Knocked Down

by Calle J. Brookes

  There were a few, and he was planning to weed them out at the end of this case. But why would these three bring it up to him now? “Care to be more specific?”

  It was Agent Brockman who answered. “Agent Gleason seems a bit insecure, and she’s taking it out on other agents. Like I mentioned earlier.”

  “I see. She’s very ambitious.” He’d hoped to not have to deal with this yet. He didn’t like pettiness on his team; but these three didn’t seem the kind to let such juvenile behaviors influence them. Unless it was at the point of interfering with the case. Was it?

  “Aren’t we all?” Alessandra met his eyes with direct blue ones. “She’s particularly targeting Carrie. You need to be aware of it.”

  “Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I’ll handle it from here. Any other issues?”

  “Agent Smith was drunk most of the afternoon,” Paige said in a bit of a sing-song voice. “Apparently it’s a chronic condition. I wouldn’t have said anything, but he didn’t take our confrontation this afternoon well at all.”

  “Understood.”

  Chapter Twelve

  He left their hotel room and went straight to that of Agent Smith. He could deal with the machinations of an ambitious agent while on the job, but a drunk agent put everyone at risk. And it wasn’t something he would tolerate. He believed Sparks and the others about Gleason—and that was easily verifiable—but he needed to see Smith drunk for himself.

  He hadn’t noticed anything off that afternoon—but then again, he hadn’t looked. But if a man was enough far gone enough to drink during lunch, he’d probably be just stupid enough to down quite a few afterhours.

  He knew the damage an alcoholic could do on a team. His closest friend had struggled with alcohol after a nasty on the job injury had almost killed him.

  It had taken Sebastian and some other friends to sober Fin up and prevent him from losing all he’d worked for.

  It was Fin who’d recommended Sebastian to the CCU in the first place.

  Smith opened the door to the room he shared with another agent. “What do you want?”

  Sebastian got right down to it. No use wasting anyone’s time. “How much have you had?”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. Don’t lie. You’re drunk, and apparently have been most of the day.”

  “So?”

  “So it’s not tolerated on my team. Pack up. You’re heading back.” There was a bit of blustering, but if the idiot wanted any semblance of a career he’d back down.

  Sebastian knew it—and so did Smith.

  He’d deal with him more when he returned to St. Louis.

  His next stop was his own hotel room. The first thing he did was dial the number on the card Nugent had given him. The younger agent answered on the first ring.

  Sebastian didn’t beat around the bush. “I’m going to ask you something and I want total honesty.” The way he figured it Nugent was the only agent who’d worked with all the players involved who didn’t have a card in the potential CCU appointment race. Nugent wouldn’t have any reason to lie; there would be no gain for the man.

  “Of course, sir.”

  “Agent Gleason, was she a good leader today?”

  “Sir?”

  “Truth, Agent Nugent, I’m hearing several rumors that concern me. And you’ve observed everyone involved, and aren’t competing for the same assignment. So, I need your help.”

  “She’s…well…Agent Gleason likes to be in charge, sir. But she doesn’t seem to do well with other people. Especially other women that she feels threatened by. Agent Sparks is a long established member of the original CCU team. And she knows about CCU protocols. And I think that makes Agent Gleason feel a bit inadequate. She seems more concerned with her own needs rather than what the Bureau needs to do in order to close this case.”

  “Thank you, Agent Nugent. You’ve been very helpful.”

  And the way the younger man had described Gleason made one thing very clear. He had some weeding out to do. Just a little sooner than he thought.

  He headed toward the hotel room shared by Gleason and Therez. When Therez answered his knock he nodded at her and told her he needed a private word with Gleason, but asked that she stay in the room.

  He would not be alone in a hotel room with a female agent, especially one that had caused such discord. That way lay only stupidity.

  Therez stayed visible in the hotel room. Sebastian had Gleason step out into the hall. He left the door open. Best to just do it. “Here’s the deal. I will not tolerate politics or games on my team. You have a problem with the people we’re working with, you bring that to me. You had an opportunity here. If you’d risen to the occasion and been a team player you would have had consideration for a spot on CCU Team Three. You have a problem you come to me, not take it out on agents like Sparks, understood?”

  Her eyes were wide and she knew she’d messed up. But if there had been a hint of remorse in her eyes or her body language…there wasn’t.

  “Agent Gleason, I asked you a question.”

  “Yes, sir. I understand. I just…didn’t want them losing focus. Agent Sparks, is…well…she’s so different. I was worried she couldn’t perform her job duties appropriately. Everyone knows Hellbrook gives her so much leeway.”

  “He gives her that leeway because she’s earned it. You haven’t.” He saw the resent on her face then, and he was experienced enough to know that resentment would always be there. If not for Sparks, then for other agents who had more, did more, or knew more, than she did. “I’m looking to fill five or six positions on my team. I’m sorry to tell you one of those positions will not be yours.”

  “Is Agent Sparks getting one?” Such anger, such resentment. He didn’t understand it.

  “Of course not. She’s Hellbrook’s.”

  “And everyone knows it. His little pet.”

  The derision with which she spoke of another agent, especially one with the reputation and demonstrated skill of Agent Sparks angered him. He despised unprofessionalism and inter-agent politics. “She’s earned her spot. More so. She’s proven to be a team player—especially with a case involving terrorism. You’re out of here, first thing in the morning.”

  “You can’t just…My career…”

  Was the only thing the woman cared about. No remorse. No apology. Nothing to show that she’d learned anything. Still…he had compassion, didn’t he? If her file hadn’t been appropriate, Dennis wouldn’t have even considered her for a PAVAD spot. Unless the director had made a serious mistake. “Your career won’t suffer. There will be no mention of this in your file. I’ll make it known to Hellbrook and Dennis that you decided an appointment to the CCU wasn’t what you wanted. It’s up to you how the rest of your career goes. But remember this—PAVAD is about working as a team. This is my best offer.”

  “I understand.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  With Smith and Gleason gone, he was down to eight agents vying for five positions. He had an idea of who he’d be keeping once this case ended. Gerth would not make the cut. While he was a competent agent he wasn’t what Sebastian was looking for. Alessandra Brockman and Paige Daviess were shoe-ins. The two were natural leaders who were seriously skilled at what they did. Therez and Hernandez were a bit of a mystery—he wasn’t ruling them out yet. Chalmers was quiet, competent, and willing to pitch in whenever he was needed. For team player alone, he had a spot.

  The former NFL player most likely had depth Sebastian hadn’t uncovered yet. But he liked the other man a great deal. He ran through them in his head—Brockman, Daviess, Chalmers, Hernandez, and Therez. He would inform Gerth and the others once the case was over.

  They were decent agents, they just didn’t fit with the style of team he wanted. He assigned them to work with Collingsworth’s people.

  He gathered his new team around where Sparks and Nugent were holding court. The four whiteboards were covered in notes, and he recognized
Sparks’ distinctively feminine handwriting. “Here’s what we’re up to. Sparks had people analyzing the codes used to break in to the bank and school and train yard. Hernandez and Nugent were searching for previous incidents.”

  “We found eight.” Nugent pointed to one of those boards.

  “We’ll get into more detail in a moment. In the meantime, Agent Brockman, if you’ll step outside with me? There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

  The room got quiet and a slightly worried expression hit both Agent Brockman’s and Daviess’ faces. He understood. With him cutting Smith and Gleason they had to all realize how precarious their own positions were.

  She led the way out into the hallway. “Agent Lorcan.”

  “What’s your experience with leading a team?”

  “On the job, nothing formal.”

  “Consider this formal. Anyone needs anything, you’re in charge. Think you can do it?”

  Her surprise was clear on her face. “I’m willing to try. I’m not going to lie. My older brother being a part of the CCU is a big draw for me.”

  “Handle yourself well, and the position on my team is yours.”

  “Thank you. Paige? If you don’t mind my asking?”

  “The ones in there—that’s it. Finalized by Dennis, of course. But a good majority of the say is mine. And I’m saying it.”

  “You treat us fairly, and Paige and I will make this team work.”

  “Consider it done.”

  She hesitated for a moment. “Something’s building, isn’t it? I don’t know why, but something is about to happen. I can feel it.”

  He’d had the same kind of apprehension for the last few hours. One of the main reasons he’d wanted to get his team squared away. Something was about to happen and he needed a strong team to stop it.

  Somehow.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Things got much easier for Carrie with Smith and Gleason gone. Agent Lorcan had pulled her out of the conference room after he’d sent Al back in.

  And then he’d apologized. First for making her get up long enough to join him in the hallway, and second for the way Gleason and Smith had acted the day before. He’d told her specifically that he knew what work she’d been responsible for.

  She hadn’t needed his recognition. And she wouldn’t let anything anyone did affect how she performed her job.

  But wasn’t that essentially what she was doing with him?

  After she had that realization she forced herself to look at her behavior a bit more closely. Agent Lorcan made her nervous because he was in a position of authority, and because he’d made it clear before that he didn’t think she could handle being in the CCU.

  But it wasn’t Agent Lorcan who decided her fate—it was her team leader and Ed Dennis.

  That knowledge was all that truly mattered, wasn’t it?

  Why had Agent Lorcan apologized?

  Why did it really matter? What was it about him that unsettled her so much? She forced herself back to the task at hand.

  She’d tweaked the program she’d used the day before to better suit their needs. Hopefully the changes would bring the results they needed. And that was what mattered, wasn’t it?

  ***

  Sebastian took Daviess out with him on the next set of interviews. For one thing he wanted to separate her from Agent Brockman to see how she functioned without the other woman. And to separate her from Sparks.

  He couldn’t quite put his finger on the relationship between them, but they were very close. It intrigued him.

  He was definitely man enough to admit to himself at least that everything about Sparks intrigued him. Not that that mattered. He’d been attracted to women before—and he didn’t have to act on it, did he?

  Daviess was quiet for most of the ride to the victim’s home. The man, head of a small airline that still did quite a bit of business out of Portland, had asked for the interview to be done at his home, away from any interested colleagues. Sebastian understood.

  The man was a slightly portly middle-aged man who was balding. But he was a successful entrepreneur who’d taken his father’s small airline and turned it into a line that catered exclusively to businesspeople and the upper middle class. Sebastian and Agent Sparks had actually flown in on one of his planes when they’d initially arrived.

  “How did you notice the ID theft?” Daviess asked.

  “My wife’s phone was stolen. A week later some charges were made on credit cards. We just brushed it off, and followed the steps with our credit card companies. This isn’t the first time someone has stolen her credit cards. Frankly, I’m not sure why the FBI is here.”

  Sebastian wasn’t ready to let too much information out, yet. “We’ve tied your case with a few others and need to make certain we’ve taken a look at everything. Just to follow protocol, of course. The Bureau takes identity theft seriously.”

  “Apparently so. My brother worked for the FBI a few years ago. He’s a professor of computer sciences now. Says there’s much better hours teaching.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Maybe we need to take it one part at a time. What does a hacker need to succeed?” Carrie asked the room at large two hours after Agent Lorcan had returned from speaking to the head of Portland Air Transit. They’d gone over everything and then over it again. And again.

  “I don’t know you tell us?” Paige said. Her sister was rocking her chair back and forth and the motion was making Carrie feel a little sick just watching.

  “They need access and knowledge and a plan. You don’t just sit down and decide to break into a bank or a school, or a rail yard and an airline. Definitely not an airline. You have to know what systems they use and you have to have an entry. What connects each of the places?”

  “Government or public facilities” Paige said.

  “The infrastructure,” Alessandra said.

  “And location,” Agent Lorcan said.

  “All of those things. And all of those things combined make the targets vulnerable. And not just to hackers. But to others. If someone finds a way in they can take down any of these areas.” Carrie paused a moment as possibilities and connections ran through her head. “What if that was the main idea of it all? And what if…”

  She trailed off for a moment as it started to make sense. She looked at Collingsworth. “What if what we’ve seen so far is just a trial run? Trial run?”

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “Anytime you do something important, don’t you practice? At least go through it in your mind? Work out all the details? I know how cons like this run. And you don’t just jump in and perform perfectly.” No, you didn’t. And when you wrote the code necessary to break into a sophisticated system like the Portland Transit Air’s system, it took time. Trial and error and lots of hard work. “The person who did this has to be very dedicated.”

  “Or well paid. Let’s face it, little sister,” Paige shifted until her chair clacked against the floor. “Someone could have hired the hacking out. And if the incentive was high enough, and I’m talking cold-hard-cash incentive, you can hire out just about anything. We both know that.”

  Carrie’s first thought hadn’t been for financial gain. The very idea was abhorrent to her. How could it not be?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Carrie couldn’t stop thinking about the potential consequences. Would the Unsub strike again? Where? How did they get ahead of him in time to stop him? If he’d been planning these attacks long enough to gradually increase the risk at his targets he’d been doing it long enough to have already found ways into the next target. He was probably out there working on his next target, his next set of targets, right at that moment.

  But how were they to isolate what they already had enough to pinpoint where the next target would be and when? If they could somehow get ahead of the UNSUB, then they could stop them.

  It would take a balance of what she was able to find with computer forensics and what the profiler—in thi
s case, Agent Lorcan—could determine about the UNSUB, and what the rest of the team could put together from victim interviews and whatever information they could find wherever they could find it.

  Solving cases satisfactorily involved many different parts of each team working together in tandem to find the elusive bit of glue that made a case stick. That found the answers they sought. That’s how Hell had always described what he wanted from the CCU.

  She missed working with him and the rest of the team so much.

  Agent Lorcan was out again, supposedly talking to the head of the rail yard that had been targeted initially. He had taken Agent Therez and Agent Chalmers with him, after asking Carrie who she felt most comfortable working with. Her answer had been easy. She needed someone she could count on completely. And Paige worked so well with Al. It made the conference room as comfortable for Carrie as possible. She’d actually managed to get quite a lot of searching done before Agent Lorcan had called Al and given orders for everyone to call it a night.

  She was finally starting to feel in her element. And that might make all the difference. In the hours between him leaving with Therez and Chalmers she’d managed to get so much accomplished, her mind was still running from all the possibilities stampeding through her head. Sometimes she had so much trouble just stopping the thoughts and going to sleep.

  She climbed out of the hotel bed and hopped over to the one by the window. Al had taken the couch that Paige had slept on the night before. “Paige?”

  It took a moment, but Paige eventually sat up. “Wow, Care, way to induce nightmares. What’s wrong?”

  “Other than the fact that we are trying to prevent a terroristic attack?”

  “One thing you and new superboy seem to have forgotten…we have nothing to convince us this is terror. Just vague feelings and very insubstantial rumors. Another question…where did those rumors come from? Collingsworth hasn’t mentioned, has he?’