by Scott Blade
She nodded.
“Do you know what it’s like to trust them with your life and then discover that they’ve sold secrets to a foreign government? Ever have to arrest someone who saved your life because you found out that he killed innocent people in order to cover up a crime?”
She said nothing.
“That’s what undercover work is like. Every day you’re told to investigate your friends. Every day you’re expected to spy on them. And in the end you have to build a case about guys who on the one hand broke the law, but on the other saved your life.
“So, yeah. I don’t play by the rules anymore. I wander from place to place, doing what I want. I don’t take orders anymore.”
Silence.
Then I said, “That’s what I did. I was an undercover cop. I lived a double life. And I’m sure that if you cross check the murders with the Department of the Navy, you’ll find plenty of alibis for where I was during the killings.”
Pawn and Marksy looked at each other.
Pawn asked, “Anyone that I should call, in particular?”
“I can’t give you that.”
“How can we check this out?”
“Call OpNav and tell them the situation. Tell them who you are. I’m sure someone will report back fairly soon.”
Pawn asked, “OpNav?”
“Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.”
CHAPTER 18
I WAITED IN THE CONFERENCE ROOM for about an hour, while Pawn and Marksy checked out my story. Which was quicker than I expected.
I never gave them the name of Unit Ten or Rachel Cameron, who had once been my commanding officer. Instead, I knew that if an FBI agent started to ask questions and bring up my name to the OpNav, someone would contact him just to see what he knew.
And the contact from the OpNav would give just enough to clear me.
I sat and stared at a wall clock on the same wall where Pawn had shown the slides.
It was ten to six in the evening. I felt my stomach rumble, which wasn’t from being hungry. I figured that it was from being still for so long. Eleven hours had passed since I first found Dekker’s dog tags. I had been sitting around for most of that time. I wasn’t the kind of man who sits around. I moved a lot.
I leaned back and swiveled in the chair, made eye contact with Talbern.
She sat upright, legs crossed on a chair pressed against the back wall of the conference room. Kelvin wasn’t there. I hadn’t noticed, but he had left the room. We were alone.
I said, “Sorry to take you away from whatever you were working on in Florida.”
She looked at me like I had broken her out of a trance.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve never been to New York before.”
“You don’t believe any of this, do you?”
She paused a beat and said, “I’m sure that I’m not supposed to comment on that.”
“Come on. What difference does it make? You’re just escorting me, right?”
“Guess you’re right. No I don’t buy it. I’m more suspicious of the fact that you never heard of the AWOL killer.”
“What do you know about it?”
“I didn’t know about the dog tags. I remember it was about three years ago. They found the first body near a lake. They just started to show up every so often.”
“Was there a pattern?”
“They were all female. All went AWOL from their posts.”
I wondered if they went AWOL or simply vanished.
I asked, “All Army?”
“Yeah.”
“Same ranks?”
“No. All different. Were you really an undercover cop in the Navy?”
I nodded, said, “NCIS.”
“So you’re a civilian then?”
“Depends on who you ask.”
“What’s that mean?”
“NCIS is ninety-five percent civilian.”
She asked, “And the other five percent?”
I didn’t answer.
Instead, I said, “I was sent undercover, so I had to be active duty at the same time. Otherwise, no one would buy into it. I always had to go all the way.”
“My youngest brother is Navy. He wants to be a SEAL.”
I nodded.
“Got any advice I can give him?”
“What kind of guy is he?”
She thought for a moment. Then she said, “He’s a good soldier. Athletic. Strong. He’s a real patriot type.”
I nodded and said, “Sailor.”
She said nothing.
“We’re not soldiers. We’re sailors. You call your brother a soldier, he’ll tear you a new one,” I said and smiled.
“Right. Sailor.”
“Being athletic is a good thing, but what kind of guy is he?”
Talbern repeated that he was patriotic and then she added, “He’s pretty hardcore. You know tough. Like the kind of guys on our SWAT teams.”
“What kind of person is he—mentally?”
“He’s smart.”
“How’s his fortitude?”
She paused a moment and said, “Good.”
Which was the right word, but the wrong kind of answer because she had paused. Maybe he was a strong man with integrity and mental stamina, but that wasn’t enough to get on the SEAL teams. He had to have the strongest of wills and the toughest fortitude to even get past the training. But I didn’t tell her any of that.
I said, “Tell him to go for it. Can’t hurt to try. The instructors will let him know if he’s got what it takes or not.”
She nodded.
Just then, Special Agent Pawn walked back into the room. He brought a new guy in with him.
Special Agent Marksy wasn’t with them.
They approached me, the new guy behind Pawn.
Pawn stopped.
The new guy stepped around and stood behind me, which I didn’t like.
Pawn said, “Jack Widow, I must apologize to you.”
CHAPTER 19
PAWN SAID, “We called the OpNav. At first, they denied knowing you or even ever hearing of you. Then about thirty minutes later, the Assistant Director called me. My boss’s boss. He told me to let you go immediately and prejudice. It seems that the Director of the FBI called him directly and I can only guess who called him.”
Probably, the Office of the Director of NCIS, I thought.
Pawn signaled to the agent that I didn’t know with a nod and he showed me a handcuff key.
He motioned me closer so he could unlock me. Which I did.
He unlocked me and I shook the cuffs off and let them fall to the floor.
No one picked them up.
I said, “I told you that you were wasting your time.”
“Again, Mr. Widow, we are sorry. The FBI extends it apologies as well.”
“Okay, don’t get out of hand with that. I don’t need sympathy.”
Pawn nodded, said, “At any rate, I would like to speak to you further.”
I backed up and stood up. Stretched my legs and arms.
Kelvin walked back into the room behind me. I heard the door open. I turned to see him. The look on his face, at first, was of panic. Which made me realize that no one had told him that I was cleared.
He did nothing, just stayed there.
I turned my head back to Pawn and made eye contact, again, with the beautiful Talbern. This time, she smiled big. That made me feel pretty good.
“I’ve done enough for you guys already,” I said.
“We know. And we appreciate that. But I really need to speak with you.”
I nodded, said, “Go on.”
Pawn turned to Kelvin and Talbern. He said, “Agents, you are dismissed.”
Talbern asked, “Where do we go?”
Kelvin had already started to leave.
“You’re no longer needed. Good job. Return home.”
I watched the disappointment on Talbern’s face, which also made me feel good until I realized that she might just be interested i
n the case. Her disappointment may not have anything to do with me. Which made sense. To her, I was a has-been Navy cop and now a homeless drifter.
What the hell would a beautiful FBI agent want with a guy like me?
She took a last look at me and followed Kelvin out the door.
Pawn said, “Shut the door behind them.”
He was talking to the agent who had freed me. The guy was younger than me. He was about six feet and built like a rock.
He walked to the door and closed it behind Talbern and Kelvin.
He didn’t return to the table. He stood at the door like a secret service agent.
Pawn sat at the left side of the table and motioned for me to return to my seat. Instead, I moved to the seat across from him. I wasn’t keen on sitting in the same place that he wanted me to be. I hated to go where they told me to go. The natural rebel in me was always rebelling.
“Widow, I really am sorry for being suspicious of you.”
I nodded, said, “You already apologized. Let’s move on.”
“I just want you to understand that the AWOL murders took a toll on this office. We worked very hard to catch him. For months, this entire office was exhausted. We were the central task force.
“Agent Angela Marksy was the lead agent.”
I nodded.
“She’s not happy that after a lot of grueling police work and the sacrifices that she made, that you come along and throw a wrench in everything.”
“Sacrifices?”
Pawn looked at the other agent over my shoulder and back at me.
He sat forward as if to indicate that we were now speaking in a private bubble.
“Agent Marksy lost her partner, trying to catch AWOL. Around two years ago, Marksy and her partner had locked AWOL into a corner. They tracked him to a throwaway apartment in White Harbor, Maine.”
The florescent lights quietly hummed above. In the north end of the room, the air vent kicked on. The humming sounds joined in a slow sedative purr. I wasn’t sure if that was productive for an FBI office.
Pawn said, “Truth is that Agent Marksy and Agent Lowe were more than partners. They were married.”
I looked at Pawn. Things made a lot more sense.
I said, “No wonder she hates me.”
“Right. She has just started to put this whole thing behind her. She wants to see Dayard fry. As we all do. Honestly. But now you come along with evidence of another murder victim.”
“We don’t know that. There’s been no crime, beyond defacing Army property.”
He nodded.
“What now?”
Pawn said, “Now, I’d like to ask you to help us out.”
“What can I do?”
“To be honest with you. There’s another component.”
“What?”
“I’ve been instructed to ask you to remain with us for the night.”
“What other component?” I asked again.
“I think it’s best if you wait and see for yourself.”
I looked at the wall clock again.
I said, “It’s getting late. Where do I stay?”
“We’ll put you up in a hotel. In the morning, someone will come for you.”
I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking it over because Pawn had me boxed in and he knew it.
Where was I going to go?
I was far from where they had found me. I figured that was his thinking. Truth was, I could’ve just left. Nothing really was stopping me.
But I stayed.
“I’ve not been to the city in a long time. Why not?”
“That’s the spirit,” Pawn said and he turned back to the other agent, waved him over to us.
The guy walked over and stopped five feet from me.
Pawn said, “This is Special Agent Gustoph. He’ll escort you around. Anything you need, you ask him.”
I nodded and stood up and shook his hand.
Gustoph had a strong grip.
“Good to meet you, Widow.”
I looked him up and down and asked, “Your former military?”
“Yeah. I was a Marine.”
I nodded, said, “Marines are good.”
“Damn right.”
“Pawn, can I speak with you alone?”
“Sure.”
Gustoph walked back to guarding the door.
Pawn waited for me to speak first. I said, “Look, you want my help?”
“I do. We need to find out the connection before Dayard goes to the chair.”
I nodded, said, “Then I don’t need this guy to babysit me.”
“Widow, you need someone with you.”
“Why not Talbern?”
“Agent Talbern belongs in Jacksonville. Not here.”
“Let her babysit me. I don’t know any of you, but she was nice enough to me. Trust me, I can work with her.”
Pawn thought for a moment and said, “You take both. I can live with that.”
I shook my head, said, “Make it Kelvin and Talbern instead. They’re already both in this together.”
“Okay, fine. You take them both. I’ll call them back.”
“This will work much better than some former military hard-ass. Trust me.”
I was mostly telling the truth. I had nothing against Gustoph, but he was a straight-up military man. I had seen his kind thousands, millions of times. I knew his kind. Nothing wrong with them, but I needed someone who could help me investigate this, not someone to babysit me.
Both Kelvin and Talbern had already proven themselves to be respectful, honorable, and seemed like good investigators.
Plus, a part of me wanted to see Talbern more. I figured that there was nothing wrong with that.
Pawn pulled out a cellphone and dialed a number. He stepped away for a moment and came back over to me. Cellphone had gone back into the pocket of his trousers.
“Widow, head back outside and take the elevator down to the lobby. Don’t worry. Security is expecting you to pass through. Go out to the curb and past the gate. They’ll pick you up there.”
I nodded.
“They’re going to check you into a hotel. Here. Take this with you. It’s unlocked.”
Pawn handed me a small tablet. It was thin and sleek. One of the newest versions of the iPad I figured.
“Study the files on the AWOL case. They’re all on the desktop. Learn up on it and get some sleep. Tomorrow, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
I thanked him and walked past Gustoph, who grinned at me like he was taking it personal, which I was sure he was. But I didn’t care.
I followed Pawn’s instructions and zigzagged back the hallways, alone and back to the elevators. No one stopped me, but everyone stared.
I took the elevators down to the ground floor and was greeted by a single security guard who introduced himself and took me out of the building, to the gate on a side street and then waited with me for a long, silent minute while Kelvin and Talbern pulled up to the sidewalk curb in an SUV that was smaller than the one we drove in back in Florida.
Still, it was black and unmarked, but had police lights embedded into the grille in the front and a collection of small radio antennas on the roof.
I smiled at Talbern, who I believed was happy to see me, as well. I got in the back seat and Kelvin asked, “The FBI have a list of preapproved hotels. Wanna hear them?”
I said, “No. Take me to the most expensive one.”
Kelvin reached up and adjusted the rearview, looked at my eyes.
He asked, “You used to that kind of life?”
“I’ve been sleeping in motels, train stations, bus depots, and occasionally under overpasses for the last several months. I think a good hotel in New York City sounds nice for a change.”
“Especially on the FBI’s dime, right?” Kelvin asked, jokingly.
I smiled and said, “The taxpayer, actually. Which means that it’s just as much my money as it is theirs.”
Talbern craned her head, looked at me with t
hose eyes. She said, “I thought you don’t pay taxes.”
I smiled and said, “Exactly.”
CHAPTER 20
THEY PUT ME up in the George Hotel on the Upper West Side. The hotel was fitted in between two apartment buildings with retail space at the bottom on Riverside Drive. The George faced the river and had a pretty good view.
My room wasn’t facing the river. I had a single room with a small window facing down into a courtyard, shared with another property to the east.
The first thing that I had noticed when we checked in was that Kelvin and Talbern did not share a room, which was what I wanted.
They were partners. More often than not, that kind of professional kinship can lead to romantic involvement. Pretty standard. I had seen it many times in the military.
That’s the main reason for all of the military codes of conduct regarding fraternization and improper relationships among officers and their crewmembers.
In every branch of the military that I was familiar with, it was not only frowned upon to have sexual or romantic interactions between the ranks, but it was also illegal and could lead to punishments beyond that of simply being terminated. Most situations could carry with them jail time. And military prisons were no fairytale world.
Military prisoners often were jealous of civilian prisoners who had cushy mattresses and special privileges and government protections of their constitutional rights.
They were lucky compared to military prisoners.
Even with strict punishments, people were people and relationships happened. And they happened at all levels.
The Navy was particularly susceptible to romantic incursions because a lot of sailors—male and female—were stuck at sea together for long periods of time.
Nothing promotes unlikely relationships more than being stuck in solitude together for months on end.
Can’t say that I hadn’t been a victim to this temptation myself.
Talbern and Kelvin weren’t in a relationship. Which was all I really wanted to know.
After we checked in, they led me to my room and I stayed there for a while. I took a shower, left my clothes on the bed. They were new but I had worn them all day, including on a plane ride. I thought about sending them out for laundry service.
The question wasn’t about whether or not the George Hotel offered such a service. I was in New York, in a hotel, on the Upper West Side. Of course, it offered laundry service.
