The Road to Justice/Sins of the Son combo pack - A John Fowler Novel (John Fowler (Books 1 & 2)) (47 page)

“
Mind if we change the subject for a minute?  There is something I
’
ve wanted to ask you,
”
John asked.  Jessica
beamed and leaned across the desk. 
“
The way you danced the other night . . . being an FBI agent wasn
’
t your first choice, was it?
”

Jessica smiled and leaned back in her chair.

“
No,
”
she replied simply. 
“
No, I went to a dance school.  I paid my own way.  My parents weren
’
t too happy with me.  I was there two years when I hurt my knee.  It wasn
’
t anything that would bother me in everyday life, or even anything that would stop me from passing an FBI physical, but it was enough that would limit me in dancing for a couple of years.  The school was very cutthroat, and I had to be at 100%.  So I took some time off from dancing.
”

Jessica paused in the story.  John was hanging on every word.  She had never known someone to naturally be this interested in a person
’
s background.  In her experience the only time someone was as interested as this; it was either a first date, or she was being interrogated.  She decided to see where this led and continued.

“
I decided I had borrowed too much money just to quit school, so I decided to do something practical while I waited for my knee to heal.  I took some classes and it led to the FBI.
”

John nodded. 
“
I bet that cost a lot of money,
”
he stated.

“
It cost a fortune!
”
 
Jessica exclaimed. 
“
It wasn
’
t just student loans.  That wouldn
’
t cover all the costs, so I had to take out private loans as well.  My parents wouldn
’
t pay for any of it because they thought dancing wouldn
’
t make any money.  They thought that I would abandon my degree as soon as my knee had rehabbed.  In case you haven
’
t noticed, the cost of living in New York isn
’
t exactly cheap either.
”

John was nodding as he listened.  The private loan part really began to bug him.  Student loans were controlled by the government now, but private . . . John reached a
decision in his mind quickly.  He realized Jessica had finished and now there was an uncomfortable pause between them. 

John,
”
Jessica began. 
“
If there is something you want to know, please come right out and ask me and don
’
t beat around the bush.
”

John studied Jessica
’
s face very carefully.  He knew she was just seconds from breaking into full interrogator mode.  John didn
’
t ever want to be there again. 

“
Jess, I was just curious, that
’
s all,
”
John stated.  He got up to leave. 
“
Look I need to let Chet know what
’
s going on and then Bruce and I are going on a little trip.  I don
’
t want Bruce to leave my sight.  For whatever reason, something is up with him.
”
 
John started to leave and paused.  He knew this would get Jessica off of the attack with him. 
“
By the way, you may want to alert the Virginia State
P
olice and Quantico.  Bruce and I are going to go talk to the Moores about Archibald.
”
 
With that he tipped his hat and headed out the door.

Jessica stared at the door for a minute.  Once John got back, if he and Sam
’
s father didn
’
t kill each other, she was going
to have a long talk with John; a
s John
’
s mom use to say,
“
A come to Jesus meeting.
”
 
She didn
’
t think John was going to like it, but she really didn
’
t care.  There were too many things insinuated in their conversation, and if they were ever going to have any kind of relationship, th
e
n there needed to be trust.  Jessica smiled to herself.  She hadn
’
t let a man get her this upset in a long time.  She didn
’
t know where things would lead with John.  She spoke out loud softly.

Sam
,
how did you ever put up with that irritating man?
”
 
Jessica was sure Sam was somewhere laughing at her.

John walked out of Jessica
’
s office and noticed Chet hadn
’
t come back to the Foxhole yet.  John had a pretty good idea of where he was.  John didn
’
t like what he did to Jessica and he really didn
’
t like what he was about to do to Chet.  John had a good idea of what was going on, and he knew that part of this was his fault.  Well, it wasn
’
t, but John wouldn
’
t let his team get hurt the way they had been if he had been around
instead of being undercover and then leaving the FBI
. 

John knew
he needed to fix things, and he knew w
hat
he needed
to do to fix things, but he was going to have to eat many portions of humble pie to do so.  John shuddered
from
thinking about what he would have to do and moved the thoughts from his mind.  John began thinking about his conversation from earlier with Dr. Freeman about the reoccurring participant family to this case and the previous two he worked on; the Staples. 

John knew Veronica was involved in the last case.  He had suspicion
s
this kidnapping had something to do with Veronica and her father, but he had always wondered about the Mafia case from years ago.  Did someone tip off the Duck?  If John had never heard of the Duck again, he never would have thought twice about it.  The fact the man was known as the alleged head of the
Lucciano
crime family . . . something was rotten in Denmark.  How had Robert Mariotti Jr, the man known as the Duck, managed to have no dealings with everyone the FBI targeted on John
’
s undercover operation?  Better yet, how did he manage to come back and take control of everything!?!  The thing that bothered John the most, how does someone who was simply a loan shark with one of the most ridiculous names in the history of the Mafia climb the ranks that quickly??  This
was
the part that bothered John more than anything.   

John realized he had reached the roof of the FBI building while thinking.  He looked around and saw his
friend.  Chet was sitting on some type of metal case on the roof, looking over the city.  John scratched his chin.  He ran things through his mind one more time and could come up with no other explanation of what had happened.  This was one of those times John hated his abilities.  John approached Chet.

John walked up beside Chet and just stood there for a moment, silent.  John gazed out over the city.  He had to admit, New York was beautiful from the top of the building.  Sam use to love to come to the office just to look out over the city.  John smiled to himself.  Sam always looked for the good in everything.  It wasn
’
t that John didn
’
t appreciate the beauty of the city, but he was a country boy at heart.  John had grown up in a small rural area in Western Kentucky, and there were times he just missed home.  Sam . . . Sam just loved the city.  She loved the culture, the buildings, the bustle; she just loved everything about it.  John shook his head.

“
Chet,
”
John began. 
“
You ok buddy?
”

Chet looked at John.  John noticed several things instantly.  Chet had dark circles under his eyes; he could see the tension in Chet
’
s skin around his head.  Chet
’
s nails had been bitten.  Frankly, Chet looked like something was eating him from the inside out.  All of that took John less than a second.  Chet tried to smile reassuringly, but it was to no avail, John already knew the words coming out of Chet
’
s mouth were a lie.

“
Yeah,
”
Chet said with a wave of his hand. 
“
Yeah buddy, I
’
m good. 
Anything on the case?
”
 
John stuffed his hands in his pockets and blew out a long breath of air.  Chet gave a half smile.  He knew John enough to know there was something, but it wasn
’
t good.

“
Chet, this case is almost 24 hours old,
”
John said.  Chet chuckled and looked back out over the city.  Inside, Chet was berating himself.  Chet had already known that fact, but John didn
’
t know that Chet knew.  Chet knew he had to play it off.  He turned back toward John shaking his head.  He laughed as he spoke.

“
Given the past few days, would you expect anything less
,
John?
”
 
Chet asked.  John rocked back on his
heels and shook his head no.  John prepared himself for what he was about to tell his buddy.

“
Chet,
”
John began. 
“
I know this isn
’
t how we usually do things, but I need you and Bruce
’
s IT guy to run the exact same things independently.  We
’
re 24 hours behind, and we need to have double eyes on everything.
”
 
John waited for the explosion.  It didn
’
t come.  Chet looked at John with sadness in his eyes.  This was killing John.

“
You think the Senator is already dead, don
’
t you
,
John?
”

John didn
’
t say anything for a minute.  There were really two reasons John was having double eyes on everything.  The first was to make sure there wasn
’
t a mole interfering in the investigation, and if there was to catch that person.  The second; John had to cover himself.   A Senator being kidnapped was a high profile case, and this case was already going bad.  If this case went wrong . . . John knew with him as lead investigator and just back in the FBI after a three year absence, his case work would be scrutinized.  What John found so interesting was Jessica and Trip had assumed he was looking for inconsistencies, and possibly a mole, while Chet immediately thought the Senator was dead. 

John
’
s heart sank.  There were several reasons Chet could have thought that. There was the obvious; Chet knew the Senator was dead.  But that just didn
’
t feel right to John.  What felt right, was that Chet had so many personal setbacks in his life; he just drifted toward the negative.  John knew blaming himself right now wasn
’
t the answer.  He put his hand on Chet
’
s shoulder.

“
I don
’
t
know,
Chet,
”
John answered honestly. 
“
I just don
’
t know.  What I do know is that if we can find one extra clue by doing this, th
e
n that
’
s what we need to do.  Time is critical.
”
 
Chet nodded and stood up.  John moved his hand off of Chet
’
s shoulder as he did. 

You
’
re right
,
John,
”
Chet said. 
“
We need every edge we can get.
”

“
Just like poker?
”
 
John asked, smiling.

Chet cracked a big smile and nodded.

“
Hey,
”
John began. 
“
I
’
ve always wanted to ask you something.  You play poker by the math right?
”
 
Chet nodded. 
“
Say your opponent has pocket aces and you have the 7 and the 8 of clubs.
”
 
Chet nodded. 
“
Ok, now say the
flop comes 9 of clubs, 6 of clubs, and another suit 8, what do you do?