“That’s it? That can’t seriously be all your man got in two days.”
I was not pleased with what McShae was telling me. He’d had an agent in Houston for two days and we still had nothing. “I thought you said you were sending someone who knew his job from his…”
“Agent Bradley is one of our top agents,” McShae said. His voice was measured and calm when he spoke, but his eyes were ablaze with anger. I guess redheads really did have bad tempers. Too bad for me this one didn’t have the hot body to go along with it. That would have made putting up with his mouth all worthwhile.
He was lucky we were sitting in my dining room instead of Headquarters or I would be raising hell with his supervisor over this supreme waste of time we didn’t have.
“That scares me, McShae. Tell me something good.”
“Look, Caldwell, you said that you wanted discretion. You didn’t want Blackstone to know that we’re on to him and he doesn’t.”
“Well, McShae, I’m so sorry. You’re right.” I could see he noticed the sarcasm dripping from my words. “I’m so pleased that he isn’t on to us, especially since we know nothing more than we did before Bradley started.”
“We now have confirmation that Blackstone was approached,” he offered.
I shook my head in disgust. “We also now know he turned them down, but he has something else brewing. Instead of one band of psychos to worry about, I have two. Oh, and I don’t know what either of their plans are!”
“You don’t have to yell. Jenna will hear you. These walls aren’t that thick.”
“Don’t change the subject. I want Bradley back in Houston first thing Monday morning. Blackstone won’t be there, so we won’t need discretion. I want him to talk with every person Blackstone has ever worked with. I want to know how this son-of-a-bitch takes his coffee.”
“Done. Agent Bradley is supposed to be there Monday to follow up with this chemist that seems to know Blackstone pretty well.”
“Why the hell don’t we have that guy in interrogation right now? Did Bradley have big weekend plans or something pressing than catching a terrorist?”
“I don’t appreciate your tone, Caldwell. I told him to back off. This Alex guy is tight with Blackstone. We’re following up with him on Monday to give him a chance to find out all he can before Blackstone heads up our way.”
His argument had logic behind it, but it was still a rookie mistake. A lot could happen over the weekend to change this guy’s mind. Then chances of him finding out more than he already knew were slim. The payout simply did not outweigh the risk in this instance.
“Or you’ve just given this guy a few days to tell Blackstone we’re onto him so he can be ready for us when he gets here.”
McShae sighed. “It was my call to make.”
“And it will be your ass when this backfires on you. This is my op. Got that? If you do anything like that again without running it by me first, I will have you removed from this operation. Is that clear?”
“Yeah, Caldwell, it’s clear as water. I’m not going to get into a pissing contest with you on this.”
I decided to let that one slide. It was almost eight o’clock and I was starving. The incompetence in the Dallas office was wearing on me. I’d been with a team of researchers, investigators, you name it, all day and I had nothing to show for it. I thought it was clear we needed to find out what Blaine was up to, if anything. Apparently in Texas, when you say to put a rush on something, it means to toss it to the bottom of your inbox and do it whenever you feel like it.
Why didn’t anyone understand the more time Jenna spent working on her case, the less time I had to find out what she knew about mine?
“Look, I’m starving and it isn’t as satisfying to gripe at you while my stomach growls,” I said, willing to let him off the hook for the sake of stopping the rumbling.
I could tell McShae was grateful for the subject change. “I say we head to Blaine’s club. I’m sure they have some sort of food we could eat.”
I couldn’t conceal the smirk his statement caused. “I hardly think going clubbing is going to make…”
“No, it’s recon,” he interrupted. “We can see what’s going on down there first-hand. Besides, it’s Friday night and you need to unwind.”
I knew he was going to press this until I relented.
“Fine, you win. Just let me grab my wallet.”
“Oh, and just so you know, you only have one psycho to worry about. The Department of Homeland Security wants us to focus on Blackstone. They’ve given the CIA jurisdiction over the terrorist group until our case is over.”
Finally, some good news.
© 2009, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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