by David Carner
Trip set his jaw and tried to hold his emotions in check. A single tear fell down his cheek. Trip blamed himself for Sam’s death. Chet told Trip it was his fault for not watching out for his best friend’s wife. Jessica said it was her fault for not watching out better for her best friend. As guilty as they each thought they were, none of them held a candle to the internal grief that John held inside. For three years, when they weren’t secretly watching John to make sure he didn’t self-destruct, the three of them followed every lead on the Sam Fowler case and they each came up with nothing. They all said the same thing; the only person who could solve this case was John. It was during this case that Trip learned something that should have made him immediately dismiss one of his agents, but he didn’t. He did something he never did; he covered for them.
John was right about the Mafia case; there had been a mole. It wasn’t like John thought, but there was one just the same. When John found out, and Trip knew it was a matter of when, and not if, John could have them all fired. There wouldn’t be a thing the three of them could say in their defense, and they all knew it.
Chapter 23
A knock on the door brought Trip back to reality. Trip turned and saw John. John looked a little concerned. Trip, fearing his voice might crack from the emotion he was trying to hold in check inside, waved John in.
“Trip,” John began. “Are you ok?”
Trip waved John off.
John continued, “Look, I know I’m not the poster boy of how to deal with things, but talking does help sometimes, and I don’t mean me. There are people who you can talk to that might help.”
Trip looked perturbed. “So let me get this straight, one meeting with the good doctor downstairs and you think everyone who’s having a bad day needs to see a shrink!?!”
John nodded slowly, his lips pressed together. He had obviously broached a sensitive subject. Wheels began to turn in John’s head. He had NEVER seen Trip like this. Trip kept his emotions in check better than anyone. There were several explanations for Trip’s reaction. The most plausible reason being all they had been through the past few days stirred up emotions inside of Trip that he wasn’t use to dealing with. It was the other explanations running through John’s head that worried him. John knew he needed to proceed carefully.
Look, Trip,” John said. “It was just a suggestion. And since I’ve obviously overstepped my bounds I’m gonna keep going. If you see someone, see someone outside of the FBI.”
Trip looked at John sharply. “Let me guess, the good doctor didn’t reinstate you and now you don’t like him?”
“Wrong,” said John as he laid the reinstatement papers on Trip’s desk. “I just don’t think everything needs to be handled in-house. Take it from me, this job can make you do things you never thought you would.” John had a rue smile on his face as he spoke.
Trip barked a laugh and examined the paperwork. He opened John’s file and placed it inside. Trip pulled out John’s new shield and ID and handed it to John. John placed it in his suit pocket, right back where it belonged. Trip leaned back in his chair. He looked at John and tried to decide the best way to proceed.
“What’s your next step?” Trip asked.
“Well,” John began. “I want to team with Bruce.” Trip looked stunned. “Hear me out, there are two reasons Bruce didn’t tell us about the timeline. One he’s in on the kidnapping, two he actually cares about his dad and this has affected him. Either way, by keeping him close to me I can figure out the majority of his moves and keep him from doing something stupid.“ Trip nodded. He picked up a piece of paper.
“This gives me the authority to let Bruce on the case,” Trip said nodding toward the paper.
“In my opinion, sir,” John said. “That is exactly what we need to do. We also need to do a couple of other things, I need Chet to work on tracking down any electronic leads on Luke, and I’d like Bruce’s IT guy to do the same thing.”
Trip sat up very straight in his chair. He really didn’t like where this was going.
“I’m not done yet,” John said. He knew how things sounded, but he had no choice in what he was doing. “I want Jessica and a member of Bruce’s team to go over the findings of both Chet and Bruce’s IT guys together. I want Jessica and a member of Bruce’s team to go over any paper trail together. Trip, it’s real simple. I want two sets of eyes, one from my team and one from Bruce’s team, on each piece of evidence.”
Chapter 24
Trip was on the verge of being furious. John had Trip believing that John didn’t trust his two teammates. John smiled inwardly. Trip had Jessica’s and Chet’s back. John had to make sure of that. John knew he was playing a dangerous game but it was necessary. John had a serious hunch on several things at the moment. The first was Luke had something to do with the Senator’s kidnapping. The second, there was a mole in the FBI. The third, and the most troubling, was one of the three people John had any chance of calling friends, was in deep trouble. John thought he could solve the third problem, but he had to test out one small thing before he could be sure.
“Trip,” John said fiercely. “This isn’t the time to sugarcoat things. We have a Senator that has been missing for 24 hours. I need as many eyes on this as possible to make sure we don’t miss anything.”
Trip’s mind was whirling. Trip slowly looked up at John, nodding. Trip was slapping his head mentally. Did John just bait him to see how he’d react!?! Blast that man!! He’d only been active, well, minutes officially, and it was like he had never missed a beat. Trip knew he had to calm down and agree to this. He didn’t need John digging into what happened while he was gone.
You’re absolutely right, John,” Trip replied. “I’ll get everyone started. What about you?”
John sighed. “I’ve already got Jessica setting up a tail on Luke. I wanted to clear the partner thing with you before I went forward with my main plan. I’m going to go talk to Chet and Jessica real quick and then Bruce and I are going to go talk to someone who knows the Staples the best.” Trip had been dialing the phone, but with that statement by John he slowly hung it up and looked at John. Trip swallowed, afraid to ask if the person John was going to talk to was who Trip thought it was. John turned and walked to the door. He stopped, turned back toward Trip, and spoke.
“I’m going to see my in-laws.” With that, John walked out of Trip’s office. Trip sat still for a second. He then began to lightly chuckle. The chuckle broke out into a roaring laugh. What he wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall and hear the conversation that would take place between John and the Moores.
Chapter 25
John knocked on Jessica’s door. Chet was nowhere to be seen in the Foxhole. He heard Jessica yell to enter so he opened the door. Jessica smiled when she saw him.
“Hey, Jess,” John began. “I was wondering if you had a few minutes.” Jess offered him a seat and John sat. “I know I’ve been gone a while, but . . . well, do I have to use my office over here, or can I use the desk over by Chet? You know I like to work out in the open.”
Jessica smiled. “John, you can work anywhere you want. I usually work out there as well. It’s just when I’m dealing with this paperwork, I can’t handle of all Chet’s flashing screens. Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?”
John shifted in his seat. “Jess, the Senator has been missing for almost 24 hours.” Jess dropped her pencil. “I need you and one of Bruce’s men to go over everything Chet and Bruce’s IT guy does. I want two eyes on everything to make sure we haven’t missed anything.”
Jessica tapped her pen on the table. She looked at John hard. “You want me to go over Chet’s findings?”
John shook his head no very slowly. Jessica’s nostrils flared. She started to speak, but John cut her off.
“Jess, Bruce is the person Luke told that the Senator has been missing since yesterday . . . I don’t know what’s going on, but I haven’t got time to babysit. I need everyone crosschecking the other. That way even if something shady is
going on this may deter anyone from messing with evidence in any way.”
Jessica tapped her pen on the table again. John knew she wasn’t happy. She nodded.
“John, I don’t like it, but you’re right,” Jessica said.
“Mind if we change the subject for a minute? There is something I’ve wanted to ask you,” John asked. Jessica beamed and leaned across the desk. “The way you danced the other night . . . being an FBI agent wasn’t your first choice, was it?”
Jessica smiled and leaned back in her chair.
“No,” she replied simply. “No, I went to a dance school. I paid my own way. My parents weren’t too happy with me. I was there two years when I hurt my knee. It wasn’t anything that would bother me in everyday life, or even anything that would stop me from passing an FBI physical, but it was enough that would limit me in dancing for a couple of years. The school was very cutthroat, and I had to be at 100%. So I took some time off from dancing.”
Jessica paused in the story. John was hanging on every word. She had never known someone to naturally be this interested in a person’s background. In her experience the only time someone was as interested as this; it was either a first date, or she was being interrogated. She decided to see where this led and continued.
“I decided I had borrowed too much money just to quit school, so I decided to do something practical while I waited for my knee to heal. I took some classes and it led to the FBI.”
John nodded. “I bet that cost a lot of money,” he stated.
“It cost a fortune!” Jessica exclaimed. “It wasn’t just student loans. That wouldn’t cover all the costs, so I had to take out private loans as well. My parents wouldn’t pay for any of it because they thought dancing wouldn’t make any money. They thought that I would abandon my degree as soon as my knee had rehabbed. In case you haven’t noticed, the cost of living in New York isn’t exactly cheap either.”
John was nodding as he listened. The private loan part really began to bug him. Student loans were controlled by the government now, but private . . . John reached a decision in his mind quickly. He realized Jessica had finished and now there was an uncomfortable pause between them.
John,” Jessica began. “If there is something you want to know, please come right out and ask me and don’t beat around the bush.”
John studied Jessica’s face very carefully. He knew she was just seconds from breaking into full interrogator mode. John didn’t ever want to be there again.
“Jess, I was just curious, that’s all,” John stated. He got up to leave. “Look I need to let Chet know what’s going on and then Bruce and I are going on a little trip. I don’t want Bruce to leave my sight. For whatever reason, something is up with him.” John started to leave and paused. He knew this would get Jessica off of the attack with him. “By the way, you may want to alert the Virginia State Police and Quantico. Bruce and I are going to go talk to the Moores about Archibald.” With that he tipped his hat and headed out the door.
Jessica stared at the door for a minute. Once John got back, if he and Sam’s father didn’t kill each other, she was going to have a long talk with John; as John’s mom use to say, “A come to Jesus meeting.” She didn’t think John was going to like it, but she really didn’t care. There were too many things insinuated in their conversation, and if they were ever going to have any kind of relationship, then there needed to be trust. Jessica smiled to herself. She hadn’t let a man get her this upset in a long time. She didn’t know where things would lead with John. She spoke out loud softly.
Sam, how did you ever put up with that irritating man?” Jessica was sure Sam was somewhere laughing at her.
Chapter 26
John walked out of Jessica’s office and noticed Chet hadn’t come back to the Foxhole yet. John had a pretty good idea of where he was. John didn’t like what he did to Jessica and he really didn’t like what he was about to do to Chet. John had a good idea of what was going on, and he knew that part of this was his fault. Well, it wasn’t, but John wouldn’t let his team get hurt the way they had been if he had been around instead of being undercover and then leaving the FBI.
John knew he needed to fix things, and he knew what he needed to do to fix things, but he was going to have to eat many portions of humble pie to do so. John shuddered from thinking about what he would have to do and moved the thoughts from his mind. John began thinking about his conversation from earlier with Dr. Freeman about the reoccurring participant family to this case and the previous two he worked on; the Staples.
John knew Veronica was involved in the last case. He had suspicions this kidnapping had something to do with Veronica and her father, but he had always wondered about the Mafia case from years ago. Did someone tip off the Duck? If John had never heard of the Duck again, he never would have thought twice about it. The fact the man was known as the alleged head of the Lucciano crime family . . . something was rotten in Denmark. How had Robert Mariotti Jr, the man known as the Duck, managed to have no dealings with everyone the FBI targeted on John’s undercover operation? Better yet, how did he manage to come back and take control of everything!?! The thing that bothered John the most, how does someone who was simply a loan shark with one of the most ridiculous names in the history of the Mafia climb the ranks that quickly?? This was the part that bothered John more than anything.
John realized he had reached the roof of the FBI building while thinking. He looked around and saw his friend. Chet was sitting on some type of metal case on the roof, looking over the city. John scratched his chin. He ran things through his mind one more time and could come up with no other explanation of what had happened. This was one of those times John hated his abilities. John approached Chet.
Chapter 27
John walked up beside Chet and just stood there for a moment, silent. John gazed out over the city. He had to admit, New York was beautiful from the top of the building. Sam use to love to come to the office just to look out over the city. John smiled to himself. Sam always looked for the good in everything. It wasn’t that John didn’t appreciate the beauty of the city, but he was a country boy at heart. John had grown up in a small rural area in Western Kentucky, and there were times he just missed home. Sam . . . Sam just loved the city. She loved the culture, the buildings, the bustle; she just loved everything about it. John shook his head.
“Chet,” John began. “You ok buddy?”
Chet looked at John. John noticed several things instantly. Chet had dark circles under his eyes; he could see the tension in Chet’s skin around his head. Chet’s nails had been bitten. Frankly, Chet looked like something was eating him from the inside out. All of that took John less than a second. Chet tried to smile reassuringly, but it was to no avail, John already knew the words coming out of Chet’s mouth were a lie.
“Yeah,” Chet said with a wave of his hand. “Yeah buddy, I’m good. Anything on the case?” John stuffed his hands in his pockets and blew out a long breath of air. Chet gave a half smile. He knew John enough to know there was something, but it wasn’t good.
“Chet, this case is almost 24 hours old,” John said. Chet chuckled and looked back out over the city. Inside, Chet was berating himself. Chet had already known that fact, but John didn’t know that Chet knew. Chet knew he had to play it off. He turned back toward John shaking his head. He laughed as he spoke.
“Given the past few days, would you expect anything less, John?” Chet asked. John rocked back on his heels and shook his head no. John prepared himself for what he was about to tell his buddy.
“Chet,” John began. “I know this isn’t how we usually do things, but I need you and Bruce’s IT guy to run the exact same things independently. We’re 24 hours behind, and we need to have double eyes on everything.” John waited for the explosion. It didn’t come. Chet looked at John with sadness in his eyes. This was killing John.
“You think the Senator is already dead, don’t you, John?”
Chapter 28
John d
idn’t say anything for a minute. There were really two reasons John was having double eyes on everything. The first was to make sure there wasn’t a mole interfering in the investigation, and if there was to catch that person. The second; John had to cover himself. A Senator being kidnapped was a high profile case, and this case was already going bad. If this case went wrong . . . John knew with him as lead investigator and just back in the FBI after a three year absence, his case work would be scrutinized. What John found so interesting was Jessica and Trip had assumed he was looking for inconsistencies, and possibly a mole, while Chet immediately thought the Senator was dead.
John’s heart sank. There were several reasons Chet could have thought that. There was the obvious; Chet knew the Senator was dead. But that just didn’t feel right to John. What felt right, was that Chet had so many personal setbacks in his life; he just drifted toward the negative. John knew blaming himself right now wasn’t the answer. He put his hand on Chet’s shoulder.
“I don’t know, Chet,” John answered honestly. “I just don’t know. What I do know is that if we can find one extra clue by doing this, then that’s what we need to do. Time is critical.” Chet nodded and stood up. John moved his hand off of Chet’s shoulder as he did.
You’re right, John,” Chet said. “We need every edge we can get.”
“Just like poker?” John asked, smiling.
Chet cracked a big smile and nodded.
“Hey,” John began. “I’ve always wanted to ask you something. You play poker by the math right?” Chet nodded. “Say your opponent has pocket aces and you have the 7 and the 8 of clubs.” Chet nodded. “Ok, now say the flop comes 9 of clubs, 6 of clubs, and another suit 8, what do you do?
