always up for a little cuddling with the woman who controlled his heart. Once they were comfortable in the den, with her cuddled on his lap, she asked, "John, please be honest with me. Why are we still here? Something's wrong or they would have let us go home now that they have Joe in custody."
John was a little surprised, but knew he shouldn't be. Alana was a very intelligent, sharp little lady. That's why he knew she would make an incredible event planner. She didn't miss much. "I will be honest with you, honey, always. They picked up the last person they believe to be involved last night. The only reason we're still here is they don't feel comfortable about how Joe knew where we were. Honestly, they're afraid there's one more person involved, and he's in the FBI, and that's how Joe knew where we were."
Alana considered his words carefully a little while. "Didn't you say Joe told them about one more person that was involved, that the police didn't already have?"
"Yes. He lives and operates out of state. He's the main person that located the stones or jewelry they stole. He informed the police, and they took it from there."
"So why would Joe turn this guy in, but not someone in the FBI?"
After an awkward silence John said, "That's a good question, Alana. I don't know. I will bring that up to Brad, though. I'll have to give that some thought. If we can figure out the answer to that, it may help us narrow down who it is."
John and Alana spent some quality time together alone, before joining Kelli in the kitchen to plan and make some lunch.
Later in the afternoon John talked to Brad. He told him about Alana's question, and they discussed that. Brad hadn't wondered about that, either. John said, "I've been thinking about this, and I have what may be a real simple plan, but it may be so simple it might work."
"What's that?"
Brad listened carefully as John explained his plan. "I know you don't think it's any of the other three that are here, but I don't know them well enough to be that confident, so my plan includes all of them. I assume you've gotten a search warrant and have gone over Joe's house?"
"We have."
"Do all of these people know that?"
Brad thought a minute before saying, "No, I doubt that any of them know that. We have a team that generally does all search warrants. Captain Wallace sends them, along with a list of what specific things they should be looking for, to execute the warrant. In this case he had me go with them, thinking something might jump out at me that they wouldn't know could be anything of value to the case."
"Do all these other people know they executed the warrant already?"
"Not that I know of. We did it right away this time because of our concern. Why?"
"My idea is to "leak" the information about when you will be searching Joe's place. Then watch the apartment. If it's any of these people, they may go there before that, just to be sure there's nothing there to be found."
Brad was quiet and John could tell he was thinking things through. John added, "I don't know what the FBI practices are, whether you've got his apartment roped off until you search it, or if this would even be possible."
Brad answered, "No, we don't tape them off unless we find something there. If you tape them off ahead of time, it just invites people to break in and see what's going on."
"I agree. Would it be unusual to let an agent know about a search warrant?"
"Not if it's for a case they've worked on. Agents often want to follow a case once they've been involved. They like to know about new evidence we've gained."
"Good. So is this feasible? I mean, if no one shows, so be it, it doesn't prove anything one way or another, but the only thing it would cost is some man hours to have someone watching his house."
"And someone might show," Brad murmured. "I like the idea. I think it's worth a try. We won't know if it works unless we try. I'll have to talk to Lieutenant Berry."
Alana and Kelli went through the collection of movies in the house and found a couple that looked interesting. They decided to watch one of them that afternoon, but John and Cal weren't too interested in the sappy chick flick, so they went to the exercise room to work out a little.
Cal seemed preoccupied, and John asked about it. "You and Kelli having problems?" John asked his brother.
"Nothing major," Cal answered, "but she's had a problem with her attitude lately and I'm not sure what to do about it. If we were home, I'd know exactly what to do. She'd have a sore bottom, and that would solve the problem, but we don't have the luxury of privacy here. Besides, I know this hasn't been easy on them. Got any ideas? Alana doesn't seem to be having any trouble with her temper or any kind of attitude. Does she just handle this kind of stress well, or do you have some secret way of keeping her even tempered under stress?"