By the time he accomplished that, more people were running across the lawn toward him. The first one was Bryce, and he crashed to his knees beside the passed-out kid. “Alex. Damn it. Alex!” He looked to Jesse. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. He grabbed the guy and they both collapsed,” Jesse explained. He moved to Alex’s side.
When he reached to check Alex’s pulse, Bryce grabbed his wrist. “Don’t touch him.”
“What the hell did hedo?” Jesse asked.
Bryce shook his head and kept his mouth shut.
Another man, museum security, and Rowland all arrived together. Jesse made eye contact with Rowland and nodded to the statue. “Grab that.”
Bryce clenched his jaw, and he wasn’t looking Jesse’s way as he said, “We have to take custody of that and the prisoner.”
“The fuck you do,” Jesse replied. “This is an FBI investigation. He’s ours.”
“We’re claiming jurisdiction,” Bryce said. He pulled out his wallet and flashed an identification at Jesse. “Department of Defense.”
“You can’t seriously think that works,” Jesse said.
Bryce glared at him. “It does. The suspect’s ours, so is the statue.”
There was something bigger going on there. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the statues were horrific in nature and that Bryce waved a vague identification in his face. Jesse had read tales online. Rumors about government conspiracies. While most of them were total garbage, there were a few that made him doubt Bryce’s identification.
But telling Bryce no was bound to be the end of their relationship. Not that they really had one, but Jesse was looking forward to getting to know him.
He couldn’t let Bryce walk all over him because he wanted to get laid. No one was worth sacrificing justice or his career.
“If that thing’s as real as you claim,” Jesse said, “you can swing by the field office and have it out with my ASAC.”
Bryce looked more than a little upset. “Jesse—”
“You heard Agent Dawes,” Rowland said. “Case is ours. In fact, we’re going to need statements from you and your friend there.”
Bryce’s scowl deepened. After flicking his gaze between Jesse and Rowland, he finally said, “I have to make a call.”
“You do that,” Rowland said.
As Bryce walked away, Jesse tried not to get discouraged. After all, he had the bad guy in custody. He should have felt like a winner.
He didn’t.
