Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology (30 page)

“
Answer
the fuckin' question, asshole,” the younger, rail-thin man
yelled, slapping the back of Gordy's head, harder this time than the
first. “Where did you get these photos?”

Gordy twisted
his head to look up at the younger man. “Look, kid, I told you
before, the first time I saw these photos was when you laid 'em out
here on this table. Hit me again and my lawyers will have your
hide.”

The agents
glanced at each other; the younger one laughed.

“
Yeah,
right,” he said, slapping the back of Gordy's head even
harder.
“Answer the fuckin' question!”

“
I told
you before, I never saw them before in my life.”

“
Quit
lying to us, asshole! Don't you know that's a felony?”

“
Lying to
a federal official? Of course I do, but I'm not lying. I never saw
those before.”

“
You had
them in your possession.”

“
I did?
When? When you grabbed me tonight?”

“
No,
asshole. When you testified before the subcommittee.”

“
Oh.
You're saying I had them then?”

“
Yeah,
then. You gave them to the Chairman.”

“
I did?
No, I didn't. All I gave him was a printed copy of my testimony,
which I would have read into the record if he'd let me do
that
before he canceled the hearing.”

“
Adjourned,”
the older agent said.

“
What?”

“
Adjourned
the hearing, not canceled it.”

“
Adjourned,
canceled, whatever. He ended it.”

“
He told
us you gave them to him,” the younger one said.

“
Then
he's lying. Go arrest
him
for lying to a fed.”

“
He also
wants us to charge you with contempt of Congress.”

“
Contempt
of is very different from contempt for. Contempt of has very
specific legal requirements, and none of my actions meet those. He
excused me and canceled – sorry – adjourned the hearing.
Why he did that, I have no idea.”

“
So you
are claiming that you never saw these photos before we showed them to
you here and now?”

“
Claiming?
No. Stating unequivocally, yes. I never saw those
before
you laid them out on this table. Now are you going to give me a ride
home or do I have to call a cab?”

“
Neither,
asshole,” the younger one hissed. “We can hold you
indefinitely, and we're going to do just that.

“
By what
authority?”

“
Under
the Patriot Act.”

“
The
Patriot Act? That's for suspected terrorists.”

“
And we
suspect you of terrorism. Don't we, Charlie?”

The older man
hemmed and hawed a moment, then said, “Yeah, we do.”

“
Handcuff
him again, Charlie,” the younger man said, turning away and
heading out the door.

“
Yes,
sir.”

“
Oh,
we're also putting you on the No-Fly list, asshole.”

Once the
younger man had closed the door behind him, Charlie said under his
breath, “Dickwad; political hack,” then said to Gordy,
“Please put your hands behind your back, sir,” which
Gordy did. The
older man put the handcuffs back on,
slightly looser this time. “I'm
sorry, sir.
Orders are orders.”

“
I
understand … Charlie.”

- 76 -

January
1, 2013
9:08
a.m. local time

Bonita Springs,
Florida

“
I want
to file a missing persons report,” Rosemary told the woman
behind the bulletproof glass at the Lee County Sheriff's substation.

“
How long
has the person been missing, ma'am?”

“
The FBI
picked him up about midnight last night. He should
have
been back by now.”

“
The FBI?
Did you call them?”

“
Yes, but
all I got was a voicemail saying that the office was
closed
for the holiday and to call back tomorrow. I'm worried about him.”

“
I'm
sorry, but the person has to be missing for 48 hours before we can
take a report, unless – how old is this person, ma'am?”

“
About 67
or 68, I think.”

“
Oh.
Nope. If it were a child, that's different. But for an adult, we
can't – is he mentally impaired?”

“
No.”

“
Then I'm
sorry, but there's nothing we can do until the 48 hours have
elapsed.”

- 77 -

January
1, 2013
11:38
a.m. local time

Aboard
Defiance

In
the Gulf of Aden

“
They
did? Great. And it'll work with any machine? And they know how to
install it and work it? Good. How soon can we get it
here?
And Greg and Julie, of course. Super. No, keep him there and start
the interrogation. Becky said there was something hinky about him,
and the client can wait; I don't want to turn him back over until
we're sure he won't try to sabotage something after he gets back
there. Good. Thanks, Amber. And thanks for the dossier on Pam's
guy. Keep all the teams digging for more, okay? Good. Keep me
posted. And Happy New Year to you, too. Bye.” He hung up the
satphone.

“
Okay,
Pam, how does that file match up with your stuff?”

“
I've
only scratched the surface so far, but it already makes me
even
more convinced that he WAS the mole. Where did you get all
this
intel?”

“
Oh,
we've got extensive files on lots of people, institutions and groups
all over the world. Not as many or as deep as the FBI, NSA, CIA,
MI6, Mossad, Interpol or the other intelligence agencies, but we're
getting there. And we can tap into those databases almost whenever we
want to.”

“
Do they
know about that?”

“
Not
always.”

“
Not
always?”

“
Well,
hardly ever. Only when we're working with them on one of their
cases.”

“
So what
else do we have on my guy?”

“
I've got
Phil and Nadia scouring everything they can find, and
they're
good; if it's out there, they'll find it, and then they'll connect
whatever dots they can. And I've got other teams digging up any info
they can from whatever sources they can.”

“
Quietly,
right?”

“
Yup,
totally under the radar. He'll never know … until we're
ready.”

- 78 -

January
1, 2013
9:53
a.m. local time

Bonita Springs,
Florida

“
I hope I
didn't wake you, Dallas.”

“
Uhhh,
not yet. What's up?”

“
Gordy
hasn't come back after last night, and I don't know who
else
to call.”

“
Did you
call the FBI?”

“
Yup;
they've got a number in Fort Myers, but all I get is a holiday
voicemail. And the sheriff's department can't take a missing
person's report for 48 hours.”

“
Did you
check his place?”

“
Yup;
he's not there.”

“
His car
there?”

“
Yup,
right where I parked it. Thanks for helping me out with that.”

“
No
problem. Let's see. Who else” –

“
I can't
think of anything else or anybody else. What if they've hurt him …
or worse?”

- 79 -

January
5, 2013
10:38
p.m. local time

Monnikenstraat

Amsterdam,
The Netherlands

“
What's
going on back there at the hotel, CB?”

“
Nothing
at all yet. He's just sitting and drinking,” Carie replied,
glancing at her monitor. “And out there?”

“
They're
just window-shopping for now,” Jill said, watching and videoing
the interns and Secret Service men ogling the scantily clad
prostitutes in the windows under the seven red awnings along this
tiny street in the red light district.

“
I'll
tell ya, CB, some of these kids are way too young to have any
sophistication, and I'm sure at least a few of 'em
are gonna have
major trouble tonight.”

“
Not our
problem; we just surveil and report.”

“
For
now.”

“
The SS
guys'll protect 'em.”

“
If
they're not doing it themselves.”

“
Got that
right.”

“
More
taxpayer money down the drain, CB.”

“
Right;
no sequester for this clown. But not our problem.”

“
Sure
glad we don't pay US taxes.”

“
You and
me both, Jillybean.”

“
And
tomorrow, he's off to Barcelona?”

“
Yup.”

“
Why's he
going there?”

“
He's
gotta take some pics of Gaudi's buildings for his wife.”

“
I don't
know how she stays with him. What a bastard.”