Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
T hey left the bomb scene to the Evidence Recovery Techs, and Killion insisted on a meeting with Ackers back at Quantico. Which was how Cas found himself entering a room in Building 64 that the FBI sometimes used to run special operations they didn’t want anyone else to know about.
The bombing meant the canapés were on hold. Cas was pissed that Kurt Montana’s memorial service had been disrupted, but there wasn’t a lot he could do about it. The incident had to be investigated, and they needed everyone looking for the perpetrator, for Scanlon, before anyone else got hurt.
Cas had been cleared by a medic and had changed out of his ruined suit at the HRT compound. The guys were all angry, shaken. They wanted to know what the hell was going on. He couldn’t share his suspicions, not until after he’d spoken to Killion and Ackers, and the other higher-ups who had the power to make decisions—decisions that could affect Delilah’s career, and possibly her very survival.
If the FBI fired Delilah for leaving the scene of a crime, he had no doubt she’d go after the former SEAL herself. And he wouldn’t allow that .
The guys on Gold Team were his brothers, but he wouldn’t risk Delilah. Not again. Never again.
“Okay, so I’ve updated the FBI Director with information that might be pertinent to this investigation.” Killion sat on the front desk, swinging his left leg like some cool high school geography teacher. The innocuous demeanor was deceptive. “She agreed we needed to form a task force to investigate events of the last few days.”
“We?” Ackers asked sharply. “What’s an attack on the FBI got to do with the CIA?”
Everyone in the room knew the CIA was not legally allowed to act on US soil or against US persons.
Killion held up his hands in mock defense. “I’m here only to get the task force up to speed with what I know and maybe push through the usual bureaucratic bullshit so we can speed this investigation along. May I continue, or would you like me to recite the Constitution first?”
Ackers scowled angrily and sat down with a disgruntled expression in a plastic chair. The Director of the Hostage Rescue Team was upset by this morning’s events and not used to being talked to with anything but deference. Killion wasn’t exactly known for his tact or for being intimidated by rank or titles of so-called authority figures. This was a man who’d faced off with some of the world’s most dangerous criminals and terrorists on their home turf and knew practically everyone in the intelligence community. An angry FBI agent, of any rank, wasn’t likely to make much of an impact on the former intelligence officer’s Kevlar hide.
Killion flicked him a glance that might have been an apology. Cas didn’t have Killion’s immunity from the pecking order. He had to abide by the rules. So did Delilah.
“Who’s going to be in charge of the task force?” Cas wanted to know how they’d deal with Delilah.
“ASAC Greg Trainer is on his way.” Killion checked his watch. “ Twenty minutes out. I’m not familiar with him, but I believe he has a decent rep.”
Cas’s mood sank.
“While we wait for him why don’t you fill everyone in on the events of the day, Operator Demarco?” Ackers instructed. “We all want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. Kurt Montana deserves better.”
“He does.” He really does . Something an asshole like Scanlon wouldn’t give a shit about.
Where to start?
Cas didn’t want to betray Delilah, but at some point, her role in the story would need to come out. It had to if she wanted to remain an agent with the Bureau.
“Two days ago, I became aware of the fact a man who I’d first encountered as an undercover FBI agent had been released from the brig in Miramar. He’s a former Navy SEAL, and we caught him smuggling drugs and weapons across the border for the Mexican cartel during a combined CIA/DEA/FBI operation. Myself and another Special Agent out of the San Diego Field Office gathered the evidence, and she arrested him when he was back in the States.”
Cas had been busy extricating himself from Mexico and his undercover role. He stretched his neck that was still stiff from his earlier rendezvous with the pavement.
“We both testified in court, although my identity was concealed. Scanlon was convicted and sentenced to seven years.” Cas met Novak’s gaze. “He was released two years early three weeks ago for good behavior.”
The intensity of the stares of his two HRT compatriots reminded him of cartel captains looking for a reason to gut you.
“Monday night, I became aware that the other undercover agent in that operation, Special Agent Delilah Quinn, was believed dead in a house fire in San Diego.”
“Wasn’t there another agent who died in San Diego also?” Novak leaned forward, eyes brimming with suppressed anger .
Cas nodded. “Agent Quinn’s partner on the Public Corruption Unit, David Gonzales, was shot and killed at his home.” The death of two agents had shaken the FBI community. Now this bombing incident had put everyone on high alert. “One of David Gonzales’s Confidential Informants was also found dead that morning. I don’t know the status of that investigation.”
“And you suspect this former Navy SEAL?” asked Novak.
Cas nodded.
“Why?”
“He threatened us during his arrest, which isn’t unusual. It also fits with his character despite what the prison service might believe.” Cas hated lying, even by omission, to a man who was a friend as well as his team leader. “Today, when I left the service to get some fresh air, I spotted a glint of reflection off a lens in the woods. At the same moment, I noticed an FBI ball cap that Ryan Sullivan had left on my dashboard was gone.” He looked up and met Novak’s piercing gaze. “I didn’t think. I ran. A second later, the bomb went off.” He held out his grazed hands. “Could have been a hell of a lot worse.”
“You’re damned lucky to be alive,” Novak growled.
“Where do you come into this?” Ackers asked Killion with ill-concealed contempt.
“I was involved in the operation six years ago—on the other side of the border. Behind the scenes, mainly, but I was able to feed Demarco enough information to keep him safe and also make him look like an asset to the cartel.”
“He saved my ass more times than I can count.” Cas still regretted being unable to warn some of the younger members of the cartel before the shit had gone down, but it hadn’t been possible without getting a bullet between the eyes or having to fight his way to the border. The young men who’d died in the shootout with the Mexican police haunted him. It had been another reason to get out of undercover work. Sometimes he liked the bad guys too much.
Novak’s and Ackers’ expressions both relaxed a little at the realization Killion had actually helped Cas and that his involvement in this was likely in the past and not the present. That wasn’t always the case with the CIA.
“Are you a target?” Novak asked the spook.
Killion pulled a face. “Doubtful. My role was never publicly revealed. I spent most of my time in a dark apartment in Tijuana with a DEA analyst who looked like Fidel Castro and smelled so strongly of hashish I was high every night.”
Ackers clasped his hands together. “Do you have any proof that it was this Navy SEAL who planted the bomb or killed these agents in San Diego?”
“No, sir, but attacks on myself and Agent Quinn just a few weeks after his release certainly begs the question.”
“What about the cartel? Could they be after revenge?” Ackers directed the question at the spook.
Killion pulled a face. “I doubt it.”
Cas explained. “Most of the people from back then are dead or in prison. The ones who aren’t? You know as well as I do they tend to avoid tangling with Feds on this side of the border. Plus, it seems odd to have waited all this time if they’d wanted their revenge—especially as Agent Quinn was right across the border in San Diego the whole time. Would have been easy enough to snatch her years ago.”
His stomach clenched at the thought. Delilah had dismissed his concerns. Told him she could look after herself. And he’d been so freaked out at even the thought of losing her he’d cut and run.
Like that would make it hurt any less.
Imbecile.
He heard people enter the building and then watched as a tall, thin guy who must be ASAC Greg Trainer walked in, followed by Lincoln Frazer, Alex Parker, Mallory Rooney and, to his surprise, Delilah.
She shot him a concerned look.
The fact she was worried about him sent a small thrill of satisfaction through him .
Novak’s gaze narrowed as he noticed the exchange.
Shit.
Killion moved to lean against the wall. Trainer introduced himself to Ackers and the others and then introduced everyone else, pausing as he indicated Delilah step forward. “And this is Special Agent Delilah Quinn.”
Acker’s eyes widened, and his mustache stretched over his tightened lips. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
She smiled faintly. “Hopefully, the person who tried to kill me on Monday night thinks so.”
“Who did they pull out of that fire?” Novak asked sharply.
Delilah folded her arms, and Cas saw her bottom lip quiver before she firmed it. “My best friend from college, Valerie Strauss.”
There was a moment of quiet to acknowledge the loss.
“You believe it’s this Scanlon fellow?” said Ackers.
“I do.” She held his boss’s gaze. “Now we just have to prove it.”