by David Carner
“Archibald Staples,” John said. Stephen looked at John like he was mentally sizing John for a straightjacket.
“Arthur, the Senator, and Archibald come from the same circle,” John began.
“So that’s how you tie Arthur into wanting you back?” Stephen asked.
“Right, now if there is a mole,” John began. “Which I have to wonder with the Duck thing, did Archibald use the mole to get me to come back to the FBI to protect his daughter’s life?” Stephen looked at John sharply.
“Ok, let’s say for a minute you’re right about this,” Stephen began. “How do you explain the inconsistency in Jessica and Chet dating?”
“One of them was trying to keep tabs on me and finding out what the other knew about me. My guess is they were trying to find out if I had connected Archibald to the Duck. From the best I can tell they broke up about the time the original quadruple homicide happened. If Jason Sparks; the first person allegedly murdered by David George in Afghanistan, if his murder was in the paper, then Archibald probably sent one of his men to the funeral. He may have hid from some distance away from the service and taped it. He then either showed it to Chet, if Chet was the mole, or made sure Chet knew where to see it on the internet if someone else was the mole.” John paused for a second. “You can do that on the internet, right?” Stephen nodded. He sat for a second thinking, tapping the pencil against his lip and nodding his head.
“So Archibald, knowing the Senator from days gone by and knowing Arthur knew of your reputation, figured the one person who could figure everything out, save his daughter, and give him time to assemble a world class law team was you? You realize that’s very thin?” Stephen asked. John nodded.
Stephen leaned back in his chair. “Of course if Archibald is the lynchpin behind all of this, it doesn’t have to make sense,” Stephen said. John smiled at Stephen. Stephen was nodding. “We both know that the people who do these things, tend to do things that make sense to them. What we think of as making sense really doesn’t apply. So then why was the Senator kidnapped?”
John grimaced, “I’m glad you said that part about making sense to me and you, because I could be going out on a limb on this one.” Stephen raised his eyebrows. John looked a little sheepish.
“This ought to be good,” Stephen said.
Chapter 17
“Stay with me,” John said. “Luke is in love with the First Lady. That seems to be confirmed by every member of the Secret Service. I know he met with the Senator the night before last. Luke says he was trying to get Bruce on the case because Archibald said Bruce understood that type of society and the secrets they held.”
Stephen gaffed. “Bruce Cosby is one of the most incompetent agents around!!”
John smiled, he really liked Stephen. “My guess is he was trying to get Bruce on the case but when that didn’t work he planned to kidnap the Senator. He wanted to use the kidnapping as leverage to get Bruce to offer to take the case.” Stephen looked confused again. “Sorry, I forget you weren’t there, Bruce turned down the case because he thought it was too cold and it could never be solved.”
“Ok, John, I can buy all of that, but why?” Stephen asked. “Isn’t that going against what Archibald had in mind? He got you on the case to start with and now he’s helping Luke?”
“I admit this is where I think it’s very, very thin,” John replied. “My gut says this idiot was so in love with Lisa he called Archibald and told him his crazy plan. We’ve seen men become infatuated with women before and do things that you or I would not call normal.”
Stephen was nodding and playing back John’s last statement in his head. “So you think Luke took his infatuation to the next level.” John nodded, and he continued his explanation.
“Now remember, the Senator has tried for years to nail Archibald. How many hearings have there been involving Archibald Industries?” Stephen thought for a moment.
“More than I care to count,” Stephen replied. “So basically you think Archibald went along with the plan to mess with the Senator and it got away from him?” John nodded grimly. Stephen shook his head. “Wow. Sadly that would all work.” Stephen looked at John with a quizzical look. “You mentioned Bruce earlier, how does he fit in, John?”
“I was getting to that,” John replied. “Bruce didn’t put down in the file the Senator has been missing since last night. Not only that, he never told anyone! We all thought this case was a few hours old.” Stephen about dropped his pencil in disbelief. That changed this case from being a few hours old to almost a day old. Everyone has heard the saying the first 48 hours are the most important. For Bruce to not report that detail . . . Stephen was stunned. John continued. “You know it could be grief.”
“It could,” Stephen said. “Or it could be blackmail! John, you have to report this and the part about Chet. If Chet is fabricating, or even worse, destroying evidence, Trip needs to know.” Stephen was very firm. John felt a knot in his stomach. John was 100% convinced internally now, he just needed proof.
“I already have reported Bruce; as for Chet, I have no proof.” John looked at Stephen directly in the eye and spoke his next statement very softly. “I’m worried that the man I wanted to call my friend is not who I thought he was.” Stephen begrudgingly nodded. John looked tired. It had been a trying couple of days. It was times like this he hated his deduction skills. John waited for Stephen. Stephen spoke softly.
“What’s your plan, John?”
“I’m going to see if I can pair up with Bruce. I’m going to use the excuse that I’m going to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t snap or do something foolish. I’m going to have both Chet and Bruce’s IT guys do a check on phone calls to Archibald, and I’m going to go talk to the one person that knows the Senator and his archenemy, Archibald, better than anyone.”
Stephen stood up and walked over to John. He looked John right in the eye.
“Are you ready to face Arthur, John?” Stephen asked.
“No, but I have to and I have the one thing that I know will make him talk.” Stephen raised an eyebrow questioningly. “I have the information he wants on his daughter’s death. I can also promise him when this is over I will do everything in my power to bring that person to justice.”
Stephen nodded. John turned to leave. As he reached the door Stephen asked him one final question.
“John, what is justice in your book?”
“Let’s pretend you didn’t ask me that question,” John replied. “If I tell you the answer to that you’ll take away my reinstatement.” John opened the door and walked out. As the door closed, Stephen sat down his pad and pulled out a cell phone. He typed out a text, and paused for a second. He didn’t want to send the message but he knew what would happen if he didn’t. Stephen sighed and hit send.
Jessica Hammerstein
New York FBI Office
Chapter 18
Jessica sat in her office, deep in the foxhole. Past all of Chet’s computer equipment, there were three offices. The offices all had glass windows looking out into the foxhole, with blinds that could be drawn. Jessica had drawn the blinds and had shut the door so she could work on paperwork.
Jessica stretched in her chair. She had been working on what she thought would be simple paperwork. She should have known that anything involving the first lady and kidnapping would be anything but simple. Her mind kept returning to what John had asked her about a recording of the quadruple homicide.
She had known John for a long, long time, and she knew John didn’t make mistakes like that. John could have been three sheets to the wind, but if he said someone had mentioned a recording, then someone had mentioned a recording.
Jessica thought back to the beginning of the last case when the three of them had met in John’s Private Investigator office. John had quickly seen that Chet’s and Jessica’s story of who asked who out had inconsistencies. This didn’t sit well with Jessica at all. If John started digging, then everything could come out. Jessica did
n’t think John would understand. He wasn’t there those three years and didn’t understand what had happened. A sick worry started in Jessica’s stomach. There was a knock on her door. She looked up and saw John.
“Jess, can you get a team together to tail Luke?” John asked.
Jessica looked at John, puzzled.
“I’m pretty sure Luke has something to do with this. He’s about to be released and we need to follow his every move! I’ve gotta run. I’ll be back in a few.”
With that John was gone. Jessica started to pick up the phone, but the cold worry came into her stomach. She knew what she had to do. She pulled out her cell phone. She swore she would never do this again, but she had to let him know. He was the only person that could stop John from uncovering the truth. Jessica typed in a message and paused. She knew once she sent this message there was no turning back. Jessica hit send and exhaled. It was done. Jessica prayed she could live with the consequences.
Chet Morris
Foxhole
Chapter 19
Chet, with his headphones on, sat in front of the huge monitors, working. He waved at John as he walked by. Chet kept an eye on a little traffic light that was on the bottom left corner of one of his menu bars. When the traffic light turned green, Chet hit a few buttons and an image came on the screen.
The screens faced away from the offices in the Foxhole so even if Jessica had her blinds open, she couldn’t see what Chet was working on. Chet also had a kill switch he had programmed that would automatically remove the images he was watching on the monitors in front of him if he were to flip the switch. He hated to have to be this secretive, but he had his orders and if he didn’t follow them . . . well, Chet didn’t want to think about that.
In front of him was a recording of John and Stephen. The recording on the computer had been made from the camera Chet had planted in Stephen’s office before Stephen moved in this morning. Chet had no worry about anyone seeing anything. He had installed motion detectors in the hallway that would cause this program to close and another innocent program to pop-up if anyone came within fifty feet of the foxhole.
Chet listened as John told Stephen his suspicions about Luke, and then his fears about Chet. Chet shook his head. He was afraid this would happen. He thought back to the meeting he and John had in John’s living room when Chet was first trying to recruit John back into the FBI a few days ago. Chet’s orders were simple that day. Get John Fowler on the quadruple homicide case; any means necessary. Chet had done exactly what he had been asked to do, but now it was coming back to bite him. John could sniff out lies and inconsistencies anywhere. He would dig at them like a dog digging apart a yard looking for a bone. If John couldn’t figure out what was bothering him about a case, then he would get Jessica to take you into the box. By the time Jessica was done with you, a person would admit to every crime they had ever committed.
Chet knew he had made a mistake when he first talked to John. Chet had told John too much about Chet’s relationship with Jessica. Chet pulled up his online poker account and stared at it. The balance read 0.00. Chet shook his head disgustedly and pulled out his cell phone. He typed a message and paused. Chet looked back at the account and spoke softly to himself.
“If you do the crime, you gotta do the time.”
Chet hit send. He took a deep breath and went to work. Chet opened up a dummy email account he had made. He typed in an address and sent a copy of the video he had been watching. He then erased all proof he had been to the poker site and the camera feed. He then erased all traces of what he had been doing and shut down the computer. Only someone who knew exactly what they were looking for and was a world class computer hacker had a chance to find a trace of what he had done. Chet walked out of the Foxhole. He needed some air.
Jeremiah Cosby
At an Undisclosed Location
Chapter 20
Jeremiah knew only two things. One he had a bag over his head, and two, he had to go to the bathroom really, really bad. He had no idea how much time had passed since he had been taken yesterday, well he assumed it was yesterday he was taken. All he could remember was talking to Luke and then nothing. He had awoken in what he thought was a van. He was bound and already had the bag over his head. Jeremiah snapped back to the present. He was going to go to the bathroom, the question was where.
“Look here now,” Jeremiah began. “I understand I’m at your mercy, but you have to let a gentleman go to the bathroom.”
Jeremiah listened and heard nothing. He then heard a door open. Jeremiah heard footsteps cross the room and felt his hands unshackled. He was led across the room. He heard a door open, a flick of a switch, was pushed in the room, and finally felt the binding around the bag removed. The door was shut behind him. He heard someone yell through the door to, “holler when you’re done.” Jeremiah took off the bag and looked around. It was a simple bathroom with no window, or mirror. Jeremiah took care of business, and tried to wash his face. He couldn’t tell if he got it clean or not without a mirror. He put the bag back over his head and then hollered out. He heard footsteps and the door open. A chuckle came from in front on him. He felt the bag get ripped from his face and his heart sank. If he was able to identify his kidnappers, he knew his life wouldn’t be worth much. Jeremiah kept his eyes closed.
“What’s the matter, old man?” The voice in front of him asked. “Afraid of not seeing tomorrow? OPEN YOU EYES!!!” Jeremiah opened his eyes and gave a sigh of relief. The man in front of him was wearing a presidential Halloween mask.
“You already know our boss. You know the Secret Service guy, Luke? I just want to make sure you don’t know me.” Jeremiah opened his mouth in astonishment and started to speak. He couldn’t however because the kidnapper in front of him hit him with a stun gun and Jeremiah was knocked out. The kidnapper dragged Jeremiah back to his chair. He then shackled and bagged Jeremiah. The man walked out of the room, closed the door, and made a phone call.
“Boss, I did it. He thinks that Luke is in charge of the kidnapping,” said the kidnapper.
Archibald Staples
Virginia
Chapter 21
“Good,” Archibald said into his cell phone. “Stay there until you hear from me. Once Luke is released from the FBI, you leave and we’ll send McDonald there.” Archibald listened to something on the other end. He then hung up the phone.
Archibald stared out over his estate. It had been a busy morning. He had received a text from his mole earlier that simply read, “He suspects.” Archibald knew exactly what this meant. He turned toward his bodyguard who was outside with him. Archibald walked over to the bodyguard and talked with a very low voice.
“Did you do what I asked with Duck?” Archibald asked. The bodyguard nodded. “Good, we can’t be traced to Duck, his person is in place, and we’ve tied up the loose end of Luke. Why on Earth Veronica trusted that idiot I have no idea. She may have had some master plan, but since I’m not privy to it I’ll just have to do what’s best for me.” The bodyguard smiled.
Archibald watched the lawyers still working in his office. The lawyers thought they could have Veronica out of jail by this afternoon; tomorrow afternoon at the latest. They also thought she could beat all the charges. She would lose her marriage and her political aspirations were over, but she would be safe, and most importantly so would Archibald. Archibald started to walk away and then he paused. He turned to the bodyguard and asked him a question.
“Did he do the thing?” Archibald asked. The bodyguard looked confused. “You know, ‘If it looks like one and talks like one’ and then shrug his shoulders?” The bodyguard grinned broadly.
“Yes he did sir,” the bodyguard answered. “I didn’t crack a smile, but I really wanted to. Is it true sir?” Archibald looked at the bodyguard questioningly. “You know, that the last guy that called him the Duck to his face he choked to death?” Archibald shrugged his shoulders.
“Who knows,” Archibald replied. “According to the story no one has
ever found the body to find out how he died.” The bodyguard laughed as Archibald headed back inside.
Trip
New York FBI Headquarters
Chapter 22
Trip was in a tough spot. He had just received two texts and both were disturbing. John had a plan, but what it was Trip didn’t know. Trip sighed and turned and looked out the window. He wondered why he even bothered some days. He thought life would have been less complicated with John gone, but he found out the hard way that was not true. John’s team had been through so much when John left that Trip did what he had never done . . . he stuck his neck out. It was against everything inside of Trip to do that. Trip was BY THE BOOK. It was just that simple. There was nothing Trip could imagine that would change him. . . until Sam.
What John didn’t know was that time had all but stood still since the day Sam died over three years ago for Chet, Jessica, and himself. Trip knew there was going to be a day of reckoning. He had known that the day the three of them decided that John had to come back.
The biggest secret they held from John was possibly the most damaging. What John didn’t know was that Sam had come to Trip, Chet, and Jessica before her death. She suspected someone was following her. She wasn’t worried about herself as much as she was concerned John had been made and she was being followed to see if John’s next move could be determined. She didn’t have concrete proof. Trip thought she was being paranoid due to all the drinking John had been doing and the hours he kept undercover. Still, Trip couldn’t chance that she was right and had some friends in the NYPD. After a few phone calls Trip had someone watching out for John. John knew nothing about this. As for Sam, Trip never offered protection in any way. Trip felt himself start to tremble.