Lopez leaned forward in her seat, a cynical smile slapped across her features. ‘And once you have this evidence, then what? Somehow, I don’t think you’ll run screaming to the papers.’
‘The evidence will be presented to a military court,’ Jarvis said. ‘Either that or it will be locked safely away at the DIA to act as insurance against any further inter-agency interference, from the CIA or anybody else.’
Ethan felt something uncomfortable slither inside him. ‘And what about this case here: the two losers they found in that warehouse?’
‘I want you to work with the police team and solve this case, while I find out what I can from Donovan about Aaron Lymes’ death. It will look good back at the DIA that you’re still actively on their side. Right now, half of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is entertaining the possibility that you two have been murdering CIA agents, remember?’
Ethan’s guts felt as though they had turned to stone.
‘I’m not doing this to suck up to a bunch of brass.’
‘And what about Joanna?’ Lopez asked. ‘If we lose her trail, she’ll be almost impossible to pick up again; and if we find her and the CIA are watching us, then they’ll grab her and that’s the last we’ll see of her.’
‘Not necessarily,’ Jarvis pointed out. ‘It’s what she might know that scares them, and what she might do with that knowledge. If Joanna has done what they obviously think she has and gone underground on a mission to expose MK-ULTRA, then the CIA’s mission is to stop her at all costs. But if she can be prevented from doing so, and we at the DIA hold any hard evidence she possesses, then she is no longer a threat.’
Lopez leaned back in her seat with a bitter chuckle. ‘The DIA has its own get-out-of-jail-free card and we’re all in the clear. You’ve got it all worked out, Doug, I’ll give you that.’
‘I don’t know,’ Ethan said, finally. ‘The bodies in the warehouse could just be some sort of elaborate hoax to throw investigators off the trail.’
Jarvis shook his head.
‘Unlikely. We’ll have to get you both down to the Medical Examiner’s Office as soon as possible to find out what the autopsy says. Even if it’s not a case that warrants the DIA’s involvement, it gives you a reason to stay in New York and any case you solve will increase your standing. Right now, you need all the support you can get.’
Ethan glanced out of the vehicle’s window at the bleak winter sky and the cold gray cityscape of New York City. The huge metropolis was both the perfect place for a fugitive to hide and also the perfect hunting ground.
‘Whatever the situation might be, this city’s going to be a dangerous place until we resolve this situation once and for all. There’s a possible assassin, fugitive and serial killer on the loose here all at the same time.’
‘Then we’d best get to work,’ Jarvis said. ‘Stay close to Karina. Maybe she can help.’
15
‘We really appreciate this, Karina.’
Ethan watched as Karina handed them both a drink before flopping down onto a tired-looking couch. Her apartment was cramped and sparsely decorated, her salary as a detective probably only just allowing her to cover the rent. New York City was densely populated and the price of property was totally off the scale. Unless you were a celebrity or the Bronx and Harlem was your thing, everybody rented. People only went for mortgages when they were too old to live in the city, and then they bought places out to the north or over New Jersey way. New York City was a playground for the young, the successful and those who wanted to be. For the rest, it was just damned hard work.
‘No big deal,’ Karina replied. ‘Not like I get many visitors, anyway.’
‘Glen doesn’t live here with you?’ Lopez asked.
Ethan stared at her in surprise. ‘How do you know that Glen’s with Karina?’
‘It’s a woman thing.’ Lopez smiled at Karina, who grinned conspiratorially back at her as she noticed Ethan’s apparent discomfort.
Karina shrugged. ‘Glen’s as busy as I am, and he doesn’t want us to move in together yet, anyway. Says it’s too much commitment too soon.’ Ethan noticed Lopez roll her eyes and glance in his direction, but he said nothing. ‘And, on my own, I can’t afford to do much but sleep and eat. Been here two years and all I’ve done is paint the walls.’
‘Same for me back home,’ Lopez said. ‘I feel like I’ve only been out of the force for a few months.’
Karina nursed her drink as she eyed them both curiously.
‘Yeah, what was the deal with that anyway?’ she asked. ‘I heard you were up for promotion after busting open some kind of big thing in DC, like Donovan said. Your name was big news for a week or two.’
‘It’s a long story,’ Ethan replied for Lopez.
‘Good,’ Karina replied without hesitation and looked at Lopez. ‘I like epics. Begin.’
‘It’s complicated,’ Lopez replied. ‘My partner and I in DC got involved in an investigation that was much bigger than we thought. Ethan here came in close to the end, but, by then, my partner had been killed.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Karina said. ‘I didn’t know.’
‘A lot of the details were kept fairly quiet outside of local media,’ Lopez said. ‘I was offered promotion but turned it down and left the force. Ethan and I teamed up and we’re private investigators, technically.’
‘Technically?’ Karina pressed.
‘We work for the government,’ Ethan said. ‘We’re subcontracted to a department within the Defense Intelligence Agency, which picks up criminal investigations that are passed over by other agencies as unworkable.’
Karina raised an eyebrow. ‘Very Men in Black. So what brought you here? And don’t tell me it was the Hell Gate case. You must have been in town before then, if you’re from DC?’
‘We’re from Illinois,’ Ethan informed her. ‘Our work for the DIA takes us across the country.’
‘You follow the news a few months back?’ Lopez asked her. ‘A Democrat Congressman sanctioned a congressional investigation into corruption within the intelligence community.’
Karina frowned. ‘Sure, got shut down after a couple of months. Some poor guy died or something.’
‘Quite a few people died,’ Ethan replied for Lopez. ‘We’re investigating what happened.’
The decision to lie to Karina was one that Ethan and Lopez had debated on the way over. Ethan feared that exposing her to what was really happening could possibly make her a target. Lopez had admitted that was something she wished to avoid but at the same time was loathe to risk lying to a potential ally only for those lies to later be exposed. Ultimately, it came down to a practical requirement of their work with the DIA that they were already used to: tell as much of the truth as possible, in order to cover the lie.
‘You’re investigating your own people?’
Lopez nodded. ‘But quietly. There’s not much more we can say right now as this may lead to nothing but, because we need to be able to work without raising suspicions, we’ve had to travel incognito. We’re subcontracted, so it’s a little easier for us to investigate than putting actual government employees on the case.’
‘So nobody knows that you’re here?’
‘Officially, we’re on vacation from the DIA,’ Lopez replied smoothly. ‘Nobody knows we’re in New York.’
Karina appeared to be wavering between excitement and disappointment. ‘Jesus, I get to investigate drug-homicides and domestic assaults and you guys are going all Jack Bauer. There’s no justice.’