"I don't care about motives," Dawkins said. "Keep up the good work, Caldwell. Thank you."
The agent nodded and slipped back out into the hallway.
Emily and Adriana stared at the president, eager to hear what he would say concerning the new revelation.
He thought for a minute before speaking. "What we really need to know is who this guy was working for."
"Didn't your bodyguard just say he was CIA?" Emily asked.
"Yes, that's where he worked. There's more to this than meets the eye, though. CIA agents don't usually just go rogue like this. Someone else put him up to this."
He slid the images and file over to Emily so she could take a closer look.
"This was sloppy," she said after poring over the pages. "Really sloppy."
Adriana looked at the images as Emily finished each one. "Looks like he didn't care if he was spotted by the cameras."
"Right. He made no effort to hide his face or anything."
"Almost like he wanted to be caught."
"Wanted to be caught?" Dawkins asked.
Emily nodded. "Sometimes we come across those types. They commit crimes in such a way that they have almost no chance of succeeding. Have you done anything recently that would have angered someone in the CIA, perhaps given them a reason to come after you?"
"Not that I know of."
Adriana flicked her eyebrows. "I suppose it could be politically motivated, then. Maybe he just didn't like your policies."
"Could be," Emily said. "But these guys go through a number of psychological assessments before they're given a job. Their training is also extremely rigorous. If Kendricks had a screw loose, someone would have picked up on it by now."
Adriana picked up one of the photos and stared at it for a long moment. "There's a distant, vapid look in his eyes."
"Evil," Dawkins said.
"Maybe. It's also a look of someone who knows their number is up."
Emily read through his dossier and looked up at the other two. "No family. Parents are both dead. Wife left him six years ago. Never had any children."
"Sounds like the perfect trigger man," Adriana said.
"For who?" Dawkins asked.
Emily jumped on the question. "I know you have a team in place trying to figure that out, sir. If it's the same to you, I'd like to put a few of my own agents on it. I know they can be trusted. My unit is tighter than—"
"Thank you for the thought," Dawkins cut her off. "But we aren't sure Axis hasn't been infiltrated yet, either. Remember the issue with Sean?"
She'd almost forgotten. Emily blushed, embarrassed by the issue.
Dawkins reached out his hand again and put it on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure it will all come out in the wash sooner or later."
Adriana knew the relationship between President Dawkins and Emily was beyond the point of professional. They'd been seeing each other — as time allowed — for the better part of a few years. Somehow, they'd managed to keep it out of public view. Adriana wondered if they would ever take the relationship out for a spin. She had a feeling the American public wouldn't mind.
"Still, sir," Emily said, "you need someone else on this. I would be happy to investigate myself."
Dawkins looked surprised at the offer. He pursed his lips as he considered. "Very well, but take Adriana with you. You may need someone to have your back."
"Thank you, sir. We'll figure out who is behind this and bring them to justice."
"I'm sure you will."
Adriana and Emily left the room and walked down the corridor. It was lined with Secret Service on both sides every few yards all the way to the steel elevator doors at the end.
When the two women got on the elevator, Emily pressed one of the buttons. A moment later, the lift began going up.
"So, where do we start?" Adriana asked.
"I already have. Kendricks's file was clean, for the most part. He had a couple of ordinary bank accounts, a home in the suburbs, even a gym membership in spite of the fact he could work out at Langley whenever he wanted."
"You said for the most part."
"Mmhmm. I did a little digging before I came in. He had two other accounts that were less on the up and up. One was in Costa Rica. The other in Nicaragua."
"Not the Caymans?"
Emily shook her head. "That's usually the first place people think of when they want to hide money from the federal government. After the big takedown of all those guys a few years ago with accounts in Switzerland, Cayman, and Lichtenstein, it seems the new trend is to dump money in lesser-known locations."
Adriana processed the information. A dozen ideas ripped through her head. One stood out more than the others. Sean had offshore accounts. Tommy may have as well, though she knew less about his personal finances. While Sean kept a stash of money in his Chattanooga safe house, he also had a significant portion of money deposited in a Swiss bank account. She stuffed that thought back in her mind. Getting Sean's money wasn't the most important item on the docket. Finding out why Kendricks had offshore accounts was higher on the priority list.
"Can you access the Kendricks accounts?" Adriana asked.
"That's just it. Those banks are super tight when it comes to giving out access to their customers' accounts. It's why people go to them. Everyone knows that if you put money into one of those banks, they're going to keep it a secret. At least they'll do their best. That means we really have no way of figuring out where the money came from. And I'm sure whoever made the deposits — if it wasn't Kendricks — did a thorough job of cleaning up the paper trail."
"So, you don't have any way of figuring out who made the deposits?"
"I didn't say that." Emily turned her head and flashed a mischievous smirk. "Kendricks would have had associates, coworkers, maybe even some drinking buddies. First, we'll interview those people, find out more about the man. Then we can start to break down any clandestine meetings he may have had before the assassination attempt. If someone is pulling the strings, there will either be a paper trail or a list of people he had to meet. Sooner or later, the house of cards will come tumbling down."
"What if there was a way to make all that happen faster?" Adriana asked.
The elevator came to a stop, and the door opened. They stepped out into a long corridor lined with big white-framed windows. Heavy golden curtains hung on either side of each.
As they walked forward, Adriana turned her head and looked outside. The pristine White House lawn stretched down to a row of bushes and trees surrounded by a black wrought-iron fence. The grass looked like lush green carpet.
"Hold that thought until we're in my car," Emily said.
She led the way through the halls, security checkpoints, and back out to where she'd parked in a secret lot behind the presidential mansion.
Once they were in her car, she reached under the steering wheel and pressed a hidden button. A few seconds later, a voice came through the speakers. "Device check complete. No threat detected."
Adriana's eyebrows stitched together. "Was that an onboard bug detection system?"
Emily flashed a grin. "Yep. You can never be too careful. The car is clean. Finish your thought from the elevator. You were saying something about getting the Kendricks investigation done faster?"
Adriana snapped back to what she was saying. "Yes. There may be a way to hurry things up a bit."
"How do you plan on doing that?"
"Tommy's lab assistants."
Emily's interest piqued. "The kids?"
"They typically specialize in doing historical research, forensics, things like that. But they might be able to hack into one of those systems and find where the money came from."
"Sounds like a long shot."
"It is. They may not be able to help, but while we're tracking down leads, they could at least give it a try. We don't even have to tell them what it's for. I'm sure they'll be happy to help. After all, they're lying low right now and probably bored out of their minds."