by Robin Mahle
There were times when Lacy would object to being told to stay put, but this was not one of those times. She’d learned to trust Agent Axell and when he said it was best to stay put, then it was probably best.
Lacy tried to peer around them as they met with Fraser and all stood at the entrance, discussing something. But it seemed they were intentionally blocking her view, or blocking the view of Aaron and her.
She continued to peer, shifting her head for a clear view. Finally, Will turned and motioned for them to get out of the car. “There’s our signal.”
They stepped out onto the driveway and the nip in the night air sent a chill through Lacy’s body. A final confirmation from Will suggested they continue forward until they all stood beneath the porch that was illuminated by a single hanging light.
“This is Lacy Merrick,” Will began. “Lacy, this is Agent Adam Fraser.”
She eyed the man and finally offered her hand. “Agent Fraser.”
“Ms. Merrick.”
“It’s Mrs.”
“Apologies, Mrs. Merrick.” He turned to Aaron. “And you must be the hacker, Aaron Hunter. Pleasure to meet you.”
“Same here.”
“I’m sure you all would like to get out of the cold.” Fraser stepped aside. “Come in. We have a lot to discuss.”
It wasn’t until they’d all entered the modest home that the deputy secretary made an appearance. Lacy regarded him with a mixture of revulsion and distrust.
“I can tell by the look on your faces that I’m the last person you wanted to see.” Turner continued into the room. “I can only imagine what you must think of me. And before you say anything, I’d just like to convey my deepest apologies.” He turned to Lacy. “To you, Mrs. Merrick, for the loss of your husband. And to you, Agent Axell, for your very recent loss of Agent Colburn. If I had known…”
“Doesn’t matter now, Mr. Turner,” Axell began. “All that matters now is that we understand one another, that we’re all here for the same reason.”
“I believe we are, Agent Axell.”
“Why?” Lacy stepped closer, unable to slow her rising anger. “Why didn’t you tell the people what happened at the mall? How could you have lied to them? To the families?”
“Lacy.” Aaron reached for her arm, but she pulled it away.
“No. He should know what he’s done. And in case you haven’t realized it yet, Mr. Deputy Secretary, we’re all here right now because of that lie. Because of you, I lost my husband and now we’ve lost a friend. What the hell are you going to do about it?”
“Your anger is understandable, Mrs. Merrick. Despite what you might believe, I’m angry too. Yes, I hid the truth and that will endure on my conscience for the rest of my days.” He looked to the others. “I did what I did for the good of the country. I was under the false impression that if I kept the truth hidden, jobs would be saved from the throes of yet another economic downturn, only the likes we hadn’t seen since the Great Depression. I wanted to avoid what could well have been a war between two superpowers. Mrs. Merrick, I wanted to avoid the downfall of our country.”
Lacy laughed in outrage. “You’re kidding me, right?” She turned to her friends. “He wanted to save his career and his political party. End of story.” She refocused her attention. “One of your subordinates in the State Department took money and God knows what else to look the other way while Chinese operatives working under the direction of the MSS blew up one of our malls. And then he had the audacity to make it look like another Islamic terrorist attack. You didn’t hide the truth for the protection of our country. You hid it despite that. And now, what, you want our help because Lei Jian was freed? Because someone ransacked your house? I bet it never occurred to you that he’d want to settle old scores and get back at the man who made sure his own government locked him up.”
She turned her back on him. “I hope he finds you and whoever else is after you. And I hope he kills you.”
“All right.” Axell stood between them. “This isn’t helping anyone right now.” He gently reached for Lacy. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe the only reason Turner came forward was because they found him.” He looked to the man himself. “Who were you talking to that night? The night before your house was broken into? He came to you looking for information about the letter. The one on your server.”
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“You clearly don’t understand who you’re dealing with right now, Mr. Turner,” Lacy replied. “We know someone came to your door and you spoke to him outside. That’s how we knew you were hiding something.”
“It was you people. You were the ones who broke in.” Turner looked at Fraser. “Why the hell am I here? I thought you were trying to help?”
“I am. And all of you are in someone’s line of sight. That’s why you’re here. But you need to tell them the truth.”
Turner looked upon the glowering eyes of Lacy and her colleagues. “He was my assistant. He knew about the letter because he brought it to me. I can’t believe you were watching me. How the hell am I supposed to trust any of you?”
“We could say the same thing about you,” Aaron replied.
“How about we stop pointing fingers and get down to business?” Will began. “We know Ahsan Sajwani killed the bank president in Panama. We assumed he killed Kendrick and that was what set this whole plan in motion. But after the break-in, what if our assumptions were wrong?”
“What do you mean, wrong? Who else would’ve killed the bank president?” Aaron said. “Who else would’ve killed Drew Kendrick?”
“What is it you’re getting at, Caison?” Axell appeared to be catching on to his stream of thought.
“I believe Lei Jian and Ahsan Sajwani are doing their best to get rid of everyone associated with the attack and that includes us, but maybe not you, Turner. It would serve no advantage to rid himself of a powerful political figure, which would undoubtedly end in further sanctions against his country. I think we have another enemy. The enemy who got into your house and searched for that letter and anything else they could find. Someone who wants to be sure Turner never comes forward with the letter Kendrick left. Someone who could easily spin his death on another cause.” He finally looked at his FBI colleague, Agent Fraser.
“You think it’s someone on the inside?”
“Inside?” She glanced between the men. “The FBI? You think it’s someone in the Bureau?”
“We can’t rule it out. Unless you have any other ideas, Mr. Turner?”
“The reason I’m here is to find out. I don’t know any more than you do who got into my home. No one else knows about the letter, apart from my assistant, which I already told you visited me the other night. Fraser came to me and said we needed to work together and it seems you all are in the dark as much as I am. You really think someone inside the FBI is working against all of us?”
“Anything’s possible,” Lacy replied. “Just look at what’s happened so far.”
“Mr. Turner, I’ll need you to provide the names of those you’ve been in contact with at the Bureau regarding the Kendrick investigation. Apart from Fraser, of course. We can start there. Also, you’ll need to provide us the name of your assistant.”
“He’s not involved in this.”
“He is now. He knows and we need to know what his agenda is too,” Axell continued.
“Fine. What am I supposed to do now? Stay in my office?”
“Frankly, I don’t give a shit where you go,” Lacy said.
Will eyed her. “We’re in the same boat, Mr. Turner. We’ve been forced to stay on the move and I think the best thing you can do now is check into a hotel. Somewhere outside the city, until we can get more information.”
“I think we’ve had enough for tonight. It’s late,” Fraser began. “This is a start, but what we have to remember here is that we’re all working toward the same goal. And that is finding out who’s after all of you.” Fraser headed toward the door. “I’ll get him
settled in a hotel. Caison, as we discussed, it’s best if you all stay here. You’ll be safe.” He opened the door. “Mr. Turner?”
After they left, Will closed the door.
Lacy eyed the car through the window as it pulled away. “He’s lying. We all know that whoever came to his door was no assistant.”
“Yeah. I got that impression too,” Axell replied. “None of this has gone the way any of us had expected. So we need to take this steaming pile of horseshit and turn it into fertilizer. Turner will have to give us his contacts at the Bureau. See if we can find anything out on that front, assuming, Will, your theory is right. We’ll continue to try and locate Sajwani and stop screwing around with him.”
“Got it,” Will replied. “Let me talk to Fraser. I’ll get him to keep dibs on Turner. He knows more than he let on. I think we can all agree on that. But my theory hasn’t changed. It’s all we’ve got right now.”
15
The small house that was meant to hold no more than four or five people was near capacity with their crew. And it was Agent Fraser who secured the new accommodations. Laptops strewn about, papers, photos. While it would, to anyone on the outside, seem a chaotic environment, to the team inside, their plans were set and their tasks assigned.
Aaron’s eyes flickered open when a light in the kitchen burned. It was dim enough, perhaps a range hood light, that it didn’t seem to wake Caison, but Aaron knew right away it was Lacy. He pulled the blanket from his legs and stood up from the chair as quietly as he could, padding into the kitchen. “Hey.” He placed a hand on her shoulder while she stood facing the refrigerator. “You okay?”
Her eyes conveyed the hurt, anger, and betrayal she felt at this moment. It seemed they were being hunted from every angle and were running out of places to turn. “Couldn’t sleep. You?”
Aaron pointed to the light on the range hood. “Saw the light.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you. I couldn’t see a thing in this place.”
“That’s okay. Come here.” He reached around and pulled her close. “I hope to God this is over soon. I just want to go home.”
She pulled back and their eyes locked. “I want my kids. I want to get back to my normal life. I just don’t know if it’ll be there when this is over.”
“Your kids will be and that’s all that matters. You can start over, Lacy. We will put this in the rear view, I promise.”
She leaned into him again, resting her head on his chest. A few sobs that it seemed she’d tried hard to keep inside managed to escape. But only for a moment, and Lacy pulled herself together again, as she had so many times this past year. “I still can’t believe Keith is gone.”
“Shhh.” He brushed her dark hair, which had grown to her shoulders now. “None of us can. You should try to get some sleep. God knows when we’ll get the chance again. I have a feeling, after tomorrow, everything will be different.”
Lacy peered up at him. “I think you might be right—again.” Her smile was tender but all too brief, and she made her way back to one of the two bedrooms. Axell had claimed the second, leaving Aaron and Will to fend for themselves in the living room, where Will still slept on the sofa.
Aaron watched her walk down the hall and disappear into the room before turning back and heading to the uncomfortable side chair that he doubted would allow for any decent sleep.
“Hey. She all right?” Will whispered.
“Not really. But I don’t think any of us are. Are we?” Aaron tossed the blanket over his legs and shuffled into the chair in hopes of finding comfort. “Hopefully, she’ll get some sleep. You should too. Night, Will.”
“Night.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Lacy had reason to be suspicious of everyone around her. The idea that there could be someone in the Bureau after them hardly seemed fathomable. But she could not afford to overlook anyone. Even if that person might not be a direct culprit, someone in her department could be handing over information about her. “Stop.” She closed her eyes and grasped the edge of her desk with her hands. The paranoia that continued to feast on all rational thought was compounded by a lack of sleep, and the fact that she’d lost a friend who’d saved her life. Assuming Will was correct, and it made all the sense in the world, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
A meeting had been called that Lacy was required to attend and the time had come to do the job she was being paid to do and try to leave the rest behind for the time being. She grabbed her tablet and headed toward the conference room. Inside, she spotted Michelle and a few members of her team, whom she’d felt she’d abandoned as of late.
“Okay, I think everyone’s here and we can get started.” Michelle made her way to the door, closing it behind her and returning to the head of the conference table. “Thank you all for clearing your schedules. I apologize for the short notice.” Sitting down, she continued, “As you all know, Lacy was at the restaurant that was hit a few days ago by an as of yet unknown suspect. And another of our colleagues, a field agent, was with her. Fortunately, both were unharmed.” She nodded to Lacy. “However, what that means is heightened security measures for the city, which has already been on high alert since the Fairfax mall attack. We have been tasked with additional duties, which include monitoring the usual sites and locales, but will also now include an additional level of observation. It’s for our friends in the field, special agents who call upon us to dig deeper, to find the threats—even before they become threats—and alert them as soon as possible.”
Lacy waited for this unusual request she was about to impart upon her and her colleagues, who, in the end, were still civilians.
“We are being tasked to blanket our city. Decipher and decode data transmitted within the twenty-four-hour period prior to and after the shooting.”
“You’re talking thousands upon thousands of pieces of information, most of which are likely unrelated to the event itself. How are we supposed to manage that amount of data and actually find something viable? It’s needle-in-a-haystack type of stuff.” Brian Eckhart was Lacy’s equal up until her recent promotion, which he’d desperately wanted.
“You’re right. It is. But what they don’t want is another attack, which is what they’re calling the shooting. It was no drive by, gang member style shooting. This was a calculated and targeted maneuver, possibly aimed at two of our own.” She eyed Lacy. “And it’ll be your job to find that out.” Michelle rose from her chair. “Thank you all. I’ll let you get to it.”
Lacy waited for the room to clear. “Michelle, can I have a quick word?”
“Come back to my office. Better to talk there.”
They arrived in her office and Michelle closed the door behind them before returning to her desk. “Have a seat. I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now after the restaurant and, of course, the mall attack. I wouldn’t blame you for asking that you work on another assignment.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Not at all. I want you to do what you think you should. Word has come down direct from CTD. We don’t know if you were the target and it’s a priority that we find out as soon as possible.”
“I have to say something that, well, I’m not quite sure how you’ll take it.”
“Go on.”
“I believe I was the target, and I think you do too. There are things happening right now. Things I haven’t told you about—that have put me at risk. And not just me, but others.”
Michelle folded her arms and leaned back. “I won’t do you the disservice of construing that your presence at the restaurant was a coincidence, but who? And why?”
“First of all, can you tell me who’s in charge of this investigation?”
“SSA Kelly, and he’s working with SSA Delgado.”
“Kelly?” Lacy began to wonder why Will hadn’t said anything about this. Kelly was his boss. Why was he keeping him out of the loop?
“You seem surprised.”
“A little. Listen, I know we’ve talked
before and you said I could come to you with anything. Trust you with anything.”
“And I meant it.”
She was fearful to say anything further. Especially without consulting with the others, but she knew she could trust Michelle. “What if I needed to know a little bit more about SSA Kelly, and Delgado, for that matter. He took over after Mendez was unceremoniously dumped from the mall investigation.”
Michelle regarded Lacy with apprehension. “I guess it depends on what type of information you needed to know.”
“Requests have to go through you for approval. This, however, is not a request that can appear on any paper trail or electronic trail. If I needed it, could you get me access to what they’ve asked for since arriving here?”
“You want to know what they’ve been doing? What they’ve been working on?”
“Yes.”
Michelle cast her gaze down. “I’m assuming you’re asking this because you have good reason to.”
“You and I both know this hasn’t ended; just been put on hold.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but, yeah, I think I can help you.”
♦ ♦ ♦
Lei Jian peered through the window of his office. His hands clasped behind his back as though he were handcuffed. While he’d spent the past several months in just such a predicament, today he was no longer a prisoner, but he was beginning to feel like one again. “I am useless here. Someone is working against us and we have to know who.”
He turned toward the speakerphone. “Do you know who was responsible for the intrusion into the deputy secretary’s home yet?”
“No. Not yet. I seem to be obstructed at every turn. I have been made aware, however, that one of the CIA agents has been killed.”