Alex sighed. She took a deep breath, knowing that what she was going to say would hurt the woman very badly. It would either make her totally distrust the agents, or doubt what she knew about her husband.
“Janet, listen to me. You know that the police found your car, the one that was stolen, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you know that it had been bombed, right?”
“Yes, but I don’t understand why someone would do that.”
“Did your husband tell you these things, or did a police officer tell you?”
“Kyle did. He always takes care of things like that.” She looked back down at the table. “Or at least he always used to.”
“Well, did Kyle tell you who was in the car when it exploded, and what they had done?”
Janet looked warily at the agent. “No.”
“Janet, the people in the car were George Mather, and Darryl Wilford. We believe that they were the two men that joined the meeting at your house that single time.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it? I’d like you to look at a couple of pictures for me, okay?” She slid the pictures of Wilford and Mather across to the woman. “Do you recognize these men, Janet?”
Janet looked at the pictures, and Alex could see the answer in her eyes.
“Janet, these two men are known to be responsible for at least three killings in the last six months.”
“No.”
“One of them was with John Treville in Europe, in the company of gun runners and drug dealers.”
“That’s not true — no no —”
Janet broke down, her sobs filling the small kitchenette. Rick looked out the door to see if her daughter had heard, but the girl was asleep on the couch, curled into a fetal position. Alex slid a box of tissue over to Janet, and waited for her sobs to quiet down.
A wailing from the bedroom broke the tableau. Janet leaped up and left the room, practically running. Alex couldn’t decide whether she was running to her son, or just trying to escape her and Rick.
*******************************************************
Teren stopped in to see Cliff before going to the CIA offices. He waved her into his office, and told her to shut the door.
“How’d everything go out in Colorado? You find anything?”
“Yeah, but not much. I’ve got some information coming in this afternoon, then I’ll catch a plane for Philly. Anything from our other intrepid investigators?”
“Not yet. They made it in, and they were meeting with Harnisch this morning. Then they had an interrogation planned. Alex said she’d call after that.”
“Good. No sign of Brogan, huh?”
“Nope. And I’m kind of worried. I mean, he and White, they’re our only suspects. If somebody takes them out, we’re dead in the water.”
“Have you sent someone to pick up White?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact I gave Tom and Rudy the orders this morning. Their flight should arrive in Birmingham about four o’clock. Hopefully, they’ll have White in custody soon after.”
“Good. Well, unless something different comes up, I’ll be in Philly by tonight.”
“Make sure you keep Alex out of trouble. And don’t shoot David.”
“Right.” She gave him a half-smile, then thought about something she’d spoken to Carl about. “Hey, Cliff, who was the person who put this team together?”
He stared at her. “Deputy Director Bishop. He’s the guy I report to.”
“And he chose the agents to be on it?”
“Most of them. I finally talked him into letting me bring Alex and David onto the team.”
“Okay. Who was it that decided to send Alex and David up to Philly to protect Dabir?”
“Bishop. I wanted to send Mark and Ben along with Ken, but he said he wanted David and Alex in Philly.”
“Didn’t anybody tell him they had no experience in security precautions?”
“Yes, I did.” Cliff frowned and narrowed his eyes. “What are you trying to say, Teren, that Alex and David did a bad job because they didn’t have enough experience?”
“Not at all. From what I’ve heard, I understand they did a great job. They couldn’t know someone would use the ID from a dead CIA operative. I’m just saying, I was surprised someone with a little more experience in that particular area didn’t get sent with them.”
Cliff sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I tried, but Bishop was insistent.”
“Did he give a reason why?”
“Nope. Just said those were the three he wanted up there. My hands were tied.”
Teren nodded. “Well, I better get going. I’ll call before I leave, and make sure where Alex and David are, okay?”
“Gotcha. I’m gonna be here late tonight, as usual.”
“I thought with a position like yours you’d get to go home early all the time, Cliff.”
“Yeah, right. And I bet you believe in the tooth fairy, too.”
*******************************************************
It took several minutes for Janet Brogan to quiet her son, and when he was finally calm, he refused to leave her arms. Every time she tried to sit him down, no matter where, he would begin crying, and reach his arms out to her.
Finally, he settled on her lap in the kitchen, staring at the two FBI agents with wide brown eyes. He clung to his mother, sucking furiously on his pacifier.
Alex got up and refilled Janet’s coffee cup. She allowed the other woman several minutes to compose herself, and then she sat down across from her.
“I’m sorry this is happening to your family, Janet.”
Janet stroked the head of the child in her lap. “I don’t really believe you, you know. About Kyle, I mean, or John. But I’ll tell you everything I know and you’ll find out for yourself you were wrong.”
Alex and Rick exchanged glances.
“What else can you tell us, Janet?”
“Well, Kyle agreed to drive those two men places. Though once or twice there was only one — this one, you called him Darren?”
“Darryl.”
“Right. They drove down to Baltimore. I can’t remember when.”
“Why didn’t they just fly?”
“I don’t know. Something about having a car there and not renting one.”
“Did your husband make a lot of trips with these men?”
“Several. There was Baltimore, New York, Alabama. And on the way back from Alabama they stayed in Atlanta for a few days.”
There was the confirmation, Alex thought. She realized they now had the basic ‘who’ and ‘how’ questions answered. Now they had would have to work on the question of ‘why.’
And they needed Kyle Brogan for that.
“Janet, when Kyle would leave the house, he’d take his cell phone, right?”
“Yes.”
“Is there a possibility he has it with him now?”
“I don’t know. I could give you the number and you could call.”
“Would he answer it?”
“He might, but I’m not sure.” She shifted the boy in her arms. “I suppose I could try our signal.”
“Signal?”
“Yeah. Once in a while he wouldn’t want to answer the phone, because he was in a meeting, or he was really busy. So, we devised a signal months ago so that I could call, and he would know it was me and I needed him to answer.”
“And how did the signal work?”
“It was pretty simple, really. I’d call, and hang up after the first ring, count to ten, and call back. It never failed.”
Alex reached across and touched Janet’s arm. “Will you call him for us? It’s really important that we find him, Janet, before whoever blew up your house finds him instead.”
Janet glanced down at the little boy in her arms, then back up at Rick, and Alex. She nodded, and said in a quiet voice, “I’ll call him.”
*******************************************************
The area that Teren was about to enter was in the very heart of the CIA underground complex. It was actually three floors underground, and was called B3. The security from B2 to B4 was incredibly tight. Depending on which floor you were going to, you had to submit to different kinds of searches. The second floor, B2, required a simple wanding of the operative’s body, since one was not allowed to bring metal of any kind onto the floor. Any and all pens, pencils, or other office supply items were already inside the area, and the operatives could take full use of them. This precaution was taken because of the sensitive nature of the computers in the room, and the rule that in the basement floors, only security guards could carry their weapons.