I had to throw in another photo of Moab, Utah.
Secrets at Midnight
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 61
For the first time since Matthew Willard Jensen had looked
at the little bundle of a girl named JennaLynn, he regretted ever meeting her.
He wished he'd never been part of her childhood—the part that taught her
independence and stamina when the going got tough. Jenn had been raised in the
wrong part of town and had seemed to grow up nice despite it—until she had a
gun in her hand and the advantage. And the only reason she had the advantage
was because she was serious. None of them doubted the girl with the baby in her
arms who recklessly waved a gun. Better than most, Matt knew she knew how to
use it—not very well, but good enough to get the job started—if not finished.
With lightning speed his brain raced through ways to disarm
her. There were plenty. He'd been trained for situations like this. But the
biggest problem was Katie. And Jenn. How do you take down a threat you've
always loved, and not hurt her and her baby—two people you held in your own
arms on the days they were born? But there was another problem: everyone in the
circle wanted to disarm Jenn, and probably more than one was willing to kill
her.
Matt knew he wasn't the defector, and suspected Nick wasn't,
but he had no clue about Natalie or Mueller. Both could be as guilty as sin.
Curtis headed his traitor list. He studied his guarded expression.
Mueller received his critique next. He knew next to nothing
about the communications tech/agent except that he was fairly new to the
office. In less than a year he’d become one of Marshall's right-hand men and
worked behind the scenes.
Natalie. He'd worked with her in Miami, but that had been
years ago. A lot could have changed.
From their suspicious glares, Matt supposed each of them
were sizing up the next agent to determine guilt and allegiance, but one or
more already knew who defected. His attention returned to Jenn when she said,
“Kevin, you said Natalie was dead, so what is she doing here? How did she
escape? Why were you wrong? Or was that part of the plan?”
Curtis cleared his throat. He spoke slowly as if Jenn had
comprehension problems. “I sent out a…missing
person…alert. I said she might…possibly…be
dead. We found the tip of her fingernail. I never said she was dead, I only
passed on information we collected.”
“Did
you kill her partner?—and don’t treat me like an idiot.”
Curtis gulped. “No, ma’am.”
Matt glanced around the circle. He could see the anger
bubbling below Curtis’ cool exterior. If it hadn't been such a critical
situation, he would have laughed at the seasoned agent being questioned by a
daycare manager with a baby in her arms.
Jenn waved her gun. “Kevin, you arranged for me to leave the
hotel in a cleaning cart, right?”
“Yes.”
“I never got to Angels Deli. Why? Did you arrange for my
kidnapping too?”
“No. I had a backup plan—a park pavilion. Matt knew the
plan.” Kevin turned to face Matt. “What happened, Jensen? You went to the deli
and waited, but our man said you ran out. You successfully ditched us and
caught up with Mrs. Washington. Explain that, along with a missing million
dollars.”
“I smelled a rat.” His finger rose chest high to match
Jenn’s gun. “The office seems to be crawling with them. Every transmission I
sent you seemed to be intercepted. I sent Mrs. Washington on a safer route to
protect her from you, and that cost a
lot of money!”
Curtis swore a blue streak. “Me? Correction, Jensen—you ran to protect your own hide! You
and Washington defected and are on the run. You saw us closing in.”
Matt angrily shook his head. “How deep is the corruption,
Curtis?”
Curtis punched back. “What's happening on the border,
Jensen? Where are the guns going? Who is paying for them and who is moving
them? What is the next target? We want answers in the office.”
Matt stepped closer to his foe. “You want answers because
your private operation was discovered and you need to rescue it. What message
did you send Jenn at the cabin? You instructed her to disable the phone and
enable the tracking device. Who found us there—or rather, who didn't find us?”
Curtis’ face reddened. “No tracking enabling message was
sent from the office. We discovered your position on the satellite system. We
sent....” He nudged his foot toward the dead man.
“Adams,” Mueller finished.
Curtis nodded. “Adams took care of it. He sent a team to
Montana while he flew to Santa Fe—the other location the satellite detected. We
suspected one was only an echo.”
“So we all agree Adams defected,” Nick sarcastically said.
“That makes it simple. We walk away with a guilty man we can't hang because
Natalie killed him, and we’re left wondering is someone else is equally rotten.
I'd rather have a clean slate, so let's find the mole.”
“I want to get out of this crate,” Natalie demanded, popping
bubbles as she moved.
Jenn stepped aside. “First, tell me where you got the kid
and why.”
Natalie bristled. “Who put you in charge?”
Nick chuckled. “Her weapon. Just answer her, Holtz.”
Natalie glared at Jenn. “I borrowed him from my friend's
sister-in-law. His name is Jeremy and he's almost two. I was sent to see if you
were in a safe environment at work, and whether we could secure it and protect
you and your baby if your husband was ever taken hostage.”
“That sounds good, but is it true?” Jenn asked.
More bubbles popped as Natalie moved. “Obviously you don’t
need protection—expect from yourself,” she sarcastically said.
“Maybe you should stay in your special packaging,” Jenn
replied.
Natalie leaned back and exaggerated a sigh. “Mrs.
Washington, your friend Monica had primary control over at-home safety, but she
didn't have a kid and couldn't easily check things out without looking like an
over-curious idiot, so she asked me to help her. Nick was doing fine in
Colombia, so I came home to assist her, as well as help Pete. He had found
something interesting.”
“What?” Matt asked, studying Natalie's face.
“A computer leak from the office. Isn't that your specialty,
Mr. Jensen?”
Matt stared angrily at her. “There are no leaks on my end. I
keep things sealed tight. Everything is secure and hack-proof.”
Natalie glared back. “Then how did I find it, Mr. Genius?
Monica didn't dare go home after I showed it to her. I disappeared too, only to
discover a few hours later that I was missing and possibly dead. And Jensen,
please explain why my fingernail was found behind Washington’s trash bin when
I’ve never set foot within five miles of the place. Why did you call Curtis to
back you up? How did he find a fingernail I lost in El Paso while escaping from
the infamous Mr. R, or more likely, one of his many impostors? Who collected
that piece of evidence and sent it to you—the mole?”
Everyone stared at Matt. “I'm not a defector. I never
planted a fingernail.” He paced to Natalie’s prone position and shoved his face
close to hers. “No one sent me your fingernail. If there was a leak, someone
set me up. And believe me, my wife would never be afraid to come home.”
“That's what they all say,” Curtis sarcastically said.
Matt faced Curtis. “You found the fingernail, or did you
plant it?”
Nick waved his gun around the circle. “I’m tired of this. At
this rate it will take ten years to solve. Cut out the small talk and get to
the meat—who’s double dealing?”
Matt glared at his partner. “I want to know about the
fingernail and leak. What kind of leak, Natalie? And why would you say my wife
is afraid of me?”
Natalie struggled to stand, bubbles popping. She stepped
from the crate, smoothed her skirt and blouse and joined the circle. She
briefly raised her hands in surrender to Jenn, then lowered them and pointed
one long finger at Matt. “You tell us what kind of leak. Perhaps you should
begin with the one that begins: 'Red alert. Agent down. Female.’ It was relayed
on June tenth. You do realize the alert first went out on June ninth, only
hours before the body appeared behind
Washington’s trash, I presume?”
Everyone stared at Natalie.
“No?” She looked around the circle. “None of you received
the message?”
Heads shook. Curtis said, “Apparently not.”
Natalie cleared her throat. “Why was I the only one who knew
an agent was down before Jenn stepped
on someone and I went missing? Next time I’m apprehended should I collect all
of my broken fingernails so they’re not placed at a crime scene later?”
Matt stared at Natalie in disbelief. “I never saw the alert.
I never sent it. I'm not the computer genius—Adams was. He must have sent it to
a select few. Show me the message. I want proof.”
Natalie’s smile hinted superiority. “Where's
your laptop?”
End Chapter 61
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