by Pogue, Aaron
The line suddenly lunged north and around the next corner to the east. While Katie watched, it crawled out to two miles, then collapsed in half, then disappeared altogether. A moment later the dot reappeared.
Reed nodded. "There are lots of false positives in a search like this. Unless Ellie did something stupid, it could take days to map any kind of path."
"Assuming she left at all," Katie said.
"Of course," Reed said. "They could all be red herrings." He tapped the screen and brought up a list of data points that meant nothing to Katie, but each one was marked with a timestamp. He pondered it for a moment, then closed out the program. "Doesn't really do any good to watch it crawl. It'll send us a report once it's finished."
"Now," he said, turning to her as he pocketed his handheld. "What's this about your interview with Theresa Barnes being restricted?" Katie shrugged, unsure how to answer. Reed said, "Was it a bluff? Because the only person with authority to clean something like that out of the database would be Ellie herself, and I don't see her helping you. So unless you've got...." His jaw dropped open, and he shook his head. "No." Katie winced, and he took it for a nod. "It's Martin."
Now she nodded once, mute, and Reed laughed out loud. "Katie Pratt, you sure know how to stir up a hornet's nest. The Steves are going to love this."
"But I didn't mean to," Katie said earnestly. "I had no idea, but he's involved with the clinic. He...he helped set it up. And after I spoke with Theresa he contacted me."
"You're going to tell me that story," Reed said, then held up a hand to stop her. "But not now. We're here." Even as he said it the car rolled to a stop. He turned to the door, ready to climb out, and froze with a sudden, miserable sigh. "And," he said quietly, "it looks like we've got trouble."
10. Truth
Lieutenant Drake stood at the gate to the clinic, staring down a throng of anxious police officers. Katie saw the clouds gather in Reed's eyes as he threw the door open. She followed him quickly.
The lieutenant wasn't happy. Red-faced, he shouted to all the police officers, but Chief Hart stood right in front of him, and she caught the bulk of his ire. "I don't know what the hell you were thinking," Drake bellowed, "but this clinic is a restricted area and so far outside your jurisdiction that you shouldn't even be thinking about it. When I get done with you—"
"Hey!" Reed cut him off, dashing up to the gate. He pushed ahead of Hart to confront the lieutenant directly, though he lacked two inches on the soldier's height. "What are you doing? You said we had your cooperation. Is this as much as your word is worth?"
Drake's eye narrowed to slits. "No disrespect intended, Agent Reed, but I didn't expect you to bring a stampede of dogcatchers onto my grounds. This is a highly sensitive military facility—"
"And we have reason to believe a suspect of treason is hiding somewhere on the grounds," Reed said. "One of your soldiers trained in escaping detection, so I thought some assistance was in order."
"Well," Drake said flatly, but without his earlier venom, "you were wrong."
"Oh, dammit, Drake!" he shouted. "This is serious—"
"Now hold it right there." The lieutenant stepped closer and lowered his voice. "Don't make this a fight between us. I can't let the cops through this gate, but how about you and Agent Pratt head on in to Barnes's laboratory, and we can get this sorted out."
"We can get it sorted here," Reed said, still with a full head of steam, but Katie laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Take a breath," she said softly, for him alone. "You're not going to win this one. Don't get us thrown out, too."
Reed frowned, but after a moment he relented. His shoulders fell, and he dropped his challenging gaze.
Dora bulled through him, then, and shouted, "What? That's it? You're just going to let him toss us out?"
Lieutenant Drake restrained Hart with a hand on her chest and a stern look. "That's enough," he said calmly, apparently oblivious to the angry reaction he drew from her officers. "This is over. It's a matter of military policy, not a personal decision." Hart turned to Reed, but he couldn't meet her eyes. She gave a disappointed huff and then gave the resigned order to withdraw. The lieutenant watched them disperse to their cars, which were still waiting by the curb, and then disappear up the street and around the corner. When they were out of sight, he finally relaxed a bit.
He dropped a heavy hand on Reed's shoulder. "Sorry about that," he said, "but it had to be done."
Reed only grunted in answer, but that was enough for the older man. He turned on his heel and led them through the gates and over toward Eric's lab. "You know," he said amiably, "it's still not a good time for you guys to be here, but the simulations are done and under the circumstances it seems like good PR."
"Good PR would have been to let the local police do their job," Reed seethed. "Not calling them names and leaving them on the curb like so much trash."
Drake rounded on him, stopping Reed in his tracks. "I understand you're involved in an investigation," he said. His voice was still friendly, but there was an unmistakable hard edge to it. "I understand it's the most important thing in the world to you, and I've offered my cooperation, but I'll tell you what. We do more important work at this facility every day of the week, with or without Barnes. And I'll be damned if I'll let you compromise that research to satisfy your suspicions."
Reed sneered. "What ever happened to 'Jurisdiction won't be an issue'?"
"Jurisdiction isn't my concern here," Drake said. "Saving lives is." He pointed across the lawn to the laboratory doors. "You can find your own way from here. I have work to do." With that he headed toward the administrative building without looking back.
Reed watched him go, then finally fell back into step toward the doors. "Anything seem odd about that to you?"
Katie had a strong suspicion the lieutenant was privy to Barnes' and Martin's secret, but she didn't voice it. Instead she said, "Maybe he didn't expect you to take him up on his offer."
"I dunno. He was pretty clear," Reed said as he pulled open the door for Katie. "That was, what, ninety minutes ago?"
"He wasn't acting unreasonable, though," Katie said. Her comment drew a withering look from Reed, and she put up her hands defensively. "I'm not saying I agree with his decision, but there was probably a real reason for it. You...I'm sorry to say it, but you didn't really give him a chance to explain."
Reed looked hurt, but he recovered quickly. "It doesn't matter," he said. "He promised us his cooperation—"
"And we're here now," Katie said. "We can do well enough without Hart's men." They were carrying on their argument in the foyer, which offered nothing in the way of hiding places. Katie scanned it quickly, then took Reed's hand and dragged him toward the lab doors. Hoping to distract him with another change of subject, she said, "How are things back home?"
"They're bad," Reed said, and he let out a sigh. "Okay, okay," he said. "You're right. I see your point. The auditors have me riled—"
"Do they?" Katie hadn't actually realized it, but it made sense.
"Yeah, and I'm letting the stress cloud my judgment." He stopped and gently pulled his hand free of Katie's. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I should go talk to the lieutenant."
Katie looked him in the eye. She smiled. "Talk to me first." She reached out to push open the lab door, and waved to the big room beyond. "We can canvas the lab, and you can catch me up on things in DC. If nothing turns up here, then you go to Drake."
Reed smiled back at her. "That sounds like a plan." He stepped past her into the lab, and Katie followed him. He said, "Where to start?"
"Break room," Katie said, pointing across the room to a pair of doors in the opposite wall, "and the bathroom. We didn't even peek in either of them last night."
Reed chuckled and started toward the break room, ignoring the mousy lab assistant who watched them without a word from her place by one of the lab tables. Katie smiled across at her but got no response.
"Okay, DC," Reed said
. "I've got Craig forwarding me copies of all the files the Steves access, and they're poking their noses everywhere."
"I can't pretend I'm surprised," Katie said. "That Fredrik seemed like a real bloodhound."
"They're not in Rick's files, though," Reed said, frowning. "They're in mine. This is not supposed to be a personal investigation, but the minute I left—"
"Hey," Katie said with an exaggerated shrug and some forced cheer, "maybe it's a good thing. They'll check you out real good, clear your name, and drop all this."
Reed's frown only deepened, and for a moment Katie was afraid he might admit to some misdeed. Then he shook his head. "No," he said. "I saw them dig into some of Rick's cases that were squeaky clean. I saw how they handled your investigation. Innocence doesn't interest them."
"Well, there's nothing you can do but wait, then." Katie smiled to take the sting out of the words, but it didn't help much.
"That's just the thing," Reed said, stopping a few steps from the closed break room door. "There's nothing I can do here. I should be in DC. You tried to warn me—"
"This is important," Katie said. She turned Reed to face her and caught his shoulders. "Maybe you were just running away when you left, but now that you're here you're helping me investigate government complicity in the neutralization of one of our country's brightest minds. You should be here. Do your job and let the rest sort itself out." A little late she added, "Sir."
He smiled at that. "You're right," he said after a moment. Then he gave a very businesslike nod. "We have important work to do."
Katie tilted her head toward the break room door, and he nodded back, then he stepped forward and threw the door open. Katie rushed through it, eyes searching. The room beyond was a cozy little lounge that reminded Katie strongly of Theresa's kitchen. Though it wasn't nearly as large, the colors and decor were the same, right down to the potted ivy growing in a basket above the sink, tendrils snaking along a decorative ledge that topped the cabinets on three walls.
An intimate little table stood in the far corner with a couple kitchen chairs tucked underneath. WorldWindows built into the walls above the table simulated a view of the grounds outside, although the panorama was considerably sunnier than reality offered. A low, well-padded cot stood by Katie's right ankle, neatly made, and a more practical restaurant-style booth stood against the wall to her left, next to the cabinet peninsula that jutted out into the middle of the floor. Reed slipped past Katie to get a good view on the other side of that, but he immediately shook his head. The little room was empty.
While Reed began a brisk search of the cabinets, Katie sighed and headed back to the main lab, looking for any sign of a stowaway. The bathroom was nearby, and as Katie turned toward it the door swung open. Katie's hand went instinctively to her gun, but a heartbeat later Meg stepped out of the bathroom. When she spotted Katie staring so intently, a blush rose in the young woman's cheeks.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Was I not supposed to?"
Katie ignored the question and stepped quickly around the door and into the bathroom. It lacked the opulence of the rest of the lab, just a tiled white cube with a toilet, sink, and a clear glass shower in its corners. A wicker basket held towels, and there were no cabinets. No hidey holes. No Ellie Cohn.
Katie left the bathroom to find Reed waiting just outside. He asked with his eyes, and she shook her head. He sighed.
Meg wrung her hands, anxiety making her gaze dart back and forth between the agents. "What's going on?" Her voice came out almost a wail.
Without really looking at Meg, Reed said, "We suspect Ellie might be hiding somewhere on the base." He stepped past the bathroom door and opened one of the many huge storage cabinets that lined the walls. "These might be big enough to hide in...."
"Hide?" Meg said, her voice climbing to a squeak. "You guys are after Ellie?"
"Yeah," Katie said with a concerned frown. "The lieutenant didn't tell you?"
"Nobody tells me anything," Meg said. "Oh, god, you think...Agent Pratt, I saw Ellie. I saw her yesterday. I didn't think anything about it."
"It's okay," Katie said. "You couldn't have known."
Reed undermined her efforts with a sudden intensity. He left the cabinet open and crossed to Meg in two long steps. "Where is she," he asked, looming over her. "What did she want? Did she say anything to you?"
"N—no. Not really." Meg's eyes were darting again, to Reed in fear, to Katie in a plea for help. "She was just checking in. I'm sorry. I—I don't remember anything."
Katie stepped up behind Reed and pulled him back with a light touch inside the bend of his elbow. "It's okay," she said again, with a tone meant to calm Reed down as much as to reassure the startled girl. She tilted her head toward Meg. "Do you know what time she was here?"
Meg looked up at the ceiling, thinking. "Umm..." she said. "Ten-ish. Eleven. She wasn't here long."
Reed spoke in a gentler voice, following Katie's lead. "Did you see where she went?"
Meg looked uncomfortable in spite of his measured tones. "I don't know. I didn't think to watch her."
"But did she go somewhere else on the grounds?" Katie asked. "Did she leave the clinic, or did she go to one of the other buildings? Maybe the administrative building?"
"Yeah!" Meg nodded eagerly. "I mean, she might have gone there, yeah." She glanced at Reed and at the cabinet he'd ripped open. "She's not here, though. I would know if she'd stayed at the lab."
"That's not super helpful," Reed grumbled, half under his breath.
"It is," Katie said. "There are three other buidings in the clinic, but none of them are as private as this one. If Ellie's hiding in one of those, Drake should be able to track her down pretty quickly."
"Unless he's helping her," Meg said. She shrank away when Reed and Katie both turned on her, then shrugged. "I mean, those guys stick pretty close together."
"Which is why we need Hart's people here helping out," Reed growled. After a moment he nodded. "That might work, actually. We might be able to put a little more pressure on him to get into the other buildings. If we assure him we don't need to search the lab, maybe he'll let them in."
Katie chewed her lip. "I don't know," she said. "He seemed pretty determined to keep it to just us."
Reed waved away her objection. "We can do this." He pulled out his handheld and then cursed at the blank screen and dropped it back in his pocket. "I can do this," he said. "I can be persuasive. Of course, it would be easier if..."
Katie caught his eye. "Maybe...Reed, do you remember what we were talking about in the car? Do you remember that other conversation I had?" It took him a moment to nod, and in that time Katie saw Meg's eyes narrow, trying to follow. Katie hurried on. "Maybe you should just let this go, Reed."
"What do you mean?"
"I...." Katie clenched her fists in sudden frustration. "I can't explain, Reed, but I strongly suspect the lieutenant has his own reasons for trying to protect the clinic's privacy. Maybe instead of trying to get around him, you should try to work with him."
Reed frowned. "You're talking about...him. Oh." Martin Door. He nodded, finally getting it, then he frowed. "Katie, what are you talking about? If you know something—"
"Trust me, sir, I'd like to bring you in on this, but...I can't."
Meg gave a tiny little gasp, but Katie caught it and looked up in time to see the girl's eyes were wide. Meg tried to cover it by blinking, but Katie knew what she'd seen. The girl knew the secret. And now she knew that Katie knew it, too.
Reed saw the looks passed between the women, but he was at a loss to comprehend them. He titled his head and considered Katie. "You know I can't leave it at that," he said. "Especially given the nature of your informant and the investigation going on back in DC right now. Spill it."
Meg spoke up before Katie could answer. "You know what!" she shouted, "I do remember something. About...about yesterday. About Ellie. She was here...she was looking for something. For a file, on one of the computers. I can sho
w that to you."
Reed started to say, "Not now"—Katie could see the dismissal in his eyes—but he stopped, then said, "Bring it up. Agent Pratt and I are going to have a conversation in the lobby."
Katie saw panic in Meg's eyes, but the girl was clearly scared of Reed. She bobbed a quick nod, almost a curtsy, and then scurried away to one of the lab tables. Reed gathered Katie up with his eyes and ushered her toward the doors.
"You're a good agent," Reed said under his breath, not slowing down, "and I'd like to think we're friends, Katie. Really. But you can't keep secrets from me."
"It's not like that," Katie said earnestly. "I made a promise."
Reed stopped so he could look her in the eyes. "To Martin, right? Dammit, Katie, that man is going to take us both down if you're not careful. You made a promise to me. And to Eric Barnes, and to his wife and to that frightened little girl back there, as soon as you took this case. And now you're putting Martin's priorities above that?"
"No," Katie shook her head. "I understand...look, this case is important to me. There's no way I'm letting those people down. But I'm telling you, this secret has no bearing on the case."
Reed frowned. "I find that hard to believe."
"Trust me," Katie said. "You can trust me. I know what I'm talking about."
He showed no sign of relenting, but before he could press her any further, a voice called from an intercom mounted on the wall. "Agent Reed, please contact Lieutenant Drake at the administrative building. Agent Reed, contact Lieutenant Drake at the administrative building. Thank you."
