The Road to Justice/Sins of the Son combo pack - A John Fowler Novel (John Fowler (Books 1 & 2)) (51 page)

As he was leaving, he noticed r
eporters flocking to the building.  He thought
they were all coming for him
, but they all rushed passed him.  Luke stopped one of the report
er
s to find out what was going on.

“
You haven
’
t heard?
”
 
The reporter asked. 
“
The first lady has been released.  It was decided there wasn
’
t enough evidence to hold her on.  It also looks like Jason Sparks is going to be taken to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation.  There wasn
’
t any proof that he killed any of the people he was suspected of killing.
”

The reporter took off and Luke smiled.  He headed back toward the building so he could talk to Lisa.  As he reached the reporters, Tom, one of the Secret
S
ervice agents he had worked with seemed to appear out of nowhere.  He grabbed Luke by the arm and tried to drag him away.

“
What do you think you
’
re doing?
”
 
Luke asked.

“
I
’
m trying to save you from doing something stupid, but I
’
m honestly afraid I
’
m too late,
”
Tom said.

“
What are you saying?
”
 
Luke asked.

“
Luke,
”
Tom began. 
“
Man, you
’
re my friend, but come on.  We all know how you have a thing for her.  I
’
m not saying you did anything to the Senator, but you have to admit you
’
re one serious suspect.  You need to stay away from her.  Do you think Archibald is going to let you cozy up to her?
”

Luke looked like he had been slapped in the face with that last question.

“
Spit it out Tom, don
’
t dance around it,
”
Luke said.  He was angry and Tom knew what he was about to say was only going to make things worse.

“
Luke, you
’
re a Se
cret
S
ervice
a
gent.  You
’
re supposed to be one of the good guys, not only that; in his eyes you
’
re just a guy.  You
’
re not a powerful Senator or anything like that.  You don
’
t have the social standing to be in her class.  You know and I know you don
’
t have a prayer.
”

“
What if I was a national hero?
”
Luke asked coyly.  Tom stopped dead in his tracks.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.  When he opened them he looked Luke right in the eyes.

“
I
’
m going to pretend I didn
’
t hear that,
”
Tom said, shaking his head. 
“
If, and I stress, IF, you know something about the Senator you need to let the right people know.
”
 
Luke was looking over Tom
’
s shoulder at the First Lady who had just come out of the FBI office.  Tom stepped into Luke
’
s view.  Anger spread over Luke
’
s face.  Tom was shaking his head. 
“
Luke, you
’
re playing a dangerous game.  Do you think for a minute if I can figure this out that they can
’
t figure this out!?!
”
 
Tom jerked his thumb toward the FBI building with that last statement.  Luke set his jaw and looked at Tom.  Luke stared at Tom for a minute, shook his head, pulled out his cell phone, put it under the tire of his car, got in and took off, breaking the cell phone.  Tom watched him go, shaking his head.  He wondered if he would ever see Luke as a free man again.

Luke drove his car toward Washington
,
down the New Jersey turnpike.  He figured his car was being tracked since the FBI had brought it back from Washington.
             
  As he approached Washington, he headed toward Independence Ave, and parked there.  He headed towards the Smithsonian Metro station and got on.  Luke took the Orange Metro towards Vienna.  There he switched over to the Red line and rode it toward Silver Springs.  When he arrived at Union Station, Luke got off, and looked around to see if he was being followed.  He didn
’
t see anyone, but Luke suspected his clothes had been tagged somehow.

Luke went into different stores in the mall and bought an assortment of clothes.  He went into the men
’
s room and found an empty stall.  Luke changed clothes and threw the ones he wore out of the FBI building into the trash.  He headed out of the mall to find the escape vehicle that Archibald had left him.  He went to the spot in the parking lot he was told the vehicle would be in and saw a black SUV.  Luke chuckled; Archibald went all out.  A young man, he looked about nineteen or twenty, pulled into the spot beside where the SUV was parked.  Luke was smiling at what he was thinking.

“
Hey,
”
Luke yelled at the young man. 
“
Does your car run ok?
”

“
Yeah,
”
the guy replied. 
“
It doesn
’
t take much gas or oil.
”

“
Wanna trade?
”
 
Luke asked.  The young man smiled and five minutes later, Luke pulled out in the young man
’
s 1978 Nova.  Luke headed toward Virginia down I-395 South.  He picked up I-495 East and circled Washington.  He picked up MD-295 North and headed toward Baltimore.  Luke knew he had just traveled the most out-of-the-way loop possible.  He had been looking for a tail, and hadn
’
t found it.  Luke smiled to himself.  He was
sure the surveillance had been hanging back, relying on the bugs he thought were planted on him and his vehicle.  He didn
’
t trust Archibald either.  Tom may have been right, Luke didn
’
t belong in Staples
’
circle, and Archibald might have him eliminated.  This had all started out with Luke trying to impress Lisa, or Veronica, or whatever she was calling herself today.  Luke knew he had to take care of himself.  As the car sped toward Baltimore Luke began to make new plans.

Two FBI agents, Jeff and Steve, sat in a van in the vicinity of Union Station.  They had been conducting surveillance on Luke ever since he left New York.  It had been a long day, but they thought it was an easy case, especially since they were supposed to stay out of sight and follow the signals that were being emitted. 

The agents had noticed the car tracker hadn
’
t moved from near the Smithsonian for nearly an hour.  They switched over to tracking Luke by the small tracer they had planted in his clothes.  The signal led them to Union Station and they continued to track him from afar. 

After about an hour of the tracker not moving, one of the agents, Jeff, decided to see what was going on.  He followed the signal, with a handheld device, into the men
’
s room and found the clothes with the transmitter on it in the trash can.  He came back out and told his partner what had happened.  The agents fought over who was going to call in and tell
“
The Hammer
”
that they had lost Luke. 

The two of them argued for fifteen minutes about who would phone this in.  They finally decided a fair way to decide who would make the call.  Jeff lost at Rock, Paper,
Scissors
and had to phone Jessica.  He placed the call.

“
Agent Hammerstein,
”
Jeff began. 
“
We lost him.
”
 
Jeff held the phone away from his ear.  Jessica was yelling, loudly!  He brought the phone back to his ear and listened to the instructions he was given and disconnected the call.  Steve looked at Jeff waiting to hear what their next move was.

“
We
’
ve been called back to New York,
”
Jeff said. 
“
We have to report directly to Agent Hammerstein in the morning.
”
 
Steve shuddered from the announcement.  Jessica had gained a reputation in the agency.  According to FBI lore, she could peel the paint off the wall from one of her butt-chewings.

Later that Night

New York FBI Building

Chapter 39

Trip
’
s office door opened and a man walked inside.  The man looked around and found Trip
’
s fax machine.  On the fax machine was a transmission from Thelma.  The man in Trip
’
s office chuckled.  If Trip had the fax sent to his email, like most people, this interception never would have been possible.  The man studied the fax for a minute, reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.  He typed out a text and hit send. 

The man took the transmission from Thelma and went over to the shedder.  He put the paper into the shedder and watched
the machine tear the document
into strips.  About that time, the door to Trip
’
s office opened and a member of the night cleaning crew started in the office.

“
Oh,
”
said the janitor. 
“
I didn
’
t realize anyone was in here.
”

“
It
’
s ok,
”
said the man. 
“
I was just looking for a file Trip was supposed to have left me.  Apparently he forgot.  I
’
ll check with him in the morning.
”

The janitor smiled and began going about his business.  He opened the bottom of the shedder and emptied its contents into a drum that would be incinerated later on that night.  The man smiled.  He opened the door and started out.  He stopped and turned back toward the janitor.

“
You have a good night,
”
said the man.

“
You too, sir,
”
said the janitor.  The man headed down the hallway, to the elevator.  As he watched the doors
slid
e
together, he thought about what he would do once he had paid off his debt.

             
New York FBI Building

             
Chapter 40

             
Jessica stared at the phone she had just hung up.  She had been combing through the paperwork that Bruce
’
s IT guy had come up with.  There were over 100 possible places in her mind that the Senator could be stored.  She was going over cell phone calls and possible areas they were made from to correspond with possible address of warehouses owed by Archibald when the two agents had called her about Luke
’
s disappearance. 

             
She was staring at the receiver, knowing she was wasting her time.  What upset her most was that she knew the two agents were griping about what she was going to do to them.  Not because they messed up, but because she was a woman.  If these two clowns had done this and Trip, or even John, had dressed them down, they wouldn
’
t say a word. 

             
Jessica stuck out her bottom lip and blew air up into her face.  There were days she wondered why she put up with this crap.  She also wondered what was going to happen now that she and John were seeing each other.  Would she be accused of getting special treatment because of their relationship?  In her mind, if anyone should get accused of getting special treatment because of their relationship it was John. 

             
Jessica smiled in spite of herself.  It did amaze her.  John wasn
’
t a great profiler, he could barely turn on a computer, he was an ok marksman, and he wasn
’
t in great shape . . . well . . . he was before the drinking started. 
Jessica realized she was smiling a bit too much and shook her head trying to get rid of the mental picture.