“And you haven’t had a chance to tell ASAC Scott this yet?”
“Like I said, I sent him the files I found, along with a report. You have it. I was expecting him to give me a new direction, but he hasn’t responded to my emails or text. And when I talked to his people, they told me he’s taking a few days.” After a pause, he cleared his throat and added, “He told me to call him when I found something no matter what. To text his private number with the information and to keep this on a need-to-know basis. I figure since he included you in his directive, you neededto know.”
“Thanks. Yes. Keep this quiet, and if you come up with anything else, let me know. I’ll get this where it needs to go.”
“Roger that.” He held onto the “a” in an odd way.
“Cooper, where are you from?”
After a pause, he chuckled. “It’s my accent, isn’t it?”
“It’s hard to place.”
“I get that a lot. We moved around growing up. You could say I’m an amalgamation of a lot of different places.”
“Ah. Makes sense. Well, thanks for this. I’ll get on it and try to track down ASAC Scott as well.”
“Glad to help. If you need anything else, please email or call me. My number’s on the bottom of the email I sent you. Bye now.” He hung up.
Jane wanted to go over the file, but she had a dinner date. She’d look over it later at home. But in the meantime, she forwarded the file to ASAC Haversham with a quick note.
Info from TS Cooper for Matthew. Apparently, the Scotts are the eleventh name on the Collective list. But I’m not sure Matthew’s aware. He hasn’t gotten back to Cooper in two days. I’m getting worried. Will look over later and call you tomorrow.
With a harried glance at the time, she logged out and turned off her computer then rushed out the door and nearly collided with someone.
“Sorry.”
A tall, dark-haired man she hadn’t seen before held his hands up in surrender, his gray eyes serious though his lips curled in a smile. “My fault. Enjoy your evening, Agent Cannon.”
She darted past him, absently wondering how he knew her name. Then again, with the last two major cases she’d worked that had plastered her name all over the news, that might account for her lack of anonymity.
In any case, she didn’t have time for guessing games. She had an uncle and cousin to wrangle, threaten, then soothe with mediation and good food.
* **
Casimir watchedAgent Jane Cannon rush past him down the stairs.
As his cousin had said, she had a vibrant aura, the presence of someone decisive who got things done. From what he knew of her from her past cases, she was tough to kill and smart.
A worthy adversary on the board.
Carefully studying her desk through the double glass doors of the spacious, open office, he noted the lack of personnel still working. The FBI wasn’t like a typical office, though much of their crime solving happened electronically nowadays.
The number of stupid criminals leaving paper trails had shifted into leaving digital trails. Idiots who posted about their crimes, bragging about their hauls and leaving details of their misdeeds in the images and electronic signatures in their photos astounded him, though it shouldn’t have.
He’d been invested in scholarship and learning his entire life. His father could never make sense of it. Even in death, he’d probably need directions to the afterlife. And good old Victor had made sure to send the man on a one-way trip to hell.
His silly cousin. Such a big man with a big heart. His brain didn’t work right, but he had something so few in this world did.
Loyalty.
Casimir scowled. He thought he’d had that from August. That he’d found a likeminded individual content to serve the people, to right wrongs.
Instead, August had turned into the very thing he loathed, a common criminal who only wanted material goods and wealth to advance his way in this horrible world.
Casimir might not always use the best methods to achieve balance. Many would call him a criminal without a conscience. But he had purpose. Some people needed to be sacrificed to bring about righteousgoals.
Goals no longer shared by the Kaminski family, apparently.
