“Bound by blood and honor not to say,” Lawson replied.
So that was ayes.
A knock on the door disrupted the runaway train containing Jesse’s thoughts. Rowland opened it and motioned for him to join her in the observation room.
Even with a wall and a mirror between them, Jesse felt like Lawson was tracking his movements. Or worse, that the statue was. He was happy to get the door closed until he noticed Rowland looked pissed.
“What happened?” Jesse asked.
“Remember that DoD asshole in the park?”
Jesse wasn’t likely to forget Bryce anytime soon, though he wasn’t sure how he felt about the flash of lust he felt before the annoyance had kicked in. Then he was annoyed that he was getting annoyed. He and Bryce weren’t anything to each other.
Only they were. If nothing else, they were potential somethings and Jesse wasn’t sure how that would change. He didn’t want to end the possibility of them before they had a chance to begin, but he wasn’t sure he could keep his temper if Bryce asserted professional dominance. Jesse had put in the legwork. Having the case swept away from him just wasn’t fair. “Yeah?”
“He’s making good on that whole ‘this is my stuff’ threat. He’s coming to collect Lawson and the statue,” Rowland said. “Hadler says to hand him everything.”
“Fuck. When?” Jesse said.
The door from the hallway opened, and Milton stepped into the observation room. He raised an eyebrow when Jesse and Rowland directed their angry glances his way. “I take it you heard the psych eval is pointless. A team from DoD is on their way.”
“The DoD doesn’t send out a team to collect a suspect and evidence when it has nothing to do with them,” Jesse replied.
“They want Lawson, they are welcome to him,” Milton said. “Not our place to say what’s ours and what’s theirs.”
“Handing this over isn’t right,” Rowland said. “Museum theft is our jurisdiction.”
“Look, you two are new here. Neither of you will probably stay very long, but I’ll fill you in on a little fact. Sometimes these guys come over from the DoD and ask for things. In the sense of interagency cooperation, we hand it over without question.”
“The DoD isn’t an agency. They’re military. There’s no way Alex is a soldier. He practically screams lack of discipline,” Jesse said.
“I do as I’m told, and I’m grateful that we don’t have to spend the night filling out paperwork,” Milton replied. “Dawes, I take it you can handle the whole prisoner transfer situation?”
Over his dead body was the transfer happening without a fight. Jesse shook his head. “I’m not—”
Milton held up a hand to stop him. “How about I skip past pretending to care what you think, remind you that our boss says the transfer’s a go, and you nod and agree before someone winds up making a complaint.”
Jesse clenched his jaw.
“Close enough, rookie. I’m heading home. Might be able to finish watching the Cardinals game.” Milton left the room.
“That’s not fishy at all,” Rowland said dryly.
At least someone agreed with him. Jesse said, “It’s a cover-up.”
“But we’re the FBI. Federal is part of our name. We are part of the government machine. Why would another, supposedly federal team take what’s clearly our case and try to make it disappear?” Rowland nodded at Lawson. “Do you think he’s someone’s kid or relative? Secret baby of a US Senator or something? Is it political?”
Lawson lived in a neighborhood that had to be under the influence of the Crowley Construction building. Depending on his background, he was living proof of the case Jesse had shown to Celia Sanchez. And asSpooky True Talesand others warned, a mysterious government force operated right under the nose of legitimate agencies. They wanted Lawson for their own purposes. Bryce didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would ally himself with a corporate team, and Jesse didn’t know of any corporation bold enough to walk into the FBI and claim jurisdiction. Not one that could get away with that. Yet.
Something else was going on.
“I’m going to see what I can get out of him before they get here,” Jesse said.
“You could piss off the wrong people.”
“Then I’ll deal with the consequences. But I’m not letting this go that easily.”
“I’ll try to delay them. Give you as much time as I can.”
